Provocative (Tempting Book 3) (10 page)

I barked out a laugh. “Cute. As long as you can behave in polite society, little girl, of course you’re coming with me.”

The instant her eyes cooled, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. But that post-coital bliss was still too bright and too strong for me to say anything about it. So I kissed her again, and went into the kitchen to make us some dinner.

“
A
dele
,” I yelled up the stairs, staring at the ticking hands of my wristwatch. “We need to go.”

“Calm your tits, I’m ready.”

I laughed under my breath, imagining her saying something like that amongst my peers at Harvard, who would all finally get to meet Adele in about thirty minutes. I didn’t want to be nervous about it, but it was there all the same. Whether they’d ask her the wrong question, or one of us would give the wrong answer, either option scared the piss out of me. And Adele, fuck, if she’d act like the wonderful, smart, impressive woman that I knew was underneath her sometimes prickly demeanor, then we’d be perfectly fine.

She’d be
fine
, I told myself again, just like I’d done all damn day.

Then I changed my mind, because she came down the stairs looking like a walking wet dream. Which was okay under normal circumstances. But in a group of thirty colleagues and their significant others? They’d think she was jail bait.

“Adele,” I said slowly, my eyes tracing every inch that I knew intimately. “You look…”

She smiled at me, the bright red of her lipstick making her teeth look even whiter than normal. The black cocktail dress that she had on might have looked classic, even boring, on a lesser woman. But the thick straps that curved over her shoulders, and the neckline that veered down her chest in a sharp V only made her cleavage look a little bigger than normal, her waist a little smaller thanks to the wrapped lines of fabric. Her hips curved against the dress, which hit a couple inches above her knees. The nude heels that she had on her feet must have been four inches, so her legs—fuck me sideways—looked about six feet long.

Her eyebrows were up, waiting for me to answer. Swallowing past the tar that coated my throat, I gave her a weak smile.

“Beautiful. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she replied with an unearthly glow in her green eyes, and then turned to grab her purse from the hallway table. That’s when I saw her back. The straps that went over her shoulder twisted together, exposing a wide swath of her toned back.

And her
ass
in that dress.

No, no, no. I couldn’t do it.

“Do you have something else you can wear?” I said on a rush. Adele froze for a second, and then made a slow pivot to face me.

“You just said I look beautiful.”

“You do, God, you look so fucking amazing.”

“So…”

Damn it. I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. “You look
too
amazing. Does that make sense?”

Adele pursed her lips while she tucked her cell phone and a tube of lipstick in her tiny black purse thingie. “No.”

“Adele,” my voice trailed off when she narrowed her eyes up at me. Her lashes looked eight times longer than normal, which made the green of her irises that much more vivid.

“No, Nathan. I’m not changing. I spent two hundred dollars on this dress because the woman at Nordstrom’s told me that I looked stunning and that it was the perfect cocktail dress for any occasion. I am
not
changing. If those women judge me because they’re mad I have amazing tits and an ass that doesn’t sag yet, they can go fuck themselves.” She stepped into my face, the spikes of her heels bringing her much closer to my height than she’d ever been before. Then she poked a red-tipped nail into my white dress shirt. “If they’re so close-minded that the fact that I’m not ugly automatically means I have cardboard for brains, then I don’t want to meet them anyway. Keep me locked up at home, because I can’t change how I look, Easton. And I won’t do it because you’re afraid they’ll write me off the moment I walk through the door. I’m not a bimbo and I’m not a pushover. I’m wearing this fucking dress because I feel beautiful in it.”

My eyes traveled over her face, the feeling in my heart swelling somewhere between pride, wonder and cold, skin-numbing terror of bringing this other-worldly creature into their midst.

“Okay.”

Suspicion clouded her eyes. “That’s it?”

I nodded and grabbed the dressy black coat that she’d draped over the back of the couch. When I held it open for her, she hesitated, and I could see the nerves in her face despite her little speech. So I smiled, even though they were still fizzing through my body too. Adele smiled back, and slid her arms through the coat. While she was buttoning it up, I placed a soft kiss on the crown of her head. Her silky blond hair tickled my lips, so I smoothed it with one hand to make sure it was still perfect.

