Breaking the Rules (7 page)

Carly dug her nails into his back. “Who said I want you to go slow?”
she asked.

“I just--” Adam started to respond before Carly pulled his lips to her to stop him.

“No,” she demanded, looking directly into his ice blue eyes, “there's plenty of time for slow. Do what you need to do this time.”

As if her permission w
ere all he needed, Adam grabbed Carly's ankles and pulled them to his shoulders. She'd driven him to the point of no return so that he savored pounding into her time after time, feeling his balls slapping against her as they tightened.

Not wanting his release without hers, Adam reached between her thighs and started circling Carly's swollen clit with his fingers. Almost
immediately, she was bucking hard to meet his thrusts, and they both let go.

“That was so much better than getting on a plane,” Adam laughed. He brushed the honey blond
e hair away from Carly's face kissing her gently after every swipe of his hands. “You agree?”

Carly nodded, unable to form words. While theirs hadn't been a marathon session in the bedroom, it was
absolutely powerful. 

“I'm assuming that's a good thing?” Adam said pulling her back to his chest.

She nodded again. “It's so gonna suck when you leave.”

Adam laughed, “Just remember that this was your idea. I was
okay going home without validation that we'd be incredible together, but you just
had
to know.”

“Yeah, that was either my best idea or the worst idea ever,” she sighed. “You'd better find a way to get back here soon.”

“As soon as I can, baby. I already told you that, even without the record breaking sex,” he said, “But I can guarantee I'm going to be racing to get here as soon as my plane lands, so you'd better be ready.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Carly asked playfully.

Adam smirked, “Guess you'll have to wait to find out.”

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do when I come home next week,” Carly called to the bedroom as she put the finishing touches on her makeup.

For the past six weeks, she and Adam had lived in a safe little bubble. Not one person in New York knew about their connection, so they didn’t have to worry about anyone judging their relationship. The thought of being back in Brooklyn and having to answer questions made Carly more than a little nervous.

“What is there to discuss?” Adam asked, poking his head through the open bathroom door. “You’re an adult, I’m an adult and we’re crazy about each other. Seems pretty self-explanatory to me.”

Carly set down the straightening iron and slid her arms around his waist. “I know, but I don’t think it’s the right time for everyone back home to know yet.”

Seeing the wounded look on Adam’s face, Carly wondered if she was making an enormous mistake. She wanted to explain to him that it was hard enough for her to admit to herself how she felt about him without having to tell other people, but she worried he wouldn’t understand her feelings. He should, given the fact that they’d been through similar situations with parents leaving them, but hers was different. He had memories of his mom. He was old enough to know why she left when he did. Carly, on the other hand, still had no clue why her mom found it so easy to cast her aside.

“Why not?” Adam
groaned. They had talked about all of this before, and each time seemed to frustrate him more. Was she going to push him away if she didn’t give in?

“I worry about Julia,” Carly said softly. “She’s been through a lot already
, and she just moved back. With everything going on with Micah, I just think hearing that we’re together might be too much.” It wasn’t what she wanted to say, but she feared telling him the full truth would send him running. Who wanted a woman whose damage was so obvious? That was one more hurdle she wondered if they would ever be able to get over; she didn’t need him worrying about that too.

Adam’s eyes grew wide
, and his face tensed. “Back? As in back to Brooklyn? And what about
everything going on with Micah
?” he asked tersely raising his fingers to make air quotes around the statement about his sister and her ex.

Carly dropped her gaze to the floor. How did Adam not know Julia was back in their hometown? For whatever reason, Julia hadn’t mentioned it to Carly
, but she didn't realize Julia would have kept something like that from her family.

If Gran hadn’t called this morning, Carly still wouldn’t know. She should have never mentioned anything to Adam about Micah and Julia seeing each other
. Their break-up had been hard on everyone within their circle. The fact that Julia hadn't mentioned that tidbit to her overprotective little brother didn't surprise her in the least.

“You didn’t know?” Carly asked meekly, her eyes still fixated on the stained tile floor.

Adam growled, “No, I obviously didn’t know. All she told me was she was coming back to Wisconsin. If she’d mentioned anything about moving back to Brooklyn, I would have told her it was a terrible idea.”

