Nell swallowed, and pushed him back. He smiled, turned to the stove. She let out a sigh of relief, but tensed up when he turned, pointed the spatula at her.
“I still think we can be friends with benefits.”
“I’m pretty sure your definition of that is different than mine.”
Adrian poured the eggs in the pan. “How so?”
“I don’t make my fuck buddies breakfast,” she pointed out.
“Aha. You’re missing out on the friends part. When I’m with a woman, I like to enjoy all of her. For however long it lasts.”
Nell decided to ignore him and got out plates, began dishing up the potatoes. She started to salt hers, when Adrian slapped her hand away.
“Taste it first. It’s perfectly seasoned.”
She laughed at that. “Oh, really?” She tasted and realized he was right. Nell leaned against the counter and eyed him as he slid eggs onto their plates. “So how do you decide what breakfast to make for which woman? Or is this the extent of your repertoire?”
“Stick around, and you’ll find out.” He winked at her as he grabbed his coffee and plate and brought them to the table.
They ate in silence for a minute, before Adrian stopped and laid a hand over hers.
“Here’s what I think—no, hear me out,” he said when she started to pull away. “You decided you wanted a long term relationship and then chickened out when you got rejected—totally understandable, by the way,” he added hastily when she yanked her hand away and glared. “So instead, you work your way up to a relationship by being friends with me. Excellent sex, that’s a given. But, we have fun beyond that, too. And, bonus, no strings attached, so there’s no pressure. Then, when the right guy comes along, you won’t be so freaked out by the whole commitment thing.”
Nell began to object, just on principle, and then frowned. It actually made a strange kind of sense. But still…
“It’s too weird. You’re friends with Paul, and you’re so interconnected with the Island now. Let’s just move on, okay, Adrian? It was amazing, really. I mean…wow.” She fanned herself and made him laugh. “Can’t that be enough?”
He studied her long enough for her to start to squirm under his direct gaze, then he shrugged. “All right, I gave it my best shot.”
And with that, he turned the conversation around to the modernist art hanging on her walls, dropping the subject completely. So completely that Nell felt certain he was just plotting his next move. And dammit, when he turned on the charm, that sexy mouth, his hard body pressed up against hers, she’d be likely to be naked in under five minutes. Again. Screaming his name as he gave her a heart-stopping orgasm. Again.
But, he kept the conversation easy and didn’t linger, finishing up his breakfast and then getting dressed. Nell kept a careful distance between them as she walked him to the door, still surprised that he’d been willing to go so quickly.
“Thanks for making breakfast,” she said as he opened the door.
“Anytime,” he said with a raised brow, and she braced herself to be strong against his hands, his mouth.
When he leaned in, kissed her lightly on the lips, and ran a hand down her back, then walked off to his truck, she let out the tension she’d been holding in one relieved breath. Maybe he finally got the message.
The hell of it was, Nell mused as she watched him drive away, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved that he appeared to have given up…or disappointed.
Chapter 6
Adrian sipped his beer and watched Ben and Paul duke it out in the final battle of Ruler of Roads, the beta version of a race car video game. A few of Ben’s Hollywood friends were about to strike a gold mine with their debut game, if this test group was any indication. He figured between Ben, the movie star turned screenwriter, Paul the grocery store owner and musician, Ryan and Zane, married bookstore owners and dads, Tom, Island handyman, and himself, it was a fairly disparate enough group of mid-30s men. And, they’d spent the last hour of their monthly “guy’s night” engaged in intense tournament style play, with Paul and Ben left in the final head-to-head battle.
When Ben’s car careened off the course into a building, bursting into flames, and Paul coasted to the finish line, the room erupted in cheers. Paul held up his controller in victory and jogged around the room, high fiving everyone while Ben dropped to his knees in mock despair.
“Aw. It’s okay, sweetie.” Zane patted him on the back. “I’ll make you feel better.”
“Me, too.” Ryan hot footed it over to give Ben a helping hand, then wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug. “Hug it out. Oh, yeah.”
