Breaking the Rules (3 page)

His
supervisor hadn't been happy when Adam called to have his appointments rescheduled so he could stay in the city for the weekend. He finally gave in when Adam offered to burn two days of vacation time if they footed the bill for changing his flight home. It saved the company money in the long run, especially since he was supposed to come back here next week as it was.

He'd never done anything like this before. He didn't take
spontaneous vacation days. He didn't talk back to his superiors. He went in day after day, drove to the airport week after week and was damned brilliant at his job. Something about Carly made him want to throw his dedication to his work aside for just a little while.

She would never know how hard he fought to stay in town. She'd already called him creepy a couple times and this move would probably
move him straight to psycho-stalker level in her eyes.

Thursday morning, Adam reached for his phone as soon as he got out of bed. His plan was to play it
cool, offer to take Carly to breakfast since he was in town. The flaw in his plan was evident when he realized he didn't have her phone number. In true stalker fashion, he spent part of the day walking the streets near the theater hoping to catch a glimpse of her. By early afternoon, he was starting to creep himself out, and he returned to his hotel room trying to come up with a plan.

Calling the theater wouldn't work. He didn't know their
policy on employees getting phone calls, and Dax-the-Douche probably would blow his stack if Carly got a personal call the day before opening. Adam didn't understand how Carly worked with that guy day in and day out without tearing into him. The teenage girl he knew was quiet but didn't take crap from anyone. From what he'd seen yesterday, she
certainly
didn't allow herself to be a doormat now. Any evidence of “quiet Carly” was long gone. It was sexy as hell.

Suddenly, asking to spend four
extra days in New York without even knowing if Carly wanted to spend more time with him seemed like an extremely pathetic move. Adam wondered when he'd turned into a pansy.

***

The only reason Carly didn't altogether lose her mind in the days following Adam's visit was that there was still a show to put on. Dax's fuse continued to shorten as the hours ticked away, and the demands became more and more ludicrous. The best news was that Friday night he was perched on his stool calling the show while she made sure each department was ready for the curtain call.

When she dragged her
weary body through the stage door after the opening performance, she ran into a brilliant bouquet of wildflowers held in an outstretched hand. "I thought you didn't leave alone?" Adam scolded.

Could she tell him that she'd left
alone exactly three times, and he happened to be on the other side of the door two of those nights? Should she tell him that she left without waiting for her friends hoping that he would be there? She considered it but figured that would sink her to a level of desperation no woman ever should admit to reaching.

After five months spending nights with the cast and crew, their
company was no longer enough. When the conversations didn’t focus on picking apart the evening's rehearsal and who wasn't pulling their weight, it was wasted on pipe dreams and gossip. No one wanted to make the effort to dig deep enough to have a stimulating discussion. With Adam, every word held meaning, even when it was a seemingly nonsensical topic.

Tonight, her gamble had paid off. She would never hear the end of it for missing the opening night party
, but it was worth it. There would be other parties, and she could rejoin her group next week. Adam, on the other hand, would be gone soon. It felt like she was trying to get her fill of him before he left. She had survived life in the city for years, entirely unaware of his presence, but now the thought of not seeing him made her heart drop. 

"I thought you weren't a creepy stalker
," she said, her face serious for a moment before she could no longer contain her grin. "Maybe next time you could tell me when you're going to show up."

Adam laughed as he wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders, "Nah, that takes all the fun out of it. Plus that would
require having your phone number. Call it an act of desperation if you must." Adam placed his hand on the small of Carly's back and led her out of the alley. She made a concerted effort to steady her breathing at the feel of his hand splayed above the waist of her jeans.

They walked in companionable silence towards the same
bar they had visited earlier in the week. Whether it was chemistry or the fact they had known each other on a different level for so many years, it felt natural to walk down the street curled under Adam's arm. The relaxed smile on his face when he glanced down at her said that the feelings were mutual.

