Crimson and Clover (2 page)

“Hendrix. He’s the one who told me I should come here when I told him I was thinking about moving to London.”

Adam choked on a bit of food and gulped his tea. Coming up gasping, he looked at Katie with an expression of awe. “You know Jimi Hendrix?”

Warmth flooded Katie’s cheeks at the innocent question. Adam’s paisley shirt, leather vest and flared trousers gave the appearance of a flower child, but she didn’t know him well enough to be sure of how he’d react on learning Katie’s acquaintance with Jimi Hendrix was limited to the three days he’d spent in her bed.

“A little,” she murmured, deliberately vague. “I met him at the Monterey Pop Festival.”

“Monterey.” Adam looked impressed. “So when you said California you meant San Francisco?”

“Mm-hm. I spent a year in the Haight.” Katie leaned her head on her hand. A full stomach had exacerbated the jetlag she’d been trying to ignore since the plane landed. Waves of drowsiness washed over her and she let her eyes close, the husky sound of Adam’s voice as soothing as bees in a sunlit garden. She jerked awake from a light doze at the feel of his hand on her arm, and found him smiling at her in amusement.

“Look, my flatmate’s on holiday and won’t be back until next week. Why don’t you crash at my pad? I have to work, and with Stuart away no one will be there to bother you.”

It took a moment for his words to penetrate the haze of exhaustion, but when they did, she felt a rush of gratitude. “You’re sure I won’t be in the way?”

“Not at all,” he assured her. “Come on, let’s pay for our food and then you can get some rest.”

Awakened by the sharp backfire of a vehicle, Katie bounded from the bed, her heart pounding like a jackhammer. Pressing a hand to her chest, she gazed around, bemused at the sheets suspended from the ceiling. As her heart rate slowed, her memory circuits fired and the confusion lifted. After months of planning, and a devastating delay due to the sudden death of her father, she was in London. And, more specifically, in the bed of one Adam Greene in a converted attic on Blenheim Crescent, a bed surrounded by sheets to form a cubicle of privacy. She recalled the short walk from the pub to the apartment and could remember falling face-first into the bed Adam indicated; she drew a blank on anything that might have happened after that.

Her duffel bag leaned against a small chest of drawers in the corner, so she stripped off her T-shirt and dug in the bag for a pair of shorts and a fresh blouse. Dressed and wide-awake, she eased her head around the makeshift curtains, feeling like a turtle emerging from its shell.

The squeak of hinges in need of oil accompanied the opening of the door and she turned to see Adam enter the room, clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist. Water dripped from the ends of his hair and ran in rivulets down his bare chest, and his eyes squinted against the smoke that rose from the cigarette clamped between his teeth. Juggling an armload of clothes, a shampoo bottle and a plastic soap holder, he used his bare heel to kick the door shut behind him. A length of lean thigh was revealed as the movement caused the towel to gape open and Katie smiled in feminine appreciation.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. “Good morning.”

“Christ!” The cigarette tumbled from his mouth to land on the floor and Adam’s eyes widened with surprise as he caught sight of her. He directed his attention to the smoldering cigarette and attempted to rearrange his burden, succeeding only in dropping the clothes on top of the burning ember. “Bugger,” he muttered and bent to toss the garments aside and retrieve the cigarette. More than his thigh came into view as he crouched down and the shampoo and soap clattered to the floor as he tried to adjust the towel.

Katie’s smile widened. “Didn’t know I was awake, did you?”

Adam looked up, shamefaced. “You did give me a bit of a fright at that.” He put the cigarette between his lips and stood. The knot in the towel slipped free and he made a grab at the terrycloth with both hands, just managing to preserve his modesty.

Though Katie tried to stifle her laughter, some sound must have escaped because Adam looked up, the corners of his mouth quivering with shared amusement. At that moment, a long runner of ash fell from the cigarette to his chest.

“Ow!” He brushed at his skin, leaving the towel dangling from one hand in front of him. For a moment, he studied his precarious position, and then looked up at her and grinned. “Ah, fuck it. Nice to really get to know you, Katie Scott.”

“You, too, Adam Greene,” she replied, and burst into laughter as he snatched the towel away with a flourish before turning to disappear behind a yellow sheet printed with a gaudy pattern of cabbage roses.

