Page 31 of Lucy Loves Him Not
The doors closed and we both leaned against the rail on the back. “I thought Olivia was with you?”
“She’s in her car in the parking lot.”
“Okay, good.” He nodded.Was Adam making sure I wasn’t alone?
“Are you worried about me?” I asked suggestively, the margarita still salty on my tongue.
He cocked his head to the side. “Is that so shocking?”
“No.” I set my gaze on him. “I’ve seen how you watch out for everyone around you.”
He looked like he was holding his breath as I swayed close to him, one of my hands on the railing, the other itching to grab his collar. “You’ve been studying me?”
Ding. The elevator doors opened onto his floor. He guided me with the flashlight to his office door, then I snatched the keychain from his hands. “I can do it,” I announced, flipping through his keys, completely unsure of which unlocked his door.
“You had something to drink with dinner?” He leaned against the door, watching as I tried a key.
“That might be true.” The key didn’t work. I searched for another. “But so did you, Knight in Shining Armor.”
“Book club gets discounted beers.” He shrugged. Then, he slipped behind me and placed his hands over mine, his warmthspreading around my back and neck as he flipped to the right key. With his hands and arms still over mine, he guided it into the lock and twisted it until the door clicked open. If he looked closely, he’d see every hair on the back of my neck standing alert at his presence.
He switched a light on as we entered the office. There on the floor by his desk was my cross-body, sunshine yellow purse where I’d dropped it when I first walked in, eager to see a picture he had opened on his desktop.
I didn’t want to examine the reason why, but I ignored the purse. I wandered around his office like I was looking for it, dragging out this break-in for as long as I could.
“Do you remember where you went when you first walked in?” he asked, trying to help me find my not-so-lost purse.
“I remember someone needing me the minute I entered the room,” I said, then imitated his voice. “Lucy, Lucy, come see this picture.”
“Well, who needs who now,” he said, stepping closer to me. “Calling me over tonight.”
“My sister called you.” I moved closer to him. I could see his chest rising and falling.
“For all I know, you didn’t even lose your purse.” His voice was low. I glanced sideways at my purse with its strawberry zipper by my feet on the ground, waiting to be found.
“For all I know, you stole it to get me here,” I said, drawing closer to him.
“Why would I need to do that? Since I met you, you keep finding ways to get my attention.” Adam’s blue eyes were sleepy and happy, trying not to grin as he looked down at me.
“Says the man who drew up a contract to get me to stick around.” My heart was beating wildly. My scary instincts to run my fingers through Adam’s hair from earlier were at an all-time high. Our body heat mingled.
“Oh.” He squinted. “Is that your purse right there by your feet?”
I stepped aside. “Oh, yeah, there it is,” I said looking down at it, my cheeks red. I scooped it up.
“See? Knight in shining armor.” He beamed proudly.
“Well, you definitely like your high horse,” I said as he flipped the lights off.
Our shoes tapped on the tile as we walked through the empty building. I pressed the elevator button and it immediately opened.
My reckless, tipsy self was sad to see our time together dwindling to an end. Sober Lucy ran away from Adam, while this Tipsy Lucy was plotting ways to keep him in the elevator with her.
I held my purse close to my chest like a barrier between my heart and the man who made it beat like a drum. “How long have you been in your book club?”
He studied my face before answering. Like he was looking for something I was hiding. “This was my first meeting. There’s this older guy, Gerry, probably in his eighties, that I met at the library. He invited me. It was basically me and ten retirees.”
I giggled. I could picture Adam talking books with a bunch of men more than twice his age.
