Dirty Chef

I searched Adam’s eyes while my pulse skyrocketed.

“Staying away from you all these years has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, Alessia.” He dipped down and grazed his nose up my jaw, then pressed a lingering kiss to my temple. All these years. “The way we hit it off floored me. Do you even remember? I was jaded as fuck, and then you stormed in and made a bunch of suggestions to my business plan.”

I couldn’t help but grin and close my eyes and let the trip down memory lane take over.

“You became the one I turned to, the one I wanted to discuss my ideas with,” he murmured. “You became everything. And I was terrified to lose what we created together.” He gently gripped my chin and made me look up at him. “I told myself what we had was enough, even though I knew it would never feel like it.”

I swallowed hard as he closed the distance and brushed his lips to mine.

He smiled into the soft kiss. “I’ve loved you from a distance for almost ten years, but I’m done pretending it’s enough for me.”

With those words, I was done for. My heart felt like it exploded, and I screwed my eyes shut and locked my hands around his neck. Emotions surged up a storm within me, and there was no stopping the tears that escaped. I deepened the kiss, at a loss for words; I couldn’t describe the relief. It was so immense, I didn’t know whether to laugh or bawl my eyes out.

Adam angled himself for a heated kiss and took control. He seduced me with how he held me, one hand roaming between my hip, butt, and lower back, and the other sliding up my back, under my hair.

“I’ve been yours since I was fifteen,” I admitted against his lips. I felt them curving into a tender smirk. “You thought it was a teenage crush. I knew better—as always.”

He chuckled and cupped my cheek, brushing away a stray tear.

I trembled in his arms. It was so overwhelming. He’d spoken the words I’d longed to hear and I’d hoped I would one day, though I’d told myself it would never happen.

“No tears, love,” he whispered.

“Happy tears,” I promised. “I’ve wanted this day to come for so long.”

“Me too.” He drew a deep breath and looked more content than I’d ever seen him.

I touched his cheek, his scruff. “I’m so in love with you.”

He exhaled a little laugh, and score, his eyes totally got misty. Then he kissed me passionately and hugged me impossibly tight.

The pleasure and the happiness coursed through me, and I didn’t want it to end. We were in a perfect little bubble together, the only thing slicing through being Jameson’s voice. It was a similar song, and Adam led me unhurriedly in slow, swaying circles where we stood.

“I don’t want to face the firing squad yet,” I admitted.

“Me either,” he sighed contentedly. “Good thing we’re in no rush.”

I hummed and tilted my head to rest it on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around my middle.

It was so lulling that I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Every now and then, I felt Adam’s lips in my hair. I also felt it when he smiled.

“Is something funny?”

He laughed silently. “I made the mistake of looking over at the others.”

“Oh boy.”

“Yeah. They’re waiting. Jack’s the only one who’s at least trying to distract Isla.”

My mouth curled into a grin, and I peered up at him. “I guess we might as well get it over with. I mean, I wanna get you home pretty soon.”

“I like the sound of that.” He kissed the smile off my face. “We gotta start practicing the baby-making.”

I coughed on my saliva.

Adam found that funny. “You realize that I know you’re not on birth control, right? It makes your cramps worse.” This was so not the time for him to point out how much he knew about my cycle. “It wasn’t a coincidence we had sex without protection the other day, and it wasn’t like I bought the crib by accident.”

I dropped my gaze and fidgeted with the neckline of his Henley.

Truth be told, I’d forgotten about the lack of protection until right before we, um, came. Which had never happened to me before. I’d always been so careful, and I knew he had been too. But with him, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to mention it. It’d been a fleeting thought. Oh shit, condom. Then, Nooo, can’t worry about that now. He’d felt so good, goddammit.

“I didn’t want protection with you,” I confessed. “I wanted to feel everything.”

Adam clenched his jaw and cleared his throat. “We should get out of here before I lose it. At this rate, I might pull over on the way home.”