Five Minute Man: A Contemporary Love Story (8 page)

“Me, too.” He wondered if her answer was reflexive, or genuine. It was hard to tell. Her voice gave nothing away, and she was looking down at the bowls in her hands instead of at him so he couldn’t see her expressive eyes.

“Thanks for having me.”
Shit! That sounded even worse.
Forget eighteen. What was he, twelve?

“My pleasure.”

She walked him to the door and opened it, keeping her body slightly behind it as if subconsciously putting a barrier between them. Unlike the other night, she made no move to follow him out onto the porch.

Adam hesitated. Maybe he was making a big mistake. It wasn’t like him to panic like that. Maybe he just needed to take a breath and follow his instincts. And she had been right there with him – he was sure of it.

Holly made the decision for him. “Drive safely.”

Holly made the decision for him. Nodding his head, he turned and walked out to his truck. This time, when he looked in the rearview mirror on his way out, he didn’t see her watching him go.

Well, shit.

***

H
olly didn’t hear from Adam for the rest of the weekend. She tried not to read too much into that, but it was hard not to. Especially after the kiss they had shared. “Kiss” really didn’t describe it at all. It was like trying to call the Adirondacks a series of consecutive bumps in the landscape.

But maybe that had just been her. Maybe he hadn’t felt the same thing. Maybe it had been just the opposite for him. She didn’t think so, though. Right afterwards, when she’d looked into his eyes, she could have sworn she saw the same awe, the same surprise, that she’d felt.

Although, it might be easier to believe that if he hadn’t practically left skid marks on his way out.

***

T
he gum-smacking hostess at Applebees was one they hadn’t seen before. Holly decided right off the bat she didn’t like the girl, especially when they were told Brandon’s section was full up and they were seated on the other side of the restaurant.

“Whatever happened to the customer is always right?” Holly muttered.

Liz looked back, narrowing her eyes at the young, ebullient foursome of college age girls, sitting at Liz and Holly’s usual table and shamelessly vying for Brandon’s attention. As a matter of fact, nearly all the tables in his section were occupied by young females.

She snorted. “Looks like we’ve been put out to pasture.”

“Whatever,” Holly said, feigning disinterest. She’d been hoping maybe Brandon would say something about his uncle, but that wasn’t likely to happen now. “Next week maybe we should change things up a little. Hit Chili’s or Olive Garden instead.”

“Works for me.” God bless Liz, she
got
it.

After waiting much longer than usual, they gave their selections to the plump, middle-aged server with the bad dye job. Liz wasted no time in swooping in for the scoop the moment the woman moved away. “So. What‘s up with you and the contractor?”

Because Liz was her best friend, and because Holly felt like she was going to implode if she didn’t talk to someone, she brought Liz up to speed. Maybe Liz could help her sort things through, because she sure as hell wasn’t doing very well on her own. A best-friend biased, semi-objective analysis was just what she needed.

“Back to back evenings, then nothing?” Liz asked, frowning. “What’s up with that?”

“You’re the one with real-life experience. I was hoping you could tell me.”

Liz thought about it. “Maybe he’s afraid things are moving too fast,” she said thoughtfully. “If you guys hit it off as well as you say you did, he’s probably pissing his pants right about now. Maybe he’s just giving it a few days, letting things settle till he can make sense of them.”

“Maybe ,” Holly said doubtfully.

“Or... maybe he’s waiting for you to make the next move. He asked you to coffee, you invited him over, then he called and asked you out. Could be your turn.”

It sounded reasonable enough when Liz put it that way, but Holly didn’t think so. It just didn’t feel right, somehow. “You think?”

Liz shrugged. “Hard to say. Some guys love it when the woman makes a move, some guys hate it. What’s your read on him?”

“I don’t know.” Holly wasn’t sure that second time really counted as her asking him out, especially since they spent most of the night talking about renovating her cottage. Adam had been the one to suggest and provide dinner, so technically he was the one who kind of turned it into something more than a professional consult (not that she minded in the least). “I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable calling him, though.” If he was having doubts, he might see it as pushy.

“Yeah. I got the impression he likes to be the one taking the lead.” Liz tapped her fingernails – now a dark blue with silver sparkles – against the table. “You said he has pick-up games at the Y, right? Why not come to my yoga class with me this week? You could accidently run into him on purpose, see how he reacts.”

