EverWorld (Book 3 of the Down World Series)

Chapter Fifteen

The shower made us a little late for the brunch, which was served buffet style across two dining rooms at the Four Seasons—one last decadent wedding gift from Aunt Amalia. I shuddered to think what it cost, but I figured that was Amalia's business. She had no children of her own; if she wanted to splurge on her nephew, who was I to question her?

But all of those thoughts were just a distraction as I tried to calm my breathing, standing in the entryway to the first dining room with Adam's hand in mine. I could feel a surge of nervous sweat that lined our intermingled palms, and it made me blush with very inappropriate thoughts of this morning's shower. As though he could read my mind, I heard him chuckle by my side. His fingers interlocked with mine and then slowly, sensuously pulled out again.

"Stop," I whispered, but I couldn't hide the smile on my heated face.

"You'll be the death of me, I swear," he mumbled into my ear.

He pulled me gently into the room, and the smell of heated eggs and honeyed ham invaded my nose with such force I thought I might vomit. This was a huge mistake. We should run before my dad saw us.

But it was too late.

"Well, look who showed up," my dad beamed as he approached with an absurdly overstuffed plate, towering with eggs benedict, potatoes, strawberries, a couple pancakes, and several slices of that ham.

"Dad, your cholesterol."

"Don't worry, she won't let me eat it all," he gestured over his shoulder to where my stepmom Laura could be found, unsurprisingly helping herself to one small bowl of plain oatmeal. I waited until she had joined us, teetering in high heels that made her skinny legs look even longer than usual. Adam gave my hand a squeeze before letting go.

"Sir, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

"Sorry," I said, feeling flustered. "Dad, this is Adam. Adam, this is, um, Dad." What were names anyway?

"Oh," Dad said, his eyes darting furtively between Adam's outstretched hand, my flushed face, and his own impossibly unstable pyramid of food. Thank God for Laura, whose calm energy always managed to smooth over any situation. She slyly took his plate from him so his hands would be free. "Nice to meet you...um..."

They shook hands. "Adam."

"Steve," Dad said, trying his best to look unsurprised. "Great. Great. This is my wife, Laura."

"Pleasure, ma'am."

Laura smiled, unable to hide the pleased twitch in her mouth either at Adam's handsome face or the fact that he called her "ma'am." She held up the plates as evidence of why she wasn't shaking his hand. Then she cheated her body towards my dad and handed him back his food. "Have you two eaten? They say the eggs here are amazing."

"Not yet," Adam smiled.

"Well, we're going to find our seats. Nice to meet you, Adam."

Laura led my father away, and I could actually hear him whispering to her, "Did we know there was an Adam?" before they made it more than a few steps.

"Can we go now?" I asked.

"Have to meet your brother."

"This is torture."

"Hey," he whispered, leaning down towards me so that we were in our own little bubble, just the two of us, hidden from the rest of the room. Our foreheads almost touched. I sought out the comfort of his ocean eyes and felt suddenly calm. His eyes scanned my face and landed on my slightly open lips. "What do you call that lipstick?"