And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance (17 page)

“He’s my neighbor,” I said, wishing I’d had the foresight to sit down with Adrian and discuss the details of our ‘relationship’.

Thankfully Adrian cut off his conversation with his dad and added, “She couldn’t resist me after we first met. I charmed her off her feet.”

I snorted involuntarily before slapping my hand over my mouth and staring at Candice and Joel. Both were watching me in amusement as I shook my head in apology.

“I’m sorry, but no. He didn’t charm me at all. He was a pain in the you-know-what for quite a long time.”

“So you were a pain in the ass?” Joel asked, his eyes alight with amusement. I could see where Adrian got his light sense of humor. “Why am I not surprised?”

Adrian cleared his throat. “But you overlooked it. We’re together now, right? So you must have
been able to look past all those things I did that prompted you to say you hated me.”

I shot a look to Candice who was watching us with excitement before deciding I could be honest. “Yes and to set the record straight, he pestered me for weeks,” I began, exaggerating the facts a little, “before I finally decided to become his friend.”

“
You
decided to become
my
friend?” Adrian asked, annoyance lining his voice. “It was a mutual decision.”

“Mutual my butt,” I said. “Admit it. You followed me around for weeks…”

“I made a decision to be nice to you…help you out a bit. It wasn’t my fault I fell for you after all.”

“Oh
, this is so wonderful,” Candice said, her eyes nearly full of tears, completely oblivious to the banter occurring between Adrian and I.

“Candice,” Joel said with a shake of his head, “stop crying all the time.”

“I’m sorry. It’s the menopause. It can’t be helped,” she whispered before wiping her eyes and turning her gaze back to us. “So when did you know you loved her? I need all the details.”

I nearly choked on my water. Nearly, but I managed to cough softly into my napkin.

“She’s a romantic, my mom,” Adrian said, his cheeks flushing slightly. That turned me on more than anything and I wiggled in my seat. “Loves all the juicy details.”

I could tell he was avoiding the question, so I made a decision to be honest in my answer…”Well, we haven’t…I mean…”

But Adrian interrupted, his fingers squeezing my thigh. “It was when I saw her art work and knew she was brilliant as well as beautiful.”

I
grew hot all over at his comment and Candice’s eyes watered some more. Adrian’s cheeks were red as he took a sip of his water.

“Well, we are so happy for you both,” Joel said because Candice was busy sniffling and mopping her eyes.

“Thanks guys,” Adrian said, pressing a kiss to the side of my mouth. “We’re happy too.”

“Oh, well,” Candice said, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for that.”

“Maybe we should change the subject before the water works begin again,” Joel said dryly. “Which brings us to why we’re here. We wanted to remind you guys about our vow renewals coming up in two weeks.”

Adrian slid his hand a little higher on my thigh and I squeezed my legs together to keep him from going any farther.

“I’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Adrian said before Candace interrupted.

“And you’re coming too, Jane. Of course,” she said, looking at me. “Once Adrian told us about you, we changed your room and made sure you had a queen sized bed.”

“Yeah, Adrian told me about it,” I lied. “I’m so excited to go. How wonderful for you both,” I said to Candace.

Her eyes watered once more and Joel shook his head in exasperation. “And here we go again.”

“Oh, let’s talk about something else…like embarrassing stories about Adrian when he was little,” I suggested, not sure how to lighten the mood and stem Candice’s tears.

Candice’s eyes lit up as Adrian glared at me.

“Come on, babe. Don’t be shy,” I said sweetly.

Adrian’s eyes narrowed at my pet name for him and I flashed him a smile.

His fingers slid across the satin of my underwear and I nearly jumped out of my seat before he pulled his hand away and rested it on my shoulder instead.

“Well, now. There are
just so many…” Candice said, her eyes shinning with mischief and amusement. And so I settled in for more juicy stories about Adrian.

Two hours later
the four or us made our way outside.

His parents walked us to Adrian’s car where Candice gave us a tearful goodbye while Joel shook his head once more. When we were safely in the cab of his truck, I turned to Adrian and smiled.

“Your parents are lovely.”

“They’re ridiculous, but, yeah, they’re pretty great.”

“I now know where you get your humor and where you get your heart.”

“Heart? What heart?” Adrian asked, his eyes meeting mine.

“That great big one right there in your chest.”

Adrian scowled at me.

“And by the way,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, “You’re a really good liar. It’s scary actually.”

“Liar? When did I lie?”

“When you said you fell in love with me,” I said, glancing at him as he ran his hand across the back of his neck.

