Adam woke up with a pounding headache that felt like a jackhamr going off inside his skull. His mouth was dry, his limbs heavy, and every blink brought a fresh throb behind his eyes. He groaned and rolled onto his back, shielding his face with one arm from the early morning light filtering in through the curtains. Just as he began to shift, the blanket slipped off his chest—and that’s when he noticed it.
He was naked.
Completely, unmistakably naked.
"What the hell?" he muttered, shooting upright—too fast. The room tilted around him, and he nearly collapsed back onto the bed. His head pounded harder in protest, but the shock cut through the fog just enough for his eyes to refocus. A prickling awareness spread over his skin, and that’s when he felt them.
Scratches.
Tiny, stinging lines across his shoulders and down his sides. He slowly ran a hand over his chest and winced. There were definite marks there—more than one—and they weren’t the kind that ca from tripping over furniture.
Heart hamring now, he pushed the blanket away and forced himself to his feet. The floor felt unsteady under him, and he stumbled, catching himself on the edge of the bed. His legs still felt like jelly from the previous night’s binge, but panic overrode the nausea curling in his stomach.
He staggered to the mirror on the far wall and pulled himself upright to examine the damage. His eyes widened. A small bruise had blood at his waist, purplish-blue and tender to the touch. Across his abdon and shoulders were faint red scratch marks—so shallow, others deeper.
"What the hell happened last night?" he whispered, staring at himself like a stranger.
No. No, no. He would never—could never—cheat on lanie.
Not even drunk. Not even by accident.
But the evidence... It was there, staring back at him. And he didn’t rember anything beyond stumbling into the room. He had been drunk, yes—more than drunk. But beyond that? A complete blank. He shook his head, hard, as if trying to shake the truth loose. No. Soone had to have done this to him. It didn’t make sense any other way.
Fumbling, he reached for his T-shirt and shorts and threw them on hastily, grimacing at every scrape of fabric against the irritated skin. He needed to know what had happened. Who had entered his room. Maybe the hotel caras had caught sothing. He had to check before lanie ever found out. But he would have to confess... He couldn’t let her think—God, he himself couldn’t even think it.
He shoved his feet into his slippers and opened the bedroom door in a rush.
The mont he stepped out into the suite’s dining area, he was hit by an explosion of noise and light.
"SURPRISE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"
He blinked, recoiling instinctively as flashes from caras burst in his face. Dozens of balloons bobbed in the air, banners reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM! strung across the walls, and standing right in the middle of it, were lanie and Adir, standing there grinning.
For a minute, he felt his heart co into his throat... until Adir laughed and said to lanie with a chuckle," I got the perfect blackmail material image. Look."
lanie turned toward Adir as he held up the small tablet they had used to sync the cara tirs. The screen displayed a slightly tilted photo taken just as Adam stepped out of the bedroom-a wild ss of bed hair, his T-shirt half inside-out, shorts wrinkled and slung low on his hips, and his face caught mid-blink in sheer panic. His hands were raised like he was about to ward off an attack, and his mouth was open as if he’d received an electirc shock.
While lanie and Adir chuckled, Adam’s brain finally seed to have caught up as he let out a slow sigh of relief and almost fell over. Dam* it! He’d almost had a heart attack! Finally, he had broken segnts of mory coming back, of pulling lanie onto the bed under him.. His eyes narrowed... Just to make sure that he was not fooling himself, he focused on her neck... yep.. there it was... a faint mark. Now, he could breathe."
As he finally started to breathe again, Adir ca running to him, grinning from ear to ear, as he jumped into his arms and shouted," Happy Birthday, Adam!"
Adam caught him easily, lifting him off the ground with a soft grunt and holding him close, pressing a kiss into his hair. The tension that had knotted itself deep in his chest loosened completely.
"Thank you, buddy. And wait till I get my hands on that ’blackmail’ worthy picture that you’ve taken. You’re going to be in for a tickle attack."
Adir giggled. "It was lanie’s idea! Tickle her. And, I brought you a gift! Put down! I forgot it in the room. I’ll go and get it now!"
Adam put him down as Adir kicked his legs and before he could even say anything, the kid had already run away...
As soon as he vanished into the room, Adam straightened and found himself face to face with lanie.
She stood there quietly, looking at him with a calm smile. Quickly, he buried his face in her neck, breathing in deeply. "You scared to death, you know that?"
lanie laughed at that and said," Did I? Who told you to get so drunk and then flirt with ? You deserved it."
Adam didn’t answer right away. He just held her tighter, finally calm that he had not done sothing incredibly stupit and unforgivable.
Then, without warning, he slipped his hand down and gave her bottom a firm smack.
lanie let out a sharp little gasp and pulled back slightly to glare up at him.
He smirked. "That was for letting believe I’d hallucinated everything and the little stunt you pulled... You will pay for that prank, my sweet little lon."
lanie grinned," You thought you slept with soone else, didn’t you?"
Adam shook his head,"I’ve been traumatized for life. Never... Never will I ever drink again on business trips."
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