“That’s it,” I agreed. I held out the crook of my elbow for her, and she slipped her arm through so she could grip my bicep. “Now let’s go, my little warrior.”

And she was smiling when we walked out the door, which was the best I could ask for.

Our drive over was quiet. For different reasons, probably. Mine was still undoubtedly my nerves, and maybe Adele was gearing up for the battle that she imagined was waiting for her. The streets were quiet and dark, small patches of snow left on lawns from the sprinkling flurries we’d gotten earlier in the day.

Thankfully the roads were dry. Actually, on second thought, if it had been an icy, slushy mess, maybe Adele would have worn galoshes instead of stilettos. When we passed under a streetlamp, I glanced over at her in the passenger seat.

Her legs were crossed primly, belying the sex-personified body that was under her wool coat. But the light tracked over her legs in uneven pulses, showing her toned, bare legs.

I hated that she was right. That there was a possibility that they’d take one look at how painfully beautiful she was and write her off in the same breath. That they’d never care to know just how much sharp wit and razor-edged intelligence was packed into her skull.

We turned the corner onto the Ezekiel’s street, all the old, brick houses forming a stately and intimidating line of wealth. Adele pulled a breath in through her nose and I laid a hand on her thigh. She closed her eyes before turning to look at me. It was so dark in the car that her face was in shadows and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“Let’s get this bullshit over with.”

I laughed to cover my apprehension, because we both knew this was the biggest test of our relationship so far. I jogged around the car to open her door for her, and I was relieved when she took my hand immediately. But her grip on my fingers was tight, so she was just as nervous as me. In her other hand, she held the wine bottle that we’d brought as a gift for the host.

“Are you sure we got the right kind?” she whispered while we walked the gently curving path to the front door. Like she was afraid they could hear us, even though we were separated by massive amounts of brick.

“A good cabernet is always a safe bet.”

Adele snorted. “Like I’d know. I’d still be buying two-dollar wine if I didn’t live with you. Probably shouldn’t announce that as soon as I walk through the door, huh?”

My left eye twitched. “Probably not.”

I followed Adele up the short steps of the covered front porch when the massive black door swung open.

“You must be Nathan and Adele,” a portly woman wearing black silk and pearls said with a kind smile on her face. She was easily in her sixties, and Adele and I both relaxed immediately. “I’m Bonnie Ezekiel, please, please, come in. Make yourselves comfortable.”

A white-shirted waiter took both of our coats, and I couldn’t help but miss that Adele was still holding herself a little stiffly while she looked around the perfectly decorated room.

“Your home is beautiful, Mrs. Ezekiel,” Adele said with a polite smile. Bonnie winked at her and laid a light hand on Adele’s elbow.

“Just Bonnie, sweetheart. Let’s go into the dining room, everyone else is here already.”

Adele looked back at me and I quirked an eyebrow, to which she rolled her eyes.

Any good feelings I’d had at Bonnie’s warm welcome fled instantly when every woman in the room zeroed in on Adele with avid curiosity. She was oblivious, thank God, since she’d latched onto Bonnie and was following her to a long buffet along the wall that held hors d’oeuvres.

I saw Bonnie say something that made Adele laugh, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Max greeted me with a firm handshake, as did Jonathan and Rodney. Max lifted his eyebrows at Adele, where she was still talking to Bonnie.

“The picture doesn’t do her justice.”

I laughed, shaking my head a little bit. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

He straightened his tie and gave me a comical look. “I think I’ll go over there and see if she’s ready to leave you for a more mature man.”

Given that Max had been happily married for forty-five years, I gestured for him to go ahead and smiled when he made an exaggerated show of kissing Adele’s hand. Her delighted, albeit mildly embarrassed expression made his theatrics well worth it.

Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Rodney’s wife, whom I recognized from pictures in his office, sauntered over to us and laid a hand on my forearm like she knew me. I was instantly on edge, the tight botox-ed skin of her face registering nothing except blank interest.

“Well, Nathan,” she drawled, sliding up next to me with her hand still gripping my sleeve. “You look handsome tonight.”

As if I’d ever spoken to her before. I smiled and shifted so that her hand fell off of me. Glancing over at Rodney, he simply shook his head at his wife, but the affection in his eyes told me she was probably like this with every male colleague of his.