“Yeah, that,” he said softly before turning on the radio. “Yeah, that was a bunch of BS.” Something felt off, but I couldn’t quite place it, so I let him drive home in silence. When we reached the house, his spirits seemed back to normal.

“So, you want to come over?” Adrian asked, walking me to my front door.

“Sure, what do you have in mind?”

“I have some whipped cream and chocolate…”

I pursed my lips to try and not smile. “Sure, I’ll be there. Just give me time to change…”

But before I could make it inside, Adrian grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder, lugging me back to his house like a sack of potatoes.

“You don’t need clothes for what I have planned,” he said, running a hand over my ass. “I’ve been lusting after you all day. The lunch couldn’t have dragged on any longer.”

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked, giggling uncontrollably.

“I’m going to eat you up.”

My laughter echoed off the foyer as he slammed his front door shut.

***

We lay in Adrian’s bed panting, the two of us covered in chocolate and whipped cream.

Adrian slowly lick
ed his fingers as he watched me. “So, just for the record, I’ve never and I mean never waited this long to have sex before…”

I shot him a look as I licked whipped cream off my knuckle. “And is waiting that terrible?”

“Let’s just say that I get why people do it.”

My heart fluttered in my chest as he leaned over and licked a blotch of chocolate from my left breast. My nipple pebbled in response and he ran his tongue across it a few times before lying back on the bed.

“Well, I’m glad you’re having a good time because where would we be if you weren’t? Friends with benefits only works if we benefit from it.”

“Trust me. I’m benefitting from it,” he said, stretching beside me. “We really should clean up.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking at the mess we’d made. The chocolate container was nearly empty as was the whipped cream. He’d even pulled out a few cherries, which he found creative and delicious ways to integrate into our evening.

“But I’m so damned tired. You’re wearing me out,” Adrian said with a yawn and his comment had me nearly bouncing in excitement. The fact that Plain Jane could make Adrian T
hatcher tired had me preening.

“But we can’t sleep in this. It’s unsanitary. There are fluids everywhere,” I said, desperate to keep him awake.

His eyebrow arched and he gave me a crooked smile. “Fine, but you let me wash you in the shower.”

I didn’t even bother faking resistance. Instead I hopped out of bed, my legs a bit wobbly as I stood up.

“You still have cherry juice on your ass,” Adrian said, as he followed me into the bathroom.

I leaned back to see before dismissing it. “Yeah, well I guess that’s what happens when you use bodies as plates.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m getting hard all over again and I don’t think that’s physically possible, but Jesus, remembering that cherry and how it tasted in you…”

I stepped into the steaming shower before he could see my reddening face. He was so open, so experimental and even though some of the things he did made me blush, I had enjoyed every minute of it. And I wanted more. And by more I mean that I wanted him to fuck me.

I just didn’t know how to ask him for it.

So hopefully he would make a move soon, so I wouldn’t have to.

Chapter Twelve

Two days later I had an interview for a job as a secretary at a hair salon. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it would pay the bills. And really, what could someone do with a BA in Art?

Nothing. That’s what.

I’ve been thinking about last night
, Adrian texted me and I quickly glanced around the salon, making sure that no one could see my screen before responding.

What about it?

You were pretty experienced with your tongue. Tell me again how you learned all that stuff?

Romance novels.

Lend me the hottest one you have. I want to see what goes on inside of that sexy little head of yours.

I
blushed as I replied,
I have just the one right now. You can grab it now if you want.

Where is it?

I told him the name of the book and where he could find it as the owner of the salon came out and introduced herself to me. Her name was Fiona and I knew after a few minutes speaking with her that, even though it wasn’t my dream job, it would be a good fit for a while. Besides, hairstyling was an art in and of itself and Fiona and the other stylists seemed incredibly cool.

When the interview finally ceased, I made my way to the car, glancing down at my phone. Disappointment rushed through me at having no new texts from Adrian. But there was one missed call from Craig. So before I thought better of it, I gave him a call back.

He answered after the first ring and sounded slightly breathless.

“Hey. I missed your call,” I said, hoping I hadn’t caught him at a bad time.

“Yeah, I was just calling to see if you could meet me on Wednesday since you canceled on me Sunday. It’s really important.”

I bit back a sigh. I didn’t want to meet with him, but knew I probably should. He seemed like he really needed to talk.

Talk, Shmalk. He dumped you for someone else. Tell him to fuck off.

“Fine. Okay. Same time and place,” I replied.

