Believing Lies Read online

  ADAM: Everybody likes me.

  ME: Gag.

  ADAM: Do u have plans today?

  Sophie was spending the day with her Dad, and I was actually really bored. But was spending time alone with Adam a good idea? It had been a week since the night at The Turning Point, but I had replayed that kiss over and over again in my mind. I knew that I’d need to remain extremely cautious if I planned to overcome the sexual attraction I had for him. However, if I was going to really give this whole being-friends-thing a shot, now was as good a time as any. At least it was daytime, and no alcohol would cloud my judgment.

  ME: No plans.

  ADAM: Good. Let’s hang out.

  ME: When?

  ADAM: Now.

  The intercom buzzed, scaring the crap out of me. I walked to it and pressed the Talk button. “Hello?” I tentatively asked.

  “Are you going to let me in or what?” My pulsed raced at the sound of his voice. Holy crap! He’s already here.

  I buzzed him into the building and sprinted to my room to quickly throw on a bra under my white cotton tank top. I could only imagine the comments that would be slung my way if he could see my nipples through my shirt. I barely made it back to the door in time to hear the knock.

  I opened the door to find Adam holding two Starbucks cups. He looked even sexier than normal because he was wearing a white T-shirt that had the sleeves cut off, leaving his tattoos and biceps on glorious display. He had on gray cargo shorts and flip flops. His jet black hair was extra messy and in need of a haircut. And even though he was inside, he was still wearing the aviator sunglasses that I loved so much.

  “You do realize you can take off your sunglasses in the building?” I teased.

  “You just can’t wait to stare into my eyes, can you?” I laughed at his cheesy line. “Well, as you can see, Princess, my hands are holding two very hot coffees. If you would like to take one of them, I’ll be happy to remove my glasses for you.”

  I took a coffee from his hand and brought the cup to my nose to inhale the aroma. It smelled like a small piece of heaven. “Thank you. This is just what I needed.”

  He took off his glasses and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  I opened the door further and gestured for him to come in. He followed me to the kitchen, where he sat at the island and I hopped up onto the counter. We both took a few drinks of our coffee in silence.

  “That was a pretty ballsy move, waiting downstairs before I even agreed to spend time with you,” I finally said. “What if I’d told you that I was busy or that I didn’t want to see you?”

  He smiled into his coffee cup before taking a drink. “Then I guess I would’ve had extra coffee to drink.”

  I laughed. “I guess so. By the way, you can come over whenever you want, if you always promise to bring me coffee when you do.”

  “Noted.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “Aren’t you curious as to why I’m here?”

  I shrugged. “A little.” A lot!

  “Sophie took Conner to meet her dad today, and—”

  “She did what?!” I exclaimed loudly, cutting him off. I wondered when someone was going to come in the front door to tell me that I was on a hidden camera TV show.

  His face hardened. “What’s your problem? Do you think Conner’s not good enough to meet Sophie’s dad?”

  “Oh my God, no! That’s not what I think at all.” I watched the muscles in his face relax. “I’m shocked because Sophie has never taken any guy to meet her dad. That’s a super-huge step for her.”

  Adam seemed appeased by my answer and a smile tugged at his lips. “He really likes Sophie. If what you say is true, then she must feel the same.”

  I hopped off the counter, bringing my coffee with me, and sat on the stool next to him. I nudged his elbow. “So . . . um . . . what’s on the agenda?”

  “I’ve got the whole day planned out for us.”

  My eyes beamed. “Really?”

  “No.”

  “Huh?”

  He quirked his brow. “You say ‘huh’ a lot.”

  I nudged him again. This time harder. “Well, you confuse me a lot.”

  He smiled smugly. “I thought we could go get some breakfast first.” His tone was so casual, as if we just went to breakfast together all the time.

  “Then what?”

  “We’ll see.” Cryptic, much? “I’m not really a planner, Princess. I start out with an idea and then see where the day takes me. Are you in or out?”

  I hesitated. In or out? It was such a simple question, but it felt as if it pertained to much more than today’s activities. I took a leap of faith. “I’m in.”

  “I knew you would be,” he said, his voice overflowing with confidence.

  My eyes widened. “You did, huh?”

  “There’s that ‘huh’ again.”

  I rolled my eyes and stood up. “Wipe that stupid grin off your face and give me about ten minutes to get dressed and ready to go.”

  “Need a hand?” His tone was very suggestive.

  “Thanks, but I’ve already got two,” I replied in a sing-song voice, holding up my hands and wiggling my fingers as I walked down the hall. I could hear his faint laughter behind me.

  I quickly changed into jean shorts and a teal spaghetti strap tank top and slipped on a pair of black flip flops. Being the first weekend of August, the weather was stifling. For that reason, I didn’t want to put on very much makeup. I simply applied one coat of mascara and a little lip gloss before pulling my hair into a quick ponytail.

  I found Adam on the couch flipping through TV channels. “I’m ready,” I said.

  He shut off the TV and stood up. His dark brown eyes slowly swept over my body from head to toe. There was a look on his face that I couldn’t quite name.

