Something to Talk About (37 page)

“I nodded and he nodded and we shook hands, and that was it. I might have said something scathing like ‘How’s it going, man?’ and he said, ‘It’s all good, bro,’ and that was the end of our first conversation.” He pretended to wince as Alicia gave him a poke in the chest.

“You didn’t say that and neither did he,” she protested.

“I know, but what we did say was just about as banal. When the going gets strange, the Cochrans get trite, what can I tell you? I thought I’d say something brilliantly bitter to let him know I wasn’t buying into all this instant family crap, but I didn’t do it. I couldn’t do it, Allie. I just shook the guy’s hand and that was it.” Adam shrugged, clearly still at odds with the situation. “I thought bile would rise in my throat and I’d be choked with rage or something. Being civilized is actually a huge letdown,” he said with a mirthless laugh.

Alicia rose on her knees and leaned closer to cup Adam’s face in her hands.
“Mi
corazon
,
I think you’ve thought enough about this for the time being.” She
gave him a soft
kiss and stood up, holding her hands out to him. “Come with me.” Adam stood up and gladly followed her into the bedroom.

* * *

John walked around the living room with his hands in his pockets. The events of the day were replaying in his head, an endless loop of images punctuated with a sound track of memories. He’d met so many people it was virtually impossible to keep them all straight, but he didn’t care. There was something comforting about the sheer numbers of them. They were his people, his new family. He’d met Alan and Andre, the identical twins, and their wives and children. He’d been deeply affected by seeing Angelique with her husband, Donnie; his first memory of her was as a spoiled
,
bratty
princess. He smiled when he thought about the Angelique he’d met that evening. Who could have predicted how well she would turn out? She was now an accomplished photographer as well as being a devoted wife and mother. He tried sitting down but found it uncomfortable and moved into the bedroom. He decided to take a shower in the hopes that it would help him relax.

He’d shed his clothes and was about to step into the bathtub when his phone rang. He picked it up curiously and smiled when he saw a familiar number on his caller ID. He took advantage of the big bed while he answered the call.

“Checking up on me, are you?”

Abe Gold’s voice was cheerful and unrepentant. “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it and I thought, who better than me? How are you doing?”

“Where do I begin, Abe? I lived through it, that’s the important thing. It was better than I could have hoped in a lot of ways. Theirs is an amazing family, Abe. Smart, good-looking people who all seem to be happy and normal, except for a couple of great-aunts who swear up and down they’re not twins.” He explained the Daphne and Dahlia story to Abe, who laughed uproariously.

“That’s hilarious, John. What else did you find out?”

John pretended he didn’t know what Abe meant and continued to talk about his newly met relatives. “
There’s
so many multiple births in that family it might be worth a study of some kind. Andrew is a twin and he has triplets, Benita is a twin with two sets of twins. The other set of
twins, Alan and Andre, they didn’t have any multiple births, but they have some really nice kids,” he said as though there were nothing more important to be discussed.

“They were all great, really welcoming, made me feel right at home. It could have been totally bizarre, but it was nice. Probably the best night I’ve had since before my parents died.”

A poignant silence might have ensued, but Abe wasn’t having it. “Cut to the chase. What did you find out? I hate to be blunt, but we only have so much time, John, I don’t have to remind you of that, you of all people.”

John took a deep breath. “Okay, Abe, this is what I found out. My mother died of liver disease. Benny doesn’t remember the name of it, he’s not sure he ever knew it, but that’s what killed her. Probably the same one that’s killing me,” he said without bitterness.

This time it was Abe who was silent. Finally he said, “John, as painful as that must have been to hear, it’s another big piece of the puzzle. Primary
sclerosing
cholangitis
, although the cause is still unknown, has some genetic factors. It’s almost impossible for you to have it and not have gotten the trait from one parent or another, and now we know. The other thing we know is that there’s a way you can be cured. This doesn’t have to kill you, John, not if we act quickly.”

“That’s just it, Abe. I can’t act. Not quickly, not slowly, hell, I can’t act at all. This is just something I’m not prepared to do.”

“John, you have to, you have no other choice. You’ve run out of options and you’re running out of time.”

* * *

Alicia drew Adam into the bedroom and sat him down on the bed. She stood in front of him, with her hands on his shoulders, looking at him with a look of loving tenderness on her face. She kissed his forehead and knelt before him to remove his shoes, stroking his long feet as she did so. She stood up and went to the wall by the doorway, turning off the overhead lights and illuminating the base of the bed. The warm, mellow light made the room look soft and seductive. Alicia picked up the remote for the stereo and pressed a few buttons, releasing the seductive sound of Ravel’s “Bolero” into the room. She returned to Adam, who had already unbuttoned his shirt in anticipation of what was to come.

Alicia took over, removing his shirt and sighing with enjoyment as she looked at his big broad shoulders, his smooth muscled chest, and his tight stomach with the sexy six-pack. She stroked his shoulders and kissed his neck, then his lips, letting her mouth play all over his for maximum impact. She took his upper lip and licked it
tenderl
y, pulling it into the warm moistness of her mouth to suck it gently, teasing him with tiny nips of her teeth, then treated the lower lip the same way. His soft sounds of pleasure let her know that he was enjoying it as much as she was.

S
uddenly he stood up, which startle
d Alicia until she realized that he was getting rid of his slacks and his briefs. Smiling in anticipation as his long, muscular legs came in
to view
Alicia
kicked off her own shoes and began unfastening the halter neckline of her dress. After sliding the supple silk dress down her equally supple body, she stood in front of Adam clad only in a black lace strapless bra and a matching lace thong. She didn’t stand long as Adam picked her up and deposited her on the bed, rolling over on top of her with a sigh of complete surrender.

