“Seven’s good. We can get some last minute practice in before the masses descend.” He winks and gives me another pat on the shoulder as he locks the door behind us and heads to his car.
I turn my attention to Adrian, who parked his BMW next to my Outback. He’s leaning his side against his car, with his hands casually in his khaki shorts’ pockets. How he always pulls off looking like a model is beyond me, but I’ll take it.
“So, what do you want to do after driving all this way?” I try to make my grin match his as I lean against my driver’s side door.
“I just want to hang out with you. We spent so much time together last week that it was weird not seeing you at all this week.”
“I don’t think I properly thanked you for last week.” I step toward him, and he removes his hands from his pockets. “It was really comforting having you around. You didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t hound me about how I was feeling ...” I take another step toward him, wrap my arms around his neck, and set my chin on his shoulder.
He tightens his arms around my waist. “You don’t need to thank me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, Blue.”
“Let’s go hang out at my place for a while, I’ve got plenty to eat and drink.” I pull back and suddenly find myself resisting the urge to kiss him. I visualize his tempting lips on mine and my breath yields. He presses his hands into my back and pulls me in tighter, kissing the top of my head.
His voice is deep and smooth. “Your place sounds great.”
Taking a deep breath, I get into my car, begging my libido to get a grip as I click my seatbelt into place. I don’t feel as off-balance as I think I should with all of the physical stuff happening between Adrian and me. Sure, it’s only been a hand-hold here, and a peck there, but I want more. And there’s been more before. We know each other, we’ve been there, but now we’re older—we’re adults. When everything went down with Bo in Concord, Adrian didn’t get in his face or kick his ass; he was there for me and gave me what I needed.
When we pull up to my apartment, my libido buries itself at the sight of the station wagon parked in my space. Adrian shuts his door at the same time as me and cautiously approaches, as I stand with my hand on my hip.
“What’s up?” he asks
I gesture to the relic. “My grace period is over. Raven and Ashby are here.”
“What do you mean ‘grace period’? You didn’t talk to them this week?” Adrian knows I didn’t speak to my parents the few days he was at my house.
“No...I’ve been busy.” I shrug.
Adrian laughs. “Well, sweetheart, it’s time to face the music.” He takes my hand and leads me upstairs, where my parents are waiting inside my apartment.
Chapter Six
“See what happens when I give you people a key? You abuse the privilege,” I start as I open the door.
“Well, baby girl,” Ashby replies, “you can’t go through something like that and expect us not to care. I was ho-- Adrian?” My dad’s stern eyes soften as he looks over my shoulder.
“Hello, Mr. Harris, Mrs. Harris.” Without missing a beat, Adrian crosses the living room to shake my father’s hand before kissing my mother on the cheek.”
Damn, he’s smooth.
Raven blushes. “Adrian, it’s great to see you. How have you been? Thank you so much for being here for November the last couple of weeks.” When she finally stops rambling, she sits and pats her hand next to her for Adrian to join. My parents loved Adrian when we were together in college, which always struck me as odd since he’s so different from me; but we seemed to make sense—even to the hippies.
Adrian sits and puts his forearms on his thighs. “You know I’d help her no matter what. I was in the right place at the right time.” Seeming to sense my parents’ questions on the tips of their tongues, Adrian continues, “Em, I’m gonna run to pick up our pizza, I’ll be back in a few. Mr. and Mrs. Harris, in case you’re not here when I get back, it was great seeing you. I hope to see you again soon.” We didn’t order pizza. He wants my parents and me to have time to talk in private.
“Please, Adrian, call us by our names.” Ashby breaks his stunned silence and shakes Adrian’s hand once more.
As soon as Adrian’s car pulls away from the curb, I offer my defense.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called you guys. This week I got back to work, and today we had our meeting in Concord.”
“Your what?” Ashby asks.
“Ash, my organization is still collaborating with Bo’s. I’m a grant writer; I’ve got a job to do.” I plunk down next to my mom, who starts absentmindedly playing with the ends of my hair.
“Can you back up and tell us what happened?” Raven chimes in innocently.
I tell them about my time in Concord and how it ended. My dad starts wringing his hands when I tell them about Bill coming after me, and me falling flat on my face in front of Adrian on the sidewalk. I reference my conversation today with Monica, and am honest when I say I don’t know how I would have handled it had Bo told me everything earlier on, but remind them that it’s a moot point.