"They can wait."

And he kissed her with a hunger so strong, Lily was glad she was lying down; otherwise, her knees might have given out on her. A soft laughter rushed from the back of her throat, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Is s.e.x the gateway to get you to talk to me?"

He smiled, a very s.e.xy smile filled with promises of things to come. "It works. No one loses."

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

"Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future."

Oscar Wilde It turned out marathon s.e.x with Lily was the cure for nightmares. After they returned from Vapor, they'd barely made it inside the house when she tore his shirt off. They didn't quite make it to the bedroom at the first go. He'd taken her on the floor and had the bruises on his knees to prove it. That suited him fine. And Lily hadn't complained. One of the many things he loved about her; always ready to take a trip on the wild side as long as he was by her side. Once they caught their breaths, she dragged him to the bedroom, straddled him and made both of them climax so hard, Adam thought the earth shook. He loved that too.

Sometime in the night, they'd eventually collapsed in bed half-delirious with pleasure and completely satiated. He slept hard, and no dreams, at least not the kind that left him covered in sweat. In fact, he remembered nothing from the moment he kissed her goodnight.

Trusting, warm Lily had brought him peace. He loved that too.

Love. There was that word again. Lately, it had become synonymous with Lily. From the way she smiled, her touch, her resilience. He'd known for a while his feelings ran deeper than their physical connection, but like any other man not looking to put his heart on the table, he fought. And it worked; at least until the moment he chose to walk down the Lily path naked and exposed too much of his heart, his mind, and what existed on the inside. He showed too much of himself; surprisingly, that was when he started to get it right. To think, only a week ago, she told him she wanted nothing but mad, pa.s.sionate love. Slowly, but surely he had given up control and surrendered to her wishes. And she had become his deepest, most desperate desire.

She stirred and his arms automatically tightened, holding her close to his heart.

"Adam," she called his name, eyes still closed.

"Yeah..."

"Did you sleep?"

"Yeah."

A smile touched her lips. Eyes still closed. "Good. I'm tired." The words were a slur of exhaustion.

"Then sleep."

"Hold me."

"I am."

He drew her naked body closer and she snuggled against him, still sleeping, breathing softly, cozily installed in his lair. Skin on skin. He glanced down at her body; his gaze rested on her stomach, and became overwhelmed with a sensation that went beyond anything he ever experienced. The fire in him that only she could ignite flared up. His first thought was to roll her on her back and spread her legs. He wanted to hear her cry out his name again and again, but d.a.m.n it, there was no need to wake her up. Come to think of it, he'd been rather on the selfish side for beating her body so much. He'd make sure they took it easy today. No s.e.x; well, at least nothing rough, or hard as she often requested, and who was he not to oblige?

Adam grabbed the comforter and yanked it over them. He placed his free arm under his head and fixed his eyes on the ceiling while Lily's head rested on his chest, one of her legs slung over his Tonight was dinner with her family and his. That ought to be fun. Because he cared for the woman in his arms and knew deep down she'd want her pain in the a.s.s brothers to get along with him. He made a silent vow to be at his best behavior.

During the football game and even at the bar, he'd caught Lily smiling a few times while he interacted with the big goofs. As long as Lily didn't expect him and the knuckleheads to break out into k.u.mbaya, the evening would be a success. To be fair, Zander and Max seemed to have warm up to him. Rafa, on the other hand, was still a f.u.c.ker. His bad att.i.tude made it easier for Adam to dislike him. But then again, he detected the feeling was mutual. A vision of his mother sitting across from him, giving him the now-Adam-behave stare down flashed before him. He smiled. How many times in his life had she whipped him into shape with only that look?

The morning slowly drifted. Adam lost track of how long he lay there with Lily in his arms. It wasn't until she stirred and mumbled, "I can stay in your arms forever" did he make any attempt to move, but even then, he stayed still until she broke their contact and sat by his side. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands.

"Do you feel sick?" He was constantly worried about her health, whether she was consuming enough food.

"Nope." She stretched.

Adam gaze rested on her perky b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Stop doing that."

Her eyebrows squished together in confusion, then she realized his eyes were on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She laughed breathlessly. "Oh, I was stretching."

But the twinkle in her eyes told him she enjoyed torturing him. Well, two could play the game. He chafed his thumb over her dark pink areola. She immediately stopped laughing and moaned instead.

He lifted his weight enough for his lips to touch her stomach, circled his tongue over the tip of her navel ring then kissed the spot below. "Hey, little guy."

He felt her body freeze. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice filled with emotion.

"I'm saying h.e.l.lo to our son."

Her fingers slid into his hair, giving him a shiver. "Or daughter," she added, her voice hoa.r.s.e.

"It doesn't matter to me." He kissed her belly again, circled her waist and fell back on the bed, bringing her along with him. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s crushed against his chest. "What time do you have to meet Minka today?" he asked, trying to figure out if they had time for a quickie.

"What time is it?"

He grabbed his phone on the nightstand. "Eleven."

She froze, jerked upright and leaped out of the bed, gloriously naked. "s.h.i.t. I'm going to be late. How did you let me sleep that late?"

There were a few reasons. He wanted her to rest, had no clue at what time she was supposed to meet with Minka, but most importantly, she had felt so d.a.m.n good in his arms. "I like the feel of you against me."

She looked down into his face for a long moment.

Enjoying the view, he leaned back with his hands behind his head. "What?" He laughed, feeling light-headed and...Adam searched his brain for the appropriate word. Happy, he was happy.

