"Yeah."
He smiles. "I thought I'd surprise you."
I make a face. "I told you before, I don't love surprises."
"Given our particular history," he says, "I get that. I was going to ask if you wanted to watch a movie with me. Then we can make out like the teenage sweethearts that we never got to be." He leads me over to the couch, and I manage to kick off my shoes before I sink onto the couch, careful not to spill my wine.
"Does it need to be a scary movie so I can pretend to be afraid just so that I can have you hold me?"
He laughs, purposely putting his arm around me on the couch. "It can be whatever kind of movie you like."
"Hmmm." I turn so I can see him a little better. "One more question. Does the end of this end up with me in your bed?"
"In many very compromising positions," he says.
"Then bring on the movie," I say, downing the rest of my glass.
Adam turns on the TV, and I tuck my feet up onto the couch, leaning into him. "Now I have two questions for you."
"I might have two answers." I'm feeling the wine from dinner, and with this glass, I'm in perfectly, blissfully tipsy territory. I can tell that I'm smiley, maybe too smiley, but I don't care because I'm happy and I love that I'm here in Adam's apartment and that somehow we're together after all this time doing what we might have done in one or the other of our parents’ basements.
"Do you want more wine?"
"Yes."
I feel the vibration of his laughter in his chest. "And do you want to care about the movie?"
"What do you mean?"
He clears his throat. "I mean, do you want a movie that—despite any making out that will happen—we'll want to finish? Or do you want something we can heartlessly abandon halfway through?"
I think about it for a second. "Let's watch the movie," I say. "It's been a long time since I've actually watched a movie with anyone outside a theater. It might be nice."
Adam stands, taking my wine glass. "It will be more than nice," he calls behind him. "It will be excellent." He fills both our glasses and comes back, shrugging off the jacket of his suit before he sits down again. Flicking through movies on the TV, he chooses one that I vaguely remember from the theaters a few months ago, a fluffy romantic comedy that looked funny. “How about this?”
“You really want to watch it?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know,” I shrug. “I guess I didn’t think this would be your kind of movie.”
Adam slides his arm around my waist, settling his hand on my hip. “I don’t really have just one kind of movie. I think that any genre can be good if done well.”
I take a sip of my wine. “Have I mentioned that I like you?”
“Not today.”
“I like you.”
He clicks the button on the remote to start the movie. “I like you too.”
The story behind the film is pretty simple. There’s a girl who’s head over heels in love with this guy and they’ve known each other forever. Only the guy is dating her best friend. And then, they get engaged and suddenly things get twisty when she admits she’s still in love with him. It’s around that time that I feel Adam stir, and then the soft feeling of lips on my neck.
I’m relaxed and drowsy and tipsy and the sensation of his lips on my skin makes my body wake up and purr. I tilt my head away to give him better access, and he takes it. Teeth graze my skin, and then his lips. I’m not sure we’re going to make it to the end of the film.
Reaching over, I set my wine glass down next to his. But when I go to move, to turn so that I can reach him and his lips, the arm around my waist holds me still. “Watch the movie,” he says softly.
“How am I supposed to watch when you’re doing that?”
His soft laugh makes good chills run across my skin. “Multi-task?”
“Is that what you’re doing?” I gasp as he gently bites my shoulder.
He takes my free hand with his and weaves our fingers together, keeping me from reaching for him. “I told you I would.”
I try to focus on the plot of the film while Adam continues his exploration of my neck and shoulder. “Am I showing up to work tomorrow with a hickey?”
“How about you call out sick from work tomorrow and we go straight out to the island?”
I let my head rest back against his shoulder. “As long as you stop and let me grab some stuff from home, I’m yours.”
He growls, and moves me so he can reach my neck again. And when there’s no more skin that he can reach and hasn’t already touched with his mouth, the hand he’s been keeping on my waist creeps to my skirt. And then, slowly, underneath it. “Adam,” I say.
“Watch the movie.”
I try. Turns out the guy had a crush on the main character and now they’re seeing each other behind the back of her best friend and he might break it off with his fiancée. I don’t blame them if they’re in love but this is a much more serious film than I would have thought. And I keep getting distracted by Adam’s fingers, now on my thigh, barely moving but still slowly getting closer.
The anticipation is driving me mad. My breath is shallow and I’m tense, watching the movie and waiting, just waiting for him to touch me. It takes forever. But when he does, fire blooms in my stomach. He moves his fingers under the fabric of my thong so that they’re resting on my clit and I can’t breathe anymore.
And I still can’t breathe, because nothing happens. He doesn’t do anything, except for the tiniest of movements to let me know that he’s right there. That any moment, he could start to move and give me pleasure and the thought makes me wet. And then I feel the wetness build under his fingers, and blush, the somehow embarrassing and arousing thought that he can feel me getting wetter by the second is only making it happen faster.
On the screen, the couple has just been caught together by the best friend and everything is falling apart. Adam’s fingers move, just a little, a small circle. I want more, and I reach down to cover his hand with mine, to guide him, but he’s faster. His free hand catches me by the wrist and pulls my arm across my body. Now he has both my wrists in his hand, and there’s nothing I can do but let him make those small, infuriating movements on my clit.
I twist a little. “What are you doing?”
“Watch the movie,” he smirks.
“I can’t when you’re touching me like that,” I say, tensing as he draws another tiny circle.
He makes a face that tells me he’s not sorry, that he’s amused by my predicament. “You’ll survive.”
“Adam,” I beg. “Please.”
“Watch the movie, Olivia.” The way he says my name makes me shiver. “Because when it’s over, I’m going to take you to bed, and I don’t plan on getting very much sleep tonight.”
He moves his hand again, harder this time, and I close my eyes for a second. He’s teasing me. Getting me ready for us to play together. I bite my lip and try to focus and ignore the way he’s slowly stroking me now as the film comes to a close. The wedding is off, and the best friends don’t really make up, but they come to terms. But more importantly, the main character and her man are together and happy and so it’s still a happy ending, even if it’s a little sad.