Adrian grinned as the two men flirted with Ben, something they’d done from the moment they’d met. But while many men might be weirded out by the guys’ obvious appreciation of his “Sexiest Man Alive” status, Ben just laughed, and slapping them on the back, grabbed them each another beer. Soon they were deep in conversation about the trials and tribulations of Mellie’s potty training mishaps.
“I’m practically sweating here.” Paul collapsed into the armchair next to him.
“Intense,” Adrian agreed. “Thanks, by the way, for the invite to this.”
“No problem.” Paul popped open his beer, drank deeply. “Glad you could dig yourself out and join us.”
It was only the second guy’s night that Adrian had been to. He’d gotten to know all the men separately over the course of the past year—Tom the best, since he’d done the bulk of his home’s remodel work, followed by Ben, who’d also been remodeling the house next to the By the Sea inn so he and Amy could move in. When Tom wasn’t working on Adrian’s house, he’d been working on Ben’s, and the three men formed a quick bond after comparing the merits of various kitchen counter types, flooring, paint, the works. Ben had started up the guy’s night about six months ago when his basement man cave was finished, but Adrian had only recently come up for air from his own projects to join them.
He admired the rough hewn wood walls, the obligatory big screen TV, overstuffed leather sofa and chairs, and discreet bar and fridge in the corner. More interesting were the vintage posters of classic movies—Casablanca, Citizen Kane, the Maltese Falcon—along with a pinball machine and a few arcade consoles.
As the quiet stretched on, Adrian tuned into Paul, who sat brooding into his beer. Adrian wondered if he was having second thoughts about a certain female “tall drink of water.” An uneasy mix of guilt and jealousy churned in his stomach at the idea. Of course, he’d back way the fuck off if Paul was interested—even though the more he got to know Nell, the less he saw her with Paul. And, the more he thought of Nell, the more he wanted her back in bed, calling his name while he lost himself inside her. Oh, he was willing to let her stew for a few weeks to lull her into complacency, but then just when she thought he’d moved on, he planned to ramp up the seduction again. The chemistry between them was too damn good to resist.
Before he could suggest to Paul that they head outside for a minute so that he could confess all and find out what his friend was thinking, Tom pulled his chair over to join them. He ran a hand through his wavy sandy hair and blew out a breath in exasperation before taking the square brown framed glasses off.
“These are always dirty,” he complained, holding them up to the light.
Paul grinned, nudged Adrian. “He’s been wearing them for 48 hours, and this is about the six hundredth time he’s complained about them being dirty.”
Adrian held out a hand, gestured. “Let me see. I wore glasses in high school and through my 20s before I got laser surgery.”
He laughed when he peered through the nearly spotless lenses. “Dude, this is nothing. You should have seen mine—fingerprints, smudges. You get used to it. You should get a pair of prescription safety glasses, though.”
Tom slipped the glasses back on, blinked his green eyes a few times. “They make those?”
“Yep. I had a few pairs. Regular safety glasses won’t fit over your glasses very well—totally worth
it. Unless you can see well enough without them.”
“Nah. I thought I could see just fine but then when I put them on…wow.” Tom looked around the room in seeming amazement. “Makes me feel like I need to come back out to your place and take a look around—might have done some sloppy painting.”
“Last time I saw you painting, you were practically nose to nose with the wall,” Paul pointed out. “ I think you compensated for your old-man vision.”
“Har har,” Tom rolled his eyes.
“The specs are sexy,” noted Ryan, perching on the arm of Tom’s chair.
“Smoking,” agreed Zane, following Ryan over. “Intellectual handyman with buff muscles.”
“Welllll…” drawled Tom with a slight smile. “Hannah does seem to like them.”
“Pizza’s here,” Amy called out, starting to come down the stairs.
“Hey. I’ll get it.” Ben jumped up so fast his chair practically tipped over and rushed to grab the three pizza boxes from his wife.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Gosh, thanks, they were so heavy I don’t know how I would have made it.”
