It was amazing.

Breathtaking.

It was that moment at a hibachi restaurant when the chef does some crazy thing with the rice and you realize you’re in for a good show.

I twisted onto my side and reached for the phone on his nightstand.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Calling Kristen. I have to tell her the prophecy is true.”

He snorted. “Well, can you wait until after?”

I turned back to him. “But what if I need tips? Best practices? I am not prepared for this, Adrian.” I stared at it. “My God, no wonder you have those abs. You’re doing a crunch every time you stand up. It’s like a twenty-five-pound dumbbell hanging there.”

He laughed and climbed onto the bed, sliding over me. He finished taking off my bra and started kissing his way between my breasts, down my stomach.

Heat radiated off this thing like a lightsaber. I watched his head dropping farther down my body. “I mean, what if I can’t lift it?” I breathed.

Fingers wrapped around the waistband of my underwear and dragged them down my thighs. “I’ll do the heavy lifting,” he said, throwing my panties over his shoulder. He reached to the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a condom. He tore the wrapper with his teeth. It was a Magnum. I was afraid it still wouldn’t fit.

I sat up on my elbows to watch him put it on. His eyes raked down my body as he did it, taking me all in. I could see how much he wanted me. He looked like he was about to fuck me into the headboard and I was totally here for it.

I needed to savor every second. Press my lips to every surface that I’d been shamelessly ogling for the past few weeks. I was going to treat his body like a decadent dessert at the end of a great meal—because really, that’s what he was. He was the grandest of finales to a life well lived. The cherry on top of the cake.

He was very likely the last man I’d ever sleep with.

And it occurred to me that this would have been true even if I wasn’t probably dying.

CHAPTER 23

SEE WHICH CELEBRITY IS

YOUR SOUL MATE!

ADRIAN

I’d never had sex like this. To say it was fun was the understatement of a lifetime. She was as playful in bed as she was outside of it and she had no problem asking me for what she wanted. We couldn’t get enough of each other. We woke each other up in the middle of the night. I was on about three hours of sleep.

I loved the unique language of her affection. She climbed and explored me. Hung from my neck and kissed my Adam’s apple, hugged me from behind while I cooked a midnight snack for us, bounced off me and boomeranged back. She beamed at me, nestled into me, perched on my lap, peppered me with kisses. I wish I’d been able to unlock this level sooner. I wish I’d met her years ago. High school. Grade school. A previous life. It all felt like lost time.

It was Tuesday morning and I was getting ready to head into the office. I’d dealt with Annabel’s arraignment over the weekend. She was getting released from the hospital today straight into a rehab facility in Iowa. Sonja and Gerald were taking her.

She’d specifically requested that Vanessa not come. She didn’t want to see her. She was mad at her sister, probably for cutting off her credit cards and phone. Vanessa seemed hurt, but she was just glad Annabel was getting help.

I stood over the bed, putting on my tie, smiling down at the sleeping woman curled up in my comforter.

I loved having Vanessa in my bed. I loved waking up and being able to pull her in instead of staring at a wall between us or waiting for her to wake up and text me back. I loved the smell of her hair on my pillows and the things she’d say when she was half asleep. I loved when I got to get up with Grace and bring her back to give her a bottle in between us in the bed and we felt like a little family.

The corners of my lips fell.

Grace.

The best possible scenario was that Annabel would get clean and take her daughter back. Then I could still see her. And with Annabel heading to rehab, the chances of that were good.

It was the other thing that bothered me. The reason Vanessa couldn’t adopt Grace herself.

She’d be going back to work soon.

In fact, the sooner Grace was gone, the sooner Vanessa would be too. And I didn’t like what that would look like. On any level.

Vanessa was usually gone so much she didn’t even keep a place here. All her stuff had been in a storage unit for the last two years. She’d rented an apartment because she’d planned to be home for a few months to help her sister with the baby. Then she’d ended up with Grace altogether and got stuck here. But when that was over…how did I—us—fit into that?

I didn’t fly. And even if I did, I couldn’t leave work for weeks at a time to travel the world with her. And she couldn’t stay here and make videos. Not in the long-term. She was already clutching at straws trying to come up with content as it was…

But I was trying not to look at the sun.

Annabel was months away from completing her ninety-day program. After that she’d move into sober living. She wouldn’t be able to have Grace there. That meant Vanessa was still months away from leaving. We had some time to figure it all out.

Vanessa stirred, and I smiled down at her. She peered up at me sleepily. “Where are you going?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“I have to go to work.”

She put her lip into a pout. “Awwww. Stay with me.”

“I can’t.” I smiled, knotting my tie. “I changed Grace and gave her a bottle. I gave Harry his meds and put some wet food down. Satan has been fed.”

She laughed. She threw the blankets off her and stretched like a cat.

She was naked.

My hands froze on my tie.

She looked at me over her shoulder and gave me a mischievous grin—and then grabbed her T-shirt, pulled it over her head, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she came out, she started jumping into her pajama pants.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

She shrugged. “You’re leaving. I have to go home.” She climbed onto the mattress and stood on her knees on the edge of my bed and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing my waist.

“You’re not going home.” I smiled. “I don’t ever want you to go home. In fact, I think we should cut a door between our apartments. Use yours as a closet.”