And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance (19 page)

But I knew what was happening in the silence. I was falling fo
r him, desperately head over heels in love with him. What was going on with him on the other hand was a mystery.

Finally
, he broke the silence, “Tell me you want to do that again.”

“I do. Do you?”

Adrian snorted. “Contrary to what you think you know about me, I’m not leaving you tomorrow because I’m done with you. I haven’t even begun to get my fill.”

My heart swelled at his comment and I burrowed my head into his shoulder. “Good because I don’t want this to end.”

“It doesn’t have to,” he said softly as my eyes began to close. “You make that decision, Jane.”

I didn’t respond because sleep had claimed me.

Chapter Thirteen

Adrian got a text early that morning and snuck out of the house, leaving me to wake up all alone. We had sex once more at 3 AM. It was the most delicious thing I’d ever woke up to. And then he up and left a few hours later without so much as a text or a note.

Maybe he was tired of me after all, I couldn’t help but think as I made my way back to my house. I putted around my room before taking a shower and going to the grocery store. When I got back, I still hadn’t heard from him, so I sent him a text making sure he was okay.

He didn’t respond.

I decided to open a bottle of wine and cook a little dinner even though I wasn’t really hungry when the doorbell rang. I answered it and ended up just gaping at my unwanted, unexpected visitor.

Craig was standing on my front porch, his hands in his pockets looking unsure and anxious. I waved him in, not even bothering with a traditional greeting. I didn’t want him here, but I’d blown him off long enough. I guess I owed him this much.

As I poured him a glass of wine, I let my eyes slide over him. He’d lost weight since we were together. He looked more muscular as if he worked out daily and he had a new haircut. He was also wearing skinny jeans, which made him look younger, but underneath it all he looked tired. Like he hadn’t slept in days. It was a strange dichotomy and not very attractive.

And I couldn’t help but compare him to Adrian.

“Sorry to just show up like this,” Craig said, taking a sip of wine as he lowered himself onto a kitchen chair.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird, Craig.”

He looked sheepish as he swirled the red liquid around in his glass. “I know, but thanks for inviting me in. You’re not in the middle of something are you?”

“No, just dinner.”

“Alone?”

I narrowed my eyes as I glared at him. “Yeah, for now.”

He sat silently as I began to boil the water for pasta and pulled out a jar of Alfredo sauce.

“So why are you here?” I asked when Craig just continued to stare at me.

“You look really good, Janie. You look happier.”

“Yeah, well I quit my job…”

“And you met someone?” There was a question in his tone that I promptly ignored.

“Why are you here?” I asked instead. “Does Rachel know you’re here?”

“No
, she doesn’t, which is why I’m here actually. Things between us aren’t going so well…”

I turned to stare at him, my pasta forgotten. “Seriously? What’s wrong?”

“She just isn’t you,” he replied, glancing into his wine glass for a long time. So long in fact, I wondered if he’d had a stroke.

“Craig, you okay?” I asked, moving toward him, placing my hand on his shoulder.

And that’s when he grabbed my hand, pressing a sloppy kiss against my palm. “I’m miserable without you, Jane.”

“What?” I began, pulling my hand away and wiping it on my pants. “No way. You were miserable
with
me.”

“No, I made a mistake…I shouldn’t have ever ended it with you…”

“Stop,” I said and when he opened his mouth to protest, I shot him a glare and said more forcefully, “Stop, Craig. Stop it this instant.”

He clamped his mouth shut.

“Don’t you dare come over here and tell me that you want me back. I won’t have you. You left me for another woman. I wouldn’t touch you with a twenty-foot pole…”

“But…”

“You need to leave, Craig. We have a long history together, but it’s over.”

“Jane, please,” he began, but before he could get another word in, my door slammed open and Adrian strode in. He looked windblown and wired, his shirt was wrinkled and he had a tear in his pants. And when he saw Craig, he regarded him as if he was nothing but a piece of dirt.

I was about to explain why Craig was here in my house, drinking my wine, but Adrian didn’t ask. He just grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the hallway bathroom.

“I can explain,” I couldn’t help but say as he pushed me inside the small bathroom.

But he didn’t let me say another word as he devoured my mouth like he’d been starving for me.

“Jesus, I’m glad I’m home,” he muttered against my mouth as I kissed him. All my pent up frustration and anxiety over where he’d been spilled out and I clung to him, never wanting him to leave me again.

As he kissed his way down my jaw, I asked, “Where were you?”

“Taking care of some business with August,” he replied. “And now I’m going to fuck you.”

And then he spun me around so I was facing the mirror as he forcefully pulled down my yoga pants.

“Oh Jesus, you’re not wearing underwear,” he said as he parted my legs and slowly entered me from behind. I writhed against his steel vise grip on my hips as he held me steady. Inch by inch he pushed into me until I was bucking back against him.

I’d never had sex like this. Never. It was amazing and way too stimulating. I moaned loudly, not caring that Craig was in the other room. Not caring about anything but Adrian, that he was home and inside of me.

As he pumped his hips, our bodies slapped together. He was grunting loudly and I was moaning, on the edge of an orgasm. And when I finally fell over the edge, Adrian barked my name, spilling himself into me. And then he was kissing his way down the back of my neck slowly, murmuring that he was glad he was home, that he’d missed me, that it had been perfect.

Finally, he pulled away and I stood up on shaking legs. As I pulled my pants back up, Adrian watched me.

“So I see Craig paid you a visit,” he said as I washed my hands and splashed water on my
heated face.

“Yeah. I didn’t know about it. He just showed up on my doorstep. You believe me, right?”

Adrian nodded as he opened the bathroom door and strode out.

The kitchen was empty, the burners turned off.

“He must have left.”

“Good,” Adrian said, walking over to the stove and turning it back on. “He can’t have you back.”

