Page 66 of Love in the Stacks
“Oh, uh, sure, of course. Thank you,” Herb stammers.
“We promise to remain professional on the job,” I persist, deftly pinching Adam’s arm. “But if you notice any problems, please let us know.”
“Uh, yes, naturally,” Herb fiddles with some folders on his desk. “Anything else?”
“Nope. Thank you for your time.”
Backing out into the hallway, I whisper to Adam, “Close your mouth.” He blinks at me, and I grin.
“Well,” I smile. “That’s taken care of.” I salute in his direction. “Have a productive workday, sir.”
He closes his eyes and shakes his head as I turn toward my own office.
In the middle of the afternoon, I text Adam a meme, just to mess with him. It says:
“dating me is easy u just have to kiss me every 3 minutes.”
He texts back, “After work. Stop distracting me,” with a wink-face emoji.
A few minutes later, he saunters past my office door, then doubles back and casually leans against the doorframe.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hello, work colleague,” I quip.
“Stop being a brat,” he chides, lips quirking.
“Stop leaning seductively in my doorway,” I counter.
He straightens, his smile growing. “Come over after work,” he says earnestly. “I’ll cook dinner. We can watch a movie or something.”
I grin. “Only if Joan will be there.”
Adam drives me to my apartment after work so I can change before we head to his house. He loiters in the living room, poking around, while I change clothes in my room. After wasting too much time debating the options, I finally put on leggings and a cropped T-shirt. I emerge to find Adam studying the framed photos of my family on the end tables of the couch. He looks up when I come out.
“I’ve met Molly,” he says. “This is the rest of your family?”
“Yes.” I point to a photo in an obnoxiously pink, sparkly frame. “Me, of course, Molly, and then the blonde is our younger sister, Olivia.”
“You have blonde hair in this picture, too,” he notes.
“Oh. Yeah. That’s my natural hair color. We took that picture about three years ago.”
“You didn’t dye your hair then?”
“No, I did, when I could. I started dyeing my hair in high school, mostly black.” I cringe when I think of my style back then. It works for some people, and I’m all for doing what you love, but it wasn’t really me. I remember that Adam knows a bit about my backstory here. I can’t believe I told him not only about my darker high schooldays, but about Steven, too. And it didn’t scare him off. “I got into the more colorful shades starting in college. I was a little broke when that picture was taken.” I laugh. “A few months later, I had some extra funds and actually did a mermaid balayage.”
Adam nods. “I have no idea what that means.”
“Balayage is when you have different colors that all kind of blend one into another. Mermaid style is a mixture of greens, blues, and purples. It was expensive because they have to hand paint the different colors. I saved up a while for it. Hence the natural hair in that picture.”
Adam’s cheeks flush slightly. “You’re beautiful with every hair color I’ve seen you have.”
I chuckle. “That’s cheesy.” But my insides go all warm and mooshy.
“Still true.”
I step closer and wrap my arms around his waist. “Thank you,” I amend. “You haven’t seen my hair that many colors, though, have you?”
