Lay in Adam's bed on my side, the sun not fully risen, the light was thin and barely teased the seams of the slats on the blinds. I couldn't see any point in trying to go back to sleep. My head, stomach, and heart were just too freakin' excited.

Three times we'd had sex—three and a half if you threw in our shower together.

A stupid grin seized my lips... and there goes those stomach flutters again.

It had not been my intention to go home with Adam. Since Thursday, I'd had a stream of texts and phone messages from him. I wasn't ignoring him on purpose. But the family drama with Maddy and my mama, not to mention what Dr Wiseman had said, my head was a jumbled mess, and I'd done nothing but sleep and talk with Nana, Conner and Max.

I was fixin' to call him when I'd received his message last night. It felt like a goodbye text asking for one last chance to see me. And I realised he deserved an explanation and a fitting goodbye.

That all changed when I watched him kiss Dr Wiseman and I was ready to stick his friendly goodbye where the sun don't shine. But it flew out the coop when our eyes met and my throat locked and mind emptied. His smile disarmed me completely, and I'd darn well nearly forgot about him kissing another woman.

I mean, how could I be expected to think straight when he was looking at me like I was a rack of my nana's delicious barbeque ribs and he wanted to suck the meat from my bones?

Phew. And all that was before he'd even kissed me. Which I might add dissolved any rational mindset and before I knew which way was up or down and I was riding home with him.

Crazy, right?

Yep, crazy as a soup sandwich.

The bathroom door opened and gently clicked shut. Cover lifted, the bed dipped, and a warm body saddled up to mine, wrapping his arm around me and lightly pressing a kiss to my bare shoulder.

I could stay like this forever... if only.

But that aside, it would be lovely to sleep the day away here in his arms. Safe. Warm. Happy. Away from the outside world... and reality.

"You awake, Riley?" whispered Adam.

"Ah-hu."

He bit my shoulder, his growing erection nudging me. I cheekily pressed my ass against him to hear him groan. "Again, doctor?"

"Ah-hu," he mimicked me.

I giggled, shifting to lie flat so I could see him. An honest to god happy smile greeted me and my pulse flared. I'd never seen him look so relaxed. It changed his entire face, warming his dark eyes. And to think I'd help put it there gave me the best feeling ever.

He dipped down and pressed his lips to mine. "Peaches... mhh-hmm," whispering against my lips.

"Peaches?" Those fine lips trailed down my throat.

"You smell and taste like peaches... you're my little Southern Peach?"

His little Southern Peach. Could my heart race any faster?

Adam lifted his head, fetching his hand up to skim his fingers gently along my lips, and I kissed the tips, earning myself a fiery gaze. "Keep looking at me like that, Riley and I won't be able to let you step one foot out of this bed."

Damn, this man made every crazy hormone wake up and kick into overdrive.

It would be as easy as breathing to fall in love with him.

Love?

Crikey. I needed another shower, a cold one to flush out my foolish thoughts.

"Well, as tempting as you are, doctor." I wiggled my brows. "I really need to use the little girl's room." That wasn't a lie. My bladder was just about fit to burst.

He groaned, shifting so I could move. "Okay, never let it be said I'm not a fair man."

Giggling, pushing myself up, I shifted my tired and achy legs. "Well, I'll be damned!" Shuffling to the edge as if preparing to throw myself from a mountain top.

"What?" he asked with an edge of concern.

"I think you've turned my legs to jelly, doctor. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stand, never mind walk."

"Is that your medical opinion, Miss Lockwood?"

I looked over my shoulder. "I believe so."

His grin widened. "Well, to confirm your diagnosis, I'm gonna need a closer look." He teased. "You can trust me. I have a medical licence."

My heart practically sprinted.

"And never let it be said I'm not thorough." He pulled me flat against the bed and quicker than lightning, he was above me, kissing down my body, making me giggle before pushing up and running his hands over my legs.

"I need to pee, doctor." I giggled uncontrollably as his warm hands made me shiver.

