I blinked hard and refocused. It was time to tell her goodnight. That would be the normal, responsible thing to do. It was better than letting unresolved feelings stalk me through a house in rural Wisconsin, anyway.
“Goodnight, Adeline.”
See? Simple.
Except she reached for her wine glass at the exact moment I reached for the last pizza box still sitting on the counter, and somehow, her elbow clipped the stem. The glass tipped and white wine splashed against the island, both of us lunging for it simultaneously.
Our heads nearly collided, and her hand hit mine reaching for the dish towel. Suddenly, we were way too close again, her lips only inches away from mine. My eyes dropped of their own accord, tracing the soft lines of her mouth for just a fraction of a second before I finally forced myself to grab the towel.
She tried to wipe the spill with a napkin that disintegrated in her hand as soon as it got wet. “Gosh, this really isn’t helping.”
“Paper products usually don’t win against liquids,” I teased lightly, hoping that if we just ignored this tension, it would go away, but it didn’t.
Soft laughter bubbled out of her like a fucking fountain I wanted to jump into. “I panicked.”
“I can see that.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask for commentary.”
I laughed and reached farther across the counter just as she leaned the same direction. She must have slipped a little or something, because the next thing I knew, she was falling toward me. Instinct took over before I’d even considered what I was about to do and I caught her by the waist. Everything in me instantly ground to a hard stop the second she was in my arms.
It was intimate, a touch I still knew so well despite how long it had been. I knew the shape of her beneath my hands and thewarmth of her body. I knew the soft gasp she sucked in when I pulled her against me.
It was all so terrifyingly familiar. Her eyes lifted to mine, still so devastating that she destroyed my entire nervous system with just one look.
The moment I’d steadied her, I cleared my throat and stepped back, forcing my hands to let go before I did something stupid. “We should go to bed. It’s been a long day and a long few weeks before that.”
She blinked a few times, like she was coming back to herself too. “You’re right.”
Neither of us moved immediately, though. A few long seconds stretched between us before she finally nodded and picked up what was left of her wine. “I’ll just finish this in my room. Goodnight, Zach.”
“Night.”
I watched her disappear upstairs, but it took me a solid thirty seconds before I could move too. After cleaning up the rest of the spill, I headed upstairs myself, but as soon as I got into bed, my brain betrayed me.
Memories could be cruel and the feeling of her waist beneath my hands replayed in a loop. As did the look she’d had in her eyes. The more I tried to stop thinking about it, the more insistent the memories became, not only of that incident downstairs but also further back.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, painfully aware of an issue developing south of the border as I remembered hot, sweaty summer nights and all the things we’d done together. Groaning quietly into my pillow, I kept my hands above the sheets to resist temptation while my mind started a targeted psychological attack.
Eventually, I fell asleep, but I even dreamed about her writhing underneath me. By five the next morning, I was up andout of bed. Dawn painted the world outside in pale gold and I checked my phone, the forecast promising another brutally hot day.
Which means I’m going to have to get ahead of it if I want to squeeze in a run.
Frankly, it wasn’t even just a want at this point. It was a need. Ineededto blow off some of this steam before spending a whole day with her and running was the only way I knew how. So I changed and headed downstairs, grabbing a banana for breakfast.
While I ate, I leaned against the kitchen island, scrolling absently through my running app and trying not to think about the fact Adeline was sleeping only one floor above me.
A tiny voice spoke up from the doorway. “You chew loud.”
I nearly launched the banana across the room, turning sharply to see Lu glaring at me.Holy shit.“How long have you been standing there?”
She shrugged. “Not long.”
“You scared the hell out of me.”
Her eyebrows hiked up, her expression unimpressed. “You said a bad word.”
“I saidhell.”
