Free And Then It Happened: An Unexpected Romance by Annie Green Page B

eyes followed Adrian up to the cash register. He smiled and gestured toward the menu behind the counter and the girl who was taking his order pushed up her glasses and blushed.
    Now that was more like it. A girl just like me.
    When Adrian came striding back to me, I rolled my eyes, pretending I hadn’t just been staring at him the whole time.
    “So did you get anyone’s number while you were up there?”
    He arched an eyebrow at me. “No, why would I have done that?”
    “Because you flirt with every female around you. It’s like you’re some kind of siren, beckoning them in with that smile of yours.”
    “Hey, I’m just a friendly guy.”
    I sighed heavily. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
    “I do. I’m a friendly guy. Don’t you think so?”
    “Sometimes you can be,” I said, finishing off my drink and staring him down. “There have been a few times you’ve been nice.”
    His mouth opened as he stared at me. “I’m nice to you all the time…”
    Stare.
    “…Most of the time…”
    Bigger stare.
    “…Some of the time and that’s as far as I’m going.”
    “Thank you,” I replied with a smile. “You do have your moments, though.”
    “And they’re growing closer and closer together, right?”
    I shrugged and glanced back at my computer.
    “Right, Jane?”
    “I guess,” I said, knowing my comments were starting to annoy him.
    “You guess?” He threw his hands in the air. “Ugh, you’re seriously not going to admit that I’ve been nicer lately?’
    I began to giggle at the appalled grimace he wore on his face. “Fine. You’ve been nicer, but,” I began, leaning toward him, poking him in the chest, “I don’t know what you’re game is, Adrian. Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?”
    He glanced around the coffee shop. “Because I’m a nice guy and I’m reaching out to the lowly of these…”
    I snorted.
    “And because like I said last night, I like you.”
    “I don’t believe you,” I replied quickly, shutting my laptop and placing it in my bag.
    “Where are you off to?”
    “Home. I have to do laundry.”
    “The exciting life of Jane Woods. You should write a novel. I can see it now. Bestseller.”
    I shot him a look as I stood up, placing my satchel over my shoulder. “And what are you going to do that’s so exciting?”
    “I’m going to hang out with you.”
    “While I do my laundry?”
    Adrian was becoming more and more bizarre. Maybe he should get examined for some kind of brain trauma.
    “I’m hoping to get a peek at all of those slutty little items you wear under your boring clothes.”
    “Ah, so that’s the punch line,” I replied as I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “Not happening.”
    You love it. You love that he wants to hang out with you and not those other girls.
    “Okay, fine, but just wait for me, Jane. I want to hang out with you. Especially since you left me in bed this morning.”
    I flushed as a girl turned toward me and gave me a sour look. Little did she realize that Adrian and I were just friends (and that was a term used loosely) and nothing more.
    “Fine. Fine, but stop saying that we slept together so loudly.”
    “But we did and you did leave me all alone, cold and afraid.”
    “Oh shut up,” I replied, slapping playfully at his arm. “You’re such a dick.”
    He grinned widely at me as he grabbed his drink from the counter. “Thank you. Such a compliment from you warms my insides.”
    I couldn’t help myself. I laughed all the way to the parking lot.
     
    ***
     
    “So tell me,” Adrian said, as he helped me fold my laundry, “Why do you wear such naughty little things under jeans and t-shirts?”
    He held up a pair of purple lace panties with two blue bows in the back as an example.
    “I’d expect this under a short, fuck-me skirt.”
    I swiped it f rom his hand. “I just like lingerie. That’s all. Nothing else.”
    “Did Craig like lingerie?”
    “Not particularly,” I replied, grabbing one of