A knock startled Rachel from her book. Who in the world? She dumped Buster onto the couch and stood up. After padding her way to the front door in her bare feet, she peeked through the peephole and spied Adam on her porch.
Adam? “What the hell?” she muttered and opened the door. Louder, she asked, “What are you doing here?” He lifted a bag and shook it as if that explained any—Oh! Her shoes. He brought her, her shoes? That was s—Wait… “How do you know where I live?”
He smiled—that cocky, self-satisfied smile which made her swoon and wish to smack him in equal measure. “You filled out a waiver.”
Rachel grimaced. Duh! “Want to come in?”
Adam did a funny nod-turned-shake of his head, his expression wavering between eagerness and disappointment. It was so out of character from his usual self-assuredness, Rachel worried he’d hurt himself.
“It’s okay,” she offered, trying to let him off the hook gracefully. “No fraternizing with a student. I get it.”
“That’s not it,” he choked out.
It’s not? “Okay,” she said when he didn’t volunteer anything more.
When he was still staring at her, a minute later, she grew nervous. Do I have basil in my teeth or something? she wondered and immediately ran her tongue over them to check. Finding nothing, she chose a different tactic, “Would you like a beer?”
“Sure.”
Rachel held the door open so Adam could enter. “Make yourself at home,” she said, indicating the couch. “And don’t mind Buster!” she yelled as she went to the kitchen to grab two Schlafly bottles out of the fridge. She popped the cap off each and wandered back to the living room. “Here you go.”
Adam glanced at the label before taking a swig. “Thanks.”
Now, what? Rachel thought as she sat at one edge of the couch. “My roommate’s at work,” she said at the same time as Adam offered, “Nice place.” They chuckled.
Rachel glanced at the clock by her TV. It was nine at night and normally she’d rather be reading at this hour than entertaining a guest, but Sarah would kick her ass if she let Adam get away without at least attempting to seduce him. Rachel would probably fail, but she needed to try if for no other reason than to tell Sarah she did and that it didn’t work. She took a deep, fortifying breath. Here goes nothing. “Want to watch a movie?”
He twisted in his seat to look at her, his eyebrow raised in what Rachel hoped was interest. “What do you have?”
“Oh,” she laughed, nervously. What did she have? What did she have… Good question. Guys liked action flicks, right? What was in her catalog? Rachel’s gaze landed on the movie she purchased earlier that day. “I just bought the DVD of Assassin’s Creed. Interested?” She put her beer down on the floor and stared at her hands, afraid to meet his gaze. Her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. Would he say no?
“Yes,” Adam replied. Rachel was halfway to the DVD player before she realized his voice sounded funny.
She paused in unwrapping the DVD from its shrink wrap and shot him a look. He half-shrugged and gave her a tight smile. “If you’d rather watch something else…” she said, afraid she’d misjudged.
“No. It’s fine,” he said in a rush. “A movie is good.”
Rachel nodded, planning to take his words at face value instead of reading into them, and popped the DVD from its case. After putting it in the player, she returned to the couch, grabbed her beer, and pulled her knees up to her chest. “Have you seen it yet?” Rachel asked as she navigated to the start menu via the remote.
“No. I can’t remember the last movie I watched. Theater or otherwise.”
“Really?” That seemed so odd. Rachel and Sarah watched movies all the time and she thought everyone else did too.
“Really,” he repeated.
“Then what do you do for fun?”
Adam coughed. “Fun?”
Rachel shifted on the couch to look at him. “Yeah. Fun. That thing you’re supposed to do when you’re not working? Sarah—my BFF and roommate—’s ‘fun’ is raiding my closet or having me buy clothes that she can borrow.” When Adam didn’t respond to her joke right away, Rachel said, “Please don’t tell me you spend all your time in the studio working out and nothing else.”
He nodded once. “I live in the loft above it.” Adam frowned a second later as if he hadn’t meant to tell her that.
“Huh.” Rachel grinned. “I guess if you get bored, you can always go downstairs and play squirrel for a bit.”
“Something like that,” Adam said with a soft laugh. His posture relaxed, and he draped his arm across the back of the couch. Rachel scooched closer. If she had any hope of getting him in the sack, she’d have to work her female wiles. Whatever the hell they were.
The heat of his arm warmed her neck, and the sound of his amusement sent shivers of pleasure through her. She propped her head on her hand. God, he sounded so dreamy. She couldn’t believe he was here. In her house! Maybe his hotness would leak all over it like artfully done Christmas lights.
When he didn’t say anything else, Rachel volunteered, “Well, I love the game and the movie’s pretty rockin’, even if the story writers didn’t do a good job explaining the difference between the assassins’ real life versus the one his ancestor lived in the animus.” She pushed play on the remote. “Anyway, I hope you like it.”
