Rising Star by JS Taylor

the outside world,” I explain carefully.
    I lean across the table and touch his heart.
    “But a woman protects her man here. On the inside.” I say, looking into his eyes.
    Adam’s expression is hard to read.
    Does he understand ?
    “But I can’t protect you,” I conclude, “if you don’t tell me anything about yourself. Do you understand? I don’t want this mysterious Adam Morgan. I want you. Just you. All of you.”
    I drop my hand to take his, and sit back on my chair.
    Adam squeezes my hand slightly, and then very slowly he extracts his hand from my grip. For some reason, it feels as though my heart is breaking.
    Then he speaks.
    “Summer,” he says softly. “There are some things…” His eyes cast down, and then flick back up to mine. “I’m not saying I’d never tell you,” he says. “But this is hard for me.”
    “Then maybe you just need time,” I say, touched by his honesty.
    Adam looks uncertain.
    I’m suddenly overwhelmed by him. The fact he rescued me. The hidden depths that he tries to hide.
    Adam has done so much for me. Risked so much. The realisation bubbles up as a thick wave of love.
    Right now, I don’t need to know about his past. I just flat out love him.
    I take a breath, stunned by the strength of my feeling.
    “Thank you,” I say quietly. “Truly. You saved me back there. I’m very grateful for your hidden persona. Even it frightens me how little I seem to know about you,” I conclude with a rueful smile.
    Adam smiles back slightly, and then we’re both lost in each other’s eyes.
    We sit like that a long moment, like no-one else exists in the world.
    Then Adam’s eyes flick away, and I see the waiter closing in.
    “So how about that breakfast?” asks Adam as the waiter draws up at our table, “you hungry yet?”
    I grin at him. “You know what? I am.”
    “I told you that martini would do the trick,” he smiles.
    “Yeah,” I concede scanning the menu. “You were right.” I turn to the waiter. “Can I get the savoury pancakes and poached eggs?”
    The waiter nods and turns to Adam.
    “I’ll have eggs benedict please,” Adam says, snapping his menu shut and handing it back. “Summer, you want a drink? Juice? Coffee?”
    I consider. “I guess I’d better have coffee,” I decide. “After that martini I need something to liven me back up. It’s rehearsal today.”
    “The booze will make you more creative,” says Adam with a wink. But he orders two lattes nevertheless.
    “You know,” Adam says, reaching across to take my hands as the waiter leaves with our order. “I wasn’t just trying to change the subject before. I really am interested in how things are going with your music video.”
    I smile.
    “Well,” I say, ploughing my memory for yesterday’s rehearsal. It seems like a lifetime ago. “Good,” I decide. “Dev.as.station are good to work with.”
    “No tensions?”
    Two delicious smelling lattes are set down.
    Hmmm. Good counteraction to that martini.
    “Um. Maybe a little,” I reply, picking up my latte cup and taking a foamy sip, “between George and Dushane at least.”
    Adam smiles wryly. “I thought as much.”
    “They’re just from different cultures.”
    “Well that can work well,” says Adam. “Who knows? George and Dushane might end up sweet on each other.”
    I half choke on my mouthful of coffee.
    “George and Dushane ?” I blurt. “That will never happen!”
    I can’t think of a stranger combination.
    Adam sips his own coffee.
    “You might be surprised,” he says. “Fireworks are fireworks. And tension finds its own release.”
    I consider this, but I simply can’t imagine it happening.
    Thinking about George jerks a sudden memory.
    George’s birthday!
    “Shit!” I slam my hand into my forehead. “It’s George’s twenty-first birthday tomorrow. Her party is tonight. I need to buy her a present. A good one.”
    I still haven’t solved the puzzle of how to buy George a gift, with only a few pounds in my