Saints and Assassins (The Sentinels) (25 page)

****

Adam could spit nails at that moment. He
could not
believe that Eve would be so stupid to be outside of the apartment when he had told her to stay inside.

“What could have been so important that
you needed to leave the apartment!” Adam shouted.

Eve didn’t re
ply and it infuriated him. H
e watched as her smile dissolved and
tears fill her eyes. The fury inside him melted and he felt like an ass. It didn’t matter what she had wanted, she had been stuck inside for three days and had been through a lot, but before he could say anything Eve ran toward the elevator.

“Eve,” he whispered. His voice suddenly had become mute as the weight of his actions came down on him.
Then the anger came back.

Storming toward Sara, his pulse quickened. “What is she doing down here? You should have taken her back up the second she stepped foot in the lobby!”

Adam knew he was shouting and everyone was watching, but he didn’t give a shit. If anything ever happened to Eve, he wouldn’t be able to handle it, especially if he could have prevented it.

“Ms. Nash asked me to get her something.” Sara’s tone was soft and calm which caught him off guard. He had expected her to yell at him for some strange reason.

In the split second it took for him to blink, he knew he had to catch Eve. He turned toward the elevator, but Sara stopped him.

“This belongs to Ms. Nash if you would give it to her please.” Sara handed him a black gift bag of some sorts.

“What is it?” Adam hissed.

“You’ll have to ask her.” Sara nodded her head toward the elevator. “I think I’d go now if I were you,
sir
.”

Adam stalked toward the elevator and saw Eve
repeatedly pressing the up button as he approached.

“Eve, I’
m sorry—” But before he could speak, she turned and ran toward the stairwell. He couldn’t help but hear her sobs as she darted away. He had royally fucked up.

Knowing that she was mad at him, he wanted nothing more than to apologize and beg for her forgiveness so he of course followed her.

As he pushed the stairwell door open, he could hear Eve’s angry footsteps running up the stairs.

“Eve please wait!” he called out.

She didn’t reply and he heard her continue on. Adam had no choice but to sprint up the staircase. Taking two at a time, he moved around one landing and up to the next as fast as he could. Finally, he caught her on the fifth floor.

Lightly grabbing her arm, he stopped her.

“Eve,” he exhaled. She looked up at him with eyes full of tears. Adam shook his head with disgust at the result of his short temper.

Eve stood there motionless and Adam didn’t know what to say or do. H
e wanted to take back every moment of pain she’d had, especially this one.

Not knowing what to say, Adam quickly wrapped one arm around her neck and moved the other to her back, with the gift bag still in tow. Leaning in, he crushed her lips with his.
It was the only way
he knew to show how
sorry
he was
, but that he loved her.

Surprisingly, she didn’t fight him, but instead she hung there limp in his arms. Adam started to pull back. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

Eve
pulled
him
back to her and she kissed him back. Adam didn’t know what he had done to deserve her. If she had forgiven him that easily, he was one lucky son of a bitch.

“You should be,” she whispered back. Then, she bit his lip.

“Ouch!” Adam looked down at her to find a smile across her face. The faint taste of blood filtered through his mouth and he reached up to touch the inside of his li
p. Pulling it back,
red tinged his thumb.

“Next time, you’ll need stitches,” Eve warned. Adam stood there speechless. The tears still trickled down her cheeks, yet she had found the energy to not only forgive him, but to come up with her vengeance.

Adam cautiously wiped the tears away from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. Slowly, a smile appeared across her face, but he knew he had more making up to do.

“I can’t even tell you how sorry I am that I yelled at you.” Adam brushed his hand across her cheek and down her throat.

His body hardened and he wanted to be inside her. He felt like a beast that needed calmed and the only thing he wanted was to take her and make her come screaming his name. Adam moved his hand downward from her throat to her breast and squeezed gently.

Leaning down, he nuzzled her neck. Adam wanted both of her breasts in his hands and realized he was holding the gift bag. Not knowing its contents, he sat it down and placed the now free hand on her other breast.

“Please tell me that you’ll forgive me.” Adam traced a path of kisses down her throat to the open button of her shirt.

“You’re forgiven,” Eve whispered.

His heart ra
ced at her words. Dipping his head back down, he kissed her with more fervor than ever before.

Eve moaned against him and it sent his body into a frenzy. Adam needed to feel her skin against his an
d to sate the beast inside him, but he wanted to please her first.

There in the gray concrete stairwell Adam decided that he couldn’t wait to get her upstairs. With a quick flick, he unbuttoned Eve’s jeans while his mouth never left hers.

“What are you doing?” Eve said against his lips.

“I’m going to make you scream.” Adam felt a growl rumble up from his chest as
he
reached down beneath her panties and slip one finger over her cleft. Eve moaned loudly into his mouth.

“Mmmm,” Adam responded. He q
uickly added a second finger and pushed further down so that they were coated with her wetness.

“What if someone comes in here?” Eve whispered. Her voice was almost inaudible to him as he could hear her deep breaths over any other noise.
He decided to please her now and he would take care of his own needs when they were upstairs.

“Shhh. I want you to come for me.” Adam’s tone had become more demanding.

Sliding his fingers inside of her, she cried out. Adam tried to muffle the sound with his kiss, but he knew it didn’t help much. It didn’t matter, he wanted to wring every ounce of orgasm out of her.

