“He’s not really my boyfriend. There’s nothing to be jealous about.”
Tamsyn laughed again and pretended to simper at her. “So, you’re single?”
Caroline gave her a long look. “Shouldn’t you go talk to your ex?”
“Shouldn’t you go take your boyfriend home?”
“It’s really not like that. He’s—”
Her employee.
“It’s not like that,” Caroline revised.
“But you want it to be?”
Caroline rubbed her knuckles against her cheek. “I don’t know. Not if he’s not interested.” If he had a full suite of choices, he wouldn’t be dating her. He’d be dating some other beautiful, brilliant woman his own age, though hopefully one who wasn’t as mean as his ex. Having her nose rubbed in that fact was giving her some doubts about expanding the range of services Adrian provided as her part-time boyfriend for hire.
Tamsyn sniffed loudly. “Well, he called off his wedding with Nora. He keeps turning Vanessa down. I don’t see that saying no is a problem he has, so there’s no harm in finding out.” She tipped the bottle all the way back and drained the rest of it. “Just drag him home and ask if he wants to have interesting, bendy, tall-person sex. I’m going to chase everyone who isn’t buying paintings out in a few minutes anyway.”
Caroline worried at her lower lip, still feeling shaky and beaten up. She didn’t think she was up for any sex that night, interesting or otherwise. But she did want to go. And as long as she did have Adrian, or his time, at least, maybe she ought to take advantage of everything he had to offer. She’d probably always wonder what it would have been like otherwise.
She took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Attagirl,” Tamsyn said, hiding the empty wine bottle in a bucket. “Do you want to give me your number in case things don’t work out?”
“That was a pretty good line,” Caroline said, eyes widening. “It was really smooth! Maybe you’re better at dating than you think. But do you want to talk to your ex first?”
Tamsyn winced, a brief flicker of vulnerability crossing her face for the first time. “Do you really think so?”
“It’s probably easier than finding someone new,” Caroline pointed out, privately thinking that Tamsyn seemed very uninterested in actually dating other people if the only person she’d managed to hit on was Caroline.
“All right. When we leave this broom closet though, can we look like we were making out instead of drinking and whimpering?”
Caroline shrugged, impressed with Tamsyn’s gambit. “Sure.”
They startled a few people when they opened the door, including a petite woman Caroline tentatively marked as Tamsyn’s ex, and the taller woman standing next to her, who Caroline assumed was going on her last date with Tamsyn’s ex. Both made appalled faces when Tamsyn copped a theatrical feel on Caroline’s rear before swaggering over to insert herself in her ex’s conversation.
Adrian was on the opposite side of the room, his back to Caroline. He was arguing with David and Vanessa, his arms waving as he bore down on some point.
Caroline narrowed her eyes, rolled her shoulders, and stalked toward him as though she were heading into the semifinal match of a knockout tournament. She leaned up against him when she reached his side, and he paused briefly to smile at her reappearance. Then he continued with what appeared to be his defense of Tamsyn’s show.
“She’s referencing the work of Helen Beard, but this is more of a comment on the masculine gaze. You’re uncomfortable with the sexualization of the birds because the art asks you to examine the paradigm you apply to pictures ofwomen.”
Caroline pushed her hip against his in a silent demand, and his arm came almost automatically around her, hand resting in the dip of her waist. Vanessa’s face took on an ugly flush, and that and Adrian’s arm were both good, but Caroline was ready to leave.
She leaned over to whisper that in Adrian’s ear, and he nodded.
“Just one more minute. David’s embarrassing himself,” he told her in a low voice. He looked back at the other man. “The initial attraction of the birds is the point. You can’t engage with a work that gives you no point of entry.”
Caroline appreciated what he was doing. She did. But she couldn’t take one more minute of this. Adrian hadsaidthey could leave when she was ready.
She turned to face him, reached up to put a hand on his opposite cheek, and pulled his attention back to her for just long enough to meet his eyes. Then she kissed him square on the mouth.
She’d never kissed anyone in front of an audience before, but she really put her back into it. She curved her hand along the sharp edge of his jaw and parted her lips as soon as he did. His mouth was full and soft, probably with surprise, but she took advantage of that to slide her tongue along his, fragrant with even worse wine than she’d been drinking. Kissing him was easier than she’d thought. It was sweet and effortless. She hummed into his mouth, letting her hand trail down across his chest as she pulled back. Yes, she could do this easily. She already knew how.
Adrian’s expression was very pleasing. Of course he looked a little like she’d hit him in the face with a board, but his wide-eyed, open expression of shock was not opposed to kissing her. She didn’t think so, anyway, even though he was hard to read sometimes. He still had hisarm around her, fingertips curling into the fabric of her dress now. His tongue minutely wet the seam of his lips.
Caroline exhaled and settled her shoulders. She could rescue this evening.