After briefly considering the idea, Holly nodded. Liz had been trying to get her to go for a while now. As much as she eschewed the idea of public exercise, it would be worth it to see Adam again. She could use his reaction to seeing her as a kind of sign post, hopefully providing direction into the nebulous realm of what-the-heck-is-he-thinking. She could stop all of this non-productive obsessing and guessing and move on from there. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Great. We can hit Target – “ Liz pronounced it tar-jhay – “after dinner tonight and pick you up a mat and some flattering yoga pants.”

Holly frowned. “Why can’t I just wear my sweats?”

Liz rolled her eyes and gave Holly a look of suffering. “Because we want him to notice your ass.”

––––––––

A
dam’s head wasn’t in the game. He’d let too many guys get by him because he’d caught a glimpse of Holly on the way in. She’d been in one of the group exercise rooms, looking way too flexible in a tight black number that hugged her curves like a high-performance vehicle on a mountain road. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and she was smiling at that young yoga instructor as he tried to demonstrate a pose that put her cute little ass high in the air and slammed
him
with a wave of heavy lust in the process.

He forced himself to concentrate, stealing the ball and driving down the court. Shoot. Miss. Again.
Damn
. Well, at least he was being consistent. He hadn’t made a decent shot all night.

After the game ended, Adam hovered near the door, hoping to catch another glimpse of Holly. He hadn’t called her since leaving her place abruptly on Friday. Christ, if the dog hadn’t intervened, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself. That soul-searing kiss would have turned into some heavy petting, the kissing and suckling of several other areas, and probably hot and sweaty sex right there on her living room floor.
Why
that might have been a bad thing, he was having trouble reasoning out; all he knew was that Holly deserved better than that.

Was she disappointed that he’d turned tail and run? Or relieved?

“You’re off your game tonight,” his friend Chuck observed as they gathered their things. “Everything okay?”

Adam shrugged and refilled his water bottle. “Yeah. It happens.”

Chuck looked doubtful, then he caught sight of something over Adam’s shoulder and grinned. “Nevermind. I get it now.”

All Adam could think of was that Chuck had spotted Holly in that form-fitting spandex. Chuck couldn’t possibly know about him and Holly, because he hadn’t told anyone, but any guy with a working pair couldn’t fail to notice her. The thought tapped into his inner caveman and released something sharp and ugly. He turned, ready to place himself between Holly and anyone else’s line of vision, and was immediately sorry he did.

“What’s her name again? Ellen? Erin?” Chuck asked quietly when the woman caught sight of Adam and started making her way over to them.

“Eve,” Adam said with little enthusiasm and a whole lot of dread. For one very long night he’d had to endure just how cute she’d thought it was that his name was Adam and her name was Eve, a “sure cosmic sign” that they were fated to be together.

“Right,” Chuck laughed. “Uh-oh. She’s got an apple. Prepare to be tempted.”

Adam groaned. She really did have an apple in her hand. Not that she needed it. On the surface, the woman was temptation personified. Tall and blonde, with a fuck-me smolder that was so perfect she must have practiced in front of a mirror for hours. Her feminine assets were beautifully displayed, wrapped in something that looked more like it came from Victoria’s Secret than the Sports Authority. Unfortunately, once you got past all the pretty packaging, the rest left a lot to be desired. Yeah, the woman had some impressive skills in the bedroom – she was limber as hell - but she was lacking everywhere else.

It was a lesson Adam had learned the hard way. He’d made the mistake of taking Eve up on her offer once. It was a decision he’d been regretting ever since. As sinfully packaged as she was, he’d given himself over to temptation in a moment of weakness and he was still paying for it.

Damn, how could he have forgotten that she taught Zumba here on Wednesday nights? It was a testament to just how out of it he was. If he hadn’t been so distracted with the idea of seeing Holly, he could have slipped out the back like he usually did. Now he was stuck in the doorway, visible to anyone in the corridor, and it would be impossible to make a clean getaway without being obvious.

And Eve had spotted him.
Double damn
. “Hi, Adam,” she purred.