“Thank you,” I lifted my eyebrows when I couldn’t recall her name. “I’m sorry to be rude, but could you remind me of your first name.”

She giggled, and Adele glanced over at me. Her eyes narrowed and I gave her a subtle shake of my head. This was not the place for a jealous display. Especially not over a woman in her early fifties who was obviously trying to wind the clock back to her thirties. And not doing a very good job of it.

“Mary.” She laid a hand on her chest with a beatific smile, like she was doing me a favor by telling me who she was. “I’m sorry, I feel like I know you with how much Rodney talks about you. But you’re still a bit of a mystery to those of us who aren’t on campus every day. We were just dying to get to know you tonight.”

“We?”

She waved a hand at another woman, who smiled and made her way over to us. Thankfully, she maintained a polite amount of distance and introduced herself as another professor’s wife. Adele slid a hand up my back when she joined us, and I didn’t miss the way Mary’s eyes snaked over Adele’s dress. I stiffened, but Adele gave them both a warm smile.

“Hi,” she said brightly, setting her glass of wine down on the dining table so she could shake their hands. “I’m Adele, Nathan’s girlfriend.”

The other woman, Lisa, complimented Adele’s dress, which made me relax again.

“Oh, this old thing?” Adele ran a hand along her flat stomach. Lisa laughed, Mary just answered with a tight smile. “Thank you. I don’t get to dress up like this very often, so it was fun to get ready.”

I wrapped my arm around Adele’s waist. “You look just as beautiful in sweatpants.”

Rodney introduced himself to Adele and clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t make us old married men look bad, Easton.”

Mary glanced at her husband and then back at us. “Yes, Nathan, soon we’ll expect them to actually tell us we look nice once in a while.” Then she cocked her head at Adele. “So how long have you two been dating?”

It was impressive that she managed to make dating sound like a dirty word. Adele glanced up at me before she answered. We counted that Thanksgiving night of the year before, when I waited for her in the snow, as the real date of when our relationship began. No more secrets then, no more lies between us. The first time I admitted I was falling for her, when I proved it to her, and when she finally believed me.

“A little under a year.”

“And where did you two meet?” Lisa asked with a bit more kindness than Mary had given us.

“If I answer, is it someone else’s turn in the hot seat?” Adele answered with enough charm that everyone laughed. Except Mary. I smoothed a hand down Adele’s back, hoping she knew that this was just as hard for me too.

The fact that we’d escaped Northern unscathed didn’t really mean anything. I may not have broken any conduct rules at Harvard, but if they knew I’d had a sexual relationship with Adele while she was in my class? That would be a tough one to explain to our department chair.

Partially because he was a pompous ass, and partially because I never wanted to be looked at as a predator. I wasn’t one. Adele had been the first and only temptation in my entire teaching career. Thank
God
she’d been of legal age.

“Adele ran me over in the hallway of a restaurant,” I answered for her, giving Lisa my focus. I could tell she was genuinely interested. Maybe because I was still the new guy, maybe because we were the youngest people in the room by a couple decades. It didn’t really matter. Rodney elbowed me in the side like I was joking, but I lifted a hand. “No, really. She was leaving the ladies’ room, and never looked up. I’m still surprised I didn’t end up with a broken rib and that she didn’t get a concussion.”

“Which restaurant?” Mary asked, peering at Adele over the rim of her wine glass.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t know it,” I said smoothly, not at all prepared to admit what the name of the bar was. “It’s a small place closer to Boston.”

“How old are you, Adele?” Mary ignored my answer and tilted her head to the side.

The air crackled when Adele didn’t answer right away. My heart was galloping in my chest, and I kept a firm hand on Adele’s waist. Rodney chuckled and walked away to grab more food, leaving me and Adele with Lisa, Bonnie and Jonathan. Certainly not the whole group, but enough that it honestly made me want to vomit from nerves.

“Isn’t that bad form?” Adele teased. But her smile was tight, I could tell. “I thought you were never supposed to ask a woman’s age.”

“It is,” Lisa agreed, giving Mary a stern look.

Mary tittered, waving a hand at her friend. “Forgive me. Too much wine on an empty stomach, I suppose. I’m just envious that I can’t fit into a dress like that anymore.”