A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 24

The sound of a cell phone ringing slowly brought Samantha awake.

She could feel Adam's chest rumbling and realized that he was quietly talking into his phone and that she lay curled up against him, both of them now lying side by side along the length of the couch, Samantha comfortably tucked halfway on top of Adam. His arm was around her and his fingers running through her hair – her hair tie seemingly gone.

She pushed herself up groggily onto an elbow and took a quick look around realizing that it was now very dark outside and that the television was off. Seeing the couch blanket over them both she realized that she must have fallen asleep on Adam and he was too kind to wake her up to move her. She had a sudden feeling of disappointment that she hadn't been awake to enjoy lying next to him like that.

His body was so warm against hers and the feeling of his arms around her gave her instant comfort as well as awakening her sexual needs, the ones that she had been ignoring for the past few years. She couldn't seem to be around Adam and not want him to touch her, to kiss her.

He smelled fantastic, of soap and cedar and sandalwood and distinctly Adam and she wanted to snuggle back into him and just stay there.

Finally what Adam was saying cut through the sleep fog and she could make out his side of the conversation.

"I'll check it out. I'm still here. Yeah, yeah, smartass. I'll call you back"

Ending his call and putting down his phone on the coffee table, Adam pulled Samantha back into his arms and kissed the top of her head. "I guess we were both pretty tired" he said. Running his hand lightly down her back, he said "I've got to go. We received a call about some vandalism at the mall downtown and since Jamie and I were called there just last week for the same thing, they want the two of us to check it out and see if it relates"

Deeply breathing in his scent Samantha reluctantly untangled herself from his embrace and forced herself to standing while folding up the blanket and throwing it back over the couch.

"You always do that" Adam observed and stood beside her.

Confused Samantha responded "Do what?" she wrinkled her brow not realizing what he was talking about.

"Clean up as you go. I noticed on Sunday when your brother and Mal were here but it didn't really sink in until I noticed again tonight while we were getting dinner ready. Every time I set something down you went behind me and picked it up." He grinned at her. "I can assume that would be annoying if we lived together but it was kind of cute tonight".

She laughed "I didn't realize that I was doing it. I guess I'm used to living alone and since my place is pretty small I hate a mess. Not that you were making a mess" she added quickly so as not to offend.

Approaching her once more to wrap his arms around her, Adam looked down to stare into those incredible eyes. "I didn't have the heart to wake you earlier" he said huskily "but I couldn't help but notice that you are wearing some very excellent lingerie" Smiling at her shy expression he ran a finger along the side of her lacy ivory coloured bra that was peeking out from the shoulder of her dress. "Do the panties match?" he whispered while he nuzzled behind her ear. "I need to know"

Swallowing and closing her eyes to the pleasure of what he was doing to her neck Samantha whispered "Yes".

Adam's mouth immediately came to hers in a demanding kiss that left no doubt in her mind that if he hadn't been called to work they would be moving to her bedroom. He tangled his fists into her hair and took them both deeper before breaking his mouth away from hers with a curse.

Abruptly he turned and dragged her by the hand to the door with him. He always seemed to be leading or dragging her around she realized and decided that she would have to think more about how she felt about that.

"We need to talk about us" Adam said as he grabbed his keys and wallet from where he had left them on the table by the door.

Not sure what to make of that comment Samantha said nothing but merely looked at him and waited for him to continue.

Realizing that he was being abrupt, Adam took a breath and continued. Wanting to be clear he wiggled a finger between himself and Samantha "This. There's no question that I want you and I'm pretty sure that you want me too but if you don't then you had better speak up soon because it's about to be too late." Before she could say a word he brought his mouth back to hers for a hard quick kiss and hurried out the door "lock it Samantha and I'll call you in the morning to talk"

"Wait..." she tried to catch him but was just in time to see him jump from the last step and jog to his truck where he had parked it across the street.

She had never met anyone like him. He was abrupt but he wasn't. Not really.

She guessed that she could say that he more just spoke his mind because he had never been rude with her and was actually just the opposite, being very calm and thorough, both at the police station and at the bar. Maybe it just seemed abrupt when they were dealing together on a personal level. If she was majoring in psychology she could probably come up with a good clinical reason for it but since she wasn't she thought that her own assumption was also probably pretty accurate.

She made him nervous, she smiled to herself.

He had told her a couple of times now that he found her attractive and he was very demonstrative and seemed to need to be touching her when they were together. She wondered if, when she told him that she wanted him too, it would make him relax and that need to touch would change, or if it would make it even more intense.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow, she thought to herself and made her way to bed.