Chapter 10 #2
Just as he stepped behind Janae, he’d never been more grateful for his self-determination when he heard her say, “Adam’s fine as fuck and if any woman in this town is going to get a taste of the new, improved version of his sexy self, it’s gonna be me, so back off, Cree.”
Thank you sweet baby Jesus for perfect timing.
As Janae realized Adam’s presence behind her, her friends graciously stepped away. If they hadn’t, he’d surely have asked them to leave without the slightest bit of shame.
Janae’s elegant shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath and turned around, meeting his stare head-on.
“Hello, Dr. Sanders.”
Janae offered him a smile that was half alluring and half embarrassment. In that moment, it was the sexiest thing he’d seen in a long time.
“Adam, I apologize for what I said. That was completely out of line for me to objectify you like that.”
He raised a brow, watching her closely, trying to get a read on her.
“You can’t possibly think hearing you find me attractive is a bad thing. Especially since I’ve been trying to find out if you had any interest in me since the moment I saw you at Vanessa’s shop.”
To her credit, her countenance didn’t waver, even though he could see her trying to make sense of his meaning as she stared at him.
Her face lit up for only a second, illuminating the dimly lit room. Then just as quickly, that brightness was gone as she dropped her eyes and shook her head.
“Adam, I’m flattered by what you’ve said tonight and when you brought me dinner at work. I’m also deeply embarrassed by what you overheard.”
“Why?” He could tell by the way her eyes searched his that, she was looking for any hint of amusement or worse, dishonesty. But she wouldn’t find either. He’d meant every word he’d spoken to her. “Finding out the sexy woman you’re attracted to is attracted to you too is never bad.”
“For you, maybe.” She finally lifted her eyes.
But this time, there was something akin to regret in them.
“Adam, this is all a wonderfully unexpected surprise. And I wish our timing was better. Right now, though, my life is too complicated to start anything. Between my teenaged son and my job, I wouldn’t be able to give you the attention you deserve. ”
Glancing around the room first to see if there were any onlookers, he stepped a little closer.
This wasn’t a student event, so Adam wasn’t worried about being this close to Janae—well, he wasn’t worried about being accused of inappropriate behavior as the district’s interim superintendent.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t worried about keeping his body under control when he was close enough to smell the floral scent wafting up from that gorgeous skin of hers.
“How about you let me worry about what I deserve, Janae? If you say your life is too complicated for more, I accept that. Just let me offer you this alternative.”
Her inquisitive stare was locked with his, waiting for him to continue.
“Let’s not worry about more. How about we just focus on what this is now?”
She shook her head. At first, he thought she might be saying no, then he saw the confusion clouding her eyes.
“What exactly are you proposing?”
He interlocked his fingers behind his back for fear he’d reach out to touch her. Until he’d earned that right, he wouldn’t dare.
“I’m suggesting we don’t worry about tomorrow. Let’s just concern ourselves with tonight.”
Her eyes lit up. Hopefully that meant she was in agreement with him. But to make sure, he continued.
“My life is very complicated at the moment too. My workaholic father busted himself up in a terrible accident while driving a company truck. He’s stubborn and won’t take help from anyone other than me and my mom, so I had to drop everything in New York and come back home to take care of him.
Not to mention, I’m still getting used to being back here, and I’ve started a new job that has a lot more responsibility than my last one. ”
He took a deep breath while pushing his hands into his pockets as he smiled down at her, hoping the vision of him was warming her from the outside in the way she was him.
“Tonight, though, I just want more of what we had on the back of my truck. I want to talk and get to know each other. Anything else is a bonus. Just give me tonight.”
She licked her full bottom lip, and his body tightened. If such a simple gesture had this kind of effect on him, he wondered if this proposition wasn’t a bad idea. He was being truthful about all the things he was juggling. Maybe trying to add Janae to the mix wasn’t the best idea.
“Are you propositioning me for a one-night stand? Is that what you’re asking for?”
Adam tilted his head and lifted a questioning eyebrow. “Actually, I was offering my arm for a dance, and a cup of coffee at the diner afterward.”
She laughed then and it broke her tense aura down enough that her shoulders shook, and her eyes crinkled with amusement.
“But don’t worry, once we have our coffee, if we want to explore other options, I’m down for that too.”
She tugged her sexy bottom lip between her teeth, making him ache to run his thumb across it.
As a teenage girl, Janae had had his nose wide open even if she didn’t know it.
But the flash of desire in her eyes as she took in the sight of him indicated that this grown woman understood her power.
If that spark of naughtiness in her eyes was anything to go by, he’d say she was willing to use it on him if only for one night.
“All right, Adam.” She hooked her arm through his. “Let’s go have a good time.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of her friends. “Let me go tell my girls we’re gonna head out at the end of the reunion.”
Without another word, she turned around, her hips swiveling in the sexiest rhythm he’d ever witnessed before.
And just like Loretta Devine’s character in Waiting to Exhale when she walked away from Gregory Hines, Janae stopped halfway across the room to look over her shoulder and see if Adam was still watching her.
He sure as hell was. Considering the way his heartbeat sped up at the barest hint of her smile, he was almost certain he always would.
“Damn that woman is fine.”
She certainly was.
“This classroom was the bane of my existence.” Adam watched as each of his friends, excluding Vanessa, burst into laughter at Michael’s admission. This was the room they’d had calculus in and poor Michael had struggled from the first day to the last.
“What happened in this room, baby?” Vanessa’s voice was soothing and compassionate as she rubbed Michael’s arm.