  “What?” I finally asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

  He looked at me through narrowed eyes. “We agreed to be just friends, so I’m trying to talk myself out of doing all the things I want to do to you right now. You’re not making this easy on me.”

  “What the hell did I do?” I asked defensively, ignoring my inner vixen who was dying to know what he wanted to do to me.

  “It’s a little bit hard to think straight when you’re wearing a tight tank top and shorts the size of a Band-Aid.” He squeezed his eyes tight and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Will you please change into something that covers more of your body?”

  I blushed and laughed simultaneously. “It’s going to be almost ninety degrees today and humid. So, no, I won’t change. Suck it up, and let’s go.”

  I picked up my purse, and we left the apartment.

  “Do you always have to be so stubborn?” he asked as I locked the door behind us.

  “Not always. You seem to bring out that side of me.”

  “Lucky me,” he said dryly.

  When we got into the elevator, I asked, “Who’s driving.”

  “I am.”

  I put my finger on the button for the lobby, but before I could press it, Adam reached around me and pressed the button for the garage level.

  “Didn’t you just say that you’re driving?”

  “Yep.” The elevator door closed.

  “Then you pressed the wrong button.”

  “I didn’t say that we wouldn’t be taking your car.”

  Over my dead body. “Ha. Not going to happen, buddy, so keep dreaming. You already took one joyride without my permission.”

  He took a step toward me, making the elevator suddenly seem incredibly small. I backed up a step in response. “I’m feeling a tad frustrated at the moment,” he said, his voice low. “And since you refused to change your clothes, I need a distraction.” He took another step toward me, but this time I stood my ground. “Think of it this way, Princess. If I drive, I’ll focus on the road. If you drive, I’ll focus on your legs.”

  My eyes shot to his, and I saw something which I hadn’t been expecting—an unmistakable hunger in his eyes. Time seem
ed to stop as my gaze fell to his lips. The air around us was charged with electricity. I could physically feel it. I started to seriously doubt if I could be just friends with him. Unsure if I was making the right move, I reached for his hand and turned it over. The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

  “Focus on the damn road, Adam.” I dropped my keys into his palm and stepped out of the elevator.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I’ll take the ham and cheddar omelet with hash browns and white toast, please,” I told our waitress and handed her back the menu. She was an older lady with frizzy gray hair and a friendly smile.

  “I’ll take the same,” Adam replied, also handing his menu to her.

  “Coming right up.”

  Mel’s Diner was known for their omelets. It was a bit of a rundown joint, but the food was excellent. Sophie, Courtney, and I had spent many mornings here together; usually hung-over.

  I sipped on my orange juice as I tried to think of something to talk about. On the drive here, I’d been able to avoid conversation, due to the noise from the top down and the radio up. Adam looked good driving my car. I had to admit that seeing him behind the wheel of my Mustang was pretty hot . . . Not that I’d ever tell him. His ego was already the size of Texas.

  “We’re back in a booth together, except this time we’re not strangers,” Adam observed, breaking the ice.

  I remembered back to the time he sat across from me at The Turning Point and softly laughed. “I thought you were some jackass trying to hit on me.”

  “I was some jackass trying to hit on you,” he said bluntly. “But you shot me down so fast that I had to change my approach.”

  “Huh. I thought you were just being a nice, friendly guy. And to think that you came over with less than honorable intentions,” I sarcastically drawled.

  He flashed me a cheeky grin but didn’t make an attempt to keep our conversation going. The silence turned uncomfortable and awkward. I took a drink of my orange juice. He took a drink of his coffee. This is getting painful.

  “Why are we here?” I finally blurted out.

  “They have good food.”

  “I mean, why are we sitting here together at all? I get why we would hang out with Sophie and Conner in a group, but why are we hanging out just the two of us?”

  At first he remained silent, the awkwardness growing with every passing second. “Christ, I have no idea,” he exasperatedly answered. His eyes looked to the ceiling before meeting mine. “I’ve been asking myself that the entire ride here.”

  “I don’t understand. You texted me and showed up at my apartment, remember? This was your idea.”

  “Fuck,” he breathed out, as if he was thinking aloud. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “I’ve been trying to stay away from you.” I didn’t know if it was the edgy tone he used or the admission that he was purposely trying to avoid me that bothered me the most. Either way, it stung to hear.

  “If you don’t want to be around me, then I’m really at a loss as to why we’re here.” My frustration was evident in my voice.

  “I didn’t say I didn’t want to be around you. I said that I was trying to stay away from you. Those are two very different things.”

  “So you do want to be around me?” I looked at him baffled. “I’m confused.”

  He sighed heavily. “So am I . . . I thought about you after you left The Turning Point that first day. I’ve never given a second thought to a girl before, much less to one who I didn’t have a chance of sleeping with. But I think about you, and I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t know if I should be flattered or upset. You’re not making sense.”

