“Wow, you’re chatty tonight.” Lizzie found cream in the refrigerator and set out two clean mugs. “Roman’s having a great time, by the way.”
“That’s good to hear.” He paused. “Are you missing him?”
“A lot,” Lizzie confessed. “It’s the first time he’s ever been away from me for this long.”
“Ines said she knew,” Adam said.
“That we were dating?” Lizzie asked. “That’s definitely the impression I got from all the hints she was dropping.” She met his gaze. “Did she say something to you then?”
“She told me she was okay with it.”
“Good.” Lizzie contemplated his unsmiling face. “Do you have a problem with her knowing or something? Because you sure don’t look happy right now.”
“I’m . . . glad that it’s out in the open.”
“You still don’t sound convinced.” Lizzie turned and checked the coffee just to avoid looking at him.
“I’m sorry, I’ve just got a lot of my mind.” Adam sighed. “Rio asked me if I was still okay with him buying the ranch even though Carlos doesn’t need the money for the cancer specialist.”
Lizzie still wasn’t convinced he was being straight with her about what Ines had said, but she understood his other worries. To be honest, she wasn’t sure she wanted a discussion about how either of them were feeling right now about their new relationship.
“And are you okay about it?” Lizzie asked.
“I can’t run two ranches. Keeping the Cortez ranch would be selfish in many ways. Rio and Yvonne will take great care of Ines when Carlos is gone and, not to be crass, but I’m still in their will. Rio’s got the money to keep the place looking nice and running well right now.”
Adam looked down at his boots as though he was inspecting them for dirt. “But, yeah, it was still hard to let it go—emotionally I mean. Because of Louisa.”
Lizzie stared at him openmouthed. “Did you just voluntarily express your innermost feelings to me?”
He raised his head. “I suppose I did.” A reluctant smile touched his hard mouth. “I think I need to sit down.”
Lizzie went over and put her hands on his broad shoulders. “It’s not like the ranch is going to strangers. You can still visit.”
“Louisa and I spent so much time there even before we were married,” Adam said. “Carlos was always way nicer to me than my own dad, and Ines was just the kind of mom I was missing.”
“They were very kind to me, too,” Lizzie agreed.
“Of course, you were there almost as much as I was.” Adam looked down at her. “Probably more, seeing as I was never invited to the sleepovers.”
She kissed his cheek. “We spent most of the time talking about you.”
“Really?” He smiled properly for the first time.
“Well, Louisa did. I was too busy wondering what on earth she saw in you.” Lizzie gasped as he lifted her off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder without even breaking a sweat. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to bed.”
“What about the coffee?”
“It can wait.”
“Adam Miller . . .”
He gently patted her butt. “Consider it payback for all the sass.”
“Sass?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Miss Sweet Cheeks.”
Lizzie smiled against his back as he dumped her on her bed, and tried to look like she was full of remorse.
“My vibrator is way less bossy than you are.”
“Yeah?” He took off his belt, slowly unzipped his jeans to display the growing bulge in his cotton boxers, and knelt in front of her on the bed. “But can you do this to it?”
Lizzie rolled her eyes as he hooked a finger in the top of his boxers and urged her even closer. His breath hitched as she dropped a kiss on his hard shaft.
“I could, but it wouldn’t taste as good as you do.”
With a groan, he braced one hand on the headboard behind her and leaned into her touch.
“Nothing else to say?” Lizzie demanded as she slowly licked him like an ice cream cone.
“Not with my most precious possession in your sights, no,” Adam murmured.