Her doorbell rang and she started. She rolled out from beneath him and reached quickly for her clothes, scrambling into them. “I’m expecting a delivery. I totally forgot.”
She dashed barefoot to the door without giving him a chance to answer, pushing her hands though her messy hair. A couple of minutes later, she had the package in hand. Seeing Adam leaning in the doorway, mussed and shirtless, she felt her mouth go dry.
“Um, it’s a book,” she said, eating him up with her eyes.
He grinned, and her knees almost liquefied. After a glance around the book-strewn room, he said, “Looks like you need a couple more of those.”
“It’s a photo book,” she said, shaking her head at him. “Pictures of our vacation at the resort. You’re in it.”
“I’d like to see it.”
“I’ll show it to you.” She set the package on a table as she walked resolutely toward him. “Later.”
His laugh was muffled by the kiss she pulled him into.
* * *
“DAMN IT.”
Because Joanna had fallen onto her back, still trembling and gasping for breath as she muttered the curse, Adam laughed. His voice was still gravelly, his breathing still ragged when he asked, “What?”
“We were going to talk.”
“We can still talk.”
“Not unless you get dressed,” she said, rolling over to reach for her own clothes.
He leaned back against the headboard, watching as she gathered garments into her arms. “So the scars don’t bother you?”
She spotted her jeans halfway across the room, and had to take a moment to process what he was asking. Clutching her clothing to her chest, she stared at him as the words sank in. “What? No, of course not. Have I given you that impression?”
“No,” he admitted. “It’s just—well, they weren’t there before.”
“I have a few marks that weren’t there before, too,” she said quietly. “Our experiences are part of us, Adam. Some show on the outside, some don’t, but the only thing I dislike about your scars is the pain they represent.”
He nodded. His expression didn’t change, but she thought her answer pleased him. Her throat tight, she carried her clothing into the bathroom.
An hour later, both dressed, they sat on her now-cleared couch, eating delivery pizza from paper plates and looking slowly through the photo book together. Adam seemed to get a kick out of the themed groupings and whimsical embellishments she’d chosen to highlight each day of the vacation. He studied each page at length before moving to the next, as if memorizing Simon’s expression.
She knew he’d want to see more photos of Simon’s life and she had, of course, captured every stage from birth to the present day in photographs and scrapbooks. She had no doubt Adam would enjoy those—but would they make him sad about how much he’d missed? Probably, though he might not admit it. It made her sad for him, though they were both trying to let the past go and make a fresh start for the future.
The question was, exactly how did Adam see that future? He’d said he wanted her, that he wanted a chance to make something real with her, but did he honestly think they could do that when they lived across the continent from each other?
“This book is still stored in my account at the website,” she said when he’d turned the final page. “I could order a copy for you, if you’d like.”
He turned his head to look at her. “I sort of thought I’d be able to look at this one occasionally.”
“Whenever you like,” she answered evenly. At least that was a sign that he planned to visit them in Seattle.
He nodded and set the book aside to reach for another slice of pizza. “Have your parents been told about me?”
“Of course.”
“How did they react?”
“They were surprised. And maybe a little suspicious at first that maybe I’d gone back to Wind Shadow specifically to find you, even though I told them that wasn’t the case.”
He looked offended on her behalf. “They didn’t believe you?”