Page 3 of Taking Adalisa

A huge smile breaks out across Benji’s face as he looks between us two, not at all concerned by my shock. “Well, I’m glad you two came! Let me introduce you to everyone.”

Matthias grabs our drinks, handing me mine before placing his hand on the small of my back and pushing me forward a little. I glare at him. I need to get away from him and soon, but I can’t just leave right now without a reason. And if I do, he’ll come with me since he introduced us as a couple.

What is he thinking? How does he know my name?

Unease fills me the closer we get to the group. I push my concerns to the back of my mind as we get closer to the small group of people.

“This is Adalisa and Matthias, they have decided they want to join us to spice things up,” Benji explains as he sits beside a woman. “This is Morgan, Flynn, Rye, and Kirra.”

I wave but stay close to Matthias, not liking all of their eyes on me. I’ve never felt comfortable with so many people looking at me at once.

“You’re okay,” he whispers in my ear before turning to everyone. “So nice to meet all of you guys.”

We both sit beside next to each other.

“How did you two meet?” Morgan asks as she leans forward. “You looksogood together. The perfect couple.”

Morgan and Kirra look exactly the same with short, brown hair in a pixie cut, side bangs, and hazel eyes.

“Yes, we’re twins,” Kirra responds. “We’ve got this whole thing on with another set of twins. It’s so hot and totally worth it. No jealousy between us.”

I blink several times, processing her words. They are twins dating twins.

“Enough about us. I want to know how you two met,” Morgan insists. “Come on, don’t be shy now.”

“We met at the bookstore Adalisa works at,” Matthias offers, and my whole body locks up again as I stare at him both in shock and a little bit of fear.

He knows more about me than I like. Have I met him before when I was really busy and didn’t realize? I would have remembered what he looked like since he is so hot. I would have stopped to admire him. So does that mean he’s been stalking me?

“I was walking by and saw her and knew she was the one for me. So I walked in and said I was looking for a book that I couldn’t remember the name of or who the author’s name. I could only remember the basics,” Matthias explains. “I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, and it was the only way I knew she would give me a chance.”

My mouth falls open. I remember a guy his height and stature came in to look for a book. I remember that interaction, but I don’t think it was Matthias. They look totally different.

“What happened next?” Kirra asks. “Don’t leave us hanging.”

“Girls, they obviously got together,” Flynn says, rolling his eyes. “Let them breathe.”

Matthias chuckles and takes a sip of his drink before looking down at me, his eyes twinkling. The heat in his gaze makes me feel like I’m his world and everything revolves around me. Tears pool in my eyes, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m scared or if he seems to be telling the truth about wanting to spend time with me.

“Shh, you’re okay,” he whispers. “Everything is going to be all right with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

But will he keep me safe fromhim? “What a precious moment,” Morgan whispers. “She is getting teary-eyed with him just talking about how they met.”

“She helped me find the book, and obviously, I bought it. I came back a week later, trying to find a different book. This time I remembered the title, so it didn’t look too weird. After that, I asked her out,” Matthias continues. “She said no, but I wasn’t going to give up. I knew what I wanted, and it was her. She is my everything, and I love her.”

CHAPTER 2

ADALISA

Isuck in a breath as I look at him with, wide-eyed. Everything he said is completely true, but they with different men. All the same height, but they all looked different. That was all him?

Matthias looks at me with so much passion in his eyes, knocking the right out of my lungs. We stare into each other’s eyes for several seconds, getting lost in each other. I should be running and screaming for him to leave me alone and stay away from me, but I don’t.

“That is so sweet,” Kirra finally speaks, her voice soft and high pitch. “You can tell how in love you guys are with each other. I hope to find that with someone one day.”

“Aren’t you with the twins?” I ask, turning away from Matthias.

His hand rests around my waist, pulling me half off my chair and into his body.

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