She shook her head. "I'm going to shower." She stopped by the door and looked at him. She looked relaxed and happy. "Any nightmares?"

"No."

She smiled and disappeared into the shower. Adam lay there with his hands under his head, smiling for a few minutes. His phone beeped on the nightstand. Barely moving, he reached for it and answered his mother's call.

"Are you in front of a television?"

The panic in her voice cause his gut to tighten and his smile faded. "Do I need to be?"

"Does Liliana know everything?"

"Yes," he answered without a beat. There was nothing else to tell, so much so that at this point he didn't even care if Souza dug deep enough.

"What about her family?"

He froze. He never gave her family much thought about his violent past. s.h.i.t.

"Adam?"

He shook himself and rolled out of bed. "I'm here. What's on the news?"

"Souza found your trial. The shooting. It's in the news."

He closed his eyes momentarily. This meant Lily's parents and brothers were probably aware of everything. He swore. He didn't like being bamboozled or cornered. Not that his past was still that anchor holding him back, he was learning to let go with Lily, for Lily, for them. But f.u.c.k, even unexpected as the pregnancy was, everything that happened so far had been on his own terms. "I have to go."

"What do you need us to do?" his mother asked.

What his mother didn't say was Do you want us to sue Souza's a.s.s? We can find a way. "Nothing," he answered without a beat, no longer caring about Souza. His mind was on Lily and her family. They had to get to them and put everything on the table. "I have to go."

"Adam."

He paused.

"We love you."

"I know. I love you too. See you tonight."

For a moment he stood in the middle of the room, waiting for Lily to come out of the shower, contemplating his next move. His phone vibrated in his hand.

What do you want me to do?

He read Jason's text. Jason was the first to befriend him when he started coming to the Vineyard with his adoptive parents. He hadn't bought the chip Adam carried on his shoulder. Because of that the two had become friends since the age of ten. The following summer, he met Blake, Forrest, and Claire. Since then, they've become inseparable, family. They had each other's back.

I'm sure there's a law somewhere this a.s.shole has violated. We will get him.

He glanced at Blake's text and would have chuckled if he wasn't too f.u.c.king riled up. The only law that was broken was exposure. Last time he checked, that wasn't a crime.

Surfing tomorrow? Whatever...I'm available.

Forrest was always up for an adrenaline rush.

Adam...Does Lily know all of this?

He could sense the shock in Claire's text. For some reason he and the boys had shielded her from his past. For no particular reason, except when he did open up and confessed, she had not been around. After that night, the topic was never discussed again.

Lily stepped into the bedroom wrapped in a towel, her hair slicked back. She took one look at him and stopped.

"We're going to Martha's Way to see your parents."

Her brows furrowed. "What's going on?"

Before Adam could answer, her phone chirped. She walked over to retrieve it, looked at the screen then back to Adam. "That's Rafa asking me to come to Martha's Way. Tell me what's going on."

"Apparently I made the news. I take it your brother caught my face plastered all over."

Lily exhaled a deep painful breath. He watched her type away on the phone then placed it back on the nightstand. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "We're in this together." She repeated the words he once said to her. "I'll get dressed while you shower."

Rafa's dark expression confirmed what Adam had told her. She studied Zander and Max. They surprisingly looked calm. Her parents were sitting holding each other's hands, their faces crammed with concern. She captured Adam's hand in hers.

"Mom, Dad."

Her parents glanced at her, then at Adam.

"How can you feel safe with him?" Rafa spat.

"Come on man, don't be a d.i.c.k," Zander said, surprising Lily.

"Sorry," Max said to his parents, "but boys curse. So there's going to be a lot of cursing going on here."

"He's a murderer," Rafa continued.

"You're out of line, Rafa," their father said sternly.

"Adam was a child," her mother pointed out.

"Seriously, man." Zander shook his head.

"For Christ's sake, Rafa!" Lily's voice shook.

"Lily," Rafa warned, glaring at his sister.

"Liliana," Adam said, his tone telling her he had a handle on the situation.

Both men called to her with barely a glance. She squared her shoulders and stood firm. "I'm not a child," she said between clenched teeth and whipped her head back and forth between the two. "You," she glared at her brother. "Stop treating me like I'm a child." One finger hit Adam's wall of a chest. "And you stop treating me like I'm a fragile little thing. Haven't I proven to you that I'm not?"

Neither man spoke.

"I trust Adam with everything. My life, our baby's. Why are you so against our relationship?"

Rafa's eyes snapped around the room. "So you're all comfortable with her marrying this guy." He chuckled. "Well..."

Silence. The atmosphere saturated with disaster.

"It was self-defense," Adam's voice cut through the thick air in the room.

"Premeditated," Rafa scoffed.

Adam released her hand and buried them in the pockets of his sweats. "I didn't catch the news, but did it mention that my birth parents were both drug addicts?"

"It touched on that," Max responded.

In other words, Souza made Adam out to be the crazy kid. Adam fixed his eyes on Lily's parents. The expression on their faces silently telling him they were willing to listen. One of the many reasons she loved her parents. They taught her to always give everyone a chance and now they were demonstrating it as well.

Adam ran a hand through his hair and moved forward in the room. "My mother was a prost.i.tute, my father was her pimp." He paused, giving them a chance to digest that little bit of information. "They were drug addicts, and abusive to one another and to me."