Secret Kiss (10 page)

This is not a date.

The same mantra Jane had repeated in her head yesterday at Sue Ann’s during lunch was playing again and again in her head now. Nikki had finagled this whole situation, and Adam was a stand-up guy. That was it. End of story.

Still. Maybe Adam was only following through on escorting her to the gala because he was a gentleman, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t try her best to look good on his arm.

Did she have a ridiculous crush on her new coworker-slash-neighbor? Yes. She did.

Did she feel guilty that she’d let her grandparents think she was in a relationship with him? Yes. She did.

Did she wish that this were a real date and the lie she was perpetrating to her nana and papa were, in fact, reality? Yes. She did.

Disappointment, guilt, and a sprinkling of shame washed over her. However, Jane did her best to ignore it. There was no time to wallow. Although a good wallowing sounded just lovely right then.

Shaking her head, she blinked her eyes hard and reminded herself to focus. A dress decision needed to be made, and then she had to dry her hair and attempt to put some makeup on. Luckily, her skin was practically glowing from her time outside today.

Her afternoon had been spent working in the garden she’d planted when she’d moved in last summer. It hadn’t fared well over the winter, but it had come back to life in the spring. Now that they were smack-dab in the middle of summer, the vegetables she’d planted months ago were finally coming to fruition.

For the past week, a particularly sexy distraction whose name started with A and ended with M had occupied her mind every second of every day. There’d been no losing herself in her work, her reading, or her shows.

Nope. Not only did she know where she was every second of every day, but she was pretty aware of where Mr. Adam Dorsey was, too. But, today, in the garden, the impossible had happened. For a few precious hours, she’d been so totally engrossed in planting, pulling, and plowing that she’d actually had a brief reprieve from her new obsession.

The downside of that mental pardon was that she’d lost track of time—a feat she would’ve thought impossible. When she’d finally gotten thirsty, she’d gone into the kitchen and noticed that it was twenty past five. After stripping out of her clothes while racing into the bathroom, she’d jumped in the shower, hoping to be in and out. But then she’d realized she had dirt beneath her nails, behind her knees, and even in her toes—which was quite an accomplishment, considering she’d been wearing socks and sneakers.

After a thorough washing, she’d immediately moved to wardrobe selection so that she would know how to style her hair and which makeup would go best with the dress she chose. This was where things had gone from bad to worse, and she’d found herself in an unprecedented predicament.

Two options remained. The red, off-the-shoulder dress she had always mentally cataloged as her
Pretty Woman
dress but was now referring to as her “Jessica Rabbit” dress, or the floor-length
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
dress. Basically, it boiled down to going with either Marilyn or Audrey. Ginger or Maryann. Angelina or Jennifer. Sexy or wholesome.

Jane had always felt aptly named. The fact that kids had called her Plain Jane while she’d been growing up hadn’t bothered her. She hadn’t had any desire to be anything else. At least, she hadn’t until tonight.

If she were being honest with herself, she would admit that, just once, she wanted to be the girl who walked into the room and turned heads. She’d never been
that
girl. Part of her, a large part, had serious doubts that she could pull off Marilyn, Ginger, or Angelina. But another part of her wanted to try. Just. This. Once.

In two weeks, she would turn thirty. The big three-zero. When was she going to get another opportunity like this? When was a man like Adam Dorsey going to escort her to a black-tie affair again? When was a man like Adam Dorsey going to take her anywhere again?

Probably never. That’s when.

Pulling her self-confidence up from a deep, buried place, Jane grabbed the “Jessica Rabbit” dress and rushed into the bathroom, peeling—yes,
peeling
—the safer Audrey, Maryann, Jennifer dress off as she went. As she stepped into her tiny bathroom, she picked her hair dryer up. Then she plugged it in, leaned down, and flipped her thick hair over, pointing the barrel at her scalp. Her hair was so dense that, if she didn’t start at the root, it wouldn’t dry completely.

The blood was rushing to her head, but she did have a great view of her legs, which had tanned to a golden brown thanks to her outdoor gardening. Normally, she tended to lean to the fair side of the skin-color spectrum, mainly because she didn’t get outdoors much. Thankfully, her new hobby had bonus benefits of giving her skin a radiant glow.

Lifting her head so that she could see the counter, she grabbed her large, round brush, and just as she pulled it through her hair, the house went silent and dim.

Shoot. Shoot. Shoot
.
Not now.

Jane’s stomach dropped. She didn’t have time for this. But that was the thing about old houses; they tended to have shoddy wiring. The electricity had a habit of going out at the most inopportune times.

Grabbing her robe, she prayed that Adam wouldn’t be out in his front yard—the box was on the side of the house that faced his yard.

After making sure to slide the bolt over so she wouldn’t be locked out if the door shut—which happened on more than one occasion—she stealthily scanned the area. No Adam. In fact, she hadn’t seen him all day.

This only made her anticipation of seeing him tonight that much stronger.

Oh, who was she kidding? Her anticipation would have been this high even if she’d spent the entire day with him.

Yeah, she really needed to shut this whole schoolgirl crush she had going on down.

Flipping the breaker, she was happy to see the kitchen light go on. She wished her emotions were that easy, that she could flip a switch to turn them off and on.

Maybe some people were built that way. She was not one of those people.

*

“I don’t know, man.” Levi stood shaking his head as he lifted his phone to his ear. “Let’s call Shelby and get a woman’s opinion.”

“No, don’t do—”

“Hey, babe. Can you come up here for a minute? We need a second opinion,” his cousin spoke into his cell phone before Adam could stop him.

