Breaking the Rules (20 page)

“I'll be back soon,” he said, bending down to kiss her head.

Carly shook her head. “No, this is probably better off as a tag team event. You shower; I'll catch a cab and see you there.” She pulled her dress over her head and started fastening her shoes. “I love you, Adam.”

“Love you too, Peanut.”

“So, is everything set?” Adam asked nervously.

The past three weeks had been a whirlwind of activity. Now, he was getting ready to jump on a plane with Micah and Caleb so they could go and bring the women in their lives home. He still thought it was hilarious that Micah was bringing Caleb along as backup when he tried to convince Julia to move back to Wisconsin. Then again, knowing how close she was to the kid, it might be Micah's best option.

“Yeah,” Carly replied. “I'm going to call her and tell her we're going somewhere. When we're close, I'll text you so you can get Micah in place.”

Adam nodded, knowing this plan was a solid one. “And you can get her out on the ice?”

“I told you
; I've got this,” she laughed. “I swear you're getting to be just as bad as Micah. You know he's called me six times to make sure she wasn't going to be out of town or stuck working late?”

“Sounds about like him.” Adam honked his horn as he pulled up in front of Micah's house. They needed to hurry if they were going to make their flight. “Okay, well I'll see you in a few hours. She thinks you're going out with the gang from work tonight, right?”

“Yes, Adam,” Carly sighed. He could almost see her rolling her eyes at him. “We've been over the entire plan enough times I'm surprised I haven't spilled the beans in my sleep.”

Adam laughed. It was a
fact that Carly was excellent at keeping secrets unless she was sleeping. Then, you could start talking to her and get her to say just about anything. “You haven't, have you?”

“No,” she growled. “Jesus, she had better
say yes because I'm about ready to slap both of you. I will be at the airport when you land and then we'll all go to the hotel. Tomorrow, business as usual. Tomorrow night, we get those two back together permanently. We move home and all live happily-ever-after.”

“Okay, well if you're sure you know the plan,” Adam chuckled. He couldn't help himself.
Getting Carly worked up was fun, whether it was turning her on or frustrating the hell out of her. “I have to go. I love you, Peanut.”

“Love you too. Be safe.”

Adam didn't know why he was so nervous; it's not as if he was the one proposing. Then again, if Julia said no, he could see Carly saying she wasn't going to move home and leave Julia in the city by herself. That would obviously put a damper on his plans.

Even though they had said they were going to take things slow, by the time Carly flew home after Thanksgiving, both of them knew they didn't want to keep spending a few days together here and there. After one argument and a few calm discussions, Carly had agreed that it made more sense for her to move back to Wisconsin than for Adam to move to the city.

Adam got her in touch with a friend of a friend who ran the local children's theater, and she had an interview after the first of the year. He knew she would be perfect working with kids on a daily basis, even if the job itself would push her outside the comfort zone of being a stagehand. When she doubted she was qualified for the job, he reminded her that this was her ultimate dream, just with smaller actors.

But Carly wasn't the only one life was changing for. Adam had turned in his resignation with ETS. If the woman he loved could give up the city she loved for him, he could leave the security of a stable job that kept him out of town much of the time. Instead, he was going to take Micah up on his offer to buy into the company. Together, they would find a way to make the company grow and it would allow Adam to go to bed every night with Carly by his side.

***

Carly spent the next day going through her closets, making piles
to donate to charity, give to friends and a small pile she would take to Wisconsin with her. With Julia out of the house, it was the perfect time to start packing.

Seeing the growing
donation pile, she picked up the phone. No way were the guys going to sit around relaxing all day while she broke into a sweat.

“Hey, Peanut,” Adam answered. She could hear noise in the background and figured he was showing Caleb around the city.

“Hey, baby,” she replied sweetly. She had gotten over her hang-ups on using a sweet girly voice when she wanted something. And right now, she wanted help. “What are you guys up to?”

“Grabbing lunch and then we were going back to the hotel. Everything still
good for tonight?”

