Linn had no more than taken off her coat and slid out of her boots when she realized she had left her book bag at work. It had all her books, all her notes, her schedule, and everything she needed for school the next day. She’d left the sociology book out on the break table where she was studying, and her book bag was sitting in the chair.
“Shoot!” She stood helpless by the front door, wondering what to do. Glancing at the clock, she saw that the coffee shop was closed by now. Her first class was at eight fifteen in the morning, and it took almost forty-five minutes to get there by bus.
But there was no way around it. She’d have to get up very early and take the bus to the coffee shop before school.
“What’s wrong?” Paula poked her head outside the kitchen.
Linn noticed then that a delicious buttery scent filled the apartment. “I forgot my book bag at the shop. Oh well, I’ll get it in the morning.”
“I’d give you a ride, but I have an early appointment.”
“No problem. Are you making popcorn?”
Paula spoke above the popping sound. “I made a special butter sauce to go with it. You’ll have to let me know how it is.”
“If I have to,” Linn teased. Being on the tasting end of Paula’s culinary skills was a real treat.
“It’s almost done.”
The popping stopped.
Linn approached the kitchen, where Paula scraped a buttery mixture over the top of a bowl of popcorn, then mixed it together with two rubber spatulas.
“Smells great,” Linn said. “I’ll get us some drinks.”
The doorbell rang, and she met Paula’s gaze.
“Are you expecting someone?” Paula asked.
“No.” Ever since the rock came flying through the window, they’d been a little on edge.
Paula set the spatulas down. “Did you lock the door after you came in?”
Linn thought back. “No.” How could she have been so careless?
“It’s probably nothing,” Paula said. She walked toward the door.
But it was late, and nobody stopped by to visit at this hour. It would be beyond rude to knock on a stranger’s door so late on a weeknight.
Linn watched Paula peek through the peephole.
“It’s a man,” she whispered at the same time as she turned the main deadbolt. “I don’t know him.”
Linn’s mouth went dry. Bad guys didn’t knock on doors, though, did they? Especially if it was unlocked. The last thing she wanted to do was get closer to the door, but she had to. “Let me see.”
Paula stepped aside, and Linn peeked through the hole. Her breath came out in a rush. “It’s OK. I know him.”
She started to unlock the door, but Paula put a hand on her arm. “Are you sure it’s OK? How well do you know him?”
“It’s fine. It’s Adam. From work.”
“Ahh, Adam.”
Linn ignored the teasing smile that was beginning to curl Paula’s lips. She released the lock and opened the door. “Hi.”
She wanted to ask Adam what he was doing here but didn’t know how to say it without sounding rude. Besides, he looked so handsome standing in the hallway with his scarf still wrapped around his chin that, for a moment, she wanted to pretend he was her boyfriend, just stopping over for a while.
“You forgot your book bag.” He held up the bulky bag—no small feat since the thing weighed a ton with all her textbooks in it.
“Come in.” Linn opened the door wider, and he stepped inside.
Paula had disappeared, probably back into the kitchen.
“I don’t want to interrupt anything.” He set the bag on the floor.
“Thanks for bringing it over. I didn’t realize I’d left it until I got home.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and avoided her gaze. Something he had done ever since he’d given her the ride home two weeks earlier. In fact, he’d been so distant toward her, she wondered if he was mad at her.
“No problem. I know you have an early class tomorrow.”
“I was going to have to get up at the crack of dawn to go get it, so believe me, I appreciate it.” She wiped her hands on her jeans, then tucked them in her pocket. Then she felt stupid because she was mirroring him, so she folded her arms over her chest.
“Well, guess I should take off.”
She didn’t want him to go, but his hand was already on the doorknob, as if he couldn’t get out fast enough.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” Paula entered the room, carrying a decorative metal bowl.
For a moment Linn saw her as Adam probably did. Her stylish auburn hair and model-like figure made Linn feel like a dowdy schoolgirl.
“Sorry. Paula, this is a coworker, Adam. Adam this is Paula, my roommate.” She should have added something about Paula’s generosity in taking her in, but she already felt like fish bait.
“Nice to meet you.” Adam shook Paula’s hand.
“Maybe you can help me out. I’m perfecting this popcorn recipe, and I need input. Can you stay a bit?”
Linn’s eyes darted to Paula. What was she doing? But when Adam looked back toward the door, Paula winked at her.
“Well,” Adam said, “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Nonsense. Linn was just unwinding, and I’m headed off to my room to munch and work. Sit down. I’ll get you a bowl.”
Paula handed the bowl to Linn, and she set it down on the coffee table.
“Let me take your coat,” Linn said.
After he slid out of it, she put it on a hanger. The musky scent of his cologne wafted all around her. Cruel and unusual, that’s what it was.
She hoped Adam didn’t feel forced to stay. He hadn’t put up much of a fight when Paula had insisted, but he hadn’t exactly been friendly with Linn lately.