There were no
open tables in the pub at midnight on a sweltering Friday night. Not in the mood for drunken strangers jostling her about, Carly stood on her toes, suggesting a change of venue. "Why don't we just head back to my place?" Even though she was less than an inch from his ear, Carly had to shout so he could hear over the offensively loud music.

He nodded in agreement, finished his beer and led Carly to the door. "We need to get you something to eat," he said poking at her
narrow hips.

His incessant
need to feed her could have been annoying, especially because he accompanied it with comments about her being too skinny. Why should it matter what he thinks? He wasn't the one surrounded by fashion and glamour all day, every day. On the other hand, part of her wouldn’t let go of the idea that he knew she didn’t take care of herself, and he was simply looking out for her. Friends did that, right?

She conceded without telling him that a blueberry muffin had been the last food to
cross her lips, and that had been before noon. Not in the mood to deal with crowds who were quickly slipping into a drunken stupor, she suggested they order pizza and enjoy a quiet night at the apartment.

That turned out to be one of the best ideas Carly had had in a long time. Not only did she
get to lose herself in his gorgeous eyes, she also learned that he had incredible hands. When he first pulled her legs onto his lap, she balked at the thought of anyone coming near her feet when tennis shoes had entrapped in them for sixteen hours. It didn't take long before she succumbed to the pleasure and closed her eyes as he released every ounce of tension from her toes to her knees.

Three glasses of wine and the world's best foot massage were the perfect ending to a stressful night. Carly fell asleep on the couch as they watched reruns of cheesy sitcoms and Adam brushed the length of her arm with his thumb. She started to
wake when he shifted beneath her.

"
Shh," he whispered in her ear. "Let's get you to bed." Had he been any other straight man Carly knew, she would have shot to life, suspicious of what he expected once they reached the bedroom. With Adam, she could only hum in approval. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck as he stood with her cradled in his arms.

Once inside the bedroom, he pulled the quilt
back and gently laid her head on the pillow. She didn't want to sleep in her clothes, but she was far too relaxed to change. When she felt Adam reach for the stud on her jeans, she flinched.

"Relax," he murmured, "I promised you
. I'm not creepy, and I meant it. I'm just trying to help you get comfortable." His words were sincere, and she lifted her hips so he could remove her pants. She should feel exposed lying before him wearing only a thin tank top and her purple panties with bright yellow stars. She ought to, yet she didn't.

"Adam?"
Carly mumbled, still half asleep.

"Yeah
," he responded from across the room.

"Don't go." Carly didn't want to sleep alone. Even though they
both would be sleeping, she wasn't ready to say goodbye. She halfway expected him to make a sarcastic comment, or to allude to expecting more if he slept her bed.

Silently, Adam sat on the side of the bed. Carly heard his boots hit the floor followed by the
clank of his belt buckle on the hardwood. He slid into the bed next to her pulling the quilt over both of them.

She rolled so she was once again in the crook of his arm. It was her new favorite place to be. Rubbing her fingers along his chest, they both fell asleep. Even asleep, Adam was a
perfect gentleman, his hands never roaming from the expanse of skin below her breasts and above her panty line.

The next morning, Carly felt his strong hands gliding up and down her back as she came to
life. She lifted her head and laughed at the sleepy eyes looking back at her. "Morning," she said smiling.

"And a good morning it is," Adam chuckled. How could a man who didn't even get to first
base be so happy waking up in the same bed as a woman? Surely there was something seriously wrong with him.

***

Adam laid in bed watching Carly sleep for almost an hour in the morning. He knew that if anyone from home found out about this, he would be called a pansy or a liar. He was neither. Something about Carly made it all worth it to take his time and not rush anything. He wasn't going to cheapen the time they shared by having meaningless sex with her.

The thought made him
feel
like a pansy. While he'd never considered himself a man-whore, even he couldn't believe he'd spent the night with a beautiful woman and didn't try anything. Not only was she a beautiful woman, she was the girl he crushed on when he was a teen. It made him blush to think back on the number of times he'd rubbed one out while imagining it was her delicate hands wrapped around his cock during his high school years. He prayed like hell that this touchy-feely guy who had invaded his body never decided to reveal that little detail.

