Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(74)

Adam gave me a soft smirk when I tugged up my jeans and wiggled my bare left foot.

He shrugged out of his heavy tan-colored work jacket and hung it over the back of the chair at the counter at his huge kitchen island.

“My shirt seems to be missing, too.”

Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “What’s wrong with the one you have one?”

I grabbed the hem. “I see you have a sense of humor.”

His boyish smile was devastating. “Figured it was appropriate considering…”

I found I couldn’t hold my smile either. “Dressing me in a Mothers Against Drunk Driving shirt—how apropos.”

He tossed his gloves onto the kitchen island and for a moment I was lost, drinking him in from head to toe, watching his methodical movements. The man surely filled out a pair of jeans. A tinge of sexual intrigue hit me; I wanted to bury my nose in the space where his gray thermal Henley grazed the nape of his neck and see if he smelled as delicious as he looked.

His soft chuckle blended perfectly with his rosy cheeks and strong shadowed jaw. “I thought so.” He slipped his black knit hat with ATTF written in yellow letters off his head, patting his hair down. “Your shirt is in the washer.”

I followed where his chin indicated, catching the thrumming sounds of a spin cycle. “You washed it?”

Adam nodded. “It was a casualty of your, ah… overindulgence. You got some yuck on it when you got sick.”

A burst of extreme embarrassment made my head spin for a few seconds. My grand show in his bathroom was not something I cared to relive. “I’m so sorry. I’m…” Feeling humiliated, mortified, unsure of how to move. “Thanks for… taking care of me last night. I appreciate it.”

Adam’s pleasant demeanor vanished, washed away with a frustrated scowl and a discerning glare. Every nerve in my body itched to disappear. Not only did my world come crashing down yesterday, the one man I could actually see myself spending time with was assessing me as if I were an experiment gone terribly wrong. I couldn’t look at him anymore. It was too awkward. I noticed my purse on the leather recliner chair in his living room.

“It’s um… I should probably get going. Are the roads okay?” I pulled out my cell, wondering who I could call to come and give me a ride.

“Sun is out. Snow is starting to melt.”

His low, grumbling voice set my body on high alert.

“Good, okay.” I scrolled through my phone, seeing a missed text from Tommy: “What’s up? You coming?”

A stabbing piece of my headache returned. After having lost a family member and my hopes for a fellowship decimated, meaningless sex was no longer on my agenda. And now the man I had hoped to accidentally run into last night was eight feet behind me, getting an eyeful of me at my worst.

Maybe if I don’t look directly at him, he’ll find some compassion. “Can I ask you for one last favor? Think you can drive me to get my car? I’m sure you have things you have to do, so the quicker I can get out of your hair—”

“Your car is in the driveway.”

Um, what? “What?”

He pulled keys out of his jeans pocket; my silver “E” initial dangled on the ring between his fingers. “It’s in the driveway.”

My heart skipped a beat. Was he just that extremely thoughtful or in that much of a hurry to get rid of me? I opted for being grateful nonetheless. “Wow, you ran for it?”

He gave me a quick chin nod. “I told Kip I’d move it before he opened. They were plowing the lot.”

Well there was a partial answer. “Oh, yeah. Okay. Thanks.” The after-effects of my evening of debauchery tossed a renewed wave of nausea over me. “I think it will be a while until I show my face in his bar again.” Visions of Kip harassing Adam about picking up some drunken girl’s car toppled over the nausea.

Adam tipped a brow, silently agreeing. I presumed that also meant he’d never take me back there again as well.

“How did you get there?”

Adam pulled another set of keys from his pocket, setting them on the edge of the granite countertop. For a bachelor, he had a killer kitchen, which was also a surprise.

He ran a hand over his short spiky hair. “My partner Marcus picked me up.”

“Really? Wow.”

So much for small talk.

Something was bothering him; that much was obvious. I watched him glance around at everything but me, rubbing his neck, deliberately avoiding me as he did his thing. I tried to determine what he was looking for while presuming he was searching for a nice way to tell me to get going. I’d seen the same behaviors from other guys before him. It was the morning air of regret waltz. He may have felt one way last night, but the indecisiveness I’d come to learn about him was swirling like a tornado around the room.

Well, before he had the opportunity to make me feel like shit I figured I’d make it easier on him. I may be a lot of things, but a lingering inconvenience is not one of them.

“Thank you. And please tell your partner I said thank you, too. I… I really appreciate it.”

Adam nodded.

“So um… I guess you want me to… I should get going…”

Adam pulled my keys back before I could grasp them. “Not so fast.”

I stopped in midair, shocked.