When It Hooks You (It #1) (10 page)

She was putting out all her signals, giving him every indication that she was into him, but he remained at a distance. This wasn’t a situation Trish was used to. By this point she’d have had most guys leashed up and fawning over her like grateful puppy dogs. Adam’s indifference made it impossible for her to let the date end just yet. He obviously had an interest in her or he wouldn’t have bothered texting from the street after he’d left the office the other day. And she knew she hadn’t imagined the hungry look he’d practically devoured her with right before they’d entered the stadium. All she needed was a little more time to bring that look back.

“Are you up for going out to get some real food?” she asked.

He pulled out his phone and looked at it. “Don’t you have somewhere to be at seven? It’s after six now.”

She shook her head. “You chose Chicago over Cleveland. I’ve got to do my city proud. I’ll text my friend from the cab.”

The friend was Cliff. He’d invited her to join him at a party in the suburbs. A bunch of his friends would be there, so it wasn’t like she’d wreck his plans by not going. Neither she nor Cliff had mentioned the almost-kiss in the two weeks since it had almost happened. In Trish’s fuzzy-headed state that night, it was entirely possible she’d misinterpreted the whole thing. Either way, she was happy it hadn’t affected their growing friendship.

As she and Adam walked to the line of cabs, she asked, “What kind of food are you in the mood for?”

“Anything without the word
fusion
in it.”

Her mind went directly to a small, quiet restaurant in the Gold Coast. It was nice but unintimidating and had fantastic food. “Are you okay with Thai?”

“Sounds great.” They approached a waiting taxi, and Adam opened the door for her.

Trish slid across the seat, giving the driver their destination. Once they were on their way, she pulled out her phone. “Excuse me a minute while I make my excuses.”

Hey Clif Bar, can’t make the party tonight. Afternoon plans went long.

I can wait for you.

Nah. In cab with dashing fellow. Curious to see where this goes.

Knock him dead.

A few seconds later, another message followed.

If he dies before 8 lemme know. I’m running late too.

Trish snickered and tucked her phone into her straw bag. She wasn’t sure if it was because Adam presented a challenge or if there was some other enigmatic quality drawing her to him, but the only place she hoped to knock Adam Helms was off of his feet and onto her lips.

Chapter 9

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from the stadium, so Trish and Adam were soon seated at a table for two. He glanced down at the cover of his menu and breathed out a small, ironic grunt.

“What?” Trish asked.

He gave his head a shake. “Nothing. It’s…I’ve been to this place in the picture.” He turned his menu toward her, displaying the image on the cover.

From her many visits to this restaurant, Trish was familiar with the conical stone spires. The ringed spikes at the top had always made her think of the coiled doorstoppers she used to pull back and release when she was a child. “Ah, Boing Palace,” she said.

Tilting his head forward, Adam looked at her through his eyelashes. “I think I’m best off making no comment on that nickname.” He lowered his menu, unfolding it so that the palace was out of view.

“Did you like Thailand?” Trish asked.

“Oh yes. It’s beautiful. Everything about it is vibrant—the colors, the people.”

“Were you there on business?”

“No,” he answered absently as his eyes roved the menu.

She examined her choices, too, to see if anything new jumped out at her. She couldn’t be certain from his one-word answer, but his heaviness seemed to have returned. She decided to keep her questions light. “What was the best thing you ate while you were there?”

His forehead creased. “It was practically a lifetime ago. I don’t remember what I ate.”

Trish took his dismissive tone as a cue to back off on the questions altogether.

After they ordered, she let him guide the conversation. He asked about her trips to Greece and Germany. Meanwhile, their meals arrived, and as they continued comparing notes on the things they’d seen, his mood seemed to improve.

“Where would you like to travel that you haven’t been?” he asked. “Or has your wanderlust been sated?”

“Hardly. I need to make traveling a priority. It’s the kind of thing I always expected to have more time and money for at some point in the near future, but years have slipped by since graduation, and I haven’t made it out of the country since.”