Ben pointed at her. “Go lie down.” He seemed to realize everyone was watching him and shrugged. “She wasn’t feeling well earlier.”
“Head cold. No big deal.” Amy sighed.
Adrian got up at the same time that Ryan walked over to take the pizza boxes from Ben.
“I’ll grab the plates and bread sticks,” he said easily, draping an arm around Amy’s shoulders and herding her up the stairs. “Before Ben’s touching concern over your sniffles gets his man card revoked.”
Zane was right behind them. “Sweetie, I’ve got the best treatment for a head cold. We’ll hit up a few of those pressure points, brew you up some of my famous lemon and honey tea, and you’ll be right as rain.”
Amy laughed as Zane pushed her into a chair in the kitchen. “And now, the true nature of all these alpha males is revealed—you’re a bunch of mother hens. Really, it’s nothing.”
Still, she did look pale, Adrian noted as he wrangled up the other goodies and as a bonus scored a piping hot breadstick dripping with butter and garlic. “My mama would say we’re reacting this way because men can’t handle a stuffy nose without acting like we’re on our deathbed, so we assume you feel the same way.”
Pleased to hear her laugh and see a little color return to her cheeks, he figured his job was done and headed back downstairs. Half the sausage pie was already gone. Ryan, the only other guy who would always try the special of the day, waved his slice at him.
“Scored today. Pesto with chicken.”
“Excellent.” Adrian loaded up his plate, grabbed another beer, and sat down.
Ben had cued up ESPN, so Adrian watched that for a moment. But, next to him, Paul fidgeted and picked at his pizza, until finally, Ben kicked the sound down a notch and shook his head.
“Dude. You might as well tell us about Nell.”
Inwardly, Adrian cringed. He’d hoped to pull Paul aside to talk privately, but should have realized Nell had told her friends, and Amy in turn, had told Ben.
“What about Nell?” Ryan asked. His eyes widened. “O. M. G. We thought it was just a fling, which was monumental in of itself since she never dates on the Island but…”
“It’s official?” Zane practically danced down the stairs. “Our little Nell is having a relationship!”
“Hold on, hold on. God, you guys.” Paul shook his head. “We are not dating. We’re just friends.”
“Well, I know you are sweetie.” Ryan patted him on the arm, brows drawn in confusion.
Paul sighed. “Tell her that. She thinks she’s in love with me.”
“What?” Zane nearly dropped the slice of pizza he was sliding onto his plate. “In love with you?”
He and Ryan exchanged looks, then as one, both began to laugh. Zane had to put his plate down and doubled over, hands on his knees.
“You two.” Ben seemed to be struggling to keep from smiling.
Tom shook his head. “And they say gay guys are more sensitive.” He reached over to clap Paul on the shoulder. “But yeah, don’t see you and Nell together, man.”
“I know, I know.” Paul glared at Ryan and Zane, who were both wiping tears from their eyes. “I’m glad you find it so amusing that Nell was crying. Crying! I’ve literally never seen her cry, until now.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Zane walked over and rubbed Paul’s shoulders. “It’s just so ridiculous. She’s no more in love with you than she’s in love with me. Or Ryan.”
“Exactly!” Paul took a swig of beer. “I tried to tell her that I’m just her safe choice, but she wasn’t having it. I feel awful. I’ve never seen her so upset.”
Ryan and Zane looked at each other, then Ryan shrugged. “Well, honey, I think she got over it quickly.”
Adrian began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach, intensified when both men glanced over at him, then away. He’d never thought about it but Mellie probably got both Ryan and Zane up early, and it would have been easy enough for them to look out the backyard and see his truck parked in Nell’s driveway.
“Wait.” Paul held up a hand, glanced back and forth between Ryan and Zane. “What do you mean, got over it quickly? And hang on, what do you mean, you thought she was having a fling? With who?”
Ben had been following the exchange with interest, and his speculative gaze landed on Adrian, held. Paul noticed, and he narrowed his eyes.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
All eyes turned to Adrian. Paul’s knuckles whitened as he gripped his beer.