“How about dinner instead, since you canceled on me last time?”

“I don’t know…what would your girlfriend think about that?”

“It doesn’t matter. This is important. Dinner at our restaurant. Please, Jane.”

“Yeah, sure. See you then.”

I could tell that I made him happy and as I drove home, I wondered if I should tell Adrian about my meeting with Craig. I still hadn’t made up my mind as I walked into the house.

I pulled off my jacket as I made my way upstairs and found Adrian sprawled out on my bed. I loved coming home and finding him there. It was such an unexpected and overwhelming feeling that I froze.

“This book is amazing so far,” he said not even glancing up. “It starts out hot and I can’t wait to see what happens.”

I let down my hair, brushing it out with my fingers as I slid into bed next to him.

He peeked over at me. “Do you dream about your boss boning you from behind in a conference room?”

I shrugged. “Given that my future boss will most likely be a woman, then no.”

His eyebrows rose. “Yeah? Is she hot?”

I thought back to the sleek woman with short brown hair and dark blue eyes and nodded. “I guess so, but she’s off limits. No banging my potential boss.”

Adrian shrugged before turning his eyes back to the book. He seemed intent on reading, so I let him as I made my way to the kitchen to eat something.

An hour later, after scrubbing my sink and moping my floors, Adrian still hadn’t come downstairs. I knew the book was good, but I had no idea he’d like it so much.

I decided to check on him and found him lying on his back, the book suspended in air as he read. Straining against his jeans was his cock.

“You okay there, solider?”

“Yes, but shit, I never thought a story would make me hard. You read stuff like this all the time?”

I nodded and he eyed me knowingly. “Now I know why you’re so repressed. Does this stuff turn you on
? Because it’s making me hard as a rock.”

“Yeah, I guess. If it’s well written…”

Adrian continued to stare at me. “I think I’d really like to try some of this stuff in here.”

“Like what?” I asked, lowering myself next to him.

“Like these sex positions. How could you not know what the eagle was if you read about them all the time?”

“Because they don’t call the sex positions by their names…”

“Well, I’m going to have to give you a small tutorial in sex positions then,” he said, pushing himself upright.

“Don’t you have to be at work?”

“I’ll do what I have to do later. This is more important.”

I refrained from smiling. “Yeah, sure it is.”

“Come on. Let’s reenact some of these scenes. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to borrow some more of your porn books.”

“It’s not porn. It’s romance.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” he said as he rolled on top of me. “Now let’s get to work. And where’s that vibrator? We may need it.”

***

My throat was nearly raw from screaming two hours later. I lay on the bed, my arms strewn above me as Adrian turned off the vibrator.

“Told you that you were using it wrong,” Adrian said between gasps.

All I could do was nod. My entire body was limp. I could barely move. If Adrian’s fingers and mouth had been excellent, the vibrator he’d bought me was extraordinary.

Adrian dropped the piece of now sacred equipment on the bed as he cuddled into me. The afternoon activities had started out innocent enough, with Adrian giving me a brief summary of sex positions and why they were so great.

But the constant pressure of his cock against my already throbbing clit was too much for me to bear. After thirty minutes, I started to writhe and after forty-five minutes of agony, I finally begged him to put me out of my misery.

I just hadn’t expected him to use the gift he’d bought me.

And boy was I glad he had.

“You hungry?” he asked and I shook my head. “Thirsty?”

I nodded and Adrian left the room only to return a few minutes later with two bottles of water.

As I sipped the cooling liquid, Adrian watched me, his legs crossed on the bed.

“So this probably isn’t the time, but want to go out with me tomorrow night?

I should have been less lazy and glanced up to see the expression on Adrian’s face, but I didn’t. I brushed off his invite as nothing more than a friendly request.

“Can’t. Meeting Craig tomorrow for dinner.”

Adrian was silent for a moment and it was then that I chanced a look at him. He didn’t seem too happy about my plans.

“You’re really going to dinner with that jackass?”

“Be nice, Adrian and yes
, I’m going. I canceled on him already and he said it was important.”

“Yeah,” he said dryly. “Sure it is.”

“Look,” I began, elevating myself on my elbows and glowering at him. “We dated for eight years. I can at least give him dinner.”

Adrian slanted me a look. “So you’d really rather go out with him than me. I see how it is.”

My lips turned down as I watched him. “You see how what is? I don’t understand.”

“Yeah, you don’t. That’s fine. I hope you have a good time with him since you’re blowing me off.”