“So where to?” he asked, sitting back and trapping her in a determined gaze.

“I’ll make it as far as the coast in a couple of weeks to visit my friend who recently relocated to Boston. Does that count?”

“It’s a nice city. Have you been?”

“Nope. Help me decide on my next international destination, world traveler. Where’s your favorite place in this whole wide world?”

“Impossible to answer. There’s too much variety to be able to fairly compare.”

“Allow me to narrow it down for you. Favorite European city.”

“Prague.”

“Favorite Pacific island.”

“Marquesas.”

“Favorite Caribbean island.”

“I’ve never been.”

“You’ve never been to the Caribbean?”

“Correct.”

“Have you at least ridden Pirates of the Caribbean?”

“Pardon?”

“The ride at Disney World.”

“Never been.”

“To Disney World?” She slammed her hands onto the table, making the silverware jump.

He laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Ay yi yi. There’s so much I need to show you. Let’s start with sunset in Chicago.” He was finally lightening up. She couldn’t let the date end now.

He paid their bill, and she led the way out the door and onto the sidewalk. Her intention had been to take him to the beach, but that was better for sunrises since it bordered the east side of the city. For the setting, it would be better to be a bit higher up—which gave her an idea. She stopped abruptly and grasped his hand, turning them in the opposite direction. “I want to try something a few blocks this way,” she said.

He kept her hand comfortably enveloped in his, but once they’d safely crossed an intersection, his pace slowed and she felt his fingers tense. “Just so there’s no mistake,” he said, “the dating plan you’ve explained—no more than three, no letting things go too far—that works for me. It’s the only thing that will work for me. So if you’ve revised your rules, you need to understand that I won’t revise mine. I can’t.”

Her hand went slack in his as red curry churned in her stomach. “Have I said or done something to make you nervous?”

He sighed and released her, pushing his hands into his pockets as he continued walking. “Other than being the kind of woman with whom I’d very much like to pursue things, no. But my life is…full and complicated. I rarely stay in one place for very long, and when I do, my attention is required in other matters. The only decent relationships I’ve ever been able to maintain are with business partners and clients—and even those fall apart sometimes. To be completely frank, I could use a simple, uncluttered liaison. One that doesn’t demand or expect anything from me.”

“By liaison, do you mean…”

“No, not a fling. It doesn’t have to be physical at all. It’s better if it isn’t. I…I enjoy my time with you, and I’d like to be able to do that without worrying that I’m misleading you.”

Trish laughed. It served her right to have her own philosophy thrown in her face by a man with whom she’d “very much like to pursue things.” She hadn’t yet gotten around to analyzing her state of mind, but the pinch at her heart confirmed that her imagination had begun traveling toward the vague figment of something beyond three dates with him.

He regarded her with caution etched in his elegant features.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m laughing because I’m relieved. I’m new at this limited-perspective dating thing, and it’s really, really nice to have someone to reinforce it instead of derail it. My rules haven’t changed. No worries.”

He smiled, making the whole city seem brighter. “Wonderful. I’m glad I didn’t ruin anything by speaking up.”

“No, Mr. Helms, you didn’t. From now on, this is an entirely stress-free liaison. Lookie here—we’ve arrived.” She stepped under the green awning at the entrance of Kurt’s eighteen-story, brick apartment building.

She kissed her fingertips for good luck and typed in the code, hoping her ex hadn’t changed it. The door clicked and she breathed a happy sigh.
The rest should be cake.
Each of the building’s renters had an individual code for the front door, but they shared one for the rooftop deck. If Kurt hadn’t bothered to change his personal front door code, he certainly wouldn’t try to alter the building-wide one. It was nice to know he trusted her. Never mind that she was currently breaching that trust. She had no idea what she’d do or say if they ran into him on their way up.

She must’ve appeared furtive because as they crossed the open, glossy-floored lobby to the elevator bank, Adam asked in a stage whisper, “What are we doing?”

She turned to him and put a finger to her lips before whispering back. “I’ll let you know when we get there.”

