Among the Echoes (Wrecked and Ruined #2.5)(27)

"It’s my favorite, " I reply, placing my napkin on the table.

"I can’t remember the last time I had food that good."

"You didn’t even taste the gnocchi either. It’s unbelievable."

"Well I was going to taste the gnocchi, but by the time I unfolded my napkin you were already licking the bowl."

"Oh shut up. I offered you a bite at least twice."

"Yes, but something in your eye made me believe you would have literally snapped at my hand if I’d tried to snag a piece."

I bust out laughing, but she remains humorously silent. Only the hint of a smile gives away her attempt at being serious.

"So how do you feel now?"

"Stuffed."

"No, I mean after what I taught you tonight. Do you feel a little better?"

Her smile immediately falls and her shoulders tense. "Oh, um… Yeah. I think I do."

"Why don’t you come back tomorrow? We can go over some more stuff." I reach across the table and casually touch her hand. It’s meant to be encouraging, but she still pulls away.

"Yeah, I don’t know about tomorrow. But…um, maybe later this week. When do you have to give the mats back?" she asks, standing to clear the table.

"I have them on indefinite loan." I take the plates from her hands.

"Oh. Well. Sure. I’ll look at my calendar. Let me take care of those before I leave."

"No. I’ve got it. A beautiful woman recently taught me a trick about letting them soak." I wink, and her eyes go wide at my compliment.

She tries to change the subject, but as always, her smile is obvious. "I should go. It’s getting late."

"You sure you don’t want to stay and watch Vision Quest? We never finished it the other night."

"Nah. Tonight isn’t a Vision Quest night. Sixteen Candles, maybe. But definitely not Vision Quest." She giggles to herself. Just as I begin to ask what she is laughing about, she looks up at me with the most amazing twinkle of truth in her eyes. "Thanks for tonight, Adam. I had a lot of fun."

I don’t know how to respond without pulling her against me and kissing her roughly. However, I need to touch her. I reach out and gently stroke her forearm. She doesn’t back away and her eyes hold my gaze.

"Riley," I whisper, taking a step closer.

Her eyes heat, but she doesn’t respond. I take her silence as my signal to continue. I carefully grab her hip, pulling her toward me. She sways, but her feet don’t budge. I take it upon myself to close the distance between us. She sucks in a shaky breath as she rests her hands on my chest. We continue staring until, finally, her eyes flash to my mouth.

I can’t take this anymore.

I slowly lean in, giving her every opportunity to back away, but she remains still and unmoving. Her tongue darts out to dampen her lips, and that’s my cue. I brush my lips over hers, but at the last second, she turns her head and buries her face in my chest.

"I’m sorry," she whispers. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

"Don’t be sorry. It’s okay." I run my hands reassuringly over her back.

"I need to go. Like now." She pulls away and darts out the door.

"Riley, wait!" I follow. "It’s not a big deal!" I tell her back as she sprints inside her apartment, closing the door behind her. "Come on, Riley." I knock, but she doesn’t respond. "Damn it," I mutter to myself.

What the f*ck just happened?





"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." I stand with my head in my hands, thinking to myself that Adam Andrews might be the best reason we have ever had to pick up and move.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dave asks from the couch.

"He tried to kiss me," I answer, still in a daze.

"And?"

"And he tried to kiss me!" I shriek, suddenly snapping out of it.

"You didn’t want to kiss him? Because I have to be honest, you’ve been throwing off all the signals. Hell, I even caught them, Riley. And let me just tell you, that was awkward," he says sarcastically.

"No. I mean, yes. Shit, I don’t know," I answer, and he gives me the who-the-hell-do-you-think-you-are-kidding look. "Fine, I do. I just didn’t expect him to want to kiss me. Shit, I panicked. I wasn’t prepared for that. Oh, God, he is going to think I’m even weirder now. Do you think I should apologize to him?" I rush out at a mile a minute.

"Where’s the wine Adam brought over last night?" he asks out of the blue.

"In the kitchen. Why?"

"Come on. We’re drinking." He grabs my hand and pulls me over to the bar stool at the counter.

"No, we are not!"

"Oh, yes, we are! When was the last time you had a drink?" he asks, grabbing the wine from beside the fridge. We don’t even have a corkscrew to open it with, so I’m intrigued as to how he is going to pull this off.

"A while," I answer while he scrambles around the kitchen, snatching open drawers and plundering through them.

"Do we have one of those little corkscrew thingies?"

"No. Which is precisely why we aren’t drinking."

He shrugs. "Desperate times." He heads to his toolbox in the corner of the pantry and comes back carrying a screwdriver. "No spare cork. I guess we’ll have to drink it all." He winks.