Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (20 page)

I already had a few bottles of wine at home now, so all I needed was some food.  Parking my car on the street I looked between The Last Call on my right and the Chinese place on my left.

Chinese or pub food?

Pub food or Chinese?

It was a tossup.  I knew Brooke liked both places, but I finally settled on Chinese, choosing a few different entrees so she could pick what she liked.  After I placed my order, I walked back outside and leaned against the brick of the building.  It was a little chilly tonight as the sun lowered in the sky.

Dropping my head back against the hard brick, I sighed.  This was not how I had wanted this evening to begin.  My confrontation with Angela and the lack of a plan B for cooking left me edgy.  I closed my eyes and did some deep breathing.  I didn’t want to be on edge when I met up with Brooke.  Because God knows she put me on edge
in a completely different way just with her presence.

By the time the food was ready and I drove the short distance home, my head was clearer as I remembered that I got to spend the whole night with Brooke.  The first thing I saw when I pulled in the driveway was a strange car parked in my spot, which required me to back out and park on the street.  The second thing I noticed as I walked up the driveway, my hands full of briefcase, picnic basket and bags of Chinese food, was Brooke sitting on the back porch.

She had mentioned her mother was here, and I knew the woman wasn’t exactly a source of comfort for Brooke.  The first night she spent with me, other than the
first
first night, was because she was upset over a phone call with her mother.  I didn’t push her then, but I hoped I would be able to get some better insight into their relationship now that her mother was in town.

“Hey,” I called out when I approached her.

She had been lost in thought, because when she heard my voice she startled and pressed a hand to her chest.

“Oh!  Hi.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.  I had to park on the street.”

She glanced toward my car and then at the strange car in my spot.  “Oh, right.”

When she stood up, I got a look at her outfit, which was very…un-Brooke-like.  The jeans she wore weren’t as form-fitting as usual, and the top half of her was completely covered up in a loose sweater that hid her curves.  No bare shoulders.  No cleavage.  Not a hint of skin from her neck down to her toes.  She was beautiful no matter what she wore, but I’d never seen her dressed so conservatively.

And she didn’t seem comfortable either, smoothing down the front of her sweater and tugging at the hem.  It was like the confidence she normally exuded was covered up along with her skin.

I walked close enough to kiss her on the cheek and take a deep breath.  “You smell great.”

“Thanks.”

I held up the bags.  “Chinese take-out,” I said apologetically.

She smiled. 
“Sounds good to me.”

I followed her toward the garage and up the stairs along the side of the building.

“If you don’t look, I’ll put everything out in bowls and we can pretend I cooked it myself.”

That got a small laugh out of her, though I could sense her unease was from more than the clothes she wore.  I would at least let her get in the door before asking her any questions.

I dropped everything on the table.  “I’m going to take a quick shower if you don’t mind?  There’s wine in the kitchen.  Pour yourself a glass and relax.”

It wasn’t until I stepped out of the shower that I realized I hadn’t brought my clothes into the bathroom with me.  Oh, well.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen everything before.  And hopefully would be seeing it all again before the night was over.

Brooke’s eyes lit up when she saw me walk out with just a towel wrapped around my waist.  For a tall skinny guy, I did have some muscle definition and was in pretty good shape.  But the way she looked at me gave my ego a huge boost.

As I pulled out a pair of boxers, some jeans and a long sleeve shirt, I glanced to where Brooke was sitting on my bed with a glass of white wine in her hand.

“I like your outfit,” I said, more out of obligation than because I actually did.

She smiled as she looked down at her
matronly ensemble.  “Do you?” she asked hopefully.

Ah, shit.

I shook my head as I stepped into my boxers and dropped the towel.  “No, not really?”

Confusion, hurt and anger warred for space in her green eyes.  Her face took on a pissed off, bitchy expression that I’d seen but had never been directed at me.

Holding up my hands, I said, “That didn’t come out right.”

But Brooke was already off the bed, slamming her wine glass down on the counter, sloshing wine over the top.  She was out the door before I could even take a step.

Oh, hell.

Knowing she could be inside her house with the door locked behind her in ten seconds, I abandoned the jeans in my hand and ran after her.

“Brooke,” I called stepping outside my apartment.  Shit, it was cold.  Probably had something to do with the fact that I was nearly naked.

“Brooke!  Wait!”

I ran down the stairs and across the driveway, catching her hand in mine just before she reached her back door.  Fuck, the driveway was cold on my bare feet.  I did a little tippy toe dance while I tried to persuade her to come back with me.

“Brooke, baby, hear me out.  There’s nothing wrong with your outfit.  It’s beautiful.  I only said I didn’t like it because it’s not you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and stared me down.

“Come on, Brooke, I’m freezing out here.  Please come back inside and we can talk,” I pleaded.

The corner of her mouth twitched as she watched me hopping around in front of her.  Finally, she walked by me without a word and went back to my apartment.  She busied herself with getting a paper towel and wiping up the wine she had spilled.

“Put your clothes on,” she said over her shoulder.

“You could warm me up,” I joked.

Okay.  From the look she shot me, it was clear there would be no skin to skin warming up just yet.

I finished dressing and poured myself a glass of wine.  Settling back on my bed, I patted the spot next to me.  Brooke looked at it but stayed where she was.  I needed to remember to never tell the truth again.

She took a large gulp of wine and dropped her eyes to the floor.  “You’re right.  These clothes aren’t me.  I just wanted to look…different.”

“Why?”

