When I Was Yours(20)

“I do.”

“Good.” He climbs out of the car. “Any toppings you don’t like?”

“Olives and anchovies. But I’m cool with anything else.”

Stopping, he leans back into the car. “I swear, you are the girl of my dreams.” He gives me a cheeky grin. “Wait here. I’ll be back in five, ten max.”

The girl of his dreams…holy wow.

It’s more like twenty minutes before Adam comes back to the car. I would have started to get worried, thinking he’d ditched me, if I hadn’t been sitting in his fancy car.

“Sorry about that,” he says, sounding a little out of breath, as he gets back into the car, pizza box in hand. “Took longer than I thought.”

“You want me to hold that?” I refer to the pizza box.

“That’d be good. It’d be pretty awkward to drive with.” He smiles.

I take the box from him, placing it on my lap.

So, he’s not taking me out for dinner. We’re having take-out pizza.

I am so down with that.

He is doing the exact opposite of what I thought he would. And it makes me like him even more.

“Oh, and I got you this.” He holds out a rose in his left hand, which he was apparently hiding at his side.

“There was a flower shop next door to the pizzeria,” he explains.

I can’t speak. I’m staring at it, surprised and overawed. And it is crazy because it’s a damn flower. But it’s a flower…from him.

“Too cheesy?” He gives me a lopsided grin as he bites the inside of his lower lip, making him look even handsomer.

Way too handsome for my good.

I shake my head, staring into his eyes. My heart is going a mile a minute. “Not cheesy at all.” My voice sounds breathless.

Something ignites in his eyes and it makes my stomach flip.

I take the rose from him. Pressing it to my nose, I inhale.

It smells amazing. He’s amazing.

Adam turns the engine on. We’re back on the road, and a few minutes later, he pulls up into the car park at Point Dume.

“We’re here.” He turns the engine off and gets out of the car.

I follow suit. Keeping ahold of my rose, I hook my bag on my shoulder and get out of the car, carrying the pizza box in my hand.

Adam is opening the trunk. He gets out a blanket and a bag.

“Here, let me take that.” He takes the pizza from my hand. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

Smiling, I shake my head. “I spend an hour a day sitting up on a high rock while I sketch.”

“Good point.”

We walk up the trail for a short distance, and I follow Adam along until we’re on a grassy cliff edge, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

I can hear the waves washing up against the rocks below.

Stopping, he puts the blanket down and then the pizza box. Kneeling on the blanket, he opens his bag and pulls out two wine glasses and a bottle of sparkling water.

“Dinner is served.” He grins up at me.

And I feel that smile in all parts of my body, my heart especially.

I kneel down across from him on the blanket. “Do you always carry wine glasses and sparkling water in your car?”

“Only when I know I’m going on a date with a beautiful girl, and I want to impress her.”

Beautiful girl.

Okay, I might have swooned a little.

“And do you go on dates with beautiful girls often?”

“First time for me.”

“Dates or beautiful girls?”

“A date with a beautiful girl.”

I let out a little laugh. “Smooth.”

He winks at me. On any other guy, it would look cheesy. On him, it works.

“Anyway, how did you know I’d say yes? I could have said no.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t.” I smile at him. Then I say, “Why did you wait so long to come over and talk to me?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” His shoulders lift. “I guess, you were so concentrated on your drawing, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“And what changed yesterday?”

“Max.”

“Ah, Max. How is he, by the way?”

“Dead. I killed him for telling you that I’d been watching you sketch.”

“You need help burying the body?” I say with a straight face.

“Bonnie and Clyde style?” His eyes smile at me.

“Totally.” I laugh.

“Well, thanks for the offer—and good to know that you have my back if I need to dispose of a body—but lucky for Max, I love him like a brother, so he’s still currently breathing.”

We lapse into silence.

“It didn’t matter, you know, that Max told me that you were watching,” I say softly. “I already knew. I was…well, I was kind of watching you, too.” Biting my lip, I slide my eyes to him, gauging his response. “Maybe not as much, but I was watching.”

His eyes lock with mine. “The drawing?”

“Yeah.” I blush.

“It’s really beautiful.”

For a second, I wonder if he’s talking about me again or the picture.