Two other people got on the elevator with them. Trish pulled Adam to stand along the back wall. He looked down at her with one eyebrow half raised and his lips pressed together in a skeptical yet amused scowl. She teased him by squinting and making shifty eyes.

By the time the elevator reached the top floor, the others had exited. Tasting victory, Trish grabbed Adam’s hand and led him out of the elevator, up the stairwell, and to the rooftop. A quick scan reassured her that Kurt wasn’t there. The few other occupants were strangers.

Adam stepped away from her toward the center of the huge patio. He spun in a slow circle, taking in the elevated view of Chicago architecture. Between buildings to the east, the long line of the horizon over Lake Michigan was visible. The vast expanse of water had darkened to a purplish ink with the sun lowering behind the buildings to the west.

“Stunning,” he said in a hushed voice. The sky’s palette faded from burnt orange directly above the city all the way to pale blue over the farthest reaches of the lake. Adam’s head swiveled in apparent indecision over where to look—until his gaze landed on Trish. “Why did we have to sneak up here?”

She walked closer to be sure her voice wouldn’t carry to the people across the way. “This is my ex-boyfriend’s building. I sorta didn’t ask permission to continue using his code.”

Adam gave her a funny look, but it wasn’t disapproving. “Aren’t you afraid of running into him?”

“Not up here. He hardly ever took advantage of this amenity during the nearly three years we dated. If he catches us, I’ll tell him you live here.” She smiled at the new plan and snatched both of his hands, lifting them so they were palm to palm with hers.

As she pressed her body closer, he folded his fingers onto the back of her hands. “Clever.” His rich voice rolled over her, and they stood still, trapped in each other’s gazes.

Trish’s heart thumped. She barely even breathed. Adam glanced down at her slightly parted lips then back up into her eyes, giving her a glimpse of the burning hunger that welled inside him. Trish was overcome with a need to feed it.

Voices grew louder as the people on the other side of the deck came closer. Adam lowered his lids in a prolonged blink. When he opened them, all signs of his fervor were gone. Giving an ironic smile, he dropped her hands, even though the group moved past them to the stairs.

“I suppose we’ll have a better view of the sunset over there.” He turned and moved toward the western railing.

What do I have to do to get that man to give me a damned kiss?
Trish wondered as she watched him walk away from her. She sauntered to the western rail and maneuvered herself close enough to him that he had no choice but to loop his arm around her. For a brief moment, he rested his hand on her hip, but soon lifted it to hold onto the rail. She was surrounded by him as they watched the waning day.

“Do you miss him?” Adam asked.

“The ex-boyfriend who lives here? At times, I guess.”

“Is there any chance you brought me here because you want to run into him?”

She considered the idea, but shook her head, leaning her back against Adam’s chest. The temperature had lowered from the hot day at the baseball field. It was still warm enough for Trish to be comfortable in her strapless dress, but his body heat against her bare skin felt nice. “I saw him a couple of weeks ago—with his new girlfriend. I’ve apparently got some residual anger about the way he broke up with me, but no part of me wants to get back together with him.”

“Then why are we here?” Adam murmured into her ear.

“For this.” She swept an arm over the railing, gesturing toward the sky. “Showing you the sunset is the only reason, I swear. I never felt forever with him; end of story.”

Adam’s light exhale tickled Trish’s shoulder. “I’m glad for you that you can see things so clearly. Staying with the wrong person can end up being more lonely than being alone.”

“Sounds like you learned that one the hard way.”

“I did.”

Orange relinquished more and more of its claim on the sky. The massive smudge of color stained the clouds stormy gray even while their cottony edges flamed. Adam dropped a hand from the railing to wrap his arm around Trish’s waist.

She started at his touch and tilted her head to look at him. As soon as her eyes locked on his, he dropped his arm and shifted his gaze away from her to look across the wide deck toward the lake. The brilliant blue in the east had darkened to midnight. She turned her whole body to be front-to-front with him. Touching her hand to the side of his face, she brought his focus back to her. She was done waiting for him to make a move.