“It’s the room where his inability to do math finally caught up with him.” Derrick stopped laughing long enough to speak. “Mrs. Glenwood would not give him a break. If he didn’t pass, she wasn’t letting Michael walk for graduation.”
“That’s how Janae and Adam ended up tutoring me.” Michael wore the same pained expression he did back then when they were trying to explain the concepts of calculus to him, the one where he looked like he either had a headache or was constipated, or both.
They’d each began sitting down on the metal chairs with desks attached to them. Back in their day, they had seemed heavier and sturdier and you had to put your whole back into moving one. Now, a gentle nudge with their hands and the sets moved this way and that.
When Adam looked around, they’d all managed to find their assigned seats from all those years ago, meaning he had to look across the room to find Janae. He’d hated that she was so far away from him then, and he didn’t much like it now, either.
“Janae, do you remember what Ms. Glenwood said when she told us to tutor Mike?”
Janae threw her head back, chuckling at the memory.
Her full cheeks sat high on her face and her mouth spread into a big bright smile.
Goodness, she was so alluring. How he’d managed to hide his interest in her as a kid he’d never know because even sitting on opposite sides of the room didn’t dim her light, the light that drew him into her orbit every time he was near.
“She said you and I were the two smartest kids in school. If one of us tutored Michael, he might pass. But his only chance of actually passing was if the both of us tag-teamed him with our brilliance.”
Even Michael had to laugh at that. “She wasn’t wrong. I can do simple operations, but once they started mixing the alphabet with strange symbols and in weird orders, my brain tapped out. After tenth-grade algebra, my brain was pretty much tuned out on high school math.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I don’t care what y’all say. My baby couldn’t have been that bad.”
Derrick howled again. “Vanessa, Michael was so bad at math, he proved the belief that all Asian people are good at math is a whole lie.”
They all laughed again, and Michael stood up, pulling Vanessa into his arms. “I still don’t know what limits and continuity are, but I managed to snag the most beautiful woman in the world. I still won if you ask me.”
Vanessa melted in Michael’s arms, and they all shared a collective “Aww,” as Vanessa placed a sweet peck on Michael’s mouth.
Their love and loyalty shone bright whenever they were together.
He doubted anyone could see them together and not hope for something like that for themselves.
He looked across the room and saw the same longing he felt on Derrick and Cree’s faces.
She hid it a lot better than Derrick did, expertly using sarcasm to throw people off the scent.
But just like the heaviness that hounded both Adam and Derrick, he could see the same haunting in Cree’s brown eyes too.
Adam ached for someone who would support his dreams, support him, no matter what the rest of the world said.
Vanessa was definitely that for Michael.
Looking at the two of them, he couldn’t help but wonder when it would be his turn.
When his marriage ended, it took him a long time to put that part of his life behind him.
Could he finally be ready to seek out more?
In that moment, his eyes locked with Janae’s, and he saw something flash in her eyes. Was she hoping for the same as Adam? Could she be ready to seek something new with him?
“Y’all realize this is the first time all five of us have been in the same room since my parents’ passing, right?”
There was a small glimpse of sorrow that flitted across his face before a genuine smile washed the shadow away.
“The five of us didn’t know it when we were in school”—Michael took a moment to stare at each of them with pride before he continued—“but we were building something special. And now that Vanessa’s here with us, it just seems like our friendship circle is finally complete.
I’m glad y’all are still here with me. You held me down in Mrs. Greenwood’s class, during my parents’ passing, and talked me through my stupidity when I was about to lose my woman.
I don’t know a better group of people I’d rather have in my corner. ”
“That calls for a group hug,” Derrick said as he stood quickly, pulling up next to Vanessa and waving his hands for all of them to get up and do the same.
Somehow, Cree had ended up next to Derrick, leaving Janae and Adam to close the circle.
They all locked their arms around one another, moving into what should have been an awkward movement of bodies considering some of their height differences. It wasn’t, however.
It was perfect, synchronous, each of them supporting one another.
But Adam couldn’t shake the feeling that this hug was ten times better than any other hug he’d ever had because Janae’s arm was wrapped low around his waist and his was around her shoulders.
They held tightly to each other as they held tightly to the group.
Adam couldn’t help but wonder if this was a metaphor for something bigger, something deeper. He certainly hoped it was.
When they finally separated, Derrick asked, “Are we headed out to the diner like we did after prom? Because I’m old now, and I need to go home and sleep.”
They all laughed and filed out of the classroom in pairs, leaving Janae and Adam to walk out last. He hooked his pinky finger around hers and stopped her from walking through the doorway.
“How about you? Are you ready to go home and go to sleep too?”
She shook her head. “I work the night shift. This is my witching hour.”
“Good. Go tell your girls I’m driving you home.”
She raised a questioning brow at his presumptive tone.
“You are, are you? Are you taking me straight home or are we taking a detour?”
“Definitely a detour,” he replied. “I’m gonna take you somewhere I’d always wanted to take you when we were kids.”
Her face lit up with excitement and anticipation, and Adam could feel his heart rate tick up slightly in response.
“All right, Mr. Man. Don’t try nothing, though. My best friend is dating the sheriff, and she don’t play about me.”
Adam couldn’t help but laugh. Janae wasn’t lying.
Michael was his best friend, but Adam had no doubt that if he did something stupid and Vanessa found out about it, she’d have Michael swearing out an arrest warrant for Adam in a hot second.
Knowing his boy loved that woman down to her dirty drawers, Adam would be in the clink with the quickness.
“I promise, I’ll always take care of you, Janae.”
She tilted her head, taking him in. “I almost believe you mean that, Adam.”
“I do.”