Free Adapting Desires (Endangered Heart Series Book 3) by Amanda Lance

one important exception. And he had promised to give her everything, hadn’t he? Didn’t that include motherhood?
    He called her before he lost his nerve, determined to meet with her. Kasper would not let one more day pass with the coldness between them.
    Unfortunately, she didn’t pick up on Kasper’s first attempt. This only increased his ambition, hanging up when her voice interacted with the voicemail and trying again until he heard her sweet voice for himself.
    Her rush to answer the phone was obvious in her words. “Is something wrong?”
    “No,” he replied sternly. Yet before he could get another word in edge-wise, Emilia cut him off.
    “I can’t talk now, Kasper. I have an exam tomorrow.”
    “I have to meet with you,” he demanded. “Tonight.”
    She sighed audibly. “Didn’t you just hear me? I have an exam tomorrow. It’s why I can’t come down this weekend.”
    “You cannot avoid me forever, Emilia.”
    The Mozart she listened to in the background was shut off. “I resent that accusation. We just talked the other day.”
    “For approximately eight seconds.” He sighed, deliberately trying to imitate her. “And of nothing of merit. If I do not meet with you tonight I will go mad.”
    Pausing, and seeming to think of something important, Kasper gave her a moment to consider, tapping his fingers on his drafting table.
    “I couldn’t possibly drive there and be back for my exam tomorrow,” she replied.
    “I’ll come to you!” he offered. “I’ll just spend the night, leave in the morning—”
    Her sigh interrupted him. “Um, how about this? I need a break and I’ve barely been out of this apartment in three days. Why don’t we pick a spot, a halfway meeting point?”
    “Brilliant,” he said without sarcasm. “Name the place and I will be there.”
     
    ***
     
    Kasper drove as carefully and quickly as he could—more for Emilia’s sake than his own. And despite bearing the bulk of the drive, he still arrived at their meeting place first. Stepping out of the BMW, he stared impatiently at his pocket watch. Was it at all possible that he had missed her? That she had come and gone without him seeing her?
    He stepped out to the pavement, unsurprised to see the colorful chalk drawing some child had left behind. They had agreed to meet in the center of Albany in a field where a playground remained after years of mismanagement. On the day they had found this particular field they had been on their way to Ithaca and stopped to stretch their legs. It was here that Kasper had watched with a mixture of concern and amusement while Emilia played on the squeaking swings, her hair flying around her face and her eyes wrinkling with a soft smile.
    That had been a good day—one of many. Kasper was somewhat confident she wouldn’t leave him, yet what if her biological clock was to take over and cause the temperature between them to change? Even when they did fight occasionally, it was over silly things like politics or the meaning of a piece of art, something that blew over after a session of kissing or the minute she smiled at him again. Kasper could hardly recall any of their fights being this serious, nor of this magnitude. Of course, it certainly would have been easier to make up if they could see each other more frequently. Kasper would be lying if he told himself he did not mind not having her opinion for all of his projects—both recreational and professional.
    He sighed and checked his watch again. The school year had only just begun and Kasper missed her terribly. With any luck, the distraction of the surgeries would help disturb that to a certain extent.
    Kasper put his mind off of it at the sound of Emilia pulling into the field. Instinctively, his eyes scanned the empty street for invaders or anyone who might have been watching, but saw no one. With that relief in mind, he rushed to greet her.
    “I was beginning to think you would not come.”
    Emilia slammed the door behind her.