"In my medical opinion." He cleared his throat. "These are the most perfect legs I've ever had the pleasure of having wrapped around me." His head lifted, winking. "Quite possibly a medical marvel."

"Why, you don't say, doctor."

"Oh, I do say, Miss Lockwood." He faked a southern accent.

He shifted lower, pushing my legs apart, kissing up the inside of my thigh. "But to be sure..."

He nibbled, and I continued to squirm and giggle. "As much as I appreciate your thorough examination. Unless you want a mess on your bed—you need to let me use the bathroom."

"Fine..." he pulled back, but his smile sat wide on that handsome face. He shifted his weight, and I pushed off the bed, a little wobbly. Once upright, I wiggled my toes and tooshie to have it lightly patted... twice.

"Why doctor, do you do that to all your patients?"

He did a little sexy growl. "When you get back, I think I'm going to give you a full medical."

"I'll hold you to that." I walked around the bed trying to be as sexy as I could with my bladder practically screaming to be emptied.

Pausing. "I don't suppose you have a spare toothbrush hiding in this bathroom?" I'd used my finger as a toothbrush earlier.

"I'm sure you'll find one in the bottom cupboard."

"Thank you."

"Don't be long."

"All good things are worth waiting for." I replied in a sing-song voice.

Closing the bathroom door, I attended to business. Looking in the mirror, my hair was still more or less intact in the braid I'd fixed. I thought about unravelling it, but decided against it. Sometimes my hair just got in the way and it hadn't escaped my attention that Adam had pulled on it when he'd made love to me from behind.

Wow...hold on a darn second. Made love?

There was that love word again.

Nah-ha. Sex. This was sex. Just sex.

Don't you go getting any ideas Riley Jo, nothing but disappointment down that road.

Finishing up, I headed back to find Adam perched a little higher, his head resting on the headboard. He watched my every step.

Normally I would feel awkward being naked. But there was something freeing about this only being temporary. I didn't have to worry about what he thought about my wobbly bits. And the way he was looking at me, sure said he liked them anyways.

He pushed the cover back as I climbed in, easily pulling me toward him, so I had no choice but to straddle him. His eyes roamed my face and body and, from what I could see, he quite liked my breasts.

His hand slipped behind my neck as he pulled me down for a kiss. He groaned against my lips and kissed me liked we hadn't kissed in days.

How could anyone ever measure up to this man?

It was now clear. Up to kissing Adam, I hadn't truly ever been kissed.

Again, I couldn't help but let my mind wander into the land of make believe, where dreams became reality and this man was mine... all mine.

Not a few seconds later, we were rudely interrupted by my tummy rumbling. Adam pulled back as his tummy responded in kind.

"I think we need something to eat."

I was hungry, but I'd rather eat him.

"As much as I'd love to pick up where we left off. Food first." His hands reached under my ass, giving it a squeeze before lifting me.

I groaned as Adam hopped from bed. However, I got to watch his fine ass flex as he walked toward his tall dresser, yanking out some sweats.

My eyes darted to the floor to find my dress in a heaped mess. I would have to do something with it before I left. Because if anyone saw me leave this house in a crumpled state, it would get back to my Mama in no time.

Not that I cared what she thought. But I worried about Adam.

Adam followed my gaze. "Here." He pulled a white shirt from his dresser and strode over to me. "Put this on for now." His eyes raked over me with as much heat as last night. "Although, if I had my way, you would walk around just as you are."

My brows raised. "I don't think my butt wants to be exposed all day."

He shrugged. "Perhaps I should have a conversation with your butt."

I giggled as I slipped into the shirt, fastening the buttons... but leaving a few tactically undone. I caught Adam staring.

"I thought nothing could beat you being naked." He shook his head slowly, sucking in a breath. But you in my shirt, well, that's a damn close second."

Downstairs In the kitchen Adam wouldn't let me help. He insisted I sat at the table and let him do his thing, as he called it.

