Sex on Summer Sabbatical by Stacey Lynn Rhodes Page A

leave the window open tonight?” he quietly asked over his shoulder.
    “That sounds perfect.” Her voice was closer than he’d anticipated. She slid her hands around his abdomen and laid her cheek against his bare back.
    The conflicting emotions warring within were a new experience for him. He loved being close to her, but not knowing where he stood, not knowing what the future held when so much was at stake, left an uneasy edge to his joy in being with her.
    He swallowed down his discontent and reached back to pull her around the front of him, wrapping his arms around her as they both looked out of the window together. He heard her yawn and had to smile.
    “It’s been a long, full day. Why don’t we go to bed?” he prompted.
    “Mmm, that’s probably a good idea, but part of me doesn’t want to miss a moment.”
    Adam knew what she meant. He turned and guided her away from the window and towards the bed. “You’ll still be in Hawaii and listening to the waves all night while you get some sleep. What side would you like?”
    She answered by crawling up on the bed and across to the side away from the window closest to the bathroom. The back of the tee rode up her legs and gave him a glimpse of something satiny and aqua. More new lingerie? He groaned.
    Tori lifted the covers and slid between the sheets, lying on her side facing Adam. He knew as soon as her head hit the pillow that he wouldn’t have much problem keeping it casual tonight. Her eyelids were already drooping.
    He smiled at the sight she made, barely a bump in the covers of the big bed. He climbed in on his side and faced her, reaching out a hand to brush back a curl that had fallen across her temple near her eye.
    “You didn’t look very happy when you came into the room,” she mumbled, though her sleepy gaze was direct.
    Damn, she was observant. He decided to just put it out there. “I was just wondering whose shirt that was.”
    A line appeared between her eyebrows as she frowned. “What? This shirt? It’s mine.”
    “I mean before… Who you got it from.”
    “Always been mine. I bought it about… Well, a long time ago. In college. Why? Did you think it was some ex-boyfriend’s?”
    He was sure his guilty expression gave him away.
    “I’d like to think I’m not that crass,” she chided gently. “Even if I had kept something like that, I wouldn’t wear it to bed with my new…” She trailed off.
    Adam wondered why she’d stopped. “Boyfriend?” he finished for her.
    She looked away over his head towards the window. “Well, yes, I suppose.”
    Ouch. She supposes ? Adam opened his mouth, a bit disconcerted that she was so reluctant to name him as such when they’d been dating for over a month. “You—”
    She snapped her gaze back to meet his. “No! I’m sorry. That sounded bad. I just mean, a boyfriend sounds like something a teenager would have. I was trying to think of a more…adult term.”
    Relieved, Adam relaxed back onto the pillow. “Lover?” he suggested.
    “Well…”
    “No, I guess that wouldn’t exactly fit yet either. Date?”
    “We’re more than just dates by now. I mean, who goes on a date to Hawaii?”
    “Hmm…” Adam loved how serious her expression was as she tried to think, but at the same time she looked so sleepy. “Partners wouldn’t work either. I think you’d have to be living together for that one to apply.”
    “Hmm…” she echoed as her eyes drifted closed then opened again. “How about…?”
    He waited for her to finish her sentence, but her eyes blinked closed again and remained shut this time.
    “I think that lovers and partners is the way we’re headed, Tor,” he whispered. “At least I hope so. That’s why we’re taking the scenic route.”
    Tori exhaled on a sigh and it looked as though a faint smile crossed her lips as she sank deeper into sleep.

    * * * *

    Tori found a safe place to stand and came up above the surface when Adam tapped her on the shoulder. He removed