Page 47 of Now or Never

She blinked away from his stare, and the first thing her eyes landed on was Ben on his bike in the distance. That’s what she needed, a reminder that he was no good for her.

No good at all.

She reached toward the table, hoping to distract herself by taking a drink, when a drop of rain hit her on the nose.

Then another.

She looked up at the darkening sky that had been perfectly blue a moment before.

“Is that a storm?”

Adam cleared his throat.

“Yeah. Storms come on fast at the lake. They pass quickly, too, though.” He tipped his head up at the sky before turning all of his attention back on her.

“Do you want to call Ben and Jae in? We can wait it out.”

Oh, no.

There wasn’t a chance in hell she was going back into his house filled with personal things that only endeared her toward him more.

She needed distance. And a lot of it.

“Thanks, but we should probably get going.”

Adam nodded. “Okay, well, thanks for the help and for taking on the flowers.”

“No problem,” she said as she stood. “Thanks for the hockey stick. That was brilliant.”

He nodded, holding her eyes with his for a long moment before asking, “Is it okay if I stop by your place this week after work? To talk about the wedding?”

She wanted to say no. She wanted to say yes. In the end, she just nodded wordlessly.

Adam’s face transformed into a heart-stopping smile that tugged at the scar above his upper lip. “Great. I’ll see you soon, then.”

Chelsea broke eye contact by turning away from him and setting out across the deck. The sky was dark grey now, with ominous clouds rolling in over the lake. She walked down the steps toward Jae and Ben, putting her hand up in a little wave. “See ya,” she said.

He stood still, watching her. “Bye, Chelsea.”

She held her smile until she turned, then it dropped.

God, she liked him. A lot. She wanted to spend more time alone together, getting to know everything about him.

But that was normal for a friend, right?

Maybe not.

Maybe she’d let her feelings for Adam cross the friendship line. But was that really the worst thing in the world?

Chelsea reached Ben, and he hobbled over and hugged his arms around her waist. She pulled him in close and hung her head.

Yeah.

It was.

fourteen

Adam squinted as a sudden burst of sunlight shot through his back doors and filled his house with warmth. He glanced over his laptop screen from the dining table and scowled out at the deck and the now clear blue, sunny sky.

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