“I'm
sorry; did we have plans for tonight?” She couldn't resist giving Adam a hard time. She was tired of both of the men repeatedly checking to make sure nothing was going to derail Micah's plans. This was going to be the last time she offered to help plan a proposal.

“Funny girl,” Adam laughed. “So, what's up?”

“Change of plans for you guys,” she stated. “Grab me a deli box and get over here. I'm going to have you guys help me get some stuff out of here before Julia gets off work.”

Adam
muffled his voice as he said something to Micah and Caleb. “Micah's wondering how we plan on making that work. What if Julia comes home early?”

“Does he know anything about her? She has
never
left work early. And if he's that worried, he can hide out in my bedroom packing.” She wasn't a stupid woman. No way were the guys getting out of work that easily. If they wanted Carly and Julia to move back to Wisconsin, they were going to help. Especially since the guys had it in their heads that it would only take two days to pack everything, load it in a truck and head back down the interstate.

“
Gotta go; I think the kid who's subletting this dump just got here.” Now that she was getting ready to move, she didn't need to find the silver lining. Her apartment was cold, unfriendly, and no amount of cleaning could make it feel any different. It was the downside of living in an older building in New York.

“You're sure you should be subletting already? What if Julia doesn't go for it?” Adam sounded nervous. He was so cute when he was worried.

“Don't worry; I'll make sure that she's moving back with us, even if it takes me until the truck is packed.”

As resistant as Carly had been to the idea of moving away from New York, Adam had done a
fantastic job making her see that other jobs in the industry didn't require her to isolate herself from everyone she loved. Instead of living in a crap hole, hoping to see her name on a playbill, she was looking forward to living in a dream home with her dream man and making a difference in the lives of kids. Well, as long as she got the job that would work. And if not, she would see about working with Julia for a while.

Her boss had been royally pissed when she said she wasn't going to be able to be there for any of the post-show business, including breaking down the sets and cataloging all the pieces. In a different life, she would have caved to his complaining and offered to stay in town. Now, she had a life in Wisconsin that she was excited to start living.

***

It had only been about ten days since Adam had spent any quality time with Carly, but it felt like an eternity. And now, he could see her out on the ice but he had to stay hidden amongst the crowd.

As soon as Micah skated up behind Julia, causing her to lose her balance, Carly found the nearest opening in the barrier wall to get off the ice. She wanted to see what was about to happen, and she knew Micah planned to get Julia to stable ground before begging her to come home.

“Sexy girl like you shouldn't be out all alone,” a familiar voice whispered into her ear.

She turned around, wrapping her arms tightly around Adam's neck as he pulled her off the ground. They kissed the entire way to the table where Caleb was waiting for them.

“I missed you, baby,” she sighed, nestling into his lap. It was a good thing they were sitting in a dark area
, and she was shielding him. The entire world didn't need to know what was pressing against her ass at that moment.

“You two need to get a room,” Caleb grumbled. They looked up to see Micah's son glaring at them, but when he knew they were looking at him, his face broke out with a cocky grin. Carly knew life was going to be interesting, to say the least, with a teenager in their midst. And she had no doubt that once everyone was living in the same area again that
the poor kid was going to go from living with his single dad to having more than a handful of quasi-parents watching his every move.

“You, little man,” Adam started, smacking the back of Caleb's head, “You need to learn when to keep your mouth shut.
Someday, the day is going to come when you're kissing a girl and we catch you. Payback's a bitch.”

Carly scowled at him. “Watch your language, Adam.”

Adam squeezed her tight, nibbling on her ear. “Are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure he could teach me a few new words,” Adam howled. They all started laughing at the truth of that statement.

“Guys, shut up! There's dad and Julia,” Caleb hissed, pointing to where the high school sweethearts had just come off the ice.

Carly could feel Adam breathing heavily against her back as he held her against him. None of them said a word as they watched the scene unfolding twenty feet in front of them. When Julia dropped to her knees in front of Micah, Carly started to get nervous. She knew exactly what Micah had planned, and couldn't think of anything that would cause Julia to react hysterically unless she wasn't ready to admit she needed him in her life.

