“I want to buy a bird painting,” she said firmly. “And then I want to go home.”
Adrian had to close his mouth to swallow, and the movement seemed to take a very long time.
“All right,” he said faintly.
He didn’t move. So Caroline leaned up and brushed her mouth across his slack lower lip again.
“Adrian?” she prompted him, hands pressed possessively against the muscles of his upper arms. She resisted the urge to glare over at Vanessa like a toddler who’d just fought her way to the top of the sandpile.
Adrian swallowed again. “I’ll go find the gallerist,” he said, edging away with his eyes still fixed on her. She’d never seen him so taken aback.
Caroline gave the other two artists a regal, satisfied nod and spun on her heel to go collect their coats.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the back seat of a muddy taxi, speeding toward Adrian’s apartment. Caroline held the receipt for a pair of mourning doves cuddling in pink satin. Adrian’s gaze was still locked on her, eyes narrowed as though he could see into her head if he looked long enough. She didn’t know why he seemed so surprised that she wanted to kiss him when it seemed like so many other women did. Just because she hadn’t wanted to as soon as they met? Before she knew anything about him but his looks and willingness to go out with strangers for pay? Now that she knew he was loyal to a fault, kind when it would be easier to just be nice—and, okay, still really good-looking—she’d decided that shewouldlike some sex with the art and the theater, actually, if that was still on offer.
As for that night, however, she wasn’t drunk, but she was emotionally wiped out. That meant she’d get in her car as soon as they reached Adrian’s apartment rather than explore whatever Tamsyn had meant bybendy. Still, she took Adrian’s hand and intertwined her fingers with his over her lap. He didn’t object, though his jaw worked as though he was trying to say something and couldn’t find the words.
Eventually, he leaned closer to her and pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, the movement a slow question.Is this a thing we are going to do?Caroline turned her head just enough to catch his kiss and return it. His mouth was soft and warm and undemanding. His breath on her face felt like a promise. Adrian glanced at the taxi driver and slowly sat back. His knuckles skated over the hem of her dress and brushed against her knee where their hands were still entwined together.
Caroline closed her eyes and dropped her head onto his shoulder, relishing the little thrill his fingers against her knee sent up her spine. The evening had been a tough match, and she’d been down a set there, but she’d rallied for the win. His friends probably hated her now, but she’d managed to leave with some dignity—and Adrian.
And now she knew he didn’t mind kissing her.
They got out of the taxi in front of his building. He looked at the doorway, then looked at her. Stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Caroline—” he started, voice uncertain.
She shook her head. “We don’t have to talk about it tonight. I’m going home.”
He nodded, but his eyes tightened. “If this is just...because of something Vanessa said, or something I said, and this is another long-form joke at my expense... It’s not that I don’t deserve it. But, Caroline, please don’t. Don’t mess around with me like—”
“Like this?” Caroline asked. She pressed a palm against his flat stomach and leaned in to kiss him again. Leisurely, this time, because nobody was watching them, pressing her lips against his and asking him to open for her. Adrian was still for only a second, and then his arms came around her, and he was kissing her back, like she’d gotten only the charcoal underdrawing before, and now there was color and texture and light. His fingers caught in the ends of her hair and the hem of her dress, pressing her body against him, soft breasts up against the firm plane of his chest. His mouth moved gently against hers, still more tentative than she thought he ought to be when she’d draped herself around him, but deepening after a few seconds when she tightened her arms around his neck.
He was wonderful at kissing. Fantastic. She should have asked for this weeks ago. She’d wanted to see Boston, she’d wanted to see what her life could look like once she acquired a little more polish and experience, she’d wanted not to be so damnlonelyall the time—but this was really it. The feeling she’d wanted. Warm and cared for. Kissing him felt more right than anything she’d done since climbing out the window of her father’s house.
Caroline broke away only when oxygen became a really pressing concern. Adrian’s arms were still around her, fingertips reflexively stroking over her hips.
“Yes,” he said, voice a little ragged. “Like that.” His expression was still uncertain and guarded. “Don’t do that unless—unless you’re serious.”
Caroline couldn’t immediately identify his concern.She supposed it was rude to ask for the dessert menu if she didn’t intend on ordering something, but she did, she really did. She wasdefinitelygoing to sleep with him. She wanted to try everything with him.
“I am,” she reassured him. “I’m very serious.”
Adrian set his jaw and nodded slowly.
“All right,” he murmured. “So am I.”
Caroline exhaled, relief surging through her body.
“But you know this has to change things,” he said, dusty-blue eyes intent on hers.
“I know,” she said. This wasn’t what they’d initially agreed to, after all. They had to renegotiate terms and conditions of employment. She’d assumed he’d want more money, or different hours, or maybe a retirement account or something like that. He had to realize she’d give it to him, anything he asked for. “I have performances till Sunday, but maybe we can talk about it then?”
His face softened at that promise, and he lifted his arms to squeeze her shoulders in farewell. He told her to drive safely. Part of her wanted to ask him to come home with her, just to hold her and explain what he’d been saying about Helen Beard and the masculine gaze until she fell asleep. But that wasn’t a fair request when she wasn’t prepared to negotiate.
So Caroline just pressed one last kiss to his cheek and wiggled in the glow of his smile as he watched her go.
Chapter Fourteen
