“It’s to make sure everything is fine with the baby. I can find out if it’s a boy or girl then too, but I’m not sure I want to know.”
“I’ve missed so much.”
My heart breaks for him. It’s all my doing, and I can’t go back into the past and change anything. “That’s my fault,” I whisper.
“No, Claire. It’s not. Circumstances have been hell for us.”
I nod but don’t have anything else to say to make the situation better.
That’s when the baby kicks Adam’s hand.
“Oh my God.” His eyes are wide as my hand lands on top of his. He looks up at me with nothing but awe before he shifts and plans a kiss on my lips like he’s been starving to do so for years.
We don’t move for a long time. Adam is content to feel the little kicks when they happen, and I’m just happy to watch his reaction to it all.
At some point, I fell asleep. It was probably the emotional toll mixed with the pregnancy exhaustion. I’m not entirely sure what to make of Adam, but I do know the attraction has never left. I want to know more about him, but I don’t want to get hurt again. Everyone I’ve ever been close to has left me irrevocably. I’m not sure I can handle another one.
But he’s making me want to take a chance. To at least get to know who he really is behind the mask of Chris. The way he’s reacted to the baby makes me want to try as hard as I can to make things work between us.
My door barely pops open, making me jump.
“Sorry,” Adam whispers. “I was just checking on you. You okay?”
“I …” Am I? I’m not sure I have an answer to that. “I have no idea.”
“Understandable. Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“You want me to leave you alone?” That smile of his is back in full force.
“Not really.” I chuckle.
“Perfect. Let me just grab my food.” He’s out and back with a sky-high sandwich before I can blink.
“That is a ridiculous sandwich.”
“I’m a growing boy.”
I burst out laughing. “You absolutely are not.”
“Made you laugh, though.” He winks.
That sobers me up. “So, tell me about your team. If you can,” I add.
“Well, you’ve met Lex; he’s our WITSEC bro. He is also fairly good at research, so that’s what he does when he’s not managing any assets. Juliette is our computer guru. She calls it Criminal Intelligence, but she’s the one who runs most of the information we gather and verifies it all. She’s a beast but doesn’t like to go out into the field if she doesn’t have to. Then there’s Stone. He and Juliette have this thing where they hate each other, but it’s secretly love.”
“Do they know that?” I ask.
“Nope. Things get tense sometimes. Stone is also our Canine Tactical Operations. He has a dog named Starbuck who is our team’s pride and joy.”
“Like the coffee?”
He cringes. “Don’t say that in front of Stone. No, like the character from a sci-fi series that I can never remember.”
“Battlestar Galactica. It all makes sense now,” I muse. I got a shipment of the entire series, but it didn’t feel like Lex’s doing at the time. Now I know it was really Stone.
“There’s also Sin, or Sinclair, who works on anything international. He’s cool but keeps to himself. And then there’s the bossman, Kellen Woodcroft. He used to work in a pair, and then his old partner came across a serial torturer that they hadbeen trying to catch, and it led to Woodcroft’s promotion. Now he leads the team and fills in any gaps. He’s one of the best bosses I’ve ever had.”
