Secret Kiss (13 page)

“For being an ass and a bad date,” he explained, his tone not revealing the pent-up sexual frustration he was suppressing.

Her light amber eyes widened as she began rebutting his apology. “What? No. You weren’t an ass. You were a total gentleman. And this wasn’t a date. Not a real date. I mean, we went together, but it was just…just…a business…thing.”

At her declaration, Adam winced.

But she continued full steam ahead, seemingly unaware of his reaction. “One you were finagled into, at that. Which is just more evidence that you are a gentleman. You could’ve backed out of tonight. But you didn’t. I mean, I know Nikki can be persuasive. She could sell ice to an Eskimo. Which is great for business, but it can be challenging on a personal level.” Her eyes grew even larger. “Not that this was personal. This was business. But I think she wanted it to be… I mean, you know she was trying… She thought that you. Or, I mean, she thought that I… That we…”

The more Jane tried to explain Nikki’s intentions in playing matchmaker, which Adam knew was exactly what she’d been doing, the faster she spoke and the more frazzled she became.

“She just wanted it to be a, sort of, date. She wants everyone to be happy, you know. Like she is. She wants that for her friends, and she thinks she has this sixth sense and she can read people. Which, I mean, maybe she does, but I honestly think that it only works for her. I don’t think it necessarily translates to other people.”

When Jane finally took a breath, Adam asked, “What do
you
want?”

He wasn’t sure why he asked the question other than it was something he really wanted to know.

Jane blinked at his question. “What?”

“You said that Nikki wanted tonight be a real date…but did you?”

For a moment, she stared at him blankly. Then, when his words registered, a faint-pink flush on her cheeks was highlighted by the moonlight streaming in through the window.

“Uh, um, I don’t…” She gulped before answering, “No.”

Adam could read people. He had to in his job. Cryptology was only a portion of what he did, and the part he was most comfortable with. But when he was in the field, reading people was a necessity, one that could mean the difference between life and death. He didn’t comment on the fact that he knew she was lying.

She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she barked out a nervous laugh. “I mean, I hope it wasn’t a date. If it was, I would feel so bad for dancing with someone else all night.”

“I wanted to dance with you.”

“You did?” she asked.

“I did,” he confirmed.

Her brow knitted. “But you didn’t… I thought you didn’t… I mean, we could’ve…but I didn’t think that you wanted to.”

Adam had observed Jane’s interaction with various other people, both professionally and personally. She was poised, articulate, and well spoken. But when she talked to him, or even about him, she stumbled over her words. She’d done the same thing when Eli had asked her out, and that had bothered him until he’d realized that the reason she’d turned him down was because Adam had asked her out. Tonight, when he had seen them talking, there’d been no stumbling.

He liked that she felt as off-balance around him as he did around her.

Not that it mattered. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—act on it. Still, it didn’t change the fact that he liked it more than he should. He needed to put some distance between them. Well, as much distance as he could with a woman he lived across the street from and worked with.

“I’ll get your door,” he spoke gruffly before he exited the car and made his way to her side.

*

Jane’s head was spinning. She had no idea what was going on with Adam tonight. It was like she’d spent the evening with two different men.

For the last couple of hours, Adam had seemed withdrawn and distant. The few interactions they’d had since her first spin on the dance floor had grown increasingly tense. If she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve thought she’d done something to irritate him.

At first, she’d tried to ignore his attitude, act like she didn’t notice the fact that he was barely making eye contact with her and answering questions with one word. Next up, she’d attempted to joke her way out of it. That had been as successful as Ron Paul’s runs for president. Lastly, she’d gone with avoidance. Which meant she had spent a good part of that time out on the dance floor.

It hadn’t been a hardship. Eli was a great dance partner, and she’d figured, this way, she wouldn’t be bothering Adam. It was bad enough that he’d been roped into being her escort for the evening. The least she could have done was give him some space.

So she’d danced. And danced. And danced.

When it had been time to go, the tension hadn’t eased. The space she’d given him hadn’t put him in a better mood. If anything, he’d seemed not so much agitated, just more self-contained. That was when Jane had gone into business mode. It was her default mode as it were, so it came naturally.

The truck door opened, causing Jane to jump. She checked her dress to make sure nothing had popped out to say hello. Her tendency of having “Lucy” moments increased about a thousandfold around Adam. Luckily, both of her lovely lady lumps were still confined under her constricting chiffon dress.

“You okay?” Adam asked, his face unreadable.

Yep. Just wanted to make sure I didn’t have a nip slip.
“Yep. Great!” Jane said a little too brightly.

Carefully, she took the hand he was offering her and stepped down from the truck, her other hand holding her heels, which had come off two dances in. When her feet were firmly on the ground, she said a little prayer of thanks that she had avoided any falls.

Now, all she had to do was make it the front door without incident and she could get out of this dress, soak in a nice warm bath, and try to forget the way Adam had made her feel tonight. At the beginning of the night, every touch, every look had given her hope that the connection she sensed with him was mutual. Then, the end of the evening had cemented that, sadly, it was totally and completely one-sided. And she was on the wrong side.

Still, she always tried to find the positive in everything, and so tonight, instead of hiding in the corner or being a wallflower, she’d torn it up on the dance floor. Nikki had even said that she was “breaking it down” and getting “turnt.” Jane wasn’t sure what the latter meant, but her friend had been smiling and giving her a thumbs-up while she’d said it, so she assumed it was a good thing.

Lifting her dress so that it didn’t drag on the driveway, Jane took a step and a sharp stab of pain shot up from the bottom of her foot.

“Oww, oww, oww!” she screeched as she hopped on the other foot.

