The Libby Garrett Intervention (Science Squad #2) (35 page)

It was the softest, sweetest kiss I’d ever had. It may have even been the
first
sweet kiss I’d ever had. It didn’t ignite my lust the way I’d always thought a kiss should, but surprisingly, it was more impactful. Instead of burning in my belly, it calmed me and warmed my heart.

Adam pulled back before I was ready. Sucking a deep breath into his lungs, he held it a moment and let it out slowly. “I’m going to go now, because I promised you time, and I believe we’ve just hit the limit on my self-control.”

He hesitated, his gaze falling to my mouth, and then pushed himself to his feet. I forced myself to stay sitting on the bed, because if I stood with him, I’d drag him back and not let him leave. On his way out, he smiled at me from the doorway. “Don’t beat yourself up over what happened tonight. Maybe you took one step back, but you also took ten steps forward. You’ll be ready for something real in no time, and I don’t mind waiting.”

I grinned. “Thanks, Coffee Man. Avery’s right. You’re the best.”

Adam

The next morning I had
a day off. I don’t normally sleep in—too used to having to be up before dawn for work—but I’d been too geared up after my talk with Libby to sleep. There was a faint glow of light seeping through the blinds before I finally drifted off.

I’d needed time to process everything. Last night had been a roller coaster. I’d been excited all day, and then been crushed when Libby ditched me. But things had ended better than I’d have thought possible. Libby was right that, though it had sucked, she was better off now. We both were.

It was close to ten when I woke to the sound of Kate’s bedroom door slamming. “Okay, that’s it,” she grumbled, snatching the blanket off me. “I’m sick of waiting around. Get up.”

“Bite me,” I groaned, rolling over and burying my face in my pillow. “It’s my day off.”

The next thing I knew, Kate jumped on top of me and this sharp, stinging pain pinched my arm. “Ow!” I shoved her off me hard enough that she fell on her ass on the floor. “What the hell!”

She laughed. “You said to bite you.”

I kicked out at her but she scrambled away, laughing hysterically. “Come on, sleepyhead. Get up and come to the skate park with me.”

Libby often called me Mr. Grumpy Pants. Right now, it was an accurate description. I glared at my sister. “Why? You not a big enough girl to go by yourself? Do you need me to hold your hand while you cross the street?”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Shut up. Maybe I just like the company of my big brother and I’m too cool to admit it.” When I didn’t break, she busted out her puppy-dog face. “Please come with me?”

You’d think I’d be immune to that pout by now, but I wasn’t. Kate grinned and clapped her hands, knowing I’d caved before I actually did. “You are so annoying.”

I didn’t need eyes in the back of my head to know she was sticking her tongue out at me as I made my way to the bathroom. I grinned at the muffled “hurry up” that came through the door as I turned on the hot water. There was no way I was taking a quick shower.

. . . . .

After talking me into stopping at Jo’s for a cinnamon roll, we finally made it to the skate park around eleven. I’d never admit it to her, but I was glad Kate dragged me down here. I’d have come eventually anyway, but lunchtime was a great time to use the park. Everyone left to go eat, so Kate and I had the run of the place.

We skated for a few hours, and it was just what I needed. Kate called it quits before I did. “Okay, big brother, it’s 3:00 p.m. I’m officially exhausted and starving. Let’s call it quits and hit up the Taco Bell value menu.”

I gave her a look and shook my head. “I know what you’re doing, Kate.” It had taken me a while to figure out why she was acting so weird today, but I finally got it, and I shook my head. “I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. I’m fine.”

Kate frowned at me with a pout that works on me a good ninety percent of the time. “What? I’m not doing anything. I just really need a burrito.”

“You need a burrito?” I kicked my skateboard up into my hand. “Like you needed a cinnamon roll this morning?”

Kate nodded and patted her stomach. “PMS cravings. You know how it is. Better to just give me what I want.”

I snorted. “You’re not PMSing.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I live with you, and you’re a raging hormonal psycho when you’re PMSing. You’ve been too normal this week.”

She scoffed. “I
bit
you this morning.”

“Okay, so you’re psycho. But you’re not PMSing. This is some warped Adam-just-got-dumped suicide watch. But I’m
fine
, Kate. I’m not even mad. Libby and I made up last night.”

Kate glared at me.

“Stop giving me that look. I taught you that look.”

She didn’t stop with the look, and she added the no-nonsense stance as she said, “Sucks to be on the receiving end, doesn’t it?”

It really did. But I was proud of my baby sister at the same time. She was strong, smart, and stubborn—like me. And even though she was annoying the crap out of me, her heart was in the right place.

I threw my skateboard to the ground pointed in the direction of home, but Kate grabbed my shoulder before I could take off. “What do you mean you and Libby made up? You’re supposed to be avoiding her now. We decided you weren’t going to be her sponsor anymore.”

I shook my head. “
You
decided that. I’m not even sure she needs a sponsor anymore. She didn’t go with him last night. She turned him down. She said she realized that she doesn’t want him anymore.”

Kat’s jaw dropped. “Adam, she bailed on you for him. She broke your heart last night!”

“Yeah, but you don’t understand. It’s not…”

My voice trailed off when a familiar tricked-out Escalade pulled into the parking lot near the edge of the park.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kate said, glaring at the Escalade she’d also recognized. “Let’s go.”

