He wanted to stab himself in the thigh with a really dull fork…like the kind they had in the boarding school he spent two years at before being expelled. Those forks could barely stick the steak. And those knives…glorified butter knives. He shook his head. Honestly, he should stick to non-verbal communication. He smiled. In the past, that would have meant taking her to bed. With all he had said wrong this night, he wouldn’t even be permitted to undress her with his eyes. He sighed.
“Should I wait in the car? Is there even room for both of us in there?” He smirked to show he was joking.
“This is the part of the evening wherein I give you a tour of how the other half lives. Drag your ass.” She rolled her eyes and sighed as she stepped from the vehicle. “Oh, and you have to lift up on the door to shut it. The latch mechanism is a bit tricky.” He could see she was trying not to laugh at him as he struggled with the door.
After a few more unsuccessful tries, she sighed loudly and walked over to him. “Move,” she urged. Once he was out of the way, she grabbed the door handle, lifted it and the door, then directing it with her foot, managed to expertly shut it on the very first try. “There.” She smiled and led the way inside the building.
“You might have mentioned the foot trick. I bet if I had used the foot trick…” But before he could complete his sentence, they had walked up the narrow dimly lit staircase and had stopped in front of her door. At least he assumed it was her door, since she was using a key in the lock.
“So, here’s what’s going to happen,” she said. “I’m going to walk in after you. You should go straight, duck under the loft, sit on the couch and wait for me. I’ll hike up the loft, change, and come back down. Then I’ll take you anywhere you want to go because I’ll be so happy to get out of these shoes and that bustier that you can all but have your way with me.” She was practically giddy as she peeled off her shoes in the hall.
“Does that mean I still have a chance at getting my birthday wish?” He wore his most seductive grin.
“Why do you always have to do that?” She sighed loudly. “Can’t we just be playful and have fun without you trying to turn everything into sex? Have you not had enough meaningless sex in your life?” She gestured with her head. “Go on. I’m waiting.” It was getting late and her impatience was showing.
Sitting quietly under the loft, Adam wondered over everything she had said. It was true. There was more than a grain of truth to it. Hadn’t their discussion earlier in the evening proven that point? And yet some habits were simply so hard to break. He frowned. Some day, he wanted something real, just like Sam and Haley. He wanted someone that he could be himself with, who would love him no matter what. He wanted someone who was safe to love.
Too soon, she came down the ladder. She was wearing worn jeans and a fitted v-neck long sleeved shirt. It was plum colored and a white tank top was peeking out underneath. She had on fuzzy socks and slid her feet into some black boots that she pulled out of a cupboard near the door. And her hair, for the first time that night, was loose and flowed past her shoulders in waves of honey blonde and gold. Then she did it again…that thing where she looked up at him through her long lashes. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat and he had to wonder once more how he had never noticed her. She knew him, but had he really been that superficial that he had never paid attention to her because she was the help? He shook his head, disgusted with the man he used to be and determined to be better.
“Did you decide where you want to go?” She asked while grabbing a black leather jacket from behind a sheet that doubled as a closet door. He knew his mouth was hanging open. That was why she had reacted as she did. She chuckled. “The other half, remember?”
“You mean to tell me that the other half doesn’t have