When he felt Carly stirring under his fingers, he worried about how she would react to seeing him in the bed. It didn't
matter that it had been her idea. More than one woman had freaked out on him upon waking up beside him in the morning. That was normally enough of a reason for Adam to slink out in the middle of the night.

"Sleep well?"
Adam asked when she rolled so they were facing one another. The smile on Carly's face told him there would be no awkward moments this morning.

He swallowed hard when Carly stretched
as if she had no idea how it would affect him to have her breasts thrust against his chest. It was agony. He debated reaching up to caress them but quickly pulled his hands back.

"Better than I have in a long time," Carly admitted.

The next two nights, Carly hustled to the alley as soon as she
finished work for the night. She no longer wondered if she would see Adam. She knew he would be leaning against the wall just to the left of the door with the heel of one Chuck Taylor resting against the toe of the other as if there were nowhere else he would rather be. Had anyone told her at any point in her life that she would smile at the mere thought of spending time with Adam Sanders, she would have laughed. It wasn't her style to act like this around any man, especially not the kid brother of one of her best friends.

Theirs was a
well-choreographed dance. She would finish with work, and sneak out the back door while her friends were shedding pounds of stage makeup. He would hand her a bouquet of flowers. Walking arm in arm towards her apartment, he would insist on getting something to eat. They ate takeout while talking about nothing in particular and watching TV. When either of them showed signs of being tired, they would fall asleep wrapped in each other's arms.

Carly stared blankly at her coffee Monday morning while Adam showered. Everything was getting ready to go back to normal. The old normal. The boring normal. The empty normal.
She wasn't ready to face normal again. She and Adam had been playing house for the weekend, ignoring the reality of their lives.

"Penny for your thoughts?"
Adam said, twirling her pigtails in his hands. There was an innocent quality to whatever it was they were doing. It was more than friendship, but they had never done more than cuddle. That was making it hard to figure out where her head was.

She batted his hands away from her hair. "Stop that," she laughed. He loved to pick on her pigtails. She loved feeling him
tug at them, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "I wish you didn't have to work today," she pouted. When she turned around, her breath hitched. Nothing prepared her for the sight of him wearing only a bath towel, water still beading over his firm chest.

He cupped her face in his hands, drawing her sad green eyes to his. "Me too, but it's a necessary evil," he said softly. He gently pressed his lips to her forehead. "I'll be home by four. Let's do something tonight."

She laughed at him. "Home, huh?"

"Hold that thought," Adam said as he disappeared into the bedroom. After two mornings doing the walk of shame, which was ironic since he still hadn't so much as tried to
get to kiss her, Carly found him sitting on his suitcase Sunday night when she entered the alley. It felt natural that he would bring his things to her apartment rather than shuttle back and forth, only using his hotel room as storage.

Once again alone in the living
area of her depressing apartment, Carly knew they needed to talk. They should talk, but she didn't want to push the issue and scare him away. Their whatever it was had been going just fine without a label and that should be enough. But it wasn't. There were things Carly needed to know. Was a one-time escape from reality or was there a possibility of her spending time with him when he was back in the city?

"I swear, I'm not coming out of the bedroom again if you're going to have that mopey face when I walk into the room," Adam laughed. "It's a good way to give a guy a complex." He flopped onto the couch patting the cushion next to him. "Come here. I have twenty minutes before I have to go."

It wasn't enough time. If he had said he wasn't leaving the apartment until he had to fly home tomorrow night, it still wouldn't be enough time. Carly wondered when she had morphed from Miss Independent to this whiny, needy girl who didn't want her–whatever Adam was–to be away from her for a single minute.

