A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 26

THURSDAY

When her alarm went off at its usual time the next morning Samantha pulled herself out of bed and had her running clothes on before remembering that she wouldn't be going for her usual run. Once again the sudden rush of anger surprised her but she took a breath and, grabbing a bottle of water from her fridge, headed into her spare bedroom-slash-office-slash-gym to take a run on the old treadmill that she had set up in there for rainy days.

She hated the treadmill and far preferred taking her exercise outdoors but decided to suck it up, putting her phone onto the Bluetooth speaker and letting the music pump through. She was well into her second mile when she heard a pounding on her door. A little bit apprehensive she grabbed her water bottle, having a quick drink, while making her way to it.

"Who is it?" she asked glancing at the clock by the door. It was not even 7am so definitely not appropriate visiting time for someone to be popping in.

"It's me, Sam" came Adam's voice.

She opened the door and stepped aside to let him in. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked him. "You can't have gotten much sleep" It was then that she noticed that he was wearing the same clothes that he'd had on when he'd left her last night.

Adam took his time to look her over and she self-consciously looked down at the sweat darkening her tank top between her breasts and the, certainly, smelly running shoes that she wore on her feet.

"Um, I was just on the treadmill" she said nervously. "I thought about a run but then decided against it. If you want to come in you can grab a coffee – the pot should be ready now; and I'll have a quick shower and change" She started to step back but stopped at his expression. He ran his fingertip over the pulse in her throat. "You are so beautiful, Samantha" he brought his gaze up to hers before he seemed to catch himself.

He cleared his throat. "I actually haven't been home yet but thought that I could catch you before I went to sleep and you went to class so we could have that talk. I will grab a coffee if you don't mind".

Noting the tiredness in his eyes she gently ran her fingers through the hair over his brow and across his temple instinctively wanting to comfort him. He leaned into her touch. "Of course" she said, suddenly feeling nervous. Lacing her fingers together she stepped back further. "Help yourself and I'll be right out"

Samantha hurried through her shower and ran a comb through her wet hair, blow drying it quickly and leaving it loose for now. She pulled on a pair of khakis and a short-sleeved sweater before putting in simple gold hoop earrings and adding a touch of mascara and lip gloss. If her talk with Adam went long she was at least ready for school if she needed to leave in a hurry.

Heading back to the kitchen she found Adam standing at the sink drinking his coffee and gazing out the window. He turned at the sound of her approaching. She wondered if she would ever get used to the way that he looked at her. Like she was his dream come true and that he could see right through her to her very soul.

She gave him a shy smile and made herself move past him and was reaching for a mug when she felt him come behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. His nose went into her hair and he breathed deeply when she brought her hands up to cover his. "Tired?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah" he answered and giving her a small squeeze reluctantly released her and went over to sit at the table waiting for her to join him with her coffee. Sitting across from him there seemed so natural as though they had done this very same thing a million times before.

"So" Sam started. "You want to talk about us?"

"I'm just going to come out and say it okay, Samantha?" Adam said.