Shit, even Sarah and Cassius had gone through a lot.
“I…” I began.
This might yet be his most sophisticated motivation yet. Did that mean this was the ultimate trap—or the honey needed to attract me to something sweeter?
We were alone.
Which was a real problem for parsing out the truth.
“I can’t answer that here,” I said. “But tomorrow. Coffee at a nearby shop. Your choice. Eight a.m.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Delilah,” Adrian said with a chuckle.
Too comfortable a chuckle. He knew he’d pushed me on my heels and was relishing it.
“But I’m happy to make that deal. So long as we do it off Strip. I can’t have anyone eavesdropping who shouldn’t.”
“Henderson?”
“Out near Nellis,” he countered. “I know it’s far. But I have to be away from anything associated with the Morrils.”
“Deal.”
Adrian stood back up. Only then did I realize I had never sat down, never let myself sink into the conversation. Even despite that, Adrian still seemed the most comfortable person.
“Bean Exchange,” Adrian said. “Nine a.m. tomorrow. Shake on it?”
“Shake on it,” I said.
Adrian extended his hand, and I mine. The hair on my arm stood up. It was such a simple gesture, especially compared to how he’d almost kissed me before. And yet…
The hands stayed together for a beat longer than they should have. I did not let go; I did not want to let go. Adrian didn’t either. What… what was about to happen?
My head was spinning. To do anything in this conference room… my God. Risking my job to let him take my body? Thatwas incredibly stupid and incredibly arousing. All we had to do was prop me up on the table, push me against the glass wall…
I swallowed and withdrew my hand.
The longer I spent around Adrian, the more likely something was to happen. It was like standing next to an active volcano; visit one day for fifteen minutes, and with proper preparation, nothing would happen. Visit every day for two hours, regardless of the conditions, and not even perfect preparation could save you when everything erupted.
“I will see you tomorrow, then,” Adrian said. He got to the doorway before he paused. “And Delilah?”
He waited until he had locked his eyes on me, until he made sure I would not look away.
“No bullshit, either side. Only real.”
He smirked, then let his smile slip into something very real for just a split second, and finally left.
Was I going to meet him tomorrow as a journalist?
Or as something else?
I didn’t even know. I wasn’t even sure I could know between now and then.
Unsurprisingly, I did not sleep a wink that night.
I think I eventually passed out somewhere around three a.m., but I wouldn’t exactly call it restful. I dreamed about me and Adrian at that coffee shop, and in that dream… well, the plain and simple was he had me naked in the bathroom of that coffee shop, and things happened from there.
I refused to think about it in detail, in part because even if I decided to throw all my ethics out the window and fuck Adrian, I wouldnotdo it in a public bathroom. In part, also, becauseeven with that thought, Adrian just seemed to have some sort of effect on me that made all my prior promises to myself go out the window.