Carly curled into a ball next to him. She hesitated to lean into him
as she always did because he was dressed for work. He looked incredible in a pair of khakis that looked tailored to perfection. She knew they weren't, because that wasn't Adam's style. He was the type of guy who pulled something off the rack and called it dressy enough. The cobalt button-down shirt turned up the brilliance of his normally light eyes.

Obviously not concerned at the thought of a few wrinkles, Adam pulled her to him until her head was resting on his chest. He smelled
amazing. "Hey, what's going on in there?" He asked, brushing his hand over her hair.

"I just..."
She didn't know what to say. How do you tell someone that you've only spent a few days with that you're going to miss him? It felt needy and clingy, and everything Carly hated. "You're going to think I'm stupid," she said, allowing his gaze to hold hers for the first time today. She had avoided direct eye contact fearing he would be able to read everything running through her mind.

Adam sat quietly, waiting for Carly to continue. When she didn't, he said, "I promise you, I won't think you're stupid." He rubbed her bare arm as he continued, "Even when you were a stupid girl I didn't think you were stupid." He laughed at her
curious glare.

Carly sighed. "I guess...it's just..."
Come on, one sentence. Just form one sentence.
She started again, "I don't want you to go. I shouldn't feel that way since we just met, and since you're Julia's little brother, but there you have it. Knowing you're going to be outside work waiting for me makes the day go faster. Knowing you're next to me at night helps me sleep. You have given me three awesome days, and I don't want to go back to before." She cursed herself for going from not being able to make words to a case of projectile word vomit.

Softly kissing her hair, Adam let out a slow breath. "You're not stupid. We didn't just
meet; we've known each other our whole lives. Yes, I'm Julia's little brother, but think of how many guys are someone's brother," he chuckled. "And trust me, I feel the same way. I have to go for now, but can we talk about this over dinner?" Carly nodded.

As Adam walked to the door, he turned around motioning for Carly to come over to him. When she got close, he pulled her tighter to his chest than ever before. "Don't
obsess today. I'll get done with my appointments, and I'll be back. Find something fun for us to do tonight. Even if we've both done it before, tonight we're just two kids from Wisconsin visiting the ‘Big City’." She felt his arm turn to expose his watch. "I do have to go now, or I'll be late."

Then
, he did something she wasn't expecting. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. It was a chaste kiss filled with promise. Carly stood in front of the closed door with her fingers pressed against her lips. She fought the urge to run down the five flights of stairs and throw herself into his arms for the type of kiss she wanted from him.

***

Adam knew his man card was in serious jeopardy of being revoked as he walked down the five flights of stairs from Carly's apartment. Somehow, he'd jumped right past the first date and into wedded bliss. The worst part was he didn't mind. He liked sitting in the alley waiting for Carly to finish with work. He enjoyed walking her home and making sure she was eating.

In some ways, he'd waited his whole life to have these moments with Carly. She'd never know it
, but she was the first person he ever thought about spending the rest of his life with back when he was young and foolish. While it wasn't the type of thing most teenage boys thought about, when you spent as much time with older kids who were already planning on forever with their high school sweethearts, it wasn’t all that weird. The only thing unusual about those feelings from long ago was that he'd never had the balls to ask Carly on a date.

Stepping into the busy Manhattan morning, Adam felt more normal than he had a right to. Carly's
simple apartment felt like home to him, and it had nothing to do with the dwelling. It was the knowledge that he'd see her that made it a place filled with comfort. He needed to find a way to convince Carly that they were perfect for one another. If it was meant to be, and God help him he already thought it was, there was no way he was going to let distance ruin their chance at happiness.

***

Carly typically spent her days off running errands. Today, she curled up on the couch and did exactly what Adam had told her not to do. She obsessed. It started with catching up on the journal she had faithfully written in every night for as long as she could remember. Journaling was a mind dump for Carly. It was nothing more than trying to get everything out of her head before going to bed. Today, it was about remembering every detail of her time with Adam before the memories started to fade…before he was gone. It was one more example of how she was morphing into someone she swore she would never become. She was giving up the power over her happiness.