She let out the breath she had been holding when Micah practically jumped out of his chair, scooping Julia into his arms. Carly was surprised no one got hurt from the blades on her ice skates spinning around as he twirled her.

“I guess we know who's going to be wearing the pants in this family,” Adam laughed as he hugged his sister.

“Shut up, Adam,” Julia said, glaring at him. When she noticed Carly, she pushed back from her brother's embrace. “So, what's this?”

“Don't be mad,” Adam started. Carly rolled her eyes. Phrases like 'don’t be mad' or 'we need to talk' should be banned from the English language as far as she was concerned. Even if there was good news to follow, it was so rare that the other person was immediately on guard for bad news.

***

For a split second, Adam worried that they had screwed up yet again. Julia was tense as she stared at him and Carly. This wasn't the time for her to be getting upset; this was supposed to be a happy time. And now, he'd screwed that up.

“Look, we weren't keeping anything from you.” He placed a gentle kiss on his sister's forehead.
“It's just that you were
extremely
pushy about Carly and I getting together. I was worried that if you knew, you'd push even harder to make us go faster than we were ready to go. Carly needed time to work through her problems, and I needed time to figure out what I want and need.”

“So, is everything okay now?” Julia asked, genuinely concerned.

“Yeah,” Adam sighed. “We're good.” He placed his hand against the small of Carly's back, turning towards her. “Isn't that right, Peanut?” He leaned down, kissing her deeply. It felt good to finally have everything out in the open and not worry that it was going to set off an emotional grenade.

“Wow,” Carly said breathlessly. “Um, yeah. We're
good.” She turned to her best friend. “So, does this mean you're moving back to Wisconsin?”

Julia looked to Micah and then back to Carly. “I'm sorry, Carly
; I
really
hope you understand. Yes, I'm going back to Wisconsin with Micah as soon as I can talk to my boss and tie up some loose ends here. But don't worry; I'll pay my part of the rent until you find someone else.”

Carly tried her best to keep her face expressionless. It was fun to make Julia sweat a bit, and if her hurried words were any indication, Julia was definitely worried. Finally, she couldn't help but bust out laughing.

“Well, it's a good thing you're moving because it'd be awkward introducing you to the new tenants and expecting you to live there,” she laughed. Julia looked confused. Rather than let her wonder, Carly filled her in on all the details.

“I found someone to sublet the apartment. As soon as I finish up the last show on Christmas Eve, Adam and I will be on a plane headed home.”

It was as if everyone who had been so worried about Julia's ability to absorb and process life changing news suddenly thought it was a good idea to see just how much she could handle without cracking. In less than an hour, she and Micah were engaged, she was moving home, Carly and Adam let her know that they were a couple, and now Carly told her she was moving home as well. Carly watched closely to make sure Julia wasn't going to flip out from everything that was going on.

“So, where are you going to live?” Julia asked tentatively.

“I'll probably stay with Gran for a while. Now that you and Micah are shacking up, she'll have an open room.” Carly realized she hadn't actually stopped long enough to figure out those details.

“Over my dead body,” Adam grumbled. “If you think you're going to leave me all alone in the house now that I'll have you in the same state, you fell and bumped your head. There's only one bed where you'll sleep at night, and that's mine.”

“Ewww,” Julia squealed, shivering. “I so did not need that visual in my head.”

Carly laughed, leaning over to give her friend a hug. “Julia, it's a
huge
bed, and neither of us mentioned doing anything there other than sleeping. I think you're the one with the sex on the brain.”

“Can you blame her?” Micah asked. “She knows she's going to be getting lots and lots of it in the very near future.”

“Disgusting,” Caleb yelled. “Dad, I really didn't need to know that. Seriously, parents do
not
have sex.”

By this point, all five of them were barely able to speak through the laughter. Adam held up his hand. “Little buddy, as much as I agree with you that what your dad said was not only disgusting but
completely uncalled for, I assure you that parents
do
have sex. If they didn't, you wouldn't be here.”