“—that,” Adam finished in vain. Damn, he’d heard of speed dial before but that was ridiculous.

Levi grinned. “She’ll be right up.”

Actually, his grin was more like a satisfied smirk. His cousin was picking up on his nerves, and that made Adam want to punch a hole in the wall. Which was strange. Adam had always believed that that kind of testosterone-based reaction, which was prevalent in Dorsey men, had skipped him.

He didn’t get particularly emotional about things. Even all the stuff with Alexis, yes, had been a little difficult to deal with, but he hadn’t been devastated. Or furious. Or heartbroken. He’d just packed up and moved on.

The difficulty of the situation was more about the logistics—and also the fact that she was making things as impossible as she possibly could. She was “fun” that way.

When the door flew open and Shelby stepped into the room, his cousin’s eyes lit up the way they did every time he looked at his new wife.

Pursing her lips together, she let out a whistle that would’ve made a construction worker proud as she wagged her eyebrows up and down. “Lookin’ good. Looking real good.”

Adam nodded as a bit of relief filled his chest. He turned and faced the full-length mirror. For the entire time he’d stayed in the apartment over the bar, he’d never once used this mirror in more than just passing. Now, he found himself studying his reflection.

“You have my stamp of approval. Now, if you boys are all good, I have to get back to beautifying myself.” Shelby was wearing sweats, but her hair was piled on the top of her head and her makeup looked like she could have been going to the Oscars.

Women were funny that way. Adam couldn’t count the times he’d seen Alexis transform herself when they’d had an event to attend. It always amazed him how different she could look. What a chameleon she was. Which, for her job, worked well.

For their marriage, not so much.

Trust never came easily for Adam. It didn’t surprise him with his upbringing. Somehow, Alexis had gotten a pass. He’d ignored every red flag he’d seen—and there were many—yet had still gone all in.

“You’re already beautiful.” Levi pulled Shelby into his arms.

She let out a high squeal. He teasingly kissed her neck as she laughed and disentangled herself, quickly making an escape before her over-amorous husband could grab her again.

“Meet you outside in fifteen. Be prepared to be impressed,” she said with a wink to Levi before disappearing out the door.

Levi stared at the door for a moment after Shelby had left, then shook his head. “Man, I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

“Me either,” Adam said, joking around.

Levi smiled. “What about you? Does your needing to borrow a shirt and tie have anything to do with the fact that I heard you were taking Jane tonight?”

“No,” Adam lied. “It had to do with the fact that I have to go to a black-tie dinner and all of my boxes haven’t gotten here yet. In case you haven’t noticed, Hope Falls isn’t exactly a mecca when it comes to shopping.”

Levi nodded, but it was clear he wasn’t buying what Adam was laying down. Levi’s bartending skills far exceeded making drinks. He’d become an amateur therapist.

“But Jane is your date,” Levi stated.

Also, his cousin seemed to be making a run for the title and crown of Queen of Gossip.

“Nikki suggested that we go together since neither of us had a plus one,” Adam said.

While that wasn’t the whole story, it was the truth. Part of the truth, anyway.

“Oh, so, you’re not even the slightest bit interested in Jane?” Levi crossed his arms once again.

“When did you become a seventh-grade girl?” Adam shook his head, a smile lifting on his mouth.

Levi shrugged, not taking the bait. “Answer the question.”

“No. I’m not interested in Jane.” Thank God he wasn’t Pinocchio. Otherwise, his nose would be so long that he wouldn’t be able to see the end of it.

“Okay, well, if you’re not interested in Jane, what about Audrey or Vivien?”

Adam’s brow furrowed. “From the coffee shop?”

“Yeah. They were in the other night, trying to get as much info on you as possible. And not just them. Every single woman under forty has given me the third degree about you.”

“I’m not interested.” This time, Adam wasn’t lying. He had zero interest in starting anything with anyone. He was off the market.

“So, how are things going over at Gowan’s place?” Levi asked as if he were changing the subject. “I haven’t seen you around much this week. They keeping you busy?”

Adam might have been born, but it wasn’t yesterday. “Yep. Pretty busy.”

Levi nodded. “You like it over there?”

Adam did, actually. Up until now in his professional career, he hadn’t believed in what he was doing. His work for the government had been all politically based, and the app he’d created was purely for financial gain. This was the first time in his life he was working on something he believed in. Something that could make a significant,
positive
difference in people’s lives. Young people who didn’t have any opportunities. Just like he hadn’t had when he’d been their age.

“I do.” Adam knew that his cousin wanted more info, but he didn’t feel like going into it. “How are things here? Has Charlie been around?”

“Yeah. He was just in for lunch yesterday.” Levi’s face tightened, and his tone grew flat.

Adam understood Levi’s defensiveness. He was proud of his cousin for even giving his dad a chance.

“Logan and Lucky are planning on coming out to visit again before the summer is over. They said that they’ll both make it for the B&B grand opening and then they might hang for a while. You know, get to know the old man.”

“That’ll be good.”

Adam hadn’t gotten to see much of his younger cousins when they had flown out for Levi’s wedding. They’d only been able to stay for one night. It made sense that they wanted to get to know their dad. Charlie had been in Levi’s life off and on until he was six, but he hadn’t been in the twins’ lives at all.

“Yeah,” Levi agreed.

Glancing at the time, Adam saw that he only had ten minutes to get back home and pick Jane up. It was plenty of time, but nerves still gripped him as he grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter.

Damn, he needed to get a handle on his reaction to this…business arrangement.

‡