The man was delicious. His lean muscles tensed and shifted as he flipped eggs and sizzled up some bacon.

Could he be any more perfect?

He placed a plateful of food in front of me with a glass of orange juice.

"This looks amazing, Adam. But I don't think I can eat this much." I could—but what girl wanted to stuff her face in front of the most handsome man she'd ever had the pleasure of sleeping with?

Nah-Ah. Not this girl.

"Sure you can." He smiled. "Tuck in, don't let it go cold."

I took a sip of juice, but he hadn't made a move to pick up his fork. Raising a wry brow. "Not following your own advice, Adam?"

"I will," he said, voice husky. "I want to watch you first."

"Oh, you like to watch, doctor?"

His eyes darkened as he flattened his hands on either side of his plate. "Now all I can think about is you cumin' underneath me last night."

My ovaries exploded and my pulse stuttered—you could have heard a pin drop.

"I want to make you cum again, Riley."

My nipples rubbed against the fabric of his shirt as my breath became a little faster.

Sweet Jesus, I wanted that too.

His eyes dropped. "But first you need to eat."

And I came crashing back down... I picked up my fork and ate my first mouthful. As I chewed, Adam reached for his fork and loaded his mouth up with food.

"Hmmm, this is good." He cooked as well as Stella.

Swallowing his food, his face turned serious. "The way your mother treated you on Wednesday, Riley was totally unacceptable, and the things she said were crazy. You know that, right?"

I stopped chewing. This was the conversation I'd wanted to dodge.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" he asked with a touch of hurt in his tone.

My stomach did flip-flops. "Don't you worry about my mama. What she said is nothing I haven't heard before." There wasn't a cat-in-hells-chance I was telling him the truth.

Putting his fork down, he placed his hand over mine. "You're perfect just the way you are."

Heat crept up my cheeks and my mouth dried. "Are you trying to sweet talk, me, doctor?"

"No. I'm being serious. You're beautiful, Riley."

The heat on my cheeks escaped and ravaged my neck downwards. I was blushing up a storm.

"Half the men in this town would love to see you on their arm," his eyes held mine, adding, "and the other half would no doubt like you in their bed."

Damn. That had to be one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me, but it didn't stop the words stupidly tumbling out. "It's always easier to listen to the bad things." It was hard not to feel less in every department when I stood next to Maddy.

Adam opened his mouth but stopped when his phone vibrated, the screen lighting up to show Dr Wiseman... Helen was calling him.

Adam ignored it.

It continued to flash. "Do you need to take that?"

He reached for his phone and swiped the call away. "There, better."

I took another small mouthful of food. We hadn't talked about what I'd seen last night as I'd been getting out of Howards-my nana's friend's car after he'd kindly dropped me off at the bar.

"I'm not interested in Helen, Riley." He read my mind.

"Does she know that, because kissing someone sure gives the wrong impression?" I won't deny the sting of jealousy burned in my stomach.

"She kissed me and yes, well, trust me, I put her straight. She won't be doing that again."

I couldn't hear the conversation from where I stood. However, he hadn't looked happy.

But was it really any of my business? We weren't technically in a relationship. "You don't need to explain, Adam."

He continued. "She's invited me to dinner, but I've decided I will not have any contact with her outside of work." He seemed quite adamant.

I wondered if I dared ask. "Helen said you'd dated?"

He looked perplexed. "What? When did she say that?"

"Thursday morning." I placed my fork down, lowering my eyes. "When you were both back in college."

"Look at me Riley." He extinguished an irate sigh. My head crept up, meeting his piercing eyes. "I won't deny I had a crush on Helen back in college. But dated? No. Not unless you can call studying together—dating." He shook his head. "There will be nothing, ever between Helen and I—other than a professional relationship."

His brows caved inwards. "When I'm ready for a relationship of any kind." He stopped to take a breath. "It will certainly not be with Helen Wiseman."

Well, that spelled it out for me. He wasn't interested in a relationship with Dr Wiseman... or me.