  “I know. None of this makes sense. Can’t you see that?” He looked at me, willing me to follow his logic. “When I came over with Conner, the day I moved your car, I came there because I wanted to see you. Afterwards, I was both disappointed and relieved that I hadn’t.” He took a drink of his coffee and seemed to be working out the words he wanted to say. “When Conner mentioned that Sophie was taking you to the beach, I knew I had to see you again. I figured that once I did, I’d realize you were just another girl. So we drove forty-five minutes to Conner’s aunt’s house to borrow her Jet Skis and went to the lake.” Holy shit. This was a lot to take in. My mind was reeling. “When I saw you in the water, I knew I should turn around and leave, but obviously I didn’t.” He started to lightly laugh. “Then you flipped your tube.”

  I giggled at the memory. “That was pretty funny.”

  His laughter trailed off. “I tried to give you shit, and you threw it right back at me every single time.”

  “What did you expect? Was I just supposed to take it?”

  “No. I liked that you gave it back. I had fun with you that day.”

  “Oh. I had fun with you too. In fact, it was the first time I had fun since the breakup,” I admitted.

  He looked out the window for a moment. I was still trying to process everything he was saying when he turned his attention back to me. “I hated that your ex showed up. I saw you kiss him, and I wanted to rip his fucking face off. Why do you think that is? I still don’t quite know.” I remembered when I wanted to rip the face off of the girl who had kissed him at the bar, but I kept that thought to myself. “The only thing I do know is that I’ve never hit anyone out of anger before.” His look was so intense that it was burning into me.

  “I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly.

  He tried to laugh it off as if it was no big deal. “No need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault that I flew off the handle. Shit, I don’t even know why I’m telling you any of this. I guess I just needed to get it off my chest.”

  “I don’t know what to say, Adam.”

  His brown eyes regarded me. “Is this one sided?”

  I was stunned by his candid question. “No, it’s not one sided,” I confessed quietly. “But it doesn’t change anything.”

  “Yeah, I suppose it doesn’t.” He paused. “So I’m ready to give this whole being friends idea a real try because, even though I don’t quite understand it myself, I feel as if I need to be near you. That’s the answer to your original question, Princess. We’re sitting here in this restaurant, waiting for greasy breakfast food, because I need to be near you—no expectations or complications, just plain and simple.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that curled the corners of my lips any more than I could stop the butterflies that had taken flight in my stomach. “I can live with that. Sophie is busy with Conner a lot, so it would be nice to have you around. Kind of like a stray puppy.”

  His eyes popped, and he looked positively flabbergasted. “A stray puppy?”

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud. And just like that, the atmosphere shifted from heavy to light. “Yeah. And if you promise not to pee on my carpets, you can come watch a movie with me when we’re done eating.”

  He huffed. “I haven’t peed on any carpets in at least six months.”

  Our waitress came with our food at that exact moment and gave him a disgusted look. She set down our plates and quickly scurried off, shaking her head. Adam and I looked at each other and cracked up laughing.

  ***

  We watched Billy Madison after breakfast. Adam thought it was odd to watch a movie during the day, but I explained to him that anytime was a good time for a movie. I made sure we sat on opposite sides of the couch. We both started to quote lines during the movie, and I was really enjoying his company. Being with him, like this, was nice.

  The closing credits started to roll. “What are we going to do now, Princess?”

  “You chose to go get breakfast. I chose to watch a movie. I’m pretty sure it’s your turn to choose again.”

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “Is it your day off?” I inquired. He’d never mentioned a job before, but I’d also never asked. Despite this odd, apparently mutual, draw to each other, we really didn’t know very much about each other’s lives.

  “I d
on’t have a job,” he replied.

  “What do you do for money?”

  “Aren’t we nosey?”

  I felt like an ass. “I’m sorry. That was out of line. I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll tell you.” He scooted across the couch until he was right next to me and whispered, “I’m a male escort.”

  I looked at him in disbelief. The glint in his eyes was one hundred percent conspiratorial. “You’re shitting me, right?”

  He laughed. “Yes, I’m shitting you.”

  “You can be such a jerk.” I pushed him, and he scooted back to his side of the couch.

  “I have a house that I rent out. I use the rent as my income while I’m still in school.”

  “The male escort thing was much more intriguing. How did you end up with a house?”

  “My grandfather’s. He passed away last year and left it to me.”

  My face fell. “I’m sorry.”

  “You say ‘sorry’ as much as you say ‘huh.’ There’s no need to be sorry. I’d never even met him.”

  I scrunched my mouth. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.” The mood was now somber, and I was at a loss for words. “Let’s go play Frisbee golf,” he suggested out of the blue.

  “I don’t know how. My old dorm mate, Courtney, tried to get me to go play before, but I never went.”

  “Can you toss a Frisbee?”

  “Yes.” Kind of.

  “Then you’ll be fine,” he said reassuringly.

  I wasn’t convinced. I hated trying new things. Indecision crept over my face. “Um . . .”

  “This morning, I asked you if you were in or out, and you said you were in. Have you changed your mind, or will you trust me?” He gave me a look which made me feel as if I was being put through some sort of a test.

  “Okay. I trust you.”

  I was rewarded with a broad smile. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  We left my apartment and got into the elevator. I didn’t know how to get to the Frisbee golf course, so I was planning on letting Adam drive my car again, but he pushed the elevator button for the lobby.

  “Sick of my car already?”

  “I’ll never get sick of that car, but I need to get the discs out of my car.”