Chasing You (Thirsty Hearts Book 4) (24 page)

T
he days
after the charity event rolled on slowly. Alexa put the drama out of her head and invested in finishing the spa expansion and giving Adam her remaining time and energy.

He kept pushing for a trip to meet her family, and Alexa figured a good compromise over going to Oklahoma was a trip to Dallas to see Taryn and Jeff. Two weekends later, Alexa and Adam left early Saturday morning and headed up I-35.

They arrived at lunchtime, and Taryn made them a creamy lemon chicken with pasta and a salad, which much impressed Adam.

“From what I gather, Alexa’s mother is wonderful cook. You are a wonderful cook. What happened with you?” he asked, shooting a grin at Alexa.

“I’m missing the gene to want to cook.”

Jeff twirled a last bite of pasta on his fork. “Alexa has cooked before. She might be sandbagging to get you to do it.”

“Ahh. A trickster. Well, we’ll have to do something about that. If you want to keep your man happy, you’re going to have to work on your domestic skills.”

Taryn’s nostrils flared. “It’s never been her thing. Not all women are domestic.”

“True. Maybe that’s why she’s still single. Lucky for me.”

“Yes, lucky for you,” Taryn snapped. “May I take your plate?”

Alexa jumped up from the table in Taryn’s sparkling kitchen. “I’ll clear the table. You don’t need to be on your feet.”

Adam stood as well. “I’ll help as well. I would hate to be poor house guest. We’ll clean up.”

“You guys don’t have to worry about all that,” Jeff countered. “Just put them in the sink with the pots and pans. Our housekeeper will be back in tonight.”

“Are you sure?” Adam asked.

“Absolutely. Instead of doing dishes, how about I show you the new putting green I mentioned. I have some clubs you can borrow.”

“Okay. Fantastic.” Adam turned to Alexa, who scooped up more dishes. “Come with us.”

“You know I’m not much for golf, and Taryn is in no shape for it. You guys go do guy time.”

“I want to catch up on girl talk with my cousin anyway,” Taryn piped in.

Adam’s eyes narrowed.

“We promise not to talk about you too much. Go!” Taryn insisted with a grin.

“Arguing is futile. Trust me,” Jeff added.

The men took off, and Alexa cleared the table, then sat back down across from Taryn and braced herself. “Alright, what do think of him?”

“You said he was really into you. That’s clear.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You like him. I can tell that. He’s very handsome.”

“Still not an answer.”

“I don’t know.”

Alexa squinted at her cousin. “You’re picking over your words like you’re trying to find gold nuggets in a pile of shit. You can’t tell me that you have no opinion.”

“Nice image. Thank you for that. Do you want some coffee?” Taryn thrust herself out of her chair and lumbered over to their espresso machine.

“Just say it.”

“He leaves me cold. And that whole thing about your domestic skills. Not cool.”

“He was joking.”

Taryn snorted. “He was joking in that way that’s supposed to sound like joking, but you really mean it. Shady.”

Alexa pushed back, not wanting to sound too defensive. “Obviously, if it bothered him that much, he wouldn’t be with me.”

Taryn’s huff was silenced by the clatter of the coffee maker. She filled two cups and carried them back over to the table. “What happened with the guy from New Year’s? Have you talked to him since your fight?”

“No.”

“Was it that bad?”

“I told you what he said. He was completely off base. Calling me bitchy. Telling me that the only reason I’m with Adam is because my biological clock is ticking and I’m desperate for a man to commit. Utter bullshit.”

“Okay. Easy. Jesus. He was probably just mad.”

Alexa chewed her bottom lip, then sipped her coffee.

“If it’s not true, Lex, why get worked up? Or was what he said more true than you’d like to admit?”

“It’s not true. Graham has a wandering eye—and some other wandering body parts as well.”

“Fine, but are you serious about Adam?”

An “of course” popped in her mind—almost too quickly—but stalled on her tongue. She dug deep for what was true.

“He’s attentive and romantic. And I don’t have to push him to want me and only me. It comes naturally for him. That matters. I can trust him. I would always have been wondering about Graham and waiting for his head to turn.”

“Did you have that conversation with Graham? It sounds like he wants to give it a shot, and you ran away.”

“I didn’t run away from Graham. I ran toward Adam.”

“Just because Graham isn’t the right guy doesn’t mean Adam is. None of the above is also an option.”

“I know, but—” Alexa started to argue, but seeing Adam appear from around the corner trapped the words in her throat.