It hurt more than I'd liked to admit.

The door handle rattled, and both our heads shot toward the back door.

"Fuck!" mumbled Adam, as he jumped from his seat and the door opened. "Heard of knocking?"

There stood his friend, Dr Chambers, who held up his hands in defence. But it didn't stop his face from parading the biggest smirk. "What? Your front door deadlock was on, so my key wouldn't turn." He shrugged. "I had to come around back." He lowered his hands. "Shoot me, I was worried about you. You left without saying anything."

Adam heaved a sigh. "Riley, you already know Dr Chambers."

We hadn't met formally. He walked over to me with a playful glint in his eyes, which as I glimpsed Adam, it was clear it rubbed him up the wrong way. Dr Chambers held out his hand.

"Call me Chris and it's damn fine to see you, Riley." His smirk shifted to a full-on smile. "May I call you Riley?"

I shook his hand. "Yeah, that's fine, Dr—I mean Chris."

He let go of my hand and stole a piece of bacon from Adam's plate. Adam slapped his hand away. "Do you mind?"

Chris laughed. "Nope." He turned to me. "What have you two been up to?"

My whole body was tossed into the fire.

"I think that's none of—" started Adam.

Chris cut him off. "Quit being grumpy." His eyes landed on me, winking. "Thank you, Riley, for putting a smile on this old grump's face."

Old? "Adam's not old."

"He's older than me." He slapped a hand on Adam's back as Adam groaned. "And when you're bored with him, you need to let me take you out."

This man could charm the panties from a nun.

"Ignore him, Riley." He threw Chris a hard glare, but I got the clear impression he was trying to get a reaction out of Adam.

I remembered Chris from the bar that very first night, when he'd bumped me. I thought him handsome, but he wasn't a patch on Adam. "Why, that's a very kind offer, but whilst I'm here in Lockwood, I'm happy spending all my free time with Adam."

Adam grinned, as if he'd just won the lottery. "You hear that, Chris; I think the best man won."

Chris scoffed, but playfully punched Adam's arm.

"Anyway, tell me. What has you barging in here at this hour, Chris?"

Chris pulled out a chair and slid his hand across the table to Adam's plate, pinching another piece of food. "You going to eat this?"

Adam rolled his eyes.

Chris continued. "You ignored my calls... and messages."

"I was busy," butted in Adam.

"I can see that." Another smirk came my way before a serious expression stole it. "Something's come up, need to head home for a couple of days and sorry to drop this on you, but I need you to cover me."

"Everything okay?" asked Adam.

"Yeah, just dad. Mom is struggling to convince him to have the operation and I need to see that he follows through this time."

"Ah, yes."

"Starting tonight." Chris winced.

"Ah." Adam threw me an apologetic look."

Adam's phone vibrated on the table.

Danny?

"I need to take this." He picked up his phone, pushing out his chair, leaving me and Chris alone.

"Danny's Emma son." He paused. "Adam's stepson."

Oh, he'd never mentioned a son.

"He's in his third year of residency."

Wow, how old was he?

Chris read my thoughts. "You know Emma was older than Adam? She was married but lost her husband in a car accident and was raising Danny on her own till she met Adam."

I'd learned more about Adam in two minutes than I'd done this whole time with Adam. But then again, he didn't seem open to sharing information about his life with Emma, although he talked about how much he loved and missed her.

"Thanks Riley."

Eh? For What? "What do I need thanking for?"

"Seriously, I wasn't joking about making Adam smile."

Oh, I wasn't sure what to say.

"I—me and his friends were worried about him—Danny too."

I nodded.

"I hope you'll think about sticking around..." he picked up another piece of bacon. "Adam told me you're here for your sister's wedding."

My stomach churned. The Wedding. Sticking around was very doubtful—if indeed possible. And I may have put a smile on his face, but he didn't see this between us as anything but temporary—as he'd said, he didn't want a relationship with anyone... me included. And what I wanted was just wishful thinking.