Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3)(47)

There was no room on this ladder for two grown adults. He stopped when my knees hit his chest. “I can’t get up there unless…”

Unless I spread my legs and let him climb the last two steps between them.

Oh my God.

I’d been about to get into the shower when the maintenance guy showed up with the ladder I called for this morning. He wanted it back before he went home for the day, so I decided to blitz the project. So that meant I was in a dark-blue, thigh-high silk robe. No bra, no underwear. Just me and a thin slip of fabric with my head attached to a light fixture. Fuck my life.

I tucked my robe between my legs and opened my knees, wishing for the floor to open up and swallow me.

To his credit, Adrian didn’t glance down.

He climbed two more rungs and his zipper pressed directly into my crotch. I almost fell backward.

He put a hand between my shoulder blades and caught me. “Maybe you should hang on to me,” he said. “I don’t want you falling.”

GOD.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and died a little inside.

“You okay?” he asked, his chest practically rumbling against my cheek.

I nodded.

No, I was not okay. I hadn’t been okay all day.

I’d been to see the adoption attorney this morning.

It wasn’t certain I’d need to use her. Annabel could still get her life together. But knowing adoption was still something I had to seriously consider was enough to hurl me into a spiral. I’d stifled tears the whole way to Adrian’s office earlier. Then when I got there, I’d broken down and ruined his tie sobbing into it. Afterward, I’d gone home and gotten my hair stuck in a ceiling fan and my stupid tingling fingers couldn’t get their shit together to get me out. And now I was straddling Adrian, which was one part a complete turn-on and the other part just sad since he was perfect and therefore not into me.

My position on dating had shifted a bit in light of Mr. Copeland. I didn’t feel like it was fair to date someone if I might be sick. But if he knew I might be sick, like Adrian did, and wanted me anyway? Who was I to tell the man what to do? It’s why I told him about my hand earlier. It’s also why I’d strategically stopped mentioning that I was glad he didn’t hit on me. I couldn’t bring myself to come right out and tell him I liked him. I was too afraid of what his reply to that might be. And how does one even broach that subject? Hey, I like you. I know you just went through a really crappy breakup, we’re supposed to be friends, and I might be dead in a year, but you think you could be into that? UGH.

He tolerated my shameless flirting well enough, but he never flirted back—which I suppose was to be expected. But if he ever did make a move on me, I’d climb into his suit while he was still wearing it. He’d have to scatter expensive truffles on the floor to get me off him and then make a run for it because I’d never let him go.

He reached up and put his hands over my head. “How did you do this?”

His chest was right in my face. It had been in my face earlier too when I was crying into it, and just like earlier he smelled good and heat was coming off him and I was reminded that I’d probably go to my grave with cobwebs on my vagina.

“Um, I don’t know? You know, I bet Sloan Monroe gets her hair stuck in ceiling fans all the time.”

“Uh, no. I can guarantee you that Sloan has never had her hair stuck in a ceiling fan. She’s not really a hair-stuck-in-a-ceiling-fan type.”

“Oh, so there’s a type now?”

He fiddled around a bit. “Well, if the fan blade fits…”

I stifled a smile.

I felt it the second he released me, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“There,” he said over me. “You’re free.”

I rubbed my head, and he stepped down until his eyes were level with mine. “Do you always get in this much trouble?” He was grinning.

His face was really close, and he was still standing between my open legs.

Sometimes I looked at Adrian and felt like I couldn’t breathe.

At his office earlier when he’d been holding Grace, I thought about how he’d be such a good dad and how proud I was of him, seeing him in his element. He was so intelligent and capable, and over the last few weeks, I’d found myself completely and utterly losing myself in him…and the more I did, the worse my hand got. It was like one thing was connected to the other. Like my growing feelings for Adrian came at a price.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. “You should get going. You’re missing your gala.”

He waited another moment. Almost like he liked standing there. Then he looked away from me, jumped down, and helped me off the ladder.

He didn’t make a move to leave.

He stopped at Grace’s swing and crouched to say hi to her. She beamed at him and her pacifier popped out of her mouth. He tickled her belly and then put her paci back in. Then, instead of leaving, he picked up Harry Puppins from his dog bed and leaned against my dresser, petting him and smiling at me.

Okay…

I wrapped my robe tighter around me. “So I guess I’ll just see you tomorrow?” I said, feeling like I had to fill the silence with something. “Dad’s going to embarrass me. I hope you know that.”

He just stood there. “You’ll be fine.”

When I said this to myself, I called bullshit. When he said it, I sort of believed him. Maybe because Adrian had a way of making things fine. Or making me forget if they weren’t…