Rebound Envy (Rebound #2) (3 page)

We managed to find a venue with an opening on June 18, which is perfect. It's early February now, so they have four months to plan. Since this is the second wedding Jenna's planned, she knows how much work goes into it and isn't wasting time. Which means I'm being dragged through all of this again, too.
 

We normally sit at the bar, but tonight we won't. It's easier to talk and plan in the chairs than at the bar. Plus, I don't want Adam and Brian eavesdropping on our conversation. Well, I'm sure Brian will hear all about it anyway. It's Adam who I don't want eavesdropping.

I look around once I'm inside, but don't see Jenna anywhere. I check the time on my phone to see if I'm early. Nope. I guess she's running late.
 

I stop short when I see Adam at the bar. He's talking to a customer, and is pouring a glass of wine. He turns his head and makes eye contact. The idea of turning around and waiting outside flashes across my mind, but he's seen me, so I can't do that. With Jenna as a buffer, seeing him is tolerable. Without her, it's challenging at best.

He slides the glass he's filled onto the bar next to him, then reaches to fill another that he passes to the customer he's helping.

He turns to me and pushes the glass of wine in my direction when I reach the bar. "You didn't do more than taste the Syrah I brought you the other night. I thought you should try it again."

"Thanks." My tone is a little wary. After our last encounter I'm not sure what to make of Adam. He's being nice at the moment, so I'm just going to go with it. For now. I take the wine and have a taste. It's really good. He knows what I like.
 

"So how did your date go?"

My eyes snap back to his. "How did you know about my date?" I'd be surprised if Jenna or Brian said something to him about it.
 

His dark brows come together in confusion. "I saw you, remember? On Saturday?"

My face clears. "Oh, right. That date. Yes, it was fine."

His brows are still scrunched together. "That date? Has there been another one?"

I nod, taking another sip of the wine. It's even better with the second taste, the flavors opening up even more on my palate. I close my eyes to savor it, then let the wine trickle down my throat. "Yes. I went out with Scott again last night."

His eyebrows quirk up in surprise. I'm not sure that I've noticed how expressive his eyebrows are before. His face is much more animated than Scott's. "Scott?" Is he reading my thoughts? Oh, no, he's reacting to my last statement. "The beauty queen?"

I snort at that. "He's not a beauty queen. He just takes pride in his appearance." Adam's right that Scott probably spends more time grooming than I do. But I can't let Adam know that I secretly agree with him. That would be disloyal to this new potential relationship.
 

"So are you seeing this guy now?" His tone is neutral, but his face is not. His brows draw down and in, his eyes get hard, and his mouth sets in a firm line. Why is he angry?

I nod, keeping a wary eye on him, unsure what new and strange reaction my answer will provoke. "Yeah. We're dating."

He opens his mouth to respond, but I'm saved from having to hear it by Jenna's arrival. "Hey, Amy. Sorry I'm late." She gives me a quick hug then turns to Adam and stops. "What's with that face?"

Adam's still glaring at me, the muscle on the side of his face bulging rhythmically while he clenches his teeth. At Jenna's comment his whole demeanor changes, his face smoothing into something he would present to a customer, his lips curving into a polite smile. "Hi, Jenna. What can I get you?"

She eyes him, not buying the sudden change of expression any more than I do, but she seems to decide to let it go. "Whatever Amy's having should be fine."

Adam nods once and turns to get Jenna her glass of wine. She takes it from the bar and then leads me to a couple of unoccupied chairs in the back corner where it's quieter and far away from Adam at the bar. She sets the large binder she's brought with her on the table and then sits down, taking a drink from her glass and eyeing me over the top of it.

I set my glass down and turn the binder to face me, flipping open the cover. "Should we get down to the planning, then?"

Jenna wags a finger at me. "Not so fast, Amy. What was that I just interrupted back there?" She flicks a hand toward Adam and the bar.

I sigh and close my eyes, rubbing a finger between my brows. "I don't really know. He was asking about Scott."

"Did Scott do something to you?"

I open my eyes and look at her. "What? No. Why would you ask that?"

