Page 35 of Fighting Fate

I won’t have to leave Sunfish. Hope flooded Rosie, along with an intense relief that she hadn’t got very far into job-hunting yet and hadn’t even hinted to anyone but Jill that she’d planned to leave. “You said you have to do some travelling?” she queried, still a little cautious.

“Research. Probably a week or two a month for the next few months, at least until Jace is able to get the golf course back into operation. But as far as I’m concerned, Rosie, Sunfish is going to be my home base. I’ll be back. And when I’m here… I want to be with you. I want to see where this goes too.” He raised his free hand to cup her cheek, stroking the soft curls of her hair tumbling at the side of her jaw. “I really like you, Rosie. I think you’re right - maybe we could have a shot.”

Still she hesitated, frightened even to dream. “Are we… exclusive?”

“You’re worrying I’ll be, what, finding a different girl to sleep with everywhere I go on my research trips?” He didn’t laugh, taking her concerns seriously. “I’m not interested in that. If I had been, I’d have taken opportunities which were offered when I was on the MMA circuit. Monogamy’s my style… I’ve just been looking for the right woman. And I think I found her.”

A lump welled in Rosie’s throat. She almost launched herself out of her chair and onto Adam’s lap. His arms closed around her, his lips meeting hers in an extremely satisfying kiss - one which only ended when Rosie remembered she still had to get to work.

EPILOGUE

EIGHT months later

“Knock, knock.”

Rosie looked up from the stack of printed resumes on her desk with a slight frown, wondering who was darkening her office door so late in the afternoon. A delighted smile dawned at once, though, as she saw Adam leaning on the doorframe.

“You’re back!” Jumping to her feet, she hurried around the desk and leaped into his arms; he laughed and caught her, raining kisses on her face. “You’re early,” she mumbled against his lips. “Didn’t expect you until tomorrow.”

“The advantage of working for a billionaire with his own private jet; when you’re finished, you can just leave without having to wait for scheduled flights.”

“Colorado was good, then?” He’d been gone almost three weeks this time, visiting high-altitude training and rehab centres in the US. Rosie had missed him quite desperately, even though they’d talked daily. Burying her face in his neck, she breathed in his warm, heady, masculine scent.

“Yes, but with the golf course re-opening next week, I need to be here. Construction’s ramping up on the rest of the facility and it’s time to start looking for staff.”

“You’re going to be staying a while this time, then?” Rosie asked hopefully. Adam had been so busy, he’d been lucky to spend a total of one week out of every month on Sunfish. They’d made it work, but she was looking forward to getting to spend a lot more time with him.

“No more travelling for a while,” Adam agreed. “My apartment’s ready over on West Chapel for me to move into, and I wondered… if you’d maybe like to move over there too? I talked to Luke and he said now the boat shuttles will be starting up, it’s no problem for you to commute over here, and that’s if you actually need to be here, you can have a computer set up over there with a virtual office, we’ve got stacks of office space…”

“Are you asking me to move in with you, or just to share your office?” Rosie teased.

“Both?” He kissed her again, for long enough she almost forgot what she’d been asking, losing herself in the delicious heat of him. Forgetting where they were long enough to start unbuttoning his shirt, too, at least until Nadiya rattled her knuckles against the open door and scurried off laughing.

Blushing, Rosie buried her face in Adam’s shirtfront.

He kissed the top of her head. “Come on, it’s knocking-off time anyway. Let’s get you out of here. Go somewhere you can finish that thought.” He gestured to the half-unbuttoned shirt, grinning broadly.

He was still ostensibly living in Tad O’Dell’s villa, even though he hadn’t been around much, but that was much too far away from Rosie’s liking, even though it would only be a few minutes drive in the golf cart.

Instead, she grabbed his hand and almost towed him through the staff quarters to her cabin, passing a laughing Jill who waved and called hello to Adam on the way. It had been a huge relief to Rosie that Jill and Adam got on really well; Jill could be prickly and outspoken and didn’t always get on well with everyone, but the pair had clicked straight away and knowing that her best friend liked and approved of her boyfriend was just one more thing reassuring Rosie that this time around, she’d lucked into something good.

“Oh hey, you’re back,” Luke said as they hurried past him, almost jogging.

Adam waved cheerfully. “I’ll catch up with you tomorrow,” he called.

“No rush!” Luke yelled after him, a laugh in his voice too.

“I’m pretty sure everyone knows we’re rushing off to have sex,” Rosie said as she finally slammed the door of her bedroom behind him, “and a few months ago I’d have been embarrassed about that, but now, frankly, I’m just smug.”

Adam was already peeling off his shirt, kicking his boots off and throwing himself on the bed. “I’m going to apologise in advance for passing out from jet lag. We’ve probably got an hour before it catches up with me and I conk out for twelve hours.”

“Let’s make the most of the hour, then.” Rosie’s own clothes were flying every which way as she threw them aside, and then they were toppling onto the bed together, laughing, hands and mouths all over each other.

*

“Did you mean it?”

“Hm?” Adam blinked his eyes open a little groggily. A bit more than an hour had passed, and the jet lag really was catching up with him. Rosie was lying half on him, head resting on his chest, her soft warm weight and sweet scent comforting as he drifted off. She’d lifted her head to look at him now, though, and he forced himself to focus. “Mean what?”

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