“Sorry. Jeff pointed me in the direction of the bathroom, but I took a wrong turn.”

“Down the hall. First door on the right.”

“Perfect. What are you two chattering about so intensely?”

Alexa pasted a smile on her face. “Taryn is giving me advice. She’s always ready with advice.”

He opened his mouth, clearly about to follow up his line of questioning, but thought better of it. “First door on the right?”

“Yep.”

Adam’s eyes stayed fixed on Alexa for moment before he turned heel for the bathroom.

“Change of subject,” Taryn announced in a drawled whisper, then continued. “What are you doing for your birthday?”

“Melissa and Trista are throwing me a party at Trista’s.”

Taryn pouted. “I hate to miss it.”

“You wouldn’t have fun anyway. They’re getting kegs and liquor. You’d be the one sober person at the party.”

“Yeah. That’s no fun. Am I a total alcoholic that I miss drinking? I’m dying for a glass of champagne.”

“Having a baby is a thing to celebrate.”

“Exactly! We’ll see. I’ve been reading, and some mothers pump and dump.”

Alexa’s nose turned up. “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds repulsive.”

“It’s where you drink and then use the breast pump, but you dump the milk for a few hours after so you don’t give it to the baby.”

“What is that from drunkmom.com?”

“Funny.”

Alexa taunted Taryn with her ability to drink whatever and whenever she wanted until Adam found his way back outside.

“Now. What was I saying?” Taryn asked.

“None of the above is an option.”

“Exactly. Something to keep in mind.”

Alexa rolled the warm coffee mug between her hands. “You really don’t like him.”

Taryn reached across the table and took Alexa’s hand. “I’ve got to be honest. No. I don’t. But if he makes you happy, I’m happy.”

“He does,” Alexa asserted, as her cousin’s dubious look challenged her. “He
does
.”

L
unch
the next day brought about forced smiles and congeniality. Adam thought his face would crack.

Fuck Taryn.
How someone as strong as Alexa could let her interfering cousin boss her around baffled him. Loud and insufferable, Alexa’s cousin was exactly what he found repellent in most American women. The woman had an opinion about everything, and a voice like the shriek of a hillbilly barn owl.

Adam considered nominating Taryn’s husband, Jeff, for a Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, Jeff had begged off from their mid-morning brunch adventure in favor of “work” and needing to pick up his daughter from his ex-wife’s house later in the afternoon. His choice left Adam abandoned and in the company of the two women.

As Adam sipped his overly sweet cocktail, he tried to not to curse at the auditory intrusion of chimes clanging at him every few minutes.

“I love the chimes. They’re motion-sensing, so they go off when runners pass by,” Taryn explained.

Alexa looked around and tipped her head back, sunlight on her face. “It’s such a beautiful day. I love it when patio weather comes out to play. Every spring and fall almost make up for the summers.” She leveled her chin. “Almost.”

Taryn scrunched her face and stuck out her tongue. “Ugh. I can’t even think about summer. Let me believe that this eighty degree weather is going to last.”

“Maybe you can enclose your house with a giant bubble, and then you can make it comfortable year-round,” Adam suggested.

He still hadn’t gotten over the monstrosity of Jeff and Taryn’s home. Seven bedrooms? It was close to obscene. Adam took another sip of his drink. The house was fine. Clearly, Jeff had the money. Adam remonstrated himself. He shouldn’t let his feelings about the female occupant turn him into some kind of socialist.

Her words looped in his mind.
None of the above is also an option.
She had no idea about his and Alexa’s relationship. They were perfect for one another. Alexa would see that in time.

He forced air into his lungs and then out. He had to calm down. For better or worse, Taryn was family. Quelling her influence on Alexa wouldn’t be easy, but it would be impossible if he let his contempt for her build and bubble over.

“I’m so lucky that I get to see you this weekend and in two weeks. You should come up early and hang out the whole week.”

“Tempting, but I can’t.”

“I know. You’ve got the business to run.”

“Things are getting easier now that I’ve hired Trista. That girl is a dynamo. She’s teaches two and three classes, six days a week. Best hire I ever made.”

Adam found this the perfect time to interject. “Things aren’t awkward between you?”

Alexa had told him about Graham’s prior relationship with Trista after he pried the reason for the break up out of her. It hadn’t been an easy task, getting her to admit that Graham was little more than a womanizer.

“Not at all.”

He examined her face for whatever a look or a flicker might tell him. Nothing. He relaxed.

“So many female friends.”

