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The crinkling of plastic seemed louder than normal. He set his own coffee down as he waited for her to finish opening the package. Then it was in her hand. “We’ll split it.”
She broke the cookie in two and handed him the half without the little slip of paper sticking out of it. Then, gripping the fortune with her thumb and forefinger, she teased it from its home. Popping her half of the cookie in her mouth, she turned the paper over so she could read it.
Her jaws suddenly stopped chewing, her eyes widening in something akin to horror.
“What?” he asked. “It’s not predicting one of our deaths, is it?”
He didn’t really think it was, but the color was seeping out of her cheeks. “Do you want me to read it?”
Her mouth went back to working on the food, moving in jerky starts and stops before her throat moved and she swallowed.
Something was bothering her. “What does it say, Nata?”
She licked her lips. “It’s stupid. I should just throw it away.”
Maybe she should. But now he wanted to know what was on it. What she thought was so terrible that she didn’t even want to voice it aloud. It was nonsense, right? Then why was he suddenly worried that his past might be rising up to find him?
“Either read it or give it to me.”
“Fine. You want to know what it says? I’ll tell you.” Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath and then blew it out audibly. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Her head bent as she leaned closer to whatever was written on that paper. “‘Soon you will meet and kiss someone special.’”
The words ricocheted through the room, bouncing around as his head tried to make sense of them. Then they registered, and he laughed in relief. “That’s what you were so upset about?”
“Well, I know it’s stupid, but it’s a little embarrassing, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think.” He slid his fingers over the side of her cheek. “I did meet you at that restaurant. And I’m at least a little special, aren’t I?”
“Well, of course.”
He leaned sideways and kissed her cheek. “See? Painless. That wasn’t embarrassing, was it?”
“No, I guess not.” She smiled.
“Your turn, since the fortune was for both of us.” He presented his cheek to her.
The second she touched her lips to his skin, though, he knew he’d made a huge mistake in asking her to reciprocate. The kiss hit him just beside his mouth, the pressure warm, soft and lingering just a touch too long. Long enough for his hand to slide to the back of her head, his fingers tunneling into her hair. Then, before he could stop himself, his head slowly turned toward the source of that sweet heat until he found it. Leaned in tight.
Instead of her pulling away, he could have sworn the lightest sigh breathed against his mouth. And that was when he kissed her back. Face to face. Mouth to mouth.
It was good. Too good. He tilted his head to the side, the need to fit against her singing through his veins. He captured a hint of the coffee she’d drunk, and the wine, his tongue reaching for more of the same.
He forgot about the meal, the fortune cookie...everything, as the kiss went on far beyond the realm of the words “platonic” and “friend” and into the hazy kingdom where lovers dwelt.
Every moment from this morning until now seemed to have been spiraling toward this event.
A soft sound came from her throat and the fingers in her hair tightened into a fist, whether to tug free or pull her closer, he had no idea. Then her mouth separated from his and she bit the tip of his chin, the sharp sting jerking at regions below his belt, a familiar pulsing beginning to take over his thoughts. If he didn’t bring this to a halt now...
Somehow he managed to let go of her hair and place both of his palms on her shoulders, using the momentum to edge her back a few inches. Then a few more.
“Nata...we can’t do this.” The words didn’t seem all that convinced. “Sebastian would kill us.”
His friend would approve of him using his name as a weapon. At least in this case.
Brown eyes blinked up at him. “Why does he have to know?”
“If you think he wouldn’t find out, you’re wrong.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, trying to force a playful edge to the act. “Let’s not take that fortune too seriously.”
Her gaze went from warm to cool in the space of a few milliseconds. “I wasn’t taking anything too seriously. But maybe you were.”
Hell, maybe he was. Maybe that was behind the need to claw his way back to reality. A reality he wasn’t enjoying all that much right now.
“Nope. I just don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
There was silence for a second or two. “I’m taking it that that person wouldn’t be you.”
His disastrous youth came to mind. All the more reason not to ruin a good friendship over a stupid impulsive move. Like kissing Natália? “No, it wouldn’t be me.”
“And you’re arrogant enough to think I would fall down and bawl my eyes out if you say you aren’t attracted to me?”
No one had said anything about being attracted to her. Obviously he was, although he was smart enough not to let his thoughts stray too far in that direction. At least not often.
He tried to soften his words. “I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t be attracted to you, Nata. You’re beautiful and kind. Everything a normal man could want.”
“You forgot to mention my uncanny ability to see through bullshit.”
He had not forgotten that, which was why he’d wanted to end the kiss before she read through it and saw something very different. She’d always been able to read people, even as a teenager. Maybe because of all the medical professionals she’d been through. With a maturity that often far outweighed her years, she had known when someone was trying to placate her or when they were telling the raw, unvarnished truth. Thank God, though, that she hadn’t been able to tell how shocked he’d been by his reaction to that kiss. And if he had his way, she never would, since he wasn’t likely to repeat his mistake.
“Your brother, unfortunately, tends to see things that aren’t there.”
“Do you honestly think I am going to go running to him and tell him we sat in my apartment and made out?”
Made out. Hell, the woman didn’t know the meaning of that word, because had he gotten that far, Natália would have been flat on her back on the sofa and there would have been a very different outcome. Graças a Deus he’d come to his senses in time.
“No...” He dragged a hand through his hair, trying to figure out a way to explain this that didn’t get him into even hotter water. “So we’ll keep this strictly between us.”
Her mouth twisted sideways. “Do you want me to pinkie swear?”
