Page 83 of The Law of Attraction
“You could come over to my place,” she ventured. “Unless you’re too tired, that is. It has been a hella long week, and you might just want to get home, which is totally fine too. No pressure or anything.”
“I’d love that,” he said.
Olivia used her phone to summon a car. The driver of the Camry that picked them up was playing slow, mellow jazz that should have been relaxing, but somehow had the exact opposite effect. On her, anyway.
Adam fell asleep again.
Maybe this was a mistake. She didn’t want him feeling like he had to take her up on her offer if all he really wanted to do was sleep. Just because she wanted to hang on to this a little bit longer didn’t mean he did.
When they stopped in front of her apartment, she gave him a gentle nudge. “We’re here.”
He followed her inside and parked his suitcase next to the front door.
“Sorry it’s such a mess,” she said, looking around at all her clutter and trying to imagine it through his eyes.
“It’s great,” he replied, wandering over to examine a stack of fabric remainders on her dining table. “It’s very you.”
“Do you want something to drink?” She went into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. A week-old Chinese takeout container and a single mushy avocado stared back at her. “I have no food,” she said helplessly. She probably should have thought of that before inviting him over.
When she turned away from the fridge, he was standing beside her. “We can order something,” he said, and bent his head to hers. “Later,” he murmured as their lips met in a kiss that made her stomach do an entire gymnastic floor routine.
“Much later,” she agreed, and led him to her bedroom.
Olivia woke in the morning alone in her bed. It took her sleepy brain a while to remember that wasn’t how she’d fallen asleep last night.
She opened her eyes and saw Adam across the room buttoning up his shirt. From the faint gray light coming in through the slats in her blinds, it couldn’t be much past six a.m. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “You’re leaving?”
He nodded as he finished the last button on his shirt. “I’m all out of clean clothes. I’m going back to my place to shower before work.” He bent to brush a kiss across her lips. “I’ll see you at the office in a couple hours, okay?”
This was it, their bubble was officially broken. No more hiding from the real world or putting off the inevitable. Reentry was upon them.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You have your worried face.” He reached up to stroke her cheek, and her stomach dropped through the floor to the apartment below. “Don’t look like that,” he said with a deepening frown. “You’re freaking me out.”
“Sorry.” She tried to will the worry lines off her face. “I’m just nervous about today, I guess.”
“Why?”
“I’m afraid it will be weird.”
“What will?”
“Us. At work. What if we revert back to our old selves as soon as we set foot in the building?”
“My geographical location has no bearing on how I feel about you.” There was a hint of reproof in his eyes, as if she’d disappointed him by having doubts.
She reached for his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. “A lot’s happened in a really short span of time. We haven’t even had time to process it.”
“What’s to process?”
“How we feel about each other when we’re not stranded in the middle of nowhere. What’s to say we won’t step back into our regular lives today and realize we don’t like each other that much after all?”
“Nothing at all,” he said mildly, which wasn’t the reassurance she’d been hoping for. “You want some kind of guarantee or contingency plan.” He knew her so well.
“Yes, exactly. That’s what I want.”
He smiled and turned her hand over in his. “There isn’t one. Not for this.” His thumb stroked over her palm like a fortune teller. “You have to take a leap of faith.”
“You don’t believe in faith.”