“Gee Adam,” Carly said sarcastically, “why do you think she didn’t tell you then? She's probably sick of everyone telling her what to do. So how, exactly, do you think it would have helped her? If anything, it would have pissed her
off and she would have come back sooner.”

“And what's going on with Micah?” Adam snapped. “Don't even tell me they're getting back together. That would be the worst--”

Carly shook her head, “No, I don't think it's anything like that. Actually, from what Gran said, it's most certainly nothing like that.” Satisfied with her appearance, Carly turned off the bathroom light, and ducked under Adam's arm to escape his glare.

“What did Gran say?” Adam asked through clenched teeth.

Carly shrugged, “Apparently he was pretty upset when he got home last night. This morning, all he would tell Gran was that he blew it with her again. He told her
everything.
”

Even in a city with over eight million people, Adam and Carly were still managing to churn the rumor mill of their hometown of five thousand people. If it
weren’t for the fact that this bit of gossip came from her grandmother, and dealt with Adam's sister, Carly would have felt guilty about the conversation.

“Everything?” Adam asked, failing to hide the shock in his voice and on his face.

“Yep,
everything
,” Carly nodded. “And if that's the case, I just worry that adding us on top of the news she's processing about him and getting used to being single might be a bit much for your sister to take on right now.”

It didn't sit well with Adam that Carly was asking him to keep their relationship a secret. He wanted nothing more than to walk into the street dance with her on his arm. What she was asking was ridiculous.

“Okay, so we've spent almost two months busting our asses to make things work between us
,” Adam stated pacing around the bedroom. “I've worked as hard as I can to get out here to see you as often as possible without raising red flags at work. But now, because my sister might not like it, I'm supposed to pretend like you're still just my sister's friend for an entire weekend that we're together?”

Carly's shoulders slumped. When he put it that way, it did sound pretty
pathetic. “I just...I don't want her mad at me,” she confessed. “I think it'd be better for all of us if we wait until a better time. Think about how much has already been thrown her way in the past few days.”

“When would be a better time for you, Carly?” he barked. This was the first time they fought
, and Carly winced at the harshness in his tone.

“Adam,” she sighed reaching for him, his pacing driving her crazy, “I don't want to fight with you about this. Like you said, we're crazy about each other
, and I don't want to screw that up by having Julia mad at either one of us.”

This is exactly why Carly didn't do relationships. They were far too complicated
, and she always managed to say the wrong thing. Life was much easier when she didn't try to guess what others were thinking.

“So basically, you're saying how Julia feels is more important than how I feel?” he seethed.

This was not going well at all. Logically, she could understand his train of thought but he was way off the mark. Carly wished she could make him see she was trying to do what would make their lives easier. She thought about coming clean with him and letting him know how scared she was of her feelings for him, but she couldn’t do it.

“No,” she said placing her hand firmly on his chest. “It's not that at all. Well, it is, but only because I have more faith in you to handle this crazy request than I have in her
to not flip out on us. I'm only going to be there for a few days, and I don't want to deal with any drama.”

Instead, she was creating drama before she even got on the plane. She was risking the first
decent thing she'd had in a long time over the opinion of someone she hadn't seen in years. Was it worth it? Was it possible for things to go wrong if their friends and family knew? Yes, she decided, there was an excellent chance of chaos if everyone knew. Maybe not now, but when things didn’t work out, it would drive a wedge between her and everyone she cared about for so many years.

“Fine,” Adam sighed. “I still think it's bullshit. You know better than anyone that I'd never do anything to upset her, and I don't think this will. But I'm not going to spend my time here this week fighting with you about it.”

“Remember, it’s not like she’s been open and honest with you either,” Carly pointed out.
“Hell, she didn’t even tell you she was moving back to town. You had no clue that your own sister was living that close to you. How screwed up is that?” It was a low blow, but maybe if he could see that his sister wasn’t forthcoming either, he would be okay with this little secret. At least for a little while.