“Not necessary.” Besides, he didn’t want to touch her again. Standing to his feet, he motioned toward the coffee table. “Can I help you clean up?”
She stood as well. “No, I’ve got it. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the hospital.”
With that, Adam headed for the nearest escape route: the front door. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Thank you for rescuing me.”
Adam heard a weird note behind the statement. “You’re welcome. My friend texted that he should be able to get to your car sooner than he thought. It may be back by tomorrow morning. I can come by and pick you up for work, if not.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got it.”
He frowned. “Call me if it hasn’t been delivered. I’ll need to check on its progress.” He wasn’t trying to contradict her or irritate her any more than necessary, but he’d been the one to call the repair shop and have her car towed away. The least he could do was make sure it arrived safely back at her place.
She reached around him and opened the door. “I will. Or I can call Sebastian.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
Up went her brows. “Do you really think this was a good idea?”
“It wasn’t all bad, was it?”
“No. Dinner was great.”
Meaning kissing him had not been. He could call her a liar—hell if she hadn’t kissed him back—but what would be the point? Maybe it was better for them both to just leave things where they were.
They gave each other a quick goodbye, then Adam stepped through the door and waited until it closed and the deadbolt engaged before heading back to his own car. Yes, putting this behind them was the smartest thing. He could only hope that Natália threw that damned fortune from the cookie into the trash and forgot about tonight...and everything leading up to it.
* * *
“We kissed.”
Natália said the words in a pseudo-whisper, even though she and her best friend Maggie Pinheiro were alone in the exam room. Married to a family friend, Maggie and Natália had hit it off from the moment they’d met at the couple’s wedding four years ago. Maggie, her husband Marcos, Natália and Sebastian all worked at the same hospital, in fact. And now Maggie was pregnant. Very pregnant.
“You kissed who?”
Natália shook her head, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t seen Maggie in the two days since she’d had Adam over to her apartment and locked lips with him. Thank God her car had been delivered the morning after, so she hadn’t needed to call him and ask him for anything else. It was all too humiliating. Not only having to confess that she didn’t have a date but kissing the man like a hungry piranha finding its first good meal after the rains came.
Women loved Adam and the man knew it. He had to. She saw the looks they gave him in the hospital corridors.
“Adam Cordeiro.”
“The orthopedic surgeon?”
Maggie was an American who’d come over to Brazil on a special exchange program and who’d ended up staying after she married Marcos. Although she was fluent in the language, she still had a charming accent and periodically stumbled over an unfamiliar word or phrase.
“Yes.”
“Aren’t he and Sebastian good friends?”
Natália crinkled her nose. “Yes. We all kind of grew up together.”
“I bet that was awkward.”
“It was horrible.”
Maggie’s eyes widened as she sat on the table, waiting for her obstetrician to get there. “The kiss? I always thought Dr. Cordeiro was kind of cute.”
“Says the woman who is pregnant with another hottie’s baby.”
Her friend’s hands smoothed over her round belly. “Oh, believe me, I am not looking to swap partners.”
“Adam is not my partner.”
“I would hope not, if he’s a terrible kisser.”
Natália’s eyes closed for a second before she looked at her friend again in exasperation. “That’s the problem. It wasn’t a horrible kiss. It was a good kiss.”
“I thought you just said it was bad.”
This time she laughed. “No. Not the kiss. That was phenomenal. The horrible part was that it was Adam and not someone else.”
“You don’t like him?”
She dropped into the chair across from the table. “He’s like a brother. Well, more like he sees me as an annoying little sister. He only kissed me because the fortune cookie told him to.”
“What? Okay, Nata. You have got to slow this train down a little bit. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Well, I certainly hope not because that would mean everyone else at the hospital knows what happened.”
“Including your brother?”
Natália groaned and leaned forward in her chair, rubbing the scar hidden beneath her white lab coat. Images of her teenage years and the way everyone had coddled and protected her came to mind. Including Adam.
“Don’t even talk about Sebastian. Adam was more worried about him finding out than anything else.” She quickly gave her friend a summary of what had happened between her and Adam, zeroing in on how she had kissed him on the cheek, only to have him suddenly swoop down and cover her mouth with his. It had been...magical. And horrible. And...confusing.
Maggie slid off the table and came to sit on the chair next to hers, making sure her hospital gown was firmly covering her thighs, Natália noticed. Her friend had scars of her own from where she’d self-harmed many years ago. “So, did you want it to be different than it was?”
Did she? Natália had no idea really. Did she want Adam to be attracted to her?
Hadn’t he said that any man in his right mind would be? Yes. Which meant he was just giving her a logical excuse for that kiss. Logical, though, meant that he didn’t see his reaction to her any differently than his reaction to any woman he found attractive.
So how many women besides his ex-wife had he kissed the same way he had her?
Was she kidding? This was Adam she was talking about.
So that number was way more than she cared to imagine.
“It would be far too complicated between us. He is as irritating and bossy as Sebastian. He doesn’t see me as an adult.”
Maggie covered her hand with hers. “I don’t think that’s quite true. If that kiss was anything like you say it was, he definitely sees you as an adult. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”
“You think so?” The question was rhetorical, she didn’t really want an answer. Or did she?
“I do.” Maggie stood and wiggled her way back onto the exam table. “And if this baby keeps putting off making an appearance, his little brother is going to be all grown up with children of his own.”
Natália tensed for a moment before forcing herself to relax again. This was one of her best friends. And if anyone deserved to have a healthy, happy baby, it was her.
“You still have six weeks before your due date.”
