Page 21 of Love Notes

Adam filled a pot with water and put it on the stove.“We have garlic bread too, in the freezer.”

I turned the oven on to preheat, and Adam pulled salad ingredients out of the fridge.He opened a few drawers and then said, “Cutting board?”

“Next one along.”

He flashed me a smile and took a knife out of the block.“Hmm.You know what this kitchen needs?”

“What?”I looked around the kitchen.It wasn’t fancy by any means, but I’d designed it with practicality in mind.

“An apron that says ‘Kiss the chef.’”He flashed me a cheeky smile.

My heart skipped a few beats, and my blood heated.“Is that right?”

Adam’s grin faded as I closed the space between us, and he tilted his chin up.“Yes.And a sexy woodworker who can follow written instructions.”

My steps faltered, but I recovered quickly.He didn’t mean anything by it.He couldn’t, because he didn’t know about my dyslexia.Just, that old response of shame was bone-deep, and I’d never quite been able to shed it.I pushed it aside.“I can follow instructions.”

He set the knife down.“Prove it.”

I could also rise to challenges.

I reached him, cupped his face with my hands, and kissed him.Hard.He melted against me, his hands on my hips pulling me even closer.His track pants did nothing to hide the fact he was hard, and I groaned as I felt his erection press against my thigh.His mouth was hot against mine, his tongue electric.This wasn’t like the kisses we’d shared on the porch swing, gentle and warm and slow—this one was a flash point.It was fire meeting gasoline.

“Ryan.”His fingers dug into my hips.“Let’s go upstairs.”

“Okay.”I was breathless.“Yeah.”

Adam turned off the stovetop, grabbed me by the hand, and drew me through the cabin and up the stairs into my loft bedroom.

And didn’t he look just at home here as everywhere else?

There was a shirt on the bed that wasn’t mine and a pair of socks discarded on the floor.A phone charging cord rested in a coil on top of my bedside table, and the bed was unmade and rumpled.

Adam saw me gazing at it.“Shit.Sorry.”

I laughed.“I literally don’t care.”

“But it’s your bed, and I’m being a slob in it.”

“I can think of better things for you to be in my bed.”

“Same,” he said, his eyes sparkling, and then he reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.He dropped it on the floor.“I’m not usually this forward.”He chewed his bottom lip.“That’s not a judgement on forward people.Just an observation.Only, I’m so awkward that usually when I open my mouth, I put my foot in it instead of someone’s dick.”

I didn’t think I’d ever laughed before when I was about to have sex.It was new and kind of exhilarating.“I’m not usually very forward either.”

His gaze held mine.“It feels different with you.In a good way.”

“Yeah,” I said, letting the word out on a breath.“It does.”

For a moment we were silent, each of us taking a moment to consider the weight of that realization, and then Adam stepped toward me and kissed me.Our mouths met, and then his body was flush with mine, and my palms brushed over the bare skin of his naked back.His fingers touched my chest, searching for the button on the collar of my shirt.

I ran my fingers through his hair, tugging gently, and he moaned.

Then his moan turned into an annoyed grunt, and he drew back from the kiss.“These—these fuckingbuttons!”

He creased his brow and glared at the offending buttons, his fingers working more easily to tug them through the holes now that he could see what he was doing.I could have helped, probably, except I was unable to take my gaze off his shining mouth and the way his teeth dug into his bottom lip in concentration as he worked at his task.

If anyone should have been biting Adam’s lip, it should have been me.

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