Page 59 of Now or Never

David nodded, wheels turning in his eyes. He looked at Chelsea. “You own Monroe Manor, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Chelsea said.

“I’ve done some business with Victor Monroe. And I knew Elizabeth. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“And you’re working with Vincent Shadd?”

Chelsea smiled. “Yes.”

“I wish I’d known you two were coming,” David said. “I’d like to spend more time with you, but I’m booked all day tomorrow.”

“It was a last-minute thing,” Adam said.

Another person came to speak with David, then another. Finally, David said he had dinner reservations with someoneand had to go. He hugged them both, told Chelsea again how pleased he was to meet her, and left.

Chelsea looked around the room, then at Adam. “Do you want to go?”

“I’d love to, but Drake just walked in.”

Chelsea’s brows rose. “Drake? LiketheDrake?”

Adam rolled his eyes. “How many Drakes do you know?”

Chelsea smiled at him. He was so impossible not to like. She really didn’t care about Drake. She just wanted to get away from all the people and be in the hotel room so she could hang out one-on-one with Adam. Maybe test the waters and see how he would feel about a one-time bone-jumping. How bad would that really be? And, as Jae pointed out, zero consequences. If she was going to scratch her new-found itch with someone, wouldn’t it make sense to do it with a guy she really liked who couldn’t possibly get her pregnant?

She smiled, her mind made up. “Maybe we can say hi on the way out.”

Adam returned her smile. “It would be rude to just walk past, wouldn’t it?”

Chelsea laughed and nodded.

They walked together toward Drake, still holding hands, and Chelsea smiled to herself as she realized they hadn’t let go of each other the entire night.

eighteen

Adam stretched his neck from side to side to relieve the tension in his jaw from laughing for the last hour straight. He finished his beer and put his feet up on the coffee table. They’d both changed into comfortable clothes after returning from the party and had ordered almost everything off the room service menu. The food was delicious, and the minibar was running out.

Chelsea sat forward, reached down, and pulled off the oversized hoodie she was wearing. She had a thin crop top underneath, and definitely no bra. He thought he might die. She stretched out beside him, put her feet out on the coffee table next to his, and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

It was a friendly move. Something that only friends would do. He couldn’t even count the number of times Max had dropped his head on his shoulder while they were watching a Leafs game.

Actually, he could.

It was zero.

“I can’t believe you actually did that,” she said. “It must have been fun growing up with you.”

She snuggled her head in more, twisting and cuddling into the side of his body. But she couldn’t really cuddle in properly, because he kept his arm stiffly against his side, blocking her.

He felt like a robot.

He hadn’t been this awkward since thefirsttime he’d been on a couch with a girl.

Maybe this was just how Chelsea was with her friends, more touchy-feely. Some friends were like that, right? Or maybe that’s just how guy-girl friendships worked?

He pulled his stiff arm out from under her, then draped it along her shoulder and down her arm as she snuggled into his chest.

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