Page 44 of Not You Again
The day you were born was the start of my life, Bruce often said.
“Can I ask you something?” Carly looked at Adam. “How can you besuchan asshole sometimes, but so kind now?”
Adam laughed, and a small smile broke across her face, too. Carly shook her head as she wiped away a final tear.
“I know we bicker a lot, in a sort of joking way, I think?” Adam gave her a look, as if to gauge whether or not she actually disliked him.
“Joking, yes,” she admitted.
“But if I can be honest for a moment, no joking in sight, you actually inspired me the other day.”
“Do tell.” Carly crossed her arms, guarding herself against a potential blow.
“My dad told me that it might be time to move on... from Shireen.” Adam’s eyes flicked to Carly’s. “And I thought of you, and how you have to be quite brave to do what you’re doing—betting on yourself with writing. And that sort of inspired me to acknowledge that it’s time I start looking forward.”
Carly’s lips parted. She’d inspired Adam to do something? He’d thought of her in a moment when she wasn’t even there? That might be the nicest thing she’d heard in a long time.
“I’ve rendered you speechless—not easy to do,” Adam said. “But if it’s helpful, maybe it’s time for you to look forward, too, and let go of what happened with your dad.”
Carly was ready to embrace that this was her life, if that was all she had. She’d just have to move forward—or as forward as possible in a time loop. She closed her eyes and told herself to just let go of the regret for not visiting her dad sooner.
And maybe it worked, because she felt lighter. Carly let out a breath and looked back to Adam. His honey eyes had little flecks of gold in them, she realized.
She wanted Adam to kiss her. She wanted him to reach down and press his lips to hers and pull her body close. Shewanted to know what the man who showed her shooting stars tasted like.
Carly watched as Adam’s breathing changed and he took a step closer. Maybe this thing she had for him wasn’t as one-sided as she’d imagined. He placed a palm on the desk next to her. He was so much bigger and broader that all she could see washim.His eyes studied hers, as if seeking permission.
“We haven’t tested your theory today,” he said.
Whatever was happening between them was completely unexpected, yet so natural that she couldn’t help but arch her hips toward him.Do it, she tried to tell him.
“Maybe this is a good time...” Carly began to say.
Adam’s mouth opened, then closed. She wondered what he was holding back. But then he pressed his forehead to hers, and their noses touched. He rubbed his big thumb across the line of her cheekbone, and his breaths came out hot against her lips, almost teasing her with the idea of what it would be like to get even closer.
Who was this steady man with the shadow of a beard and the sleeves of his button-up shirt rolled to reveal his forearms? Adam’s hand reached behind Carly’s head to tilt her mouth up to his. His eyes once again searched hers, waiting to see if she’d pull away, but she didn’t want to.
“For the theory,” Adam said.
She gave a small nod. “Science is important.”
Then, without any further hesitation, Adam pressed his lips to hers. His mouth was full and firm. Carly’s hands found their way around his shoulders and pulled his body in tight.
There was Adam’s tongue in her mouth, and his lips massaging hers and his fingers gently cradling the back of her neck. As his lips traveled across her jaw, they gave a light touch that had her arching into him for more. His breath fanned across her collarbone. She tugged his hair to bring his mouthback. She’d have to give him a new nickname. Adam the Attentive?
Then his palm found her low back and pulled her into him, and she could feel his hardness against the top of her thigh, showing her just how much he was enjoying this, too. Adam the Alert?
As if on cue, the alarm on his watch pinged. Adam groaned. “The eclipse...”
Chapter 16
Adam
Of course they had to time the eclipse. That wasn’t a question. After all the fuss over whose theory was the correct one, the only option was to hide his arousal, straighten out Carly’s mussed hair and go outside. Which is how they’d ended up on the sidewalk, sweaty from the make-out session and the overhead sun.
Adam had gotten carried away with the kissing—and the kissing, to be fair, had been exceptional. Unlike the fake Hollywood kiss, or the awkward surprise kiss that Carly had planted on him,thiskiss revealed that Carly had velvety lips and a quick tongue. When she’d pulled back, her glasses were crooked and her hot breath across his chest made goose bumps erupt up his arms.
The whole thing had been impulsive, an adjective he’d never before used to describe himself. But something about opening up to Carly, and her sharing the truth about her dad, had shifted the way Adam saw her. And maybe changed what he was willing to do to get Carly to see him differently, too.