“I’m sure I will,” Adam said and motioned her closer. Rachel debated for a moment, but Sarah’s advice revisited her like a bad burrito. If you can get into his pants, you ought to. You haven’t had a decent lay in months. Adam was here, and so was she. Clearly, he liked her, or he wouldn’t have made the trip to her house with her shopping bag when leaving it at his studio for a week would suffice. Maybe cuddling him would end up being a one-night stand and maybe not. No way for Rachel to know. But there was one way for her to find out. Shifting in her seat, Rachel nestled herself against his side and Adam wrapped her in his arms.
Rachel bit her lip to hold back her pleased whimper. It felt perfect to have him there in her house, his heat at her back, and the pressure of his hands on her arms. Life couldn’t get any better, could it? Well, it could, but for now, Rachel would settle for what he could give her.
While the movie played, Rachel spent more time teasing the hairs on his hand, admiring his class ring, and staring at the simple leather bracer he wore on his right arm, rather than paying attention to the movie.
The bracer had scuffs and scrapes on the hide, but it looked well-crafted in addition to well used. Her fingers drifted toward it and Adam grabbed her wrist, stopping her before she did more than run a finger along the supple material.
His grip never turned painful, but his fingers were tight enough around her wrist that she looked up at him in alarm. Their eyes met, and he smiled, taking her breath away, quite literally. Rachel’s eyes grew round. She opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, Adam lowered his head and captured her lips with his.
The intensity of his kiss took Rachel by surprise. She froze for a moment, before snaking her free arm around his neck, trying to pull him closer.
Adam didn’t resist.
With a low growl, he deepened the kiss, his tongue demanding entry. Rachel parted her lips and went to taste him in return, losing herself in the moment.
When she shifted away for air, he followed, until they were lying on the couch, heart to heart, lips to lips. Adam slid one knee between her legs, making Rachel gasp and clasp his shoulder. Rachel felt as if she was about to burst into flames and arched against him.
His hand traveled along the side of her breast, to her waist and hips, and slipped between the cushion and her body to cup her ass in his hand.
Adam and Rachel broke apart, his panting ruffled the hair by her ear, and he chuckled shakily. The intensity of his expression made her shiver in excitement. This was so happening!
“I swear to you,” Adam whispered. “I didn’t plan on seducing you tonight.”
Not wanting him to stop, Rachel ran her fingers along his back under his shirt, enjoying the corded muscles under her hand. “I did,” she murmured.
He feathered kisses along the side of her face but went to grab her hand to pull it away from his back. “We need to stop now... before I lose control.”
“Lose control,” she groaned in protest, which made him smile. “Please?”
“No condom,” he explained as he lifted himself off her.
Rachel laughed. That was... sweet of him to have thought of protection, especially since it had been the last thing on her mind. Adam laughed with her, his tone sounded more than a little strained. He kissed her forehead and then drew away from her completely.
The loss of his weight and warmth made her want to cry. Safe sex was good, but sometimes it really sucked to be careful. She cursed under her breath and ran her fingers through her hair. That was not the right thing for her to be thinking. Shifting upright, she scooted back to lean against the arm of the couch.
Finally, Adam broke the silence. “Rachel.”
She winced. Uh-oh. She didn’t like his tone. It was an “I’m breaking up with you” tone, and they weren’t even together! She sighed, resigned.
“I’m sorry. I let things go too far.” Adam paused. Rachel’s gaze was riveted to his large hands as they rubbed his thighs near his knees.
“There can’t be anything between us. One, it’s never a good idea to sleep with a student, and two, I’m... I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be in St. Louis.”
He took a deep breath and turned his powerful brown eyes to her. “I won’t lie. I want to sleep with you... badly. But there can’t—won’t—can’t be anything else between us.”
At least he was being honest about the sex. “I see.”
Adam groaned. “I promise it’s not you.”
She held up her hand. “It’s okay. I get it.” Rachel shook her head and stood, walking to the door. Adam followed her. “Thank you for bringing me my shoes,” she said.
“Of course.”
Rachel couldn’t help it. Her gaze zeroed in on his lips and she thought, Please kiss me again, but the look in his eyes told her he’d made up his mind and there would be no more steamy kisses tonight—or ever for that matter. Her shoulder’s slumped.
“Goodnight, Rachel. I’ll see you in class,” Adam said, his expression neutral and body tense before he turned and left her home.
At his car, he paused for a moment, before getting behind the wheel and finally firing up the engine. With a sigh of regret, she waited for him to turn the corner and before closing the door.
********Like this episode? Then please take a moment to either comment, share, or like it. Having your feedback (good and bad) feeds my ego. Thank you for reading!
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