Loving With A Heavy Heart 111 We Have A Deal

Elle was content to stay in his warm and strong arms forever but after a long moment Adam finally withdrew his arms.

"It's cold. Let's go back first." He said, taking her hand in his and leading her back to the car.

As they pulled away Elle glanced back at the advertis.e.m.e.nt. She gripped Adam's hand tighter. She didn't deserve to stand beside him but since she had already grabbed hold of this hand she would be careful to never let it go.

They're drive back home was silent, but the silence seemed to speak more than a thousand words could. Adam drove with one hand on the wheel while the other was enclosed in both of Elle's. Occasionally he would sneak a glance at the girl sitting next to him. Her eyes shone with the reflection of a hundred stars.

"What is it?" Elle asked when she caught Adam looking at her.

"Nothing." Adam said as he returned his focus on the road ahead of him.

By the time they returned to Adam's condo it was late but still a little early to be turning in for the night. Elle made two cups of tea and snuggled up on the couch with Adam to casually kill the time while watching tv.

They ended up watching a movie. Elle had no interest in what was playing but she watched happily while resting in Adam's arms. One arm was wrapped around her waist while the other hand played with her hair. The relaxing and comforting feeling of that paired with the exhaustion of the past few weeks caused Elle to slowly be lulled to sleep. Adam noticed as her eyes began to droop.

"Want to turn in?"

"Hmm?" Elle murmured. "No, that's okay. I don't want to move, let's stay like this for a little longer."

"Come on. You must be exhausted; you should sleep properly."

The truth was that she was exhausted so Elle unwillingly followed Adam up the stairs. The door that led to Adam's room appeared first. Elle was going to continue down the hallway to the guest room she had been using but Adam caught her arm, stopping her in front of his room.

"Your project is done now so stay here tonight." He said as he pulled her into his room.

Elle couldn't help flushing red as she entered. Adam gave her a sly smile. "What's wrong? Why are you suddenly getting shy?" He teased, quoting her words from earlier.

Elle wasn't one to back down from a challenge so despite her flushed face she boldly entered his room.

Once she got over her shyness, and while wrapped up in Adam's arms, Elle quickly fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

~~

Streams of bright sunshine broke through the curtains the next morning, slowly rousing Elle from her sleep. Elle yawned as she got up and suddenly realized that she was alone in the room. Adam was already gone, the spot in the bed he had once occupied was already cold.

Elle groggily rolled over and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. After a moment she realized that she could hear Adam's voice coming from across the hall. It sounded like he was arguing on the phone about something.

Elle got out of bed and followed the sound of his voice over to his office. Adam turned around as soon as she entered the room. and went over to press a soft kiss to her forehead.

Adam clearly looked upset. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his eyes were cold and hard. He looked like the serious and stern man everyone else knew him as. But as soon as his eyes swept over Elle his entire countenance changed. His eyes were filled with warmth and his face had softened.

He crossed the room to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're awake already?" he asked in a whisper while holding the phone away from him.

Elle nodded. "You talk. I'll go make breakfast."

Elle went downstairs to discover that breakfast had already been made. It wasn't anything special but there was freshly cut fruit and breakfast sandwiches waiting for her on the table. Elle made tea for herself and coffee for Adam before sitting down and waiting.

Adam came down the stairs a few minutes later. "You should have eaten first." He said with a frown.

"It's fine. I wanted to eat with you."

Adam joined her at the table and they both began to eat.

"Is something wrong at the company?" Elle asked after a moment.

"Did you hear me?" Adam asked, sounding apologetic.

"Just a little."

"Nothing's wrong exactly. Just some unexpected complications."

"Will you go into the company today?"

"No, I can work from my home office for today."

'So much for being able to spend time together.' Elle thought to herself. But she supposed that was better than nothing.

After breakfast she followed Adam up to his office. While he sat at his desk, mulling over whatever issue had occurred, Elle lounged at the coffee table in the room where she was scribbling on a piece of paper, secretly working on her book.

Her family situation had led Elle to only know how to write a melancholy story, but with Adam there were so many fresh emotions to put into words. Elle sat hunched over her notebook and wrote so much that her wrist eventually became sore.

She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear Adam come up behind her some hours later.

She jumped when she suddenly noticed him leering over her. "You startled me." She exasperated.

"Sorry." Adam apologized while stifling a laugh. "What are you so focused on anyway."

"Nothing." Elle replied while quietly closing her notebook. "What's so important that you had to sneak up behind me?"

"I've settled the details of our trip." Adam announced.

"Really?" Elle asked, full of enthusiasm.

"Yes. We'll leave on Monday."

"So fast?"

"I've already arranged things with your workplace as well."

"When did you plan all this?" Elle asked in amazement. She had been too busy to even care about the trip. How had he already taken care of everything when he was even busier than she was?

"I've been working on it for a week now." He admitted.

"You didn't even know if I would make the sales numbers, what would you have done if you planned everything but I didn't win the bet?"

"Did you think that I really wouldn't take you if you failed?"

"But we had a deal. It was a bet."

"You could have asked for anything but all you asked for a trip for a few hours. You ask for such simple things that I can't deny you."

Elle smiled. While the couple enjoyed a sweet moment amidst their quite day they were oblivious to the impact MK's advertis.e.m.e.nt's were having on the public.