“Maybe we could talk privately,” Adrian suggested, without much hope.
“Oh, hells no,” Zane chortled, eyes gleaming. “This is the best guys night ever.”
“Keep that under wraps.” Ben elbowed him. “Amy already thinks we sit down here and gossip like old ladies.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” said Ryan. “Soooo…awkward!” He beamed at Paul and Adrian.
Adrian sighed, decided to hell with it. He focused on his friend, alarmed to see his eyes take on that particular fire that had only happened a few times before but had once, in college, ended up with the two of them on the losing side of a bar fight against two Harley Davidson bikers.
“I was waiting to tell you in private.” He shot the group an exasperated glance. Sure enough they all hung on his every word. “Look. She was upset about what happened with you. I was upset about my mom. So we had a few drinks…”
“I can’t believe you fucked her. I cannot fucking believe you fucked her!” Paul dragged his hands through his hair. “This isn’t some random chick, Adrian. She’s like my sister. You took advantage of her.”
“Hey now,” Adrian said, shaking his head. He decided against volunteering the whole thing had started as Nell’s idea. “You know I don’t do that, man.”
Ryan snorted, laid a calming hand on Paul’s shoulder. “Honey, no one takes advantage of our Nell. If anything, it’s the other way around.”
“Not to mention, this one’s nearly as smoking as Ben,” said Zane with a huge wink. “He doesn’t need to play games. All the single ladies on the Island want in his pants.”
“Look.” Adrian waited until Paul met his eyes. “It’s a rebound thing, okay? I didn’t buy for a second that she’s really in love with you, or I wouldn’t have touched her with a ten foot pole. But she thinks she is, so it doesn’t make her hurt any less real. I’m helping her move on.”
Paul rolled his eyes. “How selfless of you.” He paused. “Wait. Helping? This is still going on?”
Adrian shifted in his seat. “Not exactly. I was hoping to talk to you alone…”
He trailed off but Paul crossed his arms and didn’t seem ready to budge.
“Fine. This is weird, but fine. We’ve got…sparks. You’re not into her, right?”
Paul shook his head, lips in a tight line.
“She’s hurting,” Adrian said in quiet voice. “She needs so
meone right now, and whether she knows it or not, I’ll be good for her. Come on, man, you know me. I’m friends with the woman I’m with. She’s not used to that.”
“So you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart.” Paul rolled his eyes.
“Hell no, she’s hot.” Adrian glared at Zane, who tried to turn his laugh into a cough. “We have chemistry. And, I like her. She’s prickly and stubborn and strong. She’s amazing, and I’m going to treat her right. If I can convince her. But.” He met Paul’s gaze. “I will back the fuck off if it really bothers you. Immediately.”
Silence fell over the room, and Paul looked around, seeming for the first time to notice everyone’s rapt attention. He grimaced.
“Shit. This is weird. Sorry, dude. We should have stepped outside.”
“Too late now,” chimed in Zane. “Come on, Paul. Don’t be a killjoy.”
“Best to let her get over you by figuring out how much better of a lover Adrian is,” advised Ben, laughing when Paul just shook his head.
“You guys suck.”
Finally, Paul let out a huge sigh and turned to Adrian. “What, are you looking for my blessing or something?”
“Or something,” Adrian agreed.
“I’ll kick your ass if you make her cry.”
Adrian decided not to mention that Paul was the one who made her cry in the first place. He held out a hand to shake. “Deal.”
They shook solemnly, and Zane pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.
“That’s so touching. Brothers once more! Now come on, kiss and make up.”
Ben laughed and made a show of taking away Zane’s glass.
“That’s it, you’re cut off.”
“That was entertaining. And, let’s face it.” Ryan tossed his paper plate in the trash, poured himself another glass of wine. “If anyone’s getting their heart broken here, it’s Adrian. Sorry, man.”
“My money’s on Nell,” agreed Ben.
“You’re toast,” agreed Tom.
Adrian rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that.”
Love in the Air: Lopez Island Series #2 Page 8