She tugged on my sleeve, but I didn’t budge. “Kate, come on. I swear. If you’d just let me explain—”

“You don’t need to explain. I know what happened. Libby did the same thing Mom always did. She screwed up, hurt you, and then tried to do something that was just enough to get you to keep playing her game.”

I grimaced, but shook my head. “That’s not what Libby did.”

“You always defended Mom, too.”

“Kate!”

“Adam!”

We were glaring at each other when Sean Garrett jumped out of his car and called out my name. “Adam! Just who I was hoping to find.” Kate and I exchanged surprised glances as he trotted over to us. “I’m glad I caught you. Do you have a minute?”

Curious as to what he wanted, I nodded, and nearly had a heart attack when Kate said, “Not for you.”

She was giving Sean a death stare.

“Kate!” I elbowed her so hard she stumbled over the skateboard at her feet, then cringed at Sean. “Sorry. She’s a little upset at Libby.”

Sean’s smile was both understanding and sad. He started to say something, but didn’t get the chance. Kate poked me in the chest. “I’m not mad at Libby, I’m mat at
you
. This is what you do. You’re too nice and you let people walk all over you.” She took a breath and turned to Sean. “Look, you’re a cool guy, but my brother can’t help Libby anymore. Not if she’s going to jerk him around.”

I wanted to kill my sister. I was sure I’d just lost whatever respect I’d earned from Sean.

“That’s not true. Libby and I are fine. I’m still happy to help—” I started to say, but Sean cut me off.

He lifted his hands in surrender and smiled at Kate. “Hey, preaching to the choir.”

I wasn’t the only one stunned by the response.
“What?”
Kate gasped
.
“You’re not mad? You’re not here to defend Libby and beg Adam to give her a second chance?”

Sean sighed. “Libby’s got to learn. She won’t do that if people keep letting her get away with her bad behavior.” His eyes shifted to mine. “I don’t know what happened last night. Libby didn’t want to talk about it. But whatever you said to her when you came over, it worked. Something’s different. I’ve never seen her so determined.”

That made me smile. “Good.” I shot Kate a smug smile. “See? Everything is
fine
.”

Kate dropped the hostility, but eyed Sean warily. “If you aren’t here about Libby, then what did you want to talk to him about?”

“I wanted to talk to both of you, actually. Would you mind coming over to my shop for a while? I’d like to show you some stuff and talk a little business.”

“Business?” I asked, while Kate said, “Take us through the Taco Bell drive-thru first, and you’ve got a deal.”

“Kate!”
Could she be any more mortifying?

“What? I’m starving, and you owe me a burrito.”

I slapped a hand over my face, ready to both kill my sister and crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment, but I didn’t have to do either, because my unbelievably good luck continued. Sean burst into laughter and said, “Burritos sound excellent. You like Habanero’s? We’ll order takeout and bring some back for Kendrick. He’s at the shop, and I’m sure he’d appreciate the break. And don’t worry about lunch. It’s on us—it’s a business thing, so you can’t say no.”

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but Kate was faster. “Hell yeah. I call shotgun!”

She ran across the grass and jumped into the front seat of Sean’s Escalade without waiting for an invitation. “I’m sorry,” I said to Sean as we headed to his car. “There’s really no excuse for her. She’s…”

“A teenager.” Sean laughed and clamped a hand on my shoulder. “Parenting’s fun, isn’t it?”

“That’s one word for it.”

“Hey, my hat’s off to you, man. I can’t imagine having to raise a teenager at your age. Hell, I can hardly manage it now. Come on; let’s go before she drives off without us.”

. . . . .

Sean’s new board shop was only about a block and a half from Jo’s. It wasn’t open yet, but it had to be close, because save one empty section of the store, everything looked ready to go. Half the store was dedicated to snowboarding, and the other half was filled with all sorts of skateboard and freeboarding stuff. It was huge and had everything—boards, shoes, wheels, clothes, accessories, decals—you name it. They had everything you needed for either sport. The only thing missing was the décor and the shop sign out front.

“Great place,” Kate said, gawking like a kid in a candy shop. It made me smile. She loved the sport as much as I did. A store like this was basically her heaven on Earth. “All it needs is a ramp, and I’d never leave.”

Kendrick looked up from where he’d been fixing a shelf. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea.” He glanced at Sean. “Could we do that? Install one as a place for people to try out the boards?”

“I don’t know,” Sean said. “I can ask the insurance people about it.”

Kate whirled around to face Sean. “For real? You’d seriously consider it? Because that would be awesome. If you had a place for people to skate inside the store, you’d be the coolest skate shop ever. You’d totally bring in a ton of business just because of that.”

Sean grinned at Kendrick, who got up and joined us. “See what I mean?”

Kendrick matched his smile and nodded. “Gold. Both of them.” He rubbed his hands together with inexplicable excitement and turned his smile on my sister and me. “Thanks for coming. Let’s eat. I’m starving, and we have a lot to talk about.”

There was no place to eat in the store, so we all got comfortable on the floor. Once we dug in, Sean finally got to the point of this so-called business meeting. “So, my daughter came home with a tattoo this morning. She said your friend Rafe did it.”

I choked on my burrito, and Kate had to pound me on the back a couple times before I could breathe again. “I’ll kill him. I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Rafe is a little enthusiastic. I swear I didn’t encourage it.”

It took me a minute before I noticed Kendrick holding back laughter and the playful glint in Sean’s eyes. I finally understood why Libby complained about Sean torturing her all the time. He was just messing with me and was enjoying watching me freak out.