While I’m thrusting deep those last few times, Ellie calls out my name and drags her nails across my shoulders as she reaches her own climax. Her convulsions milk every last bit of pleasure out of me as she shudders for what seems like ages.
Spent and sweaty, we stay like that for a while, skin to skin as I gently run my fingers through her hair, resting most of my weight on my forearms. She smiles and drags one hand up and down my back, her eyes filled with awe, as if she’s making sure I’m real and won’t disappear if she looks away.
“I’ll be right back, Sweetheart.” I press a quick kiss to her red, swollen mouth and slip into the bathroom to clean up.
When I return, Ellie is under the covers, chewing on her thumbnail nervously. At least she isn’t dressed and ready to take off. I duck under the sheets and pull her over on top of me, chest-to-chest so I can see the perfect face that I’ve missed every day for the past six years. We tangle our legs together and she looks at me affectionately. I can’t find a single trace of regret in her eyes for what we just did and that gives me hope. Hope that she wants to be with me as much as I want to be with her.
“Ellie…” I stroke her back with the callouses that have formed on my fingers after a decade of playing the guitar and she shivers. “I love you. What happens now?”
“Now? Let’s rest so we have enough energy to do that again,” she giggles.
I know she’s avoiding my question, and for now, I’ll take what she’s offering. But there’s no way she’s leaving this suite without discussing our future. The future we both deserve. One that keeps us together.
chapter 26
Ellie
I can feel Adam’s eyes on me as I get dressed in his hotel suite. We spent the last few hours in bed, making love several times in between dozing off and having a bite to eat from room service. He wants to talk about ‘us’, the future, whatever that means.
“Ellie, we still haven’t discussed this,” he says, sweeping his arm in the direction of the rumpled bed.
I yank on my boots and pull my hair back into a ponytail. “I know Adam, it’s complicated.”
“How is it complicated?” His voice is getting louder and more upset by the second.
Standing up, I watch as he paces the length of the room, clearly agitated. “Because it’s not that easy. I have a life here, a job, a… fiancé. Should I leave all that and just follow you around the world as your groupie?” Do I even have a fiancé anymore?
Why am I being so difficult?
Adam jerks to a stop and whirls around to face me, grabbing my upper arms. “You’re not a groupie, you’re mine. And yes, Ellie. You should be with me. You’re not safe here. Callum Murray is still out there, and he can and probably will come after you again. You can be our nurse for the tour, we always have someone with medical training with us. Then we can buy houses in L.A. and London, hell, wherever you want. We can even split our time in both places.”
He has really put a lot of thought into this. My heart gets heavy at the thought of leaving my mum, at disappointing James. “I don’t know, Adam. I… I owe James a lot. He was there…”
“Don’t you dare, El,” Adam snaps, his lips pulled back into an angry scowl. “Don’t stay with him out of gratitude. You don’t love him, I know you don’t.” Adam’s eyes bore into me, peeling back the layers to try and find my innermost secrets.
I have to avert my eyes because it’s so uncomfortable. He always sees right through me.
“You’re mine, Ellie. We belong together. I love you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
My cheeks heat up and I meet his passionate stare. “Of course it means something! Why do you think I came here today? It’s because I love you! I’ve only ever loved you!”
Adam yanks me to him, slanting his mouth down on mine roughly until we have to stop and catch our breath. He glides a hand down my cheek in a loving caress. “Don’t leave me again, El. I can’t take it.” He presses several small kisses on my lips. “Let me get dressed, I’ll have my driver take you home.”
“Okay.” I sit back on the bed and watch as he grabs some jeans and a T-shirt. “Wait,” I say as he’s about to put the shirt on. “Come here.”
Adam walks over, eyeing me warily and stands between my legs, his glorious torso bared to me. I reach up and trace over the black ink that swirls up one of his arms, stopping at his shoulder. “When did you get this?”
He steps closer, putting his hands behind my knees and wrapping my legs around his waist. “A year or so ago. I’ve been wanting it for a while.” He caresses the sensitive skin on my calves, brushing his fingers up and down.
“Your drawings,” I whisper.
“You remember?” He looks at me, astonished.
“I remember everything about you, Adam.”
“It’s not finished yet. I want it to come down over one side of my chest, over my heart.” I put my hand on the left side of his chest and hold it there until he blushes and steps back from my touch.
“Let me finish getting dressed,” he says. “It’s getting late.”