His bad mood was affecting my post-orgasm bliss and I was immediately angry. “Why don’t you go out and have some fun then, huh? Find some girl to mess around with. It’s been a while, right?”

Wait! You don’t mean that. Stop it. Take it back!

Adrian’s eyebrows slammed together.

“You’re joking, right? You want me to go out and fuck another girl while you’re out with Craig?”

I didn’t want that. Not at all, but for some reason I just shrugged. “You do what you want. You’re a big boy. If you want to go out and fuck someone go ahead. I don’t control you and you don’t control me. If I want to have dinner with Craig you should support my decision…”

“And what? You’ll support me finding someone to stick my dick in?”

I swallowed harshly at his words, but nodded all the same.

“Well, fuck, Jane. Well, I guess that’s how it’s going to be then,” he said, pushing himself off my bed. “I guess we’ll both have eventful nights tomorrow. I just hope yours is as wild as mine will be.”

I pulled the sheet up over my naked, shivering body.

And instead of stopping him, I watched Adrian walk out of my room without a backwards glance. And for the first time in my life
, I hated how stubborn I was.

***

I glanced down at my phone as I readied myself for my meeting with Craig. I was late, but I didn’t care. Adrian hadn’t texted me all day and now it was already thirty minutes past my meeting time and my stomach was churning. I had made a mistake by telling Adrian I didn’t care if he went out with someone else. I hated this part of me, hated how I felt the need to push everyone away. Perhaps that was why Craig and sought out someone else. I had been hard to deal with at times. But Adrian knew how to handle me. He seemed, for some reason, to enjoy the challenge.

I needed to talk to him,
to apologize for being such a bitch. But I was scared to physically put myself out there, so I chickened out and texted him instead.

Hope you’re okay.

When I didn’t receive a text back, I continued aimlessly brushing my hair. Oh, who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to meet Craig. I needed to see Adrian. I needed to explain. Pulling on a long shirt over my leggings and black Uggs, I made my way to his front door.

Only to see it open and a beautiful blonde girl step out. She turned around and wrapped her arms around Adrian’s neck before kissing him on the cheek. She looked flushed and wide-eyed and all I could do was step to the side as she made her way past me.

Look what you did!

Jealousy and anger pulsed through me as I watched her nearly skip to her car. What had she been doing in Adrian’s house? Did he really move on that fast?

My heart ached in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. Even with Craig it had never felt like this. I unstuck my feet from the cement and turned to walk back to my door when Adrian called out.

“Jane?”

I ignored him, furious at myself for wanting him. Pissed that he’d betrayed me too. I jogged to my front door, intent on finding my spare key and locking him out, but I couldn’t find it.

“You looking for this?” Adrian asked, showing me my spare on his key ring.

“Why the fuck do you have my spare key?” I asked, trying to refrain from yelling and failing miserably.

“Because I use it everyday. Were you trying to lock me out?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I want some privacy.”

Adrian folded his arms across his chest as he followed me into my house. I strode into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine as if just seeing him with another woman didn’t piss me off. I sipped at it, the wine flavorless in my mouth, as I stared at the floor.

“By the way, that was Daisy, August’s friend…or friend with benefits as we call it. She needed some advice about my stubborn-ass best friend.”

My eyes shot up to meet his as relief pounded through me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I guess they’ve been sleeping together and August is being a dick about it.”

“Yeah?” I blinked rapidly as I tried to casually sip my wine.

“Yeah.” He unfolded his arms and walked toward me. My hands trembled, the wine sloshing over the edge and onto my arm.

“You didn’t go out with Craig?” he said softly, tenderness spreading through his eyes.

“No. I didn’t feel like it.”

“Good.”

“Yeah,” I said dumbly. “I guess.”

“You have any plans for tonight then?”

I shook my head, setting my wine glass on the counter. “No plans…”

“You could go out with me. The offer still stands.”

“And do what?”

“Maybe we could go see a movie?”

“Yeah?” I asked, my heart thumping in my chest. “Like a date?”

“Yeah,” he said, his lips twitching. “And while we’re at it, let’s work on having a more titillating conversation. I’m already getting bored.”

***

We got the theater a half an hour early. Neither of us talked
much on the way to the theater or as we picked out our seats, which were in the middle toward the far back. I didn’t understand the feelings coursing through me, but I knew I was in really deep. I was falling head over heels for the guy next door who banged every female in sight. I already had trust issues because of Craig and the thought of loving someone who slept around so much terrified me.

He hasn’t banged anyone in quite some time. Remember that.