Page 1 of Reckless Chances
Chapter 1 – Emma
Six Months Earlier
Emma rushed to her car, her hand gripping the collar of her puffy coat to keep the biting January wind from her neck. She tossed her messenger bag on the passenger seat of her Volkswagen Golf, started the engine, and rubbed her hands together while she waited for the heater to clear the windshield enough for her to drive home.
What a waste of the morning. She had braved the icy roads to get to her university classes, only to discover that they had both been canceled. With an unexpected free day ahead of her, she could have stayed at the university and studied, but as the ice turned to snow, she decided the best and safest place to be would be home.
What was typically a thirty-minute drive had taken two and a half hours, and Emma sighed heavily as she pulled into the driveway. She clicked the garage door opener and was surprised to see her fiancé’s red BMW parked inside. That’s weird she thought and then smiled, hopped out of the car, and rushed inside.
“Adam, I’m home.” She looped her keys onto their hook by the door and peeled out of her steamy down jacket. The house was silent. “Adam?” she shouted and kicked off her boots, wincing as they left muddy drops beside the tray. Her fiancé was a neat freak, and even though she wanted to rush to see him, to give him a giant hug after her harrowing drive down the interstate, she knew better than to leave what he would call a nightmarish mess, on the floor. She grabbed a couple of paper towels, swiped up the muddy drops, and wiped down the boot tray for good measure.
“Adam?” As she ran up the carpeted stairs of their townhome, she heard the whine of the shower as the water was turned on. She glanced into Adam’s office, expecting to see piles of reports, but it looked untouched.
Steam poured into the hallway as she cracked the door to the bathroom open. “Babe?”
Adam pulled the white fabric shower curtain back and peered out at her. “What are you doing home so early?”
His hair was sticking straight up like a mohawk. “Nice hair, sexy.” She smiled and stepped into the bathroom. “The highway just closed. Classes are canceled for today, and probably tomorrow.” She stepped to the side of the tub and kissed his wet lips. “Maybe I should join you.” She reached for the top button of her blouse.
“You know I don’t like that. One of us is always cold.” He closed the curtain. She did know, she was just hoping that today he might want her in there with him. She sighed. Adam wasn’t overly affectionate; it was something she told herself she’d just have to get used to. He shouted above the water, “Are all the roads are closed?” Emma bent down to pick up his clothes from the floor and then paused. He had left before she did this morning, he should know the state of the roads. She didn’t say what she was thinking but felt a sinking feeling in her gut. “The interstate was closed behind me. I’m not too sure about number four.” He traveled south to work, she north.
As she headed to the laundry room, the rumpled sheets on their bed brought her determined march to a screeching halt. She stepped inside the room slowly. The bed had been made when she left – of that she was certain.
She had made it.
It was now a rumpled mess. The crisp white sheets she had meticulously flattened were bunched at the bottom of the bed and the throw cushions tossed haphazardly onto the floor. The hair went up on the back of her neck and she felt like the world shifted into slow motion.
She leaned into the hallway to ensure that the shower was still running and then dropped the hamper beside her. What did sex smell like? She couldn’t bring herself to smell the sheets but brought her nose to the pillows and inhaled. She pursed her lips and tried again, detecting nothing out of the ordinary, they smelled like Adam’s antibacterial soap and his head and shoulders shampoo.
“What’s are you doing?”
Emma dropped the pillow and stood. “I’m going to make the bed,” she pulled at the sheet. “Or wash the sheets.” She nodded towards the hamper on the floor.
“It’s okay. I can do it.” He smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
Adam never did laundry.
“Adam, what’s going on?”
He had pulled the towel from his waist and was aggressively drying his thinning hair. “What do you mean?”
Emma used to find his perfectly shaved body attractive, but now as he stood in front of her, milky and flaccid, he reminded her of a piece of raw chicken. “I made the bed this morning.” She tried to keep the waver out of her voice.
“Oh.” His face went blank and then he gave her a huge perfect veneer smile. “Oh, Emma.” His smile unnerved her.
“Why is the bed a mess?” The waver was there no matter how hard she tried to keep her voice strong.
“I had a headache and came home to sleep it off.” He stepped toward her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He nuzzled into her neck, but she shrugged him away. His smile disappeared and his eyes flashed dark. “Wait, you didn’t think...”
“I didn’t,” Emma interrupted. Adam was hot-headed, and although in the two years they’d been together he’d never lashed out physically, but he was quick to yell. She could see the redness rising from the stubble between his pecs. “I was just wondering if I was losing my mind, that’s all.” She put on a smile but knew her lips were quivering. Was it enough to placate him?
He kissed her on the neck, and she let him. “Good. I love you, Em.”
“I love you too,” she murmured. Maybe he was telling the truth. The man was prone to migraines, after all. Why was she being so crazy?
A glance at the laundry basket told her that the white load was going to be too small. Might as well wash the sheets anyway, she said to herself. She balled the top sheet and tossed it into the basket, and then tugged at the fitted corners.
“I said I’d do that.” Adam stepped out of the walk-in closet, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a cotton golf shirt, his standard casual outfit. The man didn’t own comfy clothes.