Still shaking with mirth, Katie padded across the floor to collect Adam’s belongings. She now had proof that he had a dynamite body to go with that breathtaking face and felt her skin tingle remembering the quick view he’d given her.

“Sorry about that, love.” He emerged from behind the sheet, covered from the waist down in a pair of faded jeans and rubbing the ends of his hair with the towel.

Katie waved his apology away. “I’m the one in your space, remember? I should apologize for startling you.” She raised the items in her hands. “Where should I put these?”

“Just dump them on the couch, thanks. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t think you’d wake before this afternoon. I thought I’d have time for a quick wash, at least.” His eyes were bright with amusement as he came to stand next to her, dropping the towel on the back of the couch.

A strand of wet hair was stuck to his cheek and Katie flicked it away with her forefinger. “So I take it there’s a shower somewhere close?”

“A shower? You poor, foreign child.” He chuckled and raked his hair back with both hands. “There’s a loo down the hall and a bathroom with fairly warm water. That’s about as modern as the conveniences get around here.”

A clean, musky scent rose from his bare skin and Katie was suffused with warmth that couldn’t be attributed to the temperature of the flat. She met his gaze and saw a spark of attraction kindle in the brown depths. It was unfortunate, though, that he’d mentioned a loo, one of the few British terms with which she was familiar. Beautiful as Adam was, most of her attention was now focused on other bodily needs.

“A loo? Where?”

Attraction was replaced with contrition as Adam’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. Of course you … I didn’t think … Come with me.” A very pretty shade of pink washed into his cheeks and Katie bit back another giggle at his discomfiture. He took her hand and led her out of the apartment. Just beyond the stairs were two closed doors and Adam stopped before them.

“This one,” he opened the one on the left to reveal a small cubicle occupied by an enormous claw-foot tub, “is the bath. We share it and the loo with the other flat on this floor. The only rule is to clean it after you use it.” He closed the bathroom door and opened the other. “And here’s the loo. Same rules apply.”

Katie peered in, assessed the situation and turned to Adam. “Paper?”

His cheeks flushed again. “Right. Stay here.” He rushed away and returned in moments with a roll of paper. “Sorry about that. It’s a bring-your-own thing.”

Smiling, Katie laid a hand on his arm. “Don’t sweat it, Adam. Everything’s cool.” She was touched by his obvious desire to see to her comfort, but didn’t want him to think he had to rush around accommodating her every need.

“Right, then. I’ll just, er, leave you to it.”

With the relief of an empty bladder came the realization that she was famished again. Although she didn’t know the exact time, it was clear it was morning and she’d almost slept the clock around. The eggs and bacon she’d eaten at Libby’s pub were a distant memory. She decided to put off a bath until she got some food into her stomach and, the roll of paper in hand, made her way back to Adam’s apartment.

He stood before the kitchen sink brushing his teeth and glanced around as the squeak of the door heralded Katie’s arrival.

She held up the roll of paper. “Where should I put this?”

He spoke around a mouthful of toothpaste and toothbrush and Katie deciphered the words “Stuart” and “drawer.” Nodding, she slipped around the sheets that defined his friend’s space and placed the roll on a utilitarian dresser next to the bed. A New York Yankees pennant pinned to the wall caught her attention and she laughed under her breath. It was the last thing she’d expected to see in London. Curious, she stepped back into the living space and addressed Adam’s back.

“So Stuart’s a Yankees fan?”

Adam spit out a mouthful of water and wiped his mouth with a towel before turning to her. “So he says.”

“He’s from New York, then?”

Adam shook his head as he placed his toothbrush in a glass on a shelf above the sink. “No, he’s from Dallas.”

“Dallas? And he’s a Yankees fan? Was he dropped on his head when he was a baby?”

A grin lit Adam’s face. “I see you’ve met him, then.”

Katie laughed, but a sudden, unexpected wave of homesickness washed over her at the realization that Adam had no idea who the New York Yankees were and wouldn’t care if he did. She pushed the feeling aside. She’d made her decision to move to England and being homesick would fade in time. “I saw the baseball pennant on his wall and wondered.”

“Yeah, that. It’s his favorite sports team, I think. He’s always going on about them, buying American newspapers to find out scores.” He shrugged, clearly disinterested in the subject. “I’m just about to head out for some breakfast. Are you hungry?”

“I am. Let me brush my teeth and hair and I’ll be ready to go.” She hurried through her ablutions, slipped on a pair of sandals and left the flat with Adam, ready to begin the first day of her new life.