The next thing she knew, she was getting swept off her feet. Literally. Adam had scooped her into his arms and was cradling her as he walked double time up to her door. On pure instinct, she wrapped her arms around his neck. The pain still gripped her like a mother effer, but she had to admit that being held by strong arms did take the edge off.

Part of her wanted to believe that it was just the generic feeling of any arms, ones even Popeye would be envious of. But, since she had spent the better part of the night in the arms of another man—who was equally muscular—she knew she was getting the endorphin-inducing, pain-relieving effect from the man the arms were attached to.

When they reached her door, he firmly spoke one word. “Keys.”

She reached into her small handbag and grabbed the keys. When they were securely in her hands, she started to lean up because she figured Adam would set her on her feet so that she could open the door.

She was wrong.

Instead, he tightened his grasp around her, one arm holding her securely in place against his muscled form. Using his other hand, he took the key ring from her and had them both safely inside the house with the door shut in the blink of a freakin’ eye. She was starting to wonder if he was secretly some kind of ninja in addition to being a programming genius.

“Honestly, I’m okay,” she said, sounding more breathless than she’d meant to, as he stalked through the living room into the kitchen.

He didn’t answer. After setting her on the counter, he kept one hand on her thigh and flipped the light switch. The next thing she knew, Adam was kneeling before her, gently holding her foot up and examining it.

She wanted to speak. To reiterate the fact that she was, indeed, fine. But she was struck speechless. The concern on Adam’s handsome features, his large, strong hands on her bare skin, and the heat of his breath on her ankle were—sadly—some of the most erotic things she’d ever experienced.

Adam lifted his gaze to her. “It’s a bee sting. Are you allergic?”

At the raspy quality of his voice, tiny goosebumps broke out on her skin. Still unable to form any words, she simply shook her head from side to side.

Concern flashed in his eyes. “Are you cold?”

Nope. Just turned on.
She continued shaking her head.

After a small nod, Adam stood with her heel resting in his palm. Then he turned the faucet on before pulling her dress up her legs and bunching it in her lap.

Oh boy.

Her mind was telling her that he was just getting her dress out of the way so it didn’t get wet, but her body was
screaming
that his intentions were to make another part of her body wet. She knew that her mind was right, but if she’d believed in superstition, she would’ve wished on a star, broken a wishbone, knocked on wood, crossed her fingers, done
anything
to ensure that her body had gotten this one right.

He moved her foot beneath the stream of water and spoke in an authoritative tone, “Hold still.”

She had the impulse to say, “Yes, sir,” but thankfully, she still hadn’t regained the use of her vocal cords, so she was spared that embarrassing moment. She answered with a nod instead.

Using his forefinger and thumb, Adam plucked the stinger out of her skin. Then he rinsed the bottom of her foot off with warm, soapy water. Perhaps she should have felt horrified that a man she barely knew—and had a huge crush on—was washing her feet. But her emotions weren’t even in the, this-can’t-be-happening-I’m-horrified ballpark. Nope. They were living it up in the, this-is-too-good-to-be-true-I-think-I’m-in-love ballpark.

A man had never taken care of her like this. If this was how he treated someone he barely knew, how did he treat someone he actually cared about? Jane didn’t delude herself that she’d ever be that person, but a girl could dream…

After turning the water off, he patted her foot with a paper towel then stepped away from her to open the fridge. Finally, when he was no longer touching her, the lust cloud cleared enough for her to speak and finally realize how ridiculous this situation was.

“You didn’t have to do that, really. I’m fine,” she explained as she started to slide off the countertop. She needed to stand on her own two feet—literally—if she had any hope at all of restoring even a shred of her dignity.

Before she’d even managed to slide an inch, Adam was back in front of her. He wrapped a dishcloth around a frozen bag of peas, lifted her foot, and secured the makeshift ice pack to it with a rubber band he’d removed from her Saturday paper.

“Who are you?” she asked in awe. She hadn’t meant to pose the question; it had slipped out. Because come on. This guy was unreal.

When he lifted his stare to hers, he looked about as serious as she’d ever seen him, which was saying a lot for Adam. He was a pensive guy.

“I’m MacGyver,” Adam’s tone was flat and his face deadpanned.

It took a second for his words to register in Jane’s brain, but when they did, she doubled over from laughter. Maybe the joke wasn’t that funny on its own merit, but if she factored in the source, it was knee-slapping hilarious.

She continued laughing, not able to control herself. Her head fell back as she chuckled. After the wave of giggling subsided, she raised her head, and what she saw caused her to suck in a sharp breath of awareness.

Adam’s full lips were turned up in broad smile. His grin not only showcased perfect, straight, white teeth, but also not one, but two, deep dimples.

“Wow. You should do that more often.” The observation wasn’t one she’d planned on making, but she didn’t regret it. He really should.

“What? Make you laugh?” The deep timbre in his voice sent an erotic chill skittering down Jane’s spine.

“No.” She shook her head, hoping it would disguise the shiver the vibration of his words had caused. “Smile. You should smile more often.”

No sooner had she clarified her statement than the very thing she’d endorsed and advocated for more of vanished. His eyes darkened, and Jane’s stomach dropped. She knew she’d just stepped in it. She wasn’t clear on exactly what “it” was, but from the dark cloud that now resided over Adam’s countenance, she knew that “it” wasn’t good.

Her heart began beating faster as she stuttered. “I didn’t mean… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have… I wasn’t trying…”

When the warmth of Adam’s large palm touched her bare knee, she stopped talking.

“It’s fine.” His voice was as smooth as honey.

A charge of arousal shot from where his fingers were wrapped around her kneecap, dipping into her inner thigh, straight up to her core, and she took in a shaky breath. For a moment, they both remained still, looking into each other’s eyes, the energy between them felt electric with anticipation and lust—at least, it was on her part.