She shrugs. "I'm just trying to figure out why he looked so mad when I walked in. I could see him getting angry if you said Scott was mean to you or something. What did you tell him?"

"He asked how my date went at your engagement party. I told him it was fine and that Scott and I went out last night, too. You walked in right after that."

Jenna's brows are drawn down and she's chewing on her lower lip, deep in thought. Then her face clears. "Oh."

"Oh? What's oh?" She seems to have come to some realization that is eluding me.

Instead of answering my question, she gets a sly smile on her face and asks, "Amy, what ever happened between you and Adam?"

"What? Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

She shakes her head at me. "I don't buy that for a second. You guys flirted for forever and then suddenly you stopped. You avoid coming here and when you do come, you insist we sit over here instead of at the bar like we used to."

I shrug. "I'm a teacher, Jen. It's expensive to come here all the time and buy wine. And the chairs are more comfortable than the bar stools. Even you've said that."

She just looks at me, the disbelief evident on her face. "Uh-huh. And something happened with you and Adam. Every time I've asked you about it you blow me off and tell me nothing happened."

I press my lips together for a moment, then take a drink of my wine before answering. "That's because nothing did happen. Not really. We flirted a lot when you and Brian first got together, and we went on a couple dates. After the second date I invited him in when he took me home and he declined. We didn't go out again after that."

"Do you know why not?"

I shake my head. "No. I thought things were going well. We'd kissed and it was hot. I thought inviting him in seemed like the logical next step and that things would progress. But he didn't come in, and then he didn't ask me out or call again. And when I saw him here he'd be all polite and professional, not friendly and flirty anymore."

A wry smile crosses Jenna's face. "I'd hardly call tonight polite and professional."

"Right?"

Jenna looks thoughtful for a moment, then shakes her head slowly. "And he got mad when you were saying you're dating Scott."

"Yup."

"There's only one explanation."

I gesture for her to continue. "Care to enlighten me?"

She sighs, looking at me like I must be clueless. "He's jealous, Amy."

I snort in disbelief. "Yeah, right, Jenna. Okay."

"Yeah, right, Amy. He is. He was mad tonight when you were talking about Scott. Did you see him at the party on Saturday?"

"Yeah. We talked for a couple minutes."

"Was Scott with you when you talked to him or were you alone?"

I narrow my eyes. "Alone. What are you getting at, Jenna?"

"I already told you what I'm getting at. I'm proving to you he's jealous. What did you talk about on Saturday?"

"He got me a Syrah because he saw me with champagne, which he knows I don't like very much. And he asked about Scott."

"How did he act?"

"Mean. And insulting. He compared Scott to a beauty queen, making disparaging remarks about how long it takes him to get ready because he's so well groomed."

Jenna stifles a laugh. "He's probably right about that."

I widen my eyes, trying not to laugh, but a smile fights its way out. "Yeah. Probably. Still, though. He didn't have to be nasty about it."

She laughs now, a full on laugh. "That's what you think. He's jealous, so he's sniping at your date and being mean. He doesn't like seeing you with a really hot guy."

I shake my head. "I don't know, Jen. Adam's the one who didn't want to keep seeing me. And it's been almost two months since our last date. There's no reason for him to be jealous. He had his chance and he gave it up."

She has that thoughtful look on her face again, then she just shrugs. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but he's acting like a jealous man if you ask me."

I'm tempted to believe her. On the surface it looks that way. Except for the fact that he's the one that didn't want to keep seeing me. I made it perfectly obvious that I liked him. Embarrassingly so, given the fact that he didn't take me up on it any further than two dates.
 

His behavior is just too confusing. We have a long, drawn out flirtation, in which he fully participated, followed by two dates. If it were one date, I could believe that he was just having fun flirting and the date was more like a pity date. But you don't have a second date in that case.
 

So, fine. He decides he doesn't want to see me anymore. I can live with that. I can move on. I really liked him, but if he's not interested, then he's not interested. Why would he be jealous of me dating someone else?

