Rylee was nervous. The problem was that she couldn’t hide it. It had been a long time since she’d seen Adam before yesterday, and being alone with him was unusual. Well, not really unusual, but in her current state, engaged to a wealthy man, it was.
She took a deep breath before she took the lasagna out of the oven. She’d already arranged the salad and bread on the dining room table. Adam would be here any minute. She didn’t know what he’d like to drink, so she’d put beer in the fridge and had already opened the wine, because she would have a glass one way or another. She’d already had half a glass to calm her nerves. Seeing him at the bakery had been a bit different, because there had been other people around. Why had she decided to do this dinner at her apartment again? Oh, right… Because she wanted to avoid rumors.
When the doorbell rang, she jumped a little, her heart giving a giant leap. She took another deep breath, walked to the door and buzzed him up. She turned to the mirror and looked herself over. She was wearing jeans and a black blouse, black heels, wore her hair down and nearly no makeup on her face. Only mascara and strawberry lipbalm.
With her heart thundering in her chest, she opened the apartment door to let Adam in. He grinned at her as soon as he saw her, walked up and wrapped her up in his arms, squeezed her tight. Her eyes widened, because she hadn’t expected this. Sure, she’d wanted to hug him the night before, but she hadn’t expected him to hug her so fiercely today. It was nice, though. Really, really nice. She hadn’t been hugged like this in a long time.
“Someone’s looking good.” He slowly let go of her and took her in from head to toe. “This looks a lot more like you.”
“I know that you don’t like the way I dress, but I there are certain expectations. At home I nobody cares about what I wear. Well, as long as Ben’s not here, which is most of the day.” She distanced herself from him and led him to the dining room.
Adam looked around. The apartment was big, really big. Too big for him, if he was honest. And it wasn’t a place to call a home. There weren’t many pictures or anything that resembled life for that matter. He could picture her in his apartment a whole lot more than here.
“Would you like to have a glass of wine or a beer? Something else?”
“Beer sounds good.” He watched her walk out of the room before he turned towards the table. It looked like something out of a book. Not like when they were younger and shared takeout boxes on the sofa.
With her glass in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other she returned and put both on the table. She returned to the kitchen once more only to emerge with two plates of lasagna. They way it was prepared, it looked almost artistic. Bread was on the table, and the salad was in small dishes next to their plates.
Adam pulled out her chair before he sat down. He tried the lasagna and sighed because it was so good. He told her so with a smile.
“Thank you. I love to cook, but I hardly have the chance to do so.”
“Why is that?” Adam continued eating, keeping an eye on her.
“It doesn’t make sense to cook a lot for only one person. And when Ben is home and we eat together, we usually go out. Or have to attend some kind of event.”
“You don’t sound so happy.” He wanted to talk to her about this. Ever since seeing her, he’d wanted to hear the story, the whole truth from her. But there was no easy way to approach this subject. Her mentioning this had made it a whole lot easier for him now.
“It’s not easy, that’s all. Ben is away a lot because of work or he goes out with colleagues and stuff. I still have to adjust to that.” She shrugged her shoulders with a sad smile on her lips that made Adam want to shake her. She had to open up her eyes and see that she deserved something better. Someone who could make her happy instead of this.
Adam remembered the time when they were together. They’d spent a lot of time together, had talked about everything. She couldn’t have changed that much that she would be okay with spending very little time with the person she supposedly loved.
“Do you think you can do this? I mean, I remember you as a person who loved to talk and spend time together.”
“I don’t know, but I hope I will. After all, I’m going to marry Ben.” She drowned the rest of her wine and got up to go to the kitchen. She refilled her glass and took a deep breath. Right from the start she’d known that they would talk about her relationship, but she’d hoped she’d know what to say to get him off her back. With a sigh she went back to the dining room to finish her dinner.
“What about you, Adam? Are you in a relationship?” Judging by his behavior towards her, she guessed no.