At lunchtime, she forced herself to get dressed and leave the apartment. She wasn't hungry
, but she wasn't going to let Adam give her a hard time about not eating. It was twisted, but she was even going to miss that annoying habit of his. Her throat was so thick with emotion she felt as if she were going to choke on her turkey wrap. She already missed Adam, and he wasn’t even gone yet. She couldn’t remember the last time she had missed anyone like this.

While she was out, she thought about calling Annie. Normally,
one call to her outspoken friend could solve any quandary involving a man. This time, calling Annie would require hiding several key details about the man in question because she wasn't ready for anyone from home to know about whatever it was they were doing. She knew Adam would feel the same way, especially when it came to Annie. She was a dedicated and loyal friend who couldn't help but feed the local rumor mill.

None of her city frie
nds would understand her dilemma. It pained her to realize that most people she associated with were so shallow that they wouldn't see the problem with dating a friend's sibling. They also wouldn't understand developing any sort of attachment to another person in such a short time. Most of them thought it was pointless to form any emotional connection to other people period. This was one time Carly was going to have to figure things out on her own.

Carly did the
only thing she knew would help clear her mind. She went shopping. A racerback tank dress called to Carly from the window of a small boutique. It had a fun tie-dyed pattern in deep turquoise, white and shades of green. Even on her slight frame, the hem of the dress would be inches above her knees. It was the perfect dress to make sure Adam remembered her when he got on that plane.

***

Carly wanted to make a dramatic first impression for their date. When the sickly intercom bleated to let her know Adam was back, she buzzed him in and quickly retreated to her bedroom locking the door behind her. "Do you always leave your apartment unlocked?" Adam called out as he entered the living area.

"No, I left it open today because I have a cute boy coming over," she giggled. "Your stuff is in the other room."

"Need me to clear out before he gets here?" Adam asked, playing along. One more thing to add to the growing list of little things she was going to miss about him.
Dammit, there shouldn't even be a list...

"Might be a good idea," she called through the closed door. "Now, get ready so we can go."

Rather than waiting for him in the living room, Carly remained sequestered until he knocked on her door. "Did that boy come and sweep you away from me?"

When she opened the door, Adam was speechless. Mission accomplished. As much as they both loved her pigtails, Carly had opted to
allow her hair to fall in soft blonde curls to the middle of her back. The dress stopped just short of mid-thigh, elongating her toned legs. Carly laughed at his reaction. "Are we going or are you going to stand around all night?"

"Damn," he exclaimed, "You definitely don't look like a little girl tonight."

She rolled her eyes at the statement. "I haven't been a little girl for a long time. And how in the hell do you get away with calling me a little girl, you're younger than I am," she snapped playfully.

"That's not what I..." It felt
right that he was the one at a loss for words tonight. "Wow," he said grabbing her arm to spin her around, "You look beautiful. This is, by far, the best trip I've had in a long time."

For a split second, it was easy to think this was her life and Adam was a
guy she was seriously attracted to. His comment thrust her back into reality. His presence was temporary and probably always would be. For a brief moment, she thought her Broadway dreams were overrated. A small part of Carly wished she were back home living with her laid-back friends and able to spend time with Adam whenever he was home.

It was a good thing she hadn't picked a dressier outfit for the night. Adam was once again wearing his ultra-soft, faded jeans paired with a simple white t-shirt and black vest. Proving that he was still as goofy as ever,
a pair of bright green Chuck Taylors brought the outfit back to earth.

Walking down the street, Carly caught their reflection in the window of the local seamstress. She didn't care if
the thought that they made a damn awesome looking couple seemed conceited. Well, other than the height difference, but even that was adorable.

“So, Peanut...” Carly's head whipped in his direction, not expecting him to call her by her childhood nickname. No one had called her that since Pop Turner died when she was sixteen. Adam chuckled, pulling her close to his side. “What do you have planned for us tonight?”