Despite his best efforts, Adam couldn’t suppress the derision in his tone, but then his mind wandered to a vision of Graham and Alexa in a tangle of limbs and bed sheets. He gritted his teeth and forced his fists to open.

She had no reason to see him anymore. Alexa assured Adam that she had no business contact with the guy. Allegedly, he hadn’t been at the gym in weeks.
She cut things off with him.
Adam repeated the mantra.

“I forgot to ask you how your party planning gig went last weekend.”

Alexa’s inquiry for Taryn broke through Adam’s rumination.

Taryn launched into her response. “Great. We had a small hiccup when a couple of servers didn’t show up, but I called Shannon, and she helped me find a couple of replacements.”

“Shannon is Jeff’s first wife,” Alexa explained for Adam, then turned back to her cousin. “She worked at a restaurant, right?”

“She did. She stopped working, though. Waiting tables and being pregnant don’t mix.”

“But the business is going well?”

“It is. For now. I’m taking things easy.” Taryn rubbed her hands over her bulbous belly. “My munchkin is my top priority.”

Alexa cackled. “You’re going to be a great mom. You’re already skilled at turning every conversation back to your kid. You’re in the mommy-verse now.”

“I know! I’m totally turning into that woman. I love it though, so you’re just going to have to get used to it.”

Taryn’s high-pitched voice accelerated through every sentence. Adam downed his drink, hoping the alcohol would dull his hearing. Alexa’s lower voice gave him a break as they chattered.

“This is what you’ve always wanted, and now you have it. I’m thrilled. I’ll gear up for many afternoons of boring conversation about Diaper Genies and pre-school waiting lists.”

“Nope. We won’t have any talk about pre-school waiting lists. No need. Jeff and I already secured the kiddo a spot.” Taryn patted her stomach.

Alexa laughed, then looked more closely at the grin affixed to her cousin’s face. “Oh, my God! You’re serious!”

“Totally. Have we not met?” Taryn rolled out the question in her syrupy drawl.

“I have to go to the bathroom and reconsider our entire relationship.”

Alexa stood and stretched her lithe body. Adam watched her disappear inside the restaurant and continued the inane chat about Dallas pre-schools with Taryn before finding an opening.

“Can I talk to you about something for a minute?” He beckoned Taryn closer and dropped his voice. She leaned over the arm of her chair, eyes wide.

“Okay…What?”

“Alexa truly is thrilled for you, so I know she won’t say this to you. But I think it’s important. For Alexa.”

Taryn then leaned back in her chair, arms folded over her rounded belly. Adam continued.

“I think all of this baby talk is starting to get to her. Not that she’s not happy for you, but she feels this pressure right now from her parents and from herself. With all of her work commitments, she doesn’t know when or if she’s going to be able to have a family. It’s a lot. And seeing you…Hearing you talk about all of this. It’s been a strain.”

“If she had a problem, she would tell me.” Irritation hardened her gaze.

“No, she wouldn’t tell you. She wouldn’t want to make you feel bad.”

“But you don’t mind.” Taryn’s blue eyes narrowed like shards of broken glass. Adam had expected this kind of resistance.

“Not if it means doing what’s best for Alexa. I know you’re not sure about me and my intentions, but I love her, and I have her best interests in mind.”

“Sweetie, I don’t think one way or another about you. If Alexa cares about you and she’s happy, then I’m happy. I’m not the one who has to be sure.”

A razor-edged look of amusement and dismissiveness settled over Taryn’s face and sliced into Adam’s self-control. The insinuation was clear, but he pushed down the anger and stayed focused. Taryn needed to back off.

“All I’m saying is that the pressure she gets from her friends and from her family to settle down plus your having a baby and her business partner’s getting married…It all adds up to anxiety. You know how Alexa is. She would never admit that any of this got to her.”

“No, she wouldn’t.” His words seemed to find their mark. Taryn’s head tilted in contemplation. “I never thought Alexa would ever feel anxious about what’s going on in my life. She’s always so happy with hers.”

“She is happy. We’re happy. But she’s not getting any younger, and she wonders whether she’d even be able to have a family.”

“Alexa?”

Taryn glared at him, ready to argue. Adam looked away and into the restaurant. Alexa wound her way through the tables toward the patio.

“I think maybe it’s better to give her some space on the whole baby thing. She’s coming back out. Please don’t say anything to her. She’d be mortified that I said anything to you.”

The sharp-eyed blonde stared at him. “I’ll do whatever is best for her.”