A harsh jangle of bells announced Katie’s breathless arrival at The Family Dog, the head shop where Adam was employed. Startled, she turned to stare at the big silver jingle bells stitched onto a strip of leather hanging from the inside door handle. From the noise level, she thought she’d knocked over a display of hookahs or something.

“A bit much, isn’t it?” Adam grinned at her from behind the counter where a half-smoked cigarette smoldered in an ashtray next to an open copy of the latest issue of
New Musical Express
.

“No one’s going to sneak up on you with those things.” Katie nodded toward the newspaper. “Anything good in there?”

“Eh,” Adam shrugged. “So did you have a good first day?”

“Oh, Adam, it was so far out! I found an apartment.”

“What? Already?” His eyebrows arched in astonishment. “Where is it?”

“Just up the road.” She gestured toward the door. “It’s like it was meant to be, you know? I wasn’t even looking for anything like that, but I was walking along and saw this dude moving boxes and stuff into a car, so I stopped to rap with him. And it turns out he was moving out, so he showed me around.” She bounced on the balls of her feet, unable to contain her excitement. “It’s just perfect, almost the whole ground floor of this house. And it’s got a living room and a kitchen and two bedrooms and, Adam, it’s got a bathroom! So the landlord showed up while we were looking around, and I rented it.”

“Are you having me on? Stuart and I have been looking for a space like that for months.” A half-smile curved his lips. “Sure you don’t want to trade? I mean, what are you going to do with two bedrooms?”

“Use one of them as a closet,” she replied. “And no way am I giving up my own bathroom.”

Adam grinned. “Well, it was worth a try, anyway.” He glanced behind him at the clock. “I close up shop in about five minutes. Want to give me a tour of your new pad?”

“I’d love to.” She leaned her elbows on the counter. “I’ve been cleaning all afternoon and I can’t wait to get started painting the walls.”

“You’re going to need furniture, you know,” Adam observed. “Just where do you plan to sleep while all this painting is going on?”

Katie shrugged. “I’ll get some blankets and a pillow and crash on the floor until I get a bed.”

“Nah, don’t do that. Stuart won’t be back until next week, so you’re welcome to stay at my place.”

“Thanks, Adam.” She smiled at him. “I just hate running you out of your bed.”

“Ah, it’s all right. Stuart’s bed isn’t too bad.” A faint blush reddened his cheeks. “Of course, if you’re worried about me being uncomfortable, we could always share my bed.”

Katie studied the twinkling brown eyes and felt a slow, pleasurable heat suffuse her body. “We could do that,” she murmured.

Adam leaned over the counter and placed a soft, warm kiss on her lips. “Let me lock up here and we’ll go.”

• • •

Their footsteps echoed on the worn floorboards as Katie showed Adam around the empty apartment, leading him through the living room and into the kitchen.

“The appliances aren’t too bad,” she commented, examining the stove. “They’ll do for a while, anyway.”

“You’ve got a lot of room in here.” Adam stretched his arms wide. “This kitchen alone is almost as large as my whole flat. It’s lucky you found it before someone else came along and snapped it up.”

“It is, isn’t it? Come with me.” She grabbed his hand and towed him down a short hallway tucked under the stairs and into the bathroom. “Look! My own bathtub, my own toilet, my own sink!”

Adam laughed and squeezed her hand. “Doesn’t take much to make you happy, does it? I can’t blame you, though. I’m rather tired of trotting down the hall to answer Mother Nature’s calls.”

“I don’t know how you stand it.” Katie shook her head as she led him from the room. “Everyone needs a private space, you know? Okay, this is the first bedroom, and I’m going to turn the front one in there into a closet since there aren’t any, and because you have to go through this room to get to the other one. I don’t dig the thought of people having to walk through my closet.”

“Not bad,” he observed. “I could help you hang some racks for your clothes in there, maybe some shelves to hold your shoes.”

“That’d be groovy.” She’d be grateful for his help, though she didn’t really need it. Her year in Haight-Ashbury had been spent in a crumbling Victorian that was in need of constant repair. As a consequence, she’d become proficient in carpentry, plumbing and even a little electrical wiring. She was itching to install a shower in the bathroom and construct much-needed storage in her new space. “It’s even got enough room in there for a dressing table.”