Eve leaned her weight against the concrete wall and thrust one hand into his hair, holding on tightly. She placed her other hand on the outside of her jeans, covering Adam’s hand.

“You want this don’t you, baby?” Adam looked down to see his hand buried in her jeans and her hand pressing it closer to her body.

Speeding up his movements, he delved his fingers inside of her and in and out again. He sensed her body peaking as her breathing
quickened.
With just a few more strokes, Eve came screaming into Adam’s mouth.

“I told you you would scream,” Adam whispered.
Her cheeks reddened and a
giggle escaped Eve as Adam pulled
h
is hand away from her.

Eve placed her hand against his erection and Adam sucked in a deep breath while she rubbed against it.
Adam imagined being inside of her and almost lost control at the mere thought.

“W
e need to go upstairs because I think we might draw attention if I fucked you here,” Adam said.

Eve smiled and straightened her clothes while Adam waited for her. He took her hand in his and started toward the door so they could take the elevator up.

“Your gift!” Eve exclaimed. She
released
Adam’s hand and went back to pick up the gift bag.

Surely
,
he hadn’t heard her right. She had gotten
a gift for him? H
e had yelled at her fo
r being outside of the apartment for it. His behavior was unacceptable and
his mood saddened.

Eve turned toward him with a smile so bright that he felt his heart lurch with pain. He didn’t deserv
e her love.

Adam opened his mouth to apologize again, but Eve held up one finger to halt him.

“Don’t say anything because we’re going upstairs so
I
can finish what
you
started.” Eve’s tone demanded his compliance, and when she glanced down toward his center, he knew she meant it.

Swallowing hard, Adam took her hand in his and then left the stairwell to get on the elevator.

****

The elevator doors opened to a man with his daughter that appeared to be about four or five years old. Her blond hair was pulled back into pigtails, she wore blue leggings and a long pink shirt covered up with a purple coat.

“Hi Adam!” she squealed.
Reaching up toward him it was obvious that she wanted him to pick her up.

“Jessie!” Adam replied with almost as much excitement as the child. Eve hadn’t seen a smile on Adam’s face that beamed brighter than at that moment. He squatted down and scooped the little girl into his arms.

She threw both arms around his neck and squeezed.

“Mike,” Adam stated. They shook hands and exchanged smiles.

“Mr. St. James,” the man stated in reply.

“It’s Adam, please.” Adam looked down at the little girl in his arms.

“So Jessie, how are you?” Adam asked in a soft tone. Eve couldn’t have imagined him this way and it enthralled her to see him be this soft and gentle with a child.

“Fine. Daddy and I went to get some lunch for Mommy.” Her voice was so small and it warmed Eve’s heart. How she wished she could have a child.

“What did you get for Mommy?” Adam asked.

“Mommy said the baby wanted Thai food so Daddy told the man to give us
one of everything. Right Daddy?” Jessie turned toward her father and smiled.

He nodded.

Jessie glanced at Eve and then leaned to Adam’s ear and whispered something.

“This is Eve, Jessie.” Adam turned toward Eve to introduce them.

Eve held out her hand to shake Jessie’s and smiled. “Hello Jessie. It’s so nice to meet you.”

Jessie shook Eve’s hand just as a small child would, gently and awkwardly. Eve grinned at her in amusement.

The elevator bell dinged and it came to a stop.

“This is your floor, Jessie. You better go eat some lunch and make sure you let your Mommy have extra for the baby.” Adam set the girl down and she quickly grabbed her father’s hand and started pulling him toward the door. Mike paused and spoke.

“Thank you for
everything
, Adam,” he said quietly.

Adam lightly slapped a hand on Mike’s shoulder and smiled.

“Tell Dana hello for me and make sure you let Sara know when the baby is born for me. I’ll be out of town for a while, but I would really like to know when the little guy gets here.” Adam let go of Mike’s shoulder and watched as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Bye Adam! Bye Eve!” squealed Jessie as the doors closed.

Alone in the elevator, Eve took in the moment as Adam punched in the code to his floor.

“Why did he thank you?” Eve asked.

“
Four months ago
Mike
told my building
manager they couldn’t pay their rent and knew they’d have to move out. They had always paid their rent on time so I looked into it.
His company had downsized and he was let go. It was really a bad deal. Dana was five months pregnant at the time, too.”

Adam shook his head and Eve knew that the happy ending to the story was coming, but she wanted him to spit it out.

“I was not about to kick them out when they had nothing so I told the building manager that they were not to pay rent again, ever. I didn’t want a family with two small children out on the streets or living in a squalor. Anyway, I decided to tell Mike myself so that there was no misunderstanding. Mind you, I did not go to their apartment expecting them to grovel at my feet with thanks, but it was a humbling experience.

“I’ll never forget that day either. Mike opened the door and I introduced myself as the owner of the building. He suddenly looked panicked and beads of sweat almost instantly appeared on his forehead. I
told him not to worry about the rent because it was being taken care of. Poor Mike’s jaw dropped. After several minutes of convincing, he finally believed me and made me come into their home. That’s when I met Dana and Jessie.” Adam shrugged his shoulders as if it were all an everyday occurrence. Eve hadn’t heard him say so much in one sitting since they had met and even though she sensed he tried to keep the emotions out of it, he had a big heart for these people.

“You essentially
gave
them their apartment?” Eve knew Adam had a soft side, but wow, this floored her.

“Yes, I suppose I did.” One corner of his mouth curled up.