“Allie, I’m so glad you’re here with me,” he said in his deep, sexy voice.

“I’ll always be here for you, Adam, I love you. You’re my heart,” she whispered. Her expression changed from loving tenderness to one of determination. “And this is all for you, so turn over, right now. I have something wonderful for you,” she purred.

“That sounds serious, should I be afraid?” Adam joked.

“No, you should be grateful,” she responded. As he turned over on his stomach, Alicia went into the bathroom and returned with a bottle of massage oil. She changed the music to the beautiful voice of Lenora
Zenzalai
He
l
m and climbed onto the bed, straddling Adam’s body and smoothing her hands over his back.

“You just close your eyes and don’t think about anything, sweetheart. I learned a few things when I was at the spa with Roxy.”

She poured some of the scented oil into her palm and warmed it by holding her hands together, then spread it over the taut bronzed bounty in front of her. She began to treat him to a wonderful massage, stroking his very willing flesh with
strong,
sure motions designed to both relax and stimulate him.

Adam immediately succumbed to the tender ministrations of his beloved; the feel of her warm hands on his body was lulling him into peaceful lassitude even while he was experiencing a powerful arousal. Alicia didn’t miss any part of his body; she caressed his back, his arms, and his neck, and when her hands worked their way down to his buttocks, he entered a dangerous stage of readiness.

“Baby, you need to slow down,” he groaned. “Or stop altogether, because I can’t take much more of this,” he admitted.

Alicia didn’t relent;
she continued to cup and
knead
the firm mounds to her heart’s content. “I can’t seem to stop, Adam. My hands just won’t let go of this cute behind of yours. I love this behind, it’s so sexy.” She sighed.

Her sigh turn into a gasp of surprise as Adam flexed his muscles so the object of her ardor moved under her hands. “Oh my,” she breathed. The feel of his now hot skin, slick with the fragrant oil, was incredibly sensual, causing her passion to mount to a level that could only be assuaged by the joining of their flesh.

Adam knew the moment the massage stopped and the foreplay began in earnest. He could feel the increasing heat from the soft flesh of her inner thighs a
s she continued to straddle him;
he
could sense the growing moisture the thin lace of the thong did lit
tl
e to contain. With a groan he gen
tl
y dislodged her as he turned onto his back and held his arms out to her, pulling her into his embrace and fastening his mouth on hers, losing himself in the hot sweetness of their kiss. Their hands moved almost frantically over each other’s bodies, each needing the feel of the other, the heat and the fire of their love.

He took her mouth again and again, loving her lips with his mouth and tongue, drinking the nectar from her as he ran his big hands over her body. He kissed down her neck, licking and sucking the tender flesh over her collarbones, her shoulders, and running his hot, seeking
tongue along her cleavage, greedil
y sucking her nipples through the fragile fabric of her lacy bra. Alicia shivered under the onslaught of his desire and was trying to remove her skimpy undergarments when Adam stopped her.

“Leave them on, baby, I love the way you look.”

He reached for a condom and with her assistance quickly rolled the latex protection on. Now they were ready, there was nothing to stop them from devouring each other with the hunger that consumed them.
 
Adam moved the thong aside with a skill born of need so keen it was painful. He entered her moist, welcoming canal slowly, trying to be as gentle as possible given
his
massive erection. He tried to be slow and careful but Alicia wasn’t having it. The feel of him entering her body snapped her control and she pushed forward to take him into her yielding heat. Her hips moved urgently, the motions of her body letting him know that she was more than ready for him.

“More, Adam,” she whispered, “more.”

The sound of her voice coupled with her sensuous, undulating movements released the burgeoning passion in Adam. He grasped her hips and plunged into her sweetness over and over, their sweat-slicked bodies coming together with increasing force until the inevitable end to their mating came in a galvanic climax that rocked them both. Adam thrust himself forward as she ground her hips against him,
sighing
his name over and over. He buried his head in her neck, trembling with the force of the pulsing shocks that convulsed his big frame, moaning words of love as he tried to regain some control.

“Allie, I love you. I love you, baby, you’ve always been mine, all mine."

“And I love you, Adam.”

She smiled as he collapsed on top of her, pulling her into his arms and rolling over onto his back to cradle her against him.
 
When their breathing slowed down, she rubbed his chest and suggested they take a shower.

“No, let’s just lie here and be sweaty. I love being all sticky and wet after we make love,” he confessed. “It feels so natural, like we were meant to be without anything between us. I can’t wait to be married to you, baby. And I really want to make love to you outdoors, Allie.”

“Outdoors?
In the wide-open spaces or under the trees somewhere secluded from the rest of the world?” she mused.

“Both,” he answered, pleased that she hadn’t rejected the idea. “I can’t tell you how much I love making love to you, Allie. When I’m with you intimately, touching you, inside you ... I can’t describe how it feels. I feel so close to you, like we’re the same person. It’s like you’re taking my breaths and I’m taking yours,” he confessed.

Alicia smiled delightedly. “I have to tell you something. Sometimes when we’re together I can’t tell if you’re inside me or I’m inside you, that’s how close I feel to you. It’s always like the very first time with you, Adam, but it’s also like we’ve been making love since the beginning of time. Does that make any sense?”

“It makes perfect sense, my love. So let’s be real sensible once more before we go get in the shower,” he said as he finally released her from her bra and panties in preparation for another sensual assault.

Her only answer was a soft sigh of anticipation as she turned into his arms for more loving.