“How do you know he wants me back?”

“I just know.”

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and took a sip of wine. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I won’t ever go back to him.”

“Yeah?” Adrian said, a light in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

“Yeah, now are we going to blather about this some more or should I get dinner going.”

Adrian patted his taut stomach. “Dinner. If we’re going to fuck all night, I need to carb up.”

My giggles echoed off the kitchen walls.

***

We didn’t come up for air for two more days. It was everything I thought it would be with Adrian. When we weren’t having sex, we were eating takeout in bed. And when we weren’t eating we were sleeping. I don’t remember ever feeling so out of control and so high on adrenaline. It was like Adrian was my drug and I couldn’t get enough. I was going to have to create my own support group for women like me, women who couldn’t get enough of their men.

So when Adrian suggested we get out of the house and grab some healthy options at the grocery store,
I whined and hid my head under my pillow. But he didn’t take no for an answer. He dragged me out of bed and placed me in the shower, making sure to wash me in certain places that made my legs wobbly before he tugged me out of the house.

“Tell me we can get Starbucks beforehand,” I
said, wincing at the sunlight pouring through the windshield.

“Sure. Whatever you want, babe.”

The term of endearment had me turning my head. “Babe?”

Adrian shrugged. “Yeah, you don’t like it?”

“It sounds a lot like we’re in a relationship.”

Yes you are in a relationship. You just need to admit it.

Adrian’s jaw flexed. “I know that…babe.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced out of the window. A few moments later
, we were pulling up to the Starbucks near my house.

“Get out of the car, grumpy.”

“I prefer babe.”

Adrian just sighed heavily before striding into the coffee shop, leaving me to trail along as quickly as I could.

We stood in a ridiculously long line and as we waited, I could feel all eyes on Adrian. He was attractive…gorgeous, actually. And when a woman approached him and kissed him on the cheek I nearly punched her in her perfect little nose. I was feeling incredibly possessive of him at the moment.

“Adrian, it’s good to see you,” the woman said, her beautiful auburn hair flowing down her back like she was Disney’s Ariel. Her dark green eyes didn’t even bother to shift my way. I was merely a piece of furniture. Unnoticed. Unimportant.

Adrian seemed surprised to see her and immediately shot me a look. I pretended like I didn’t care and glanced away. But my ears buzzed with envy, making sure to stay tuned into their conversation.

“So it’s been what…six months since we’ve hung out?”

The way the woman said ‘hung out’ had me cringing on the inside.

“Give or take. How’ve you been, Cassandra. You look good as always.”

“Thank you. I have a new personal trainer,” she replied, and I couldn’t help but peeked over. She did have a great body and it irked me that Adrian had seen her naked. How was I ever going to compete with the model-types he slept with?

“And I’ve been busy at work. Boss has been working me to the bone. I wouldn’t mind a little extra curricular activity to help out with the stress, if you catch my drift,” she said, her voice lowering only a fraction.

“I catch it perfectly. But at the moment, I have other priorities.”

I saw the woman’s gaze flicker over to me before dismissing me entirely. “Right,” Cassandra said with a laugh. “When you’re done deviating, call me.”

Adrian’s eyebrows rose and he nodded. “We’ll see.”

This seemed to satisfy her so she pressed another kiss to his cheek and turned on her extremely high heels and strode out of the shop, skinny latte in hand.

“Sorry about that,” Adrian said, his eyes watching me.

I shrugged like I could care less. “No problem.”

His eyebrows rose. “No problem? Really?”

“You’re free to
see and screw whoever you want.”

Adrian opened his mouth to say something, but the cashier behind the counter asked for our order.

So our conversation was stilted and thankfully so. I didn’t want to have this discussion again. It was like a broken record, one where I kept telling the guy I was totally in love with that I didn’t care if he fucked other women.

When we got to the grocery store
, I was still incredibly annoyed. His cheek smelled like that woman’s gaudy perfume and it wafted toward me like a dark gray cloud. He seemed to know something was off with me, but made no effort to be kind. Instead his sarcasm thickened and I ended up ramming the cart into his heels a few times just to make me feel better.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Adrian hissed as we stood in line. He was alternately rubbing his ankles with his feet as he stared at me.

“I’m just tired. I didn’t even want to come here in the first place.”

His eyes narrowed as I glanced at the magazine rack.

“Bullshit, babe. I think you’re jealous.”

I scrunched up my face and spat, “Yeah, keep dreaming, buddy.”

His lips turned up into a small smile. “I’m not dreaming, babe. You’re jealous.”

I couldn’t ram the cart into his heels because he was standing on the side of the cart, so I ran over his toes instead.

“I am going to get you back,” he said.

“Yeah and how are you going to do that?” I asked as the cashier rang me up.

“By making you beg for it.”

My cheeks
reddened as I saw the cashier smother a smile.

“As if you have that power,” I said through clenched teeth.

“I do have that power and you’re going to do it.”

His confidence made my blood boil and my skin tingle at the same time. It was infuriating. I really felt the need to regain some control.

As we made our way outside, our shopping cart full, I turned toward him. “One day you’re going to be the one to beg for it.”

His eyes widened. “I dare you to try
and make me.”

I didn’t respond, merely shoved the bags into the back of his truck. If it were up to me, he’d be begging for it tonight. I would love to see the expression on his face when I made him plead for mercy. And if my present mood was any consideration, I wouldn’t be merciful.

As Adrian drove me home, my phone rang. I glanced down and saw that it was Sadie. I hadn’t heard from her in quite some time. I instantly felt like a terrible friend. I hadn’t even remembered to call or text her because I’d been so consumed with Adrian.

Just another reason to teach him a lesson tonight
.

“Hi, friend,” Sadie said into the receiver.