There was no satisfaction when Adam stormed out of the bedroom
without responding to her observation. Carly flinched when the door to the apartment slammed. She debated running after him to tell him she changed her mind. She didn't, fearing that if she did it would set a precedent for future fights that he could storm off like an immature ass, and she'd cave to his wishes. Caving was not something Carly did for anyone. On the other hand, if keeping their status a secret was going to cause issues this severe, was it worth it? Was she throwing their relationship away because she couldn’t let the world know how happy she was when she was with Adam?

The delicate bubble of bliss was broken. Carly knew it happened with every relationship, but she figured they could have stayed there a bit longer.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, my ass,
she thought as she pulled a bottle of white wine out of the refrigerator.

For the first time since
the first week Adam had spent with her in New York, Carly started to question her decision to throw out her personal rulebook. Yes, the lonely nights were miserable when Adam was back in Wisconsin, but they were made better by the fact that he truly was making the effort to get back to New York as often as possible.

He still checked into
his hotel every time he came to town, but that was simply a formality so that no one would question his trips. He didn't even pay the cabbie anymore; he simply ran in, checked into the room and got back in the cab to hurry to the apartment.

When Adam hadn't returned by midnight, Carly pulled herself off the couch. They hadn't worked this hard to
make a long-distance relationship work just to give up on it without a fight.

***

Adam wasn't proud of the way he'd raced out of Carly's. It was a chicken-shit thing to do, and he knew it. But he couldn't stay there and keep going around with her, especially when he could see her point. Julia obviously wasn't thinking clearly if she had moved back to Brooklyn
and
she was hanging around Micah fucking Anderson again. And Julia had lied to him, so why couldn’t he appease Carly and not tell their friends and family just yet?

He knew the answer.
Carly wasn’t telling him something. He didn’t believe for a minute that Julia was the reason she didn’t want anyone to know. It might be a small part of the reason, but Julia was a convenient excuse. That pissed him off because he realized Carly was holding back from him. If they had any hope of surviving, she needed to learn to open up to him and tell her how she was feeling, even when he wouldn’t understand it.

Truth
was he hadn't stomped out of her apartment like a petulant teen because of her request. He left because he needed some time to process this shit about his sister. It took everything he had in him to leave his cell phone safely in his pocket. If he called Julia, he was going to get exactly what Carly had predicted: a big fight, a pissed off sister and it would probably drive Julia right into Micah's bed.

He and Micah made their peace years ago
. Adam threatened to pound his face into the dirt several times after he found out that not only had he broken Jules's heart but he'd also lied to her when he did it. It became much harder to hate the guy once Micah offered Adam a place to live when his dad lost his damned mind and destroyed the house one night. That didn't mean he wanted Julia hanging around the guy.

Even years later, Adam wasn't sure why he'd called Micah that night
, but figured it was probably because Micah was one of the only people who knew just how miserable things were in the Sanders house. Luckily, Micah didn't hesitate to offer Adam the spare bedroom in his apartment. That was the start of healing their friendship.

Now, it was more than friendship; Micah had become a
big brother to Adam. Under different circumstances, he'd be on the phone right now asking Micah's advice on what to do about Carly. That wasn't possible when A) if he called and tried to be vague about whom it was that he was seeing but couldn't say, Micah would figure it out by the time Carly landed in Wisconsin and B) a significant part of the reason they were fighting had to do with Micah. That left Adam to figure this one out on his own.

More than once, Adam walked to the door of his small hotel room overlooking Times Square
planning to go back and ask Carly to forgive him for being an ass. Every time, he allowed his pride to get in the way and cracked open another beer instead.

He could see
no reason they should have to tiptoe around and pretend they were just friends. Then again, would that even work since they hadn't been friends when they were younger? If Carly wanted him to act as if they were acquaintances when they went to the all-class reunion, then that could be a deal breaker.

Adam was quickly realizing this long-distance thing was much more complicated than he'd ever thought it would be. It seemed simple in the beginning
: They would hook-up when he was in town, talk on the phone a few times when he was back in Wisconsin and let things flow naturally.

He didn't care if it made him a pansy; what they had wasn't enough anymore. It's not
as if he wanted to put a ring on her finger or anything; he just wanted those closest to him to know that he had someone significant in his life. He wanted to be able to tell them
who
that woman was. Carly was the first woman he would have no problem introducing to his friends, and she wouldn't let him. It was maddening.