“Nope. My last relationship was probably two years ago or so. Dougie is currently living with me. He adjusted to the team really well. He’s like a little brother.” Adam finished his lasagna and put the cutlery down.
“Oh.” She realized that it was the guy she’d talked to the evening before and blushed a little. Adam probably knew by now that she’d been crying. “Do you want some more lasagna?”
“No, thank you. I’m good.”
“Okay.” Rylee got up and took the plates to take them to the kitchen. Adam followed her suit with the rest of the dishes. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“I wanted to. It’s no big deal, Rylee.” Adam put the dishes down. Rylee quickly put them in the dishwasher and took her glass which was nearly empty. She made her glass half full, thinking that this would be more than enough for the evening. After all, she didn’t want to get drunk in front of Adam. She could still drink more when he was gone if she felt like it. That depended a bit on how the rest of the evening would go. “Would you like to see the rest of the apartment?”
“Sure.” Adam shrugged his shoulders. Why not. He could watch her and listen to her melodious voice.
First of all she showed him the living room with its big TV, comfortable sofa, and rows and rows of books. This was a little more like her. Still, the room was too big for the things that were in there. Next up was the bathroom which held a Jacuzzi. He had to admit that he liked the bathroom. Rylee quickly led him to the next room, Ben’s office. Not very interesting for him.
The door to the bedroom stood wide open and he got a glimpse at what was inside. It looked really sterile. Not like her at all. Now, there was one door left, but Rylee didn’t offer to take him inside, show him what was in there.
“What about this room?” He strode towards the door. Rylee wanted to stop him, but before she could do anything he’d already opened the door. What was inside warmed his heart.
The walls were painted in a light blue. One wall was completely filled with books and DVDs. There was a huge desk with papers and books, pens and pencils, brushed, different colors. In one corner hung a white coat she used to work. Adam stepped closer to the desk and saw different pictures she’d painted, a scrap book, seating charts and other stuff. She was planning events for other people, friends of hers.
“Ben gave this room to me to do with it what I want,” he heard her faint voice from the door. When he turned around, she stood there, arms limp at her sides. “So I made it my own. I can come in here to read, watch a movie or work on stuff I love. Or work on an event for a friend. I’ve become quite good at this sort of thing.”
Her eyes lit up when she told him. There was a genuine smile on her lips. One that made him smile as well. In that moment, he saw the old Rylee. The one he’d fallen in love with.
With two long strides, he closed the distance between them. When he pulled her against his chest, she hesitated, but when he brushed his lips over hers, she gave in to the urge to kiss him as well. It had been so long, and it felt so good. Better than he’d remembered. Slowly he ran his fingers through her hair, down her back, until both of his hands were firmly gripping her butt. Her fingernails dug lightly into the back of his neck, before she let them trail through his hair.
After a moment, Adam let go of her bottom with one hand, and pushed it beneath her blouse. Feeling her smooth skin beneath his fingers nearly made him rip her clothes off. It had often been like this. When he was around Rylee, touched her skin, he didn’t think anymore. It was like he couldn’t control his actions. Not that he had ever wanted to, because it had been pretty amazing.
Rylee shoved him away when she heard her fiancé’s voice. She was frozen in shock, which left Adam to act. He smoothed down her blouse and her hair, pecked her lips and turned her around.
“Everything’s fine,” he whispered in her ear and closed the door behind them.
“Okay,” she mumbled while nodding her head. They walked together towards the door when Ben entered the living room.
“Oh, hello.” He looked confused for a moment, but regained his composure quickly. “I don’t think we’ve met before. Ben Lowell.”
“Adam McQuaid.” The two men shook hands. “Rylee was so nice as to invite me to dinner. We grew up together and haven’t seen each other in ages.” With that he turned to Rylee. “We should repeat that some time. It was great to catch up with you.” He grinned at her and looked at Ben. “Ben. It was nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“I’ll see myself out.” Adam walked past Ben, headed straight for the door and stepped out of the apartment. With the door firmly shut behind him, he let out a breath. Holy shit.