Jenna pulls me out of my thoughts with a dismissive flick of her fingers. "Enough about Adam. Tell me how things went with Scott last night."

CHAPTER FOUR

"Would you like to come in? I think I have some herbal tea."
 

Scott smiles and follows me inside. I go into the kitchen to rummage in my little pantry for the tea.

We'd gone to a small French restaurant for our third date where Scott could find food that lined up better with his dietary goals. I guess since he told me about it earlier this week, he no longer felt the need to break his diet to impress me anymore. He'd just had water with dinner, though he'd encouraged me to get a glass of wine if I wanted. I had, but had felt awkward while he drank plain water with a twist of lemon.
 

Conversation had flowed easily, even if it was a little dull. He'd talked more about work, his workout regimen, and how this time of year is horrible for sports—football's over, baseball hasn't started, and he doesn't like basketball very much. I don't watch any of them, so I'd just nodded and smiled, making occasional hmms and uh-huhs when it had seemed appropriate. To be fair, I'd talked too. I'd told stories about my students and life as a teacher. He'd seemed about as fascinated with my stories as I'd been with his.

Now we're back at my place again. Since it's the third date, there are certain expectations. At least, I have certain expectations. I don't even have to wait for the third date if things seem like they're going well. Scott apparently doesn't move quite that fast, which is fine. But I wouldn't mind seeing what he's hiding under his blue button down shirt. With that face and working out all the time like he says, he has to have a body fit for a romance novel hero.
 

I finally locate the little box of Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice that's been languishing at the back of my pantry. I don't drink a lot of tea. I just keep this on hand for when I have a cold. It's not bad, though.
 

When I pull myself and my prize out of the pantry, I see Scott leaning against the doorway into the kitchen from the dining room.

I smile at him and brandish the box of tea. "Found it."
 

I pull my tea kettle out of a bottom cabinet, conscious of Scott's eyes watching me. Once it's filled with water and on the stove top, I retrieve a couple of mugs from the cabinet over the sink. I'm deliberately bending and stretching, putting on a little show, letting Scott watch my body move. Like I said, expectations.
 

The kettle is starting to rumble a little as the water gets close to boiling. I set the mugs on the counter and reach for the box of tea to get everything ready once the water is hot enough. Once it's open, I look inside and let out a gasp of horror.
 

"What's wrong?" Scott is at my side in a second, ready to jump in.

I laugh, realizing that I may have overreacted. "Nothing. Sorry. It's just that there's only one tea bag left."

He joins me with a low chuckle. "Holy crap. The way you reacted, I thought there was a giant spider covered in babies in there or something."

I laugh harder. "That would be horrifying. My reaction would probably be to scream and throw the box across the room, though. Not just gasp."
 

He's smiling at me now. "That's okay, Amy. I don't need tea. A glass of water is fine." He brushes a strand of hair out of my face. Then his mouth is on mine in a slow and gentle kiss. His tongue slips past my lips and I begin to lean into him.

The scream of the tea kettle causes us both to jump back, breaking the moment. I turn off the stove and move the kettle to another burner. "I guess we won't be needing that."

Scott steps back and gestures toward the mugs. "Don't let me stop you. If you want some tea, you should make some."

I make a little face. "I'm not much of a tea drinker. I just keep this around for when I have a cold. Since you don't do caffeine or alcohol, I didn't want to offer the usual coffee or wine, and it seems lame to invite someone in for a glass of water."

Scott laughs, low and warm, his beautiful mouth turning up in a smile. He steps toward me again, and pushes my hair behind my ear, letting his hand trail down to cup the back of my neck. "You can invite me in for a glass of water anytime."

A thrill tingles up my spine at his words, and then his mouth is on mine again. This kiss is firmer, and his tongue is present immediately. His left arm snakes around my waist, pulling my body against his. My hands travel up his rib cage and around to his back, feeling the shape of his muscles under his clothes.
 

Our kiss is heating up. Literally heating me up. Warmth is rushing around my body, my cheeks feel flushed, and the heat is centering itself low in my belly and between my thighs. This man knows how to kiss.