* * *

Adam needed to get a grip.

But, damn it, the conversation he and Kerry had just had in his bedroom had thoroughly pissed him off.

He yanked open the door to his garage, hard enough that it nearly came off its hinges, then did the same to his car door.

Why did Kerry always have to look for problems?

He grabbed her dress, her shoes and bag, but left her bra and panties because those were unsalvageable.

Why couldn’t she just go with the flow?

He slammed his car door shut.

Why couldn’t she just let her hair down and have fun for once in her life?

He slammed the door to the garage shut, too.

Why did she keep assuming he was going to be a jerk about everything?

He headed back through the entryway and kitchen, still fuming as he headed up the stairs.

Couldn’t she see that she was his friend and he didn’t screw over his friends?

Adam stopped halfway up the stairs, cursing again as he finally realized that, while she might have played things wrong this morning, he sure as hell hadn’t done much better by snapping at her as soon as she brought up her worries.

Kerry had been clear from the start about meeting at hotels and keeping sex separate from everything else. First it was his family and the wedding that she hadn’t wanted to be affected by their hooking up. Now, they’d added in a house.

She was right. Things could get complicated if they let them.

So they wouldn’t let them.

He put her bag on the seat of the leather chair by the fireplace, laid out her dress along the back, and put her shoes down beside it, then headed into the kitchen to make some coffee and wait for her. When she came out fifteen minutes later, looking and smelling fresh and beautiful, he didn’t waste any time in handing her a cup of coffee—or getting straight to the point.

“I’m sorry.”

She had the cup halfway to her mouth when she froze. “You’re sorry?”

“Very.” His parents had taught him loads of important things over the years, but one of the most important was knowing how to apologize sincerely, and not to feel like less of a man for it. “I like you, Kerry. I like you a lot.”

She still seemed unsure about where he was going, but she said, “I like you, too.”

“I know we started off all of this”—he gestured up to his bedroom the way she had earlier—“as strangers, but we’re friends now. Aren’t we?”

She nodded. “Yes.” She seemed almost surprised to realize that it was true. “We’re friends.”

“I don’t hurt my friends.” He took the cup and put it on the kitchen counter so that he could take her hands in his. “However long you and I decide to keep having sex, once it’s over, I’m not going to hurt you, and I can’t see you wanting to hurt me, either.”

“I don’t want that. I would never want to hurt you, Adam.”

He had to smile at the way she said it so sweetly, so earnestly. “Good.”

Finally, he did what he’d been wanting to do since the moment he’d awakened and seen her staring at him—he kissed her. Long and deep and sweet, so that she couldn’t help but press close and wrap herself around him in that way he absolutely loved.

“I’ve heard the suites at the Fairmont Olympic are top-notch. How does next week look for you?”

For a moment she seemed surprised by the question, but she was quickly back to her usual practical self as she reached for her phone in her bag to check her calendar.

“It’s pretty packed. What about you?”

After checking his own calendar, he said, “Mine is jammed, too. Everything but Thursday night.”

She looked at her schedule again. “You know,” she said slowly, “I could probably shift my Thursday night meeting without much trouble. Do you want me to try to do that?”

“Does it rain in Seattle?”

She laughed, and the sweet sound of it helped relax the muscles in his chest that had been clenched from the moment she’d jumped out of his bed.

“I’ll text you as soon as I know for sure if Thursday will work.” She moved back against him and kissed him again. “I have a big wedding this afternoon so I really do have to get going now, but thank you for an amazing Saturday night.”

The offer to give her just as amazing a Sunday morning was on the tip of his tongue, but now that things seemed back on an even keel again, he didn’t want to ruin it by begging her to stay, especially now that he knew she had to work today.

“Let me just grab a shirt, and I’ll take you home.”

“Thanks, but I’ve already called a cab, which I believe is waiting for me outside.” She gave him one more quick kiss, then said, “See you Thursday,” and walked out his front door without a backward glance.

Adam had never been with a woman this self-sufficient or independent.

It almost stung a guy’s pride.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kerry had been to hundreds of weddings, but she was enthralled by them every single time. No two weddings were the same. Some were sweet. Some were fun. Some were out-and-out parties. Some were formal affairs. Some mixed together a dash of everything. But at the core of them all was love.

When people found out she’d taken over the family wedding-planning business from her mother, they often asked her if she’d rather be doing something else. But weddings were where Kerry’s heart was—in that moment when the groom lifted his bride’s veil and tears of joy slid down people’s cheeks as everyone gave in to a moment so radiant, so pure that it didn’t matter how cynical, how steeped in “reality” they normally were.