“You.”
Me? Me! My insides do a little happy dance.
“Me?” My voice has gone slightly high-pitched.
“Yeah.” He moves closer. So close, I have to tilt my head back to look up at him. “Also, I was out, getting a frame.”
“A frame?”
“Mmhmm. For the picture you drew for me.”
A swarm of butterflies start having a disco party in my stomach.
“You know, you should really let me pay you for it.”
“You like it?”
He stares at me for a long moment, so long that my mouth dries, and those butterflies flitter up my throat.
“Yeah, I do. I like it a lot.”
Holy God. I’m so done for.
The sound of Grady’s and Base’s voices coming from the back room snaps me out of it.
They both come to a stop when they see Adam and me. Maybe we’re standing closer than a customer and shop assistant should be.
No maybe about it, we are.
I take a small step back.
“Hey, man,” Grady says to him.
“Hey.” Adam gives him a nod.
“Our Evie Girl taking care of you?”
“Oh, yeah.” Adam’s eyes come back to me. “She’s looking after me just fine.”
I’m pretty sure my whole body is on fire. With lust. For him.
Dear God…
“So…” I clear my cluttered throat. “What are you looking for today?”
“An answer to my question.”
“Which question?”
He bridges that gap I just put between us and lowers his voice slightly as he says, “I asked you out yesterday, and you said you’d let me know today. I’m here to get my yes, so I can finally take you out on that date.”
Sweet baby Jesus.
I’m well aware that Grady and Base are still here, probably being a pair of nosy parkers and listening in.
“And what if I was going to say no?”
“Then, I’d keep asking until you changed your mind.”
That makes me smile. “Okay,” I say.
“Okay?”
“Yes.” I smile. “I’ll go out with you.”
“Now?”
I let out a laugh. “I can’t go out with you now. I’m working. But I get off at five—”
“She’s finished for the day.” Grady comes over, handing my bag to me.
“What?” I turn to him, taking the bag being pushed at me.
He has this huge grin on his face. “I think you deserve some time off.”
“But, Grady, the money. I need—”
“It’s covered, Evie. Just go out and be seventeen. Have some fun.”
I stare at him for a moment. “Okay. Thank you,” I say tentatively. “But I will make up the hours.”
He chuckles at me, shaking his head, as I start to move away, Adam with me.
“See ya, Base.” I wave at him.
“Later, Evie.”
I follow Adam through the store and out the door he holds open for me.
“So, you’re seventeen?” Adam says the second we’re outside.
“I am. Is that a problem?” I never considered how old he was. I mean, he’s clearly older than me. Well, he looks older.
“Not at all.”
“How old are you?” I ask him.
“Eighteen. I turn nineteen in September.”
“I’m a March baby.”
“I’ll have to remember that.”
He smiles at me, and I feel a fluttering in my chest.
He comes to a stop by a really fancy-looking Mercedes. It’s a really nice car.
“Is this yours?” I ask, impressed.
“Mmhmm.”
He unlocks the car and pulls the handle on the door. And it opens up. And when I say up, I mean, it literally lifts up, not opening like a conventional car door.
“Wow,” I say, my eyes wide.
“Yeah. It’s kinda cool, I guess.”
It’s more than cool. “So, you like cars?”
He shrugs. “I guess. Yeah, they’re okay. My parents bought it for me on my eighteenth birthday.”
“Well, they must really like you—a lot.” I give a teasing smile.
“Not really.” He looks away, not before giving me a tight smile.
His body language screams tense, and I really wish I hadn’t said anything.
But, now, I think I see the reason for that loneliness I first saw in him.