“Hi.” He did his best to not look her directly in the eye. Unlike Holly, Eve was almost as tall as he was. A picture flashed in his mind of Holly tucked into his body, head tilted, big green eyes looking up into his face. Funny how she seemed to fit perfectly against him despite their differences in height.

Eve stepped closer in a clear violation of his personal space. Adam stepped back, his body language speaking for him with a very loud and clear “not interested, please move on” message. Unfortunately, Eve wasn’t one to pick up on subtle clues.

“I didn’t know you still played here,” she chastised lightly.

Shit. Busted.
“Sometimes.” He wondered how the guys would feel about maybe switching their games to Tuesdays. It was the one night of the week he knew of when Holly had standing plans with her friend, according to his nephew.

Eve’s eyes fixated on a bead of sweat that dripped down his neck, blazing with interest as it disappeared beneath his tank. She licked her lips. Adam’s inner caveman cringed.

“When I called the other night, Brandon said you went to a woman’s house. Should I be worried?”

She placed her index finger on his bicep and dragged it downward, scraping lightly against his skin. It was a bold move, one he didn’t appreciate. There had been a time when such a deliberate action might have roused his masculine interest, but no longer. Now it seemed he was stirred by petite brunettes who lived alone and were completely unaware of their own desirability. One, in particular, who should be passing by any moment. He needed this little unwelcome reunion over, pronto.

“No,” he answered without hesitation. Eve didn’t have anything to be worried about, because he was never going to see her again. The fact that he hadn’t returned her calls in the past couple of months should have given her a clue. Unfortunately, as he had already discovered, Eve was the type to overlook those kinds of things.

Along those lines, he made a mental note to have a word with his nephew the minute he got home. Brandon probably thought that telling Eve that Adam was out with someone else would deter her, but then Brandon didn’t know Eve well enough to know the lengths she was willing to go through to get what she wanted. For some fucked-up reason, she’d decided she wanted
him
.

“Who is she? Do I know her?”

No way in hell he was going to give Eve Holly’s name. The last time Eve saw Adam with someone, the poor woman had received harassing phone calls for a week and refused to go out with him again, saying he was a nice guy but she didn’t want to have to deal with his unstable ex. He wasn’t too disappointed, but it pissed him off just the same. He wouldn’t take that same chance with Holly. What if she decided she didn’t want to deal either?

No, as much as he wanted to remind Eve that there was nothing between them and never would be, the crowded corridor was neither the time nor the place to set her straight (again). He knew from experience—and the several polite times he’d tried to convince her he wanted nothing more to do with her - that Eve tended not to take rejection well, and the last thing he wanted was a scene. Not that he cared much – Adam really didn’t give a shit what anybody thought – but he didn’t want to chance Holly witnessing Eve’s theatrics. It was far better to diffuse and redirect now, handle the heavy stuff later.

“It was business.”

“Oh,” Eve said, her features changing from stormy to friendly again in an instant, and Adam breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s different. Why didn’t he just say so? Want to go out this weekend? My friend’s band is playing downtown.”

Adam didn’t hesitate. “No.” He looked over Eve’s shoulder, scanning the faces.
Shit
. Was that Holly’s friend coming toward them?

“Then how about –“

“Sorry, Eve. I’ve got to run.”

Adam was not by nature a rude man, but sometimes there just was no choice. He spun around and made for the door. He was going to resume his lookout for Holly out in the parking lot. With any luck, Holly would take a little longer and Eve would be gone by the time she came out. As much as he wanted to see Holly, he didn’t want her anywhere near Eve.

***

H
olly ducked out of sight around the corner, thankful for the tall potted plant that hid her from view, wishing it had absorbed the sound of voices as well. She’d come out a few minutes earlier to refill her water bottle while Liz chatted (i.e., flirted shamelessly) with the svelte male yoga instructor. She’d only just spotted Adam – looking exceptionally hot in his shorts and wife-beater tank – coming out of the gym with his friend. Muscles and a physique that she’d only guessed at up to this point made a lovely display indeed, formed and honed by years of manual labor. Broad shoulders, solid chest, naturally sculpted but not gym-ripped. It was the whipped cream icing on a very delectable Adam cake. Holly was about to approach him when that other woman beat her to it.