The Sweetest Love (Love Conquers All Book 5) by Victoria Wells Page B

something wet to keep her tongue from getting stuck to the roof of her mouth. She had some explaining to do.
    Adam handed her a bottle of water as he took a seat next to her. Roxy twisted the cap off and took a swallow. Wanting to get the rest of her apology over and done with, she started yapping away.
    “Adam, I really wasn’t upset about you not calling last weekend.”
    Cocking his head to the side, he gave her a doubtful look. “No?”
    She looked pitiful as she mumbled, “No.”
    Dropping her head, she didn’t say anything. She had never been jealous of another woman. Not even when Carl, her high school sweetheart, sent her a Dear John letter halfway through his freshman year laying it all out that a long distance relationship wouldn’t work between them. As she suspected, months later she found out he had really dumped her for another girl on campus.
    But seeing Adam with another woman had her twisted up on the inside. Not to mention it had started causing her to think all sorts of crazy things. Was the woman really his girlfriend? Had he tried to do to her what her father had done to her mother all those years ago? Was he pretending to be unattached when he really had someone else?
    Meeting his gaze, she blinked back the tears. She tried to gain control over her voice when she spoke, but it didn’t work. It came out a soft shaky mess. “That day you came to my job, I saw you earlier in the day with someone.” She swallowed the lump steadily growing in her throat. “I saw how she was touching you and how you were smiling and laughing with her.” A single tear feel when she bitterly accused, “You told me you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
    “Oh baby, come here,” he said as he reached over and pulled Roxy on his lap. She willingly went, burying her face in his chest.
    It all made sense now. Even though it was an innocent lunch date, he could only imagine what it must have looked like to Roxy.
    “I swear to you Roxy, I don’t have a girlfriend. Lisa was a blind date my mother set me up with. It just so happened she wasn’t as bad as the others.” Adam gently explained as he tenderly kissed her temple. “Although I wasn’t interested in her, I found her to be really cool.”
    Roxy leaned back and lifted an arch brow. “Really cool? Is that what they call it these days?”
    Adam chuckled. “Baby, you don’t have anything to worry about. I think Lisa plays for the other team.”
    He chuckled again when her mouth formed a perfect circle when she said, “Oh.”
    Again he reiterated, “You have nothing to worry about. I’m not involved with anyone.”
    Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Are you sure?”
    Adam’s dark eyes traveled over her features as he carefully assessed her. Something else was going on with her and he was about to find out what it was. “Why do you think I’m not telling you the truth?”
    “I don’t think that,” she tried denying.
    “Don’t lie to me, Roxy. Do not insult my intelligence,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.
    Roxy lowered her eyes and began playing with a button on his shirt. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. Taking a few minutes, she prepared herself to open up to him. She took a deep breath before she began to unload. He listened as she told him everything her mother had shared with her. By the time she finished, she had nervously worried every button on his shirt.
    Reba Harris had earned a spot right up there next to his mother when it came to his admiration for strong black women. So many women’s lives were destroyed of no fault of their own, having to endure such treatment, but not Ms. Reba’s. She had managed to take care of herself and a daughter against all odds.
    As for her father, he would give anything to meet up with him in a dark alley. What gave a man the right to make a baby and then feel it’s okay to just walk away? He didn’t like the idea of Roxy meeting the jackass. He started to open his mouth to tell her she