Can't Stand the Heat - Louisa Edwards [95]
“Hey there,” came a gruff voice from her left.
Miranda whipped her head around, scissoring her legs until she could clutch the sheet to her chest. Adam blinked up at her from the pillow beside hers, his mouth stretched in a drowsy smile. Dark stubble shadowed his jaw, but his eyes were clear and alert.
“Hi,” she said, immediately cringing at her own inanity.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “You jerked awake like something bit you.”
“Fine,” she replied automatically. Her head was pounding, tension tightening her nerves to the screaming point. She furrowed her brow in pain, and Adam frowned.
“You don’t look so fine to me, sweets. Head hurt?”
Miranda nodded against the pillow and Adam’s hand came up to rub soothingly at her temples. The headache subsided to a manageable level, allowing her to chuckle.
“This reminds me of the morning after I first met you,” she confided. “I had the worst hangover of my life.”
“I can believe it.” Adam grinned, but it faded fast. “I didn’t think you drank all that much last night.”
“No,” she agreed. “I’m afraid this is more along the lines of an emotional hangover. You know, too many ups and downs in a single evening.”
Adam’s fingers stilled, then combed through her riotous morning curls once before dropping back to the bed between them.
“I’m sorry you’re not feeling well after last night,” he said carefully, but Miranda could hear the underlying disappointment in his voice.
“It wasn’t you,” she hastened to say. “You were wonderful, perfect. Exactly what I needed.”
He actually blushed a little and turned his face farther into the pillow, mashing his nose and giving her only a glimpse of his crooked smile. Her heart swelled dangerously.
“I mean it,” she insisted.
“God, Miranda . . .” Adam faltered into silence, and for a few seconds, she was afraid he wasn’t going to go on. When he spoke again, it was painfully halting. “I wish I could fix this for you. I want it to be easy, like math: one down plus one up equals even keel. But I know it’s not.”
“Not exactly. But, honestly, I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through last night without you. Outside the bar, with Jess, and then after, here. You took me out of myself, made me . . . well, happier than I’ve been in a really long time.”
Fear dragged at her chest with that confession, but even as she pressed her lips together and watched closely for his reaction, some part of Miranda knew that she was safe with Adam.
Her hand fluttered out, unsure where to settle, and he caught it in his, squeezing her fingers reassuringly. His eyes had cleared, and he was watching her with a gentle understanding that wrung the breath from her lungs.
“I’m glad I could help,” he said quietly.
“You did,” Miranda assured him, her throat aching. “You still are.”
Adam’s mouth twisted into a lopsided smile. The pall that was trying to settle over Miranda’s mood lightened from black to a misty gray.
“How about breakfast? All part of the full-service Adam Temple Experience. Our motto is: sleep with a chef, expect to get stuffed. In more ways than one.”
He waggled his eyebrows outrageously and bounded out of bed, entirely unconscious of his own nudity. Miranda rolled over on her stomach to better admire the view.
“I’m not a big breakfast person,” Miranda confessed. “I usually grab a bialy from the coffee cart on my way to work.”
“Get out.” Adam rounded on her, hands on lean, bare hips and a scandalized expression on his face.
Miranda laughed, blushing a little at her own struggle to get her eyes to focus above Adam’s waist. “I know, I know, it’s the most important meal of the day.”
“Fuck that. It’s the most lip-smacking meal of the day. Whatever you want, from sweet to savory, pancakes to corned-beef hash. Name it, and it’s yours.”
Adam flung his arms out grandly. Something about the gesture seemed to clue him in that he wasn’t wearing any pants. He looked down at himself as if surprised, but evinced no embarrassment whatsoever as he turned to rummage through his bureau, eventually finding and putting on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms.
“Nice