“Because my clothes are too sexy.”

“Is there such a thing?”

She sighed, clearly exasperated.

“Okay, okay.  No more jokes.  Will you please come here and talk to me?  I hate having this space between us.”  It wasn’t just the physical space of the room separating us then, and I didn’t like being anywhere than right up next to her.

Brooke climbed on the bed beside
me, propping her back against the wall, sitting so close our legs touched.  I took her hand and brought it to my lips.  “Brooke, tell me what’s really going on in that beautiful head of yours.”

She leaned her head back against the wall and turned it to face me.  Her lips were tantalizingly close, but now wasn’t the time if I wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her.

“I’m not the kind of girl you can take home to your mother.  I worry that I’m not good enough for you,” she said so quietly I almost couldn’t hear even though we were mere inches apart.

“I feel the same way,” I said.

That pissed off look came back and she started to scoot off the bed.

“Whoa, where are you going?”
I asked, catching her around the waist and pulling her back next to me.

She struggled to get free of my grasp.  “This isn’t a joke, Adam.”

“Hey.  I’m not joking.  I pray to God all the time that you don’t realize that you’re way out of my league.”

The expression on her face was one of true confusion.

“Look at me, Brooke.  I’m decent looking, but I’m no underwear model.  I’m an elementary school principal.  I wear glasses and my hair always looks like I just rolled out of bed.  Girls like you don’t look twice at guys like me.”

“Girls like me?”

“Let me rephrase.  You shouldn’t look twice at me.  Because there is no one else like you, Brooke.  You’re beautiful.  Outside and in.  You’re sweet and caring, and when you look at me I feel like I could take on the world.  And, God Brooke, you’re sexy as hell.  Don’t change to be someone you think I would want.  You’re absolutely perfect just the way you are.”

Brooke’s mouth hung open, and I reached over and pushed it closed with my finger under her chin.

“And my mother would love you.  You do know I grew up in New Jersey, right?  There are some pictures of my mom when she younger that would give the cast of The Jersey Shore a run for their money.”

She was silent, obviously contemplating what I had said.  After a minute she smiled.

“You’re perfect too, you know.  I love your glasses and your messy hair.  I love that you have a job that matters.  I love the way you make me feel.”

I held my breath waiting for the three little words I was mentally willing to come out of her mouth.

“And I think you’re sexy as hell, too,” she said shyly, looking up at me from under her thick lashes.

Not the words I was hoping for, but I’ll take them.  It made me understand the depth of my feelings for Brooke, though.  I didn
’t just think I loved her.  I knew I did.

I framed
her face with my hands and pressed my lips lightly to hers.  “Now that we both know how perfect and sexy we are, we should eat.”

Chapter Twenty One

Brooke

When Adam scooted off the bed, I knew it was for the best.  If we didn’t eat now, we might not get to it for a long time.
  The sweater set suddenly felt too itchy and warm.

“I’m going to run home and change,” I said, scooting off the bed myself.

Adam caught me around the waist and swung me toward his closet.

“Oh, no you don’t.  Every time you walk out the door, I’m afraid you’ll come to your sense
s and never come back.  Here. Put on one of my shirts.”

He pulled a navy blue button down off the hanger and handed it to me.

I took the shirt into the bathroom and shed the jeans and sweater.  With only the shirt to cover my underwear and bra, I went back out and set my clothes on the chair by the door.

“Damn,” I heard Adam softly swear.

I did a little twirl, letting my hair spin out around my shoulders.  The shirt fell to mid-thigh, and I had left a few buttons undone at the top so it slipped off one shoulder and showed the emerald green of my bra strap.

“Do you like my outfit now?”

He growled as his eyes raked over my bare legs.  “Yes, and I can’t wait to see it on the floor.”

I moved into the kitchen to help him dish out the food.  He reached for my shoulder and ran his finger under the exposed bra strap.

“This matches your eyes.”

“And my panties,” I said while licking some sauce off my finger.

Adam closed his eyes and swallowed.  “Don’t say panties while sucking on your finger ever again.”

I laughed.
He picked up our plates and set them down at the table with our refilled wine glasses.  I pushed the rice around on my plate, mixing it with the cashew chicken.

“Thank you.  For everything you said to me earlier.”  I looked down at my plate.

Adam reached across the table and raised my chin.  “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

I shrugged.  “I need to stop letting other people get into my head.”

Adam frowned.  “Who’s getting in your head?”

Sighing, I decided to get it out there.  “When I dropped off your lunch today, I overheard Angela talking about my…attire.”

Adam slammed his fork down on the table and looked up at the ceiling, like he was praying for patience.

He pointed his finger at me.  “Promise me something right now.”

“Okay.”

“Never talk about Angela again.  From this day forward that
woman no longer exists in our lives.”  Shaking his head, he picked his fork back up.  “I ran into her at the grocery store.  I let her know, in no uncertain terms, that I am with you and only you.  She won’t be a problem anymore.”

His utter seriousness made me want to laugh.  My insecurities about our relationship had been put in their place, and Angela wouldn’t be a blip on my radar screen any longer.

“Did you kill her?” I asked, trying to break the tense mood.

It worked.  Adam jerked back and then started laughing. 
“God, no.”

“If you had, I would’ve made up an alibi for you,” I said, grinning at him.

“Good to know,” he replied, with a grin of his own.

Neither of us spoke much
after that. We just smiled and ate.  We both knew what was coming after dinner, and the speed with which we both cleaned our plates gave away our anxiousness.