Chapter Two
Belle
I stole a glance at Adam. His face was unreadable, but somehow, I knew he was just as nervous as me.
No—nervous didn’t cover it. I was scared shitless. Still trying to wrap my head around this whole situation and the reason we were here today—because my stepfather was an abusive asshole who wanted nothing more than to get his greedy hands on what he thought he was owed.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The man was deluded, not to mention a mean drunk. I’d watched him systematically destroy my mom. No amount of pleading and cajoling on my part had convinced her to leave him—and nothing would convince me that he wasn’t responsible for her death, whatever the coroner’s report had said. He may not have forced those pills down her throat, but I was convinced his treatment of her had driven her to it. He’d made her life hell. If that was what love did to a person, I wanted no part of it.
Hypocrite. My mind whispered.
I couldn’t deny it. I’d been in love with Adam Sterling for so long I couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been the main star in every one of my fantasies. We’d been friends once upon a time before I’d left the safety and comfort of this house to go live with my mom and her new husband when I was sixteen. By “friends,” I meant that he tolerated me following him around day after day as he went about his duties on my grandmother’s ranch.
My grandfather had died of a heart attack in his early forties, leaving my grandmother with a fifteen-year-old daughter to care for and a ranch to run. Three years later, her daughter had announced she was pregnant with me, the product of her fling with a traveling salesman who was already married and wanted no part of the pregnancy or me. People always gave me a look of sympathy when they learned that part of the story, but the truth is, you can’t miss what you never had. I was a happy kid, growing up on my grandmother’s ranch with my mom.
Adam had been a constant in my life from the time I was born. Grams had taken him in when he was ten after his parents were killed in a car accident and had practically raised him as her own, so there was never a time when he wasn’t around.
Being ten years older than me, I’d had a kind of hero-worship thing going on where he was concerned. I tagged along behind him like his shadow, fascinated by the everyday tasks involved in running a ranch.
But as I grew, I became more fascinated with him, and my hero-worship had blossomed into something…more. People said you were too young to fall in love at sixteen, but the heart knows what it knows, and mine had beat for Adam Sterling for too many years for me to deny the authenticity of my feelings.
Not that he ever gave any indication that my feelings were reciprocated. I mean, why would he? I was a skinny kid with buck teeth and a mop of hair that constantly looked like I’d been on the losing end of a fight with an electrical outlet. And then, of course, there was my age. Adam was a man of morals. No way would even he so much as look the wrong way at a sixteen-year-old girl.
“You may kiss the bride,” the minister said, pulling me from my troubling thoughts.
Ah, crap. This was really happening.
My palms were sweaty, and I held my breath as Adam turned his gorgeous brown eyes on me. There was no denying that my new husband looked magnificent in his tailored suit. I hadn’t seen him in four years, and my memories didn’t do him justice because he was breathtakingly handsome. Tall, blond, and broad-shouldered, he now wore a beard that I wanted to tease with my fingers while he kissed me silly. He was the epitome of every cowboy fantasy I’d ever had, and I’d lost count of the number of times I’d touched myself at night with his image in my head. Just the thought had me squeezing my thighs together on a pulse of need.
Adam’s eyes moved to my lips as he leaned in toward me.
Oh, fuck! Was he actually going to kiss me?
His mouth twitched, and my cheeks heated as I suddenly realized I’d asked that question out loud.
Okay, somebody kill me now.
The thought fluttered away as his warmth surrounded me. He smelled freakishly good, like warm sunshine infused with some kind of manly spice that set my senses on fire. I watched, spellbound, as his face drew closer, noticing the tiny flecks of gold among the brown in his eyes. I found myself leaning in involuntarily as if pulled toward him by an invisible thread, my mouth anticipating the touch of those full lips.
Waiting…
Wanting…
His lips bypassed mine, and he placed a chaste kiss on my cheek.
Oh. Can you say anti-climax? Although, I’d settle for any kind of climax if Adam were the one delivering it with his hands or his mouth or his co…
“Can I talk to you in private?” Adam murmured close to my ear, his warm breath making me shiver.
“Sure.” I nodded, summoning a bright smile. “Just a sec.”
I bent to hug Grams, who had a suspiciously smug smile on her face. “Be right back,” I promised.
“Take your time, Izzy,” she replied, squeezing my hand.
She was the only one who called me by that nickname. It was our thing, ever since I was little, and she used to say to me, “Izzy Wizzy, let’s get busy,” when she wanted me to help her out with some job or household chores.
Adam grasped my elbow, sending goosebumps skittering along my bare skin as he led me from the drawing-room to the large living area.