“I hope you don’t mind.” Linn shrugged. “Paula can be a little forceful.” And her good looks probably got her everything she wanted, at least where men were concerned. She wondered if that’s why Adam had agreed to stay.
Paula returned and set another bowl and two sodas down on the coffee table.
Adam grabbed a few popped kernels and put them in his mouth. “Mmm. Good. Unusual.”
Linn tried it too. It was salty and had some kinds of herbs mixed in with the butter. “This is awesome, Paula.”
“Not too salty?”
“Uh-uh.” Adam took another handful. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Linn watched him from beneath the veil of her lashes, waiting to see if he gave Paula extra attention. But his smile was only polite.
“Well, I have to get some work done. It was nice meeting you, Adam,” she said as she walked toward her room with her own bowl of popcorn.
“You too.”
After Paula’s door shut, Linn became aware that the only sound was the munching of popcorn.
It seemed almost surreal to be sitting here in the apartment with Adam. He’d only stopped by with her book bag, but she wanted it to be so much more.
“So how’s school going for you?” he asked.
The first few weeks had been stressful, and Linn felt like a fish out of water among all the others, but her grades so far were good. “OK.”
She knew she should say something else, but for the life of her, she couldn’t think of a thing. Her eyes focused on the TV, a late rerun of The Odd Couple.
“I used to watch these reruns when I was younger,” Adam said. “This show is a classic.”
Linn had only seen snippets of it. The sound on the TV was so low, she couldn’t hear what Felix was saying, but he was pitching a fit.
“So which are you more like—Oscar or Felix?” Adam asked.
Linn finished chewing a bite of popcorn. “Well, I like things picked up, but I’m not neurotic about it like Felix. What about you?”
She made the mistake of looking at him. The glow of the floor lamp cast a golden glow on his skin, and she thought he’d never looked more handsome. She looked away.
“I think I’m in between. Although my mom always said my room looked like a disaster, I did get around to cleaning it up eventually. And I always know where everything’s at, you know? It might be in a pile, but I know where it’s at.”
“Paula’s husband visited this past week, and he was just like Felix. It was hysterical to watch him go behind Paula and pick up after her. I don’t even think he realized he was doing it.”
Adam went quiet for a minute as Linn put the last few popped kernels in her mouth, sorry it was gone. What was she going to do to occupy her hands now? She wiped her greasy fingers on one of the napkins Paula had set on the coffee table.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the rock through the window?”
Startled by his concerned tone, she almost caught his eye. But she stopped herself in time. Joe must’ve told him about it.
She shrugged. “Never came up, I guess.” That, and he’d been as distant as Australia since he drove her home. She wasn’t sure why, but it hurt that he didn’t tease her or talk to her anymore. Maybe not telling him had been a childish way of getting back at him.
“You should have told me.”
Her eyes swung to his face. She couldn’t help it. He looked as hurt as he sounded, but she didn’t know why. He was the one who’d put up walls between them. True, she hadn’t exactly been Miss Congeniality before, but after he drove her home that day, she thought things would be different between them. They were different all right. But not in a way she could have guessed.
“What do you want from me, Adam?” The words spilled out before she could stop them. Suddenly she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. If he said he wanted her to be his friend, she was dead meat. She wanted so much more than that.
As he considered her now, his eyes were like chocolate melting in the sun. Soft and warm.
His lips parted as if he had an answer, but no words came out. His jaw line was all covered in stubble, giving him a bad-boy look. The thought almost made her laugh. Adam was as far from a bad boy as you could get. Her fingers itched to run across his roughened jaw line. She tucked her hands between her knees before she acted on the impulse.
“I don’t know,” he said.
She’d almost forgotten the question. Wanted to forget about everything else in the world with Adam staring into her eyes the way he was.
“I don’t know.” Such an honest answer. Maybe that was what had taken him so long to answer. He took his time because he wanted to be honest, but he didn’t really know what he wanted from her. Was that good? What did she want him to say?
He was searching her eyes. The moment had gone tense as if they were rock climbers, hanging on the edge of a cliff and trying to decide whether it was safe to let go or not.
“I think I have feelings for you, Linn,” he whispered.
Something swelled in her.
Relief. Joy. Confusion.
There was so much she could say right now, and some of it involved his engaged status, but she pushed those things from her mind. It had been so long since a man had looked at her the way Adam was. She wanted to drown in his eyes.
“You’re killing me here.” His voice was barely audible. Worry lines stretched across his forehead.
Oh, Adam, I have feelings for you too. I think about you constantly. “I don’t know what to say.”
His eyes flickered downward, and she feared she’d blown it. She should have just said it all. What held her back?
He looked at her again, and a small sigh left her body. She drank him in.
“Your eyes say everything.”
Could he read all her thoughts? Did he know she’d wanted him for weeks? Did he know that the way he looked at her now made her shiver? He leaned toward her until they were a breath apart. How did they come to be sitting so close? She felt his breath on her face, then his lips touched hers, so tenderly it made her ache.