“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t hold your breath. The evening that he slept in my room after we chased down the burglar, the one thing he said before he passed out was, ‘I’m not ready’.”
“That was two months ago. I don’t suppose you want to take the bull by the horns, huh?” Gab asked, pouring some more Chianti into her glass.
“My parents never liked me very much. I have rejection issues.”
“The problem is, so does he,” Gab said.
“Adam has rejection issues?” I asked incredulously. “Why in God’s name would Adam have rejection issues?”
“Same reason you do, because of his family,” she answered.
“Are you kidding? Adam’s the baby of his family and the only boy. His three older sisters adore him. His mom thinks he’s a walking miracle.”
“Exactly,” Gab replied. “Which is why it has always seemed natural for other women to adore him. But you’ve always been different. He isn’t sure of you. You might turn him down and his ego couldn’t take that.”
“Even if we did date, the minute we had sex it would stop being a challenge and he would get bored.”
“You challenge him in other ways,” Jess responded.
“And he wouldn’t get bored in bed either. Just let him read your books,” Gab added.
“He saw them in my apartment and figured it out. I let him keep a copy of Touch.”
“The one where you two are the characters?” Jess asked.
“They’re not us,” I insisted.
“The biggest obstacle is that the two of you have never really communicated with each other well,” Gab noted, “but you’re both attorneys. You can always negotiate.”
“What, like a plea bargain?” I asked.
“Think of it more like a contract,” she replied. “Braden and I started out with a negotiation. It just turned out to be a bit easier for us.”
“A bit? You were happily married within three months of your first date. Adam and I have been battling for twenty-three years.”
“I’m telling you, you got this, Lil,” Gab said, looking me straight in the eye.
“I think so too,” Jess said, waggling her eyebrows and taking a sip of wine.
“You need to be around each other more, though,” Gab said. “You have that annual law librarian party at O’Malley’s on Friday, right? All of us usually stop off there after work on Fridays. Come and hang out with us afterwards.”
“We’ll make sure he takes you home,” Jess added
“You may not have to. He offered me a ride whenever I wanted one. In fact, he’s supposed to give me a ride tonight.” Jess and Gab exchanged excited looks. “You seem to be enjoying this quite a bit.”
“Well, first and foremost we want you to be happy,” Gab explained.
“But you have to understand, honey, the thought of Adam smitten, brings us a great deal of pleasure for many reasons.”
“So, how long will Beth be gone?” I asked, changing the subject to another close friend who usually joined us for these Girls’ Nights.
“A few weeks,” Gabrielle replied. “Since she’s going to be in charge of the non-profit side of the legal clinic Braden and I are starting, we have her down in D.C. observing a similar practice. She’s staying in her family’s townhouse down there.”
“It’s nice to have a parent who’s a senator,” Jess noted.
“It’s nice to have a parent you can stand to be around,” I added dryly.
Time flew by quickly and my phone rang in the middle of a giggling fit that Gabrielle brought on telling me stories about her former clients. When I saw the name, adrenaline shot through my body and I got butterflies in my stomach. I told myself to get a grip and remember that this was the same guy who had answered “Lily Adler” when our ninth grade Biology teacher had asked him to name an asexual organism.
“I assume that’s you, Adam, since I don’t know anyone named ‘Phone Sex’.”
“I liked your book.”
“You finished it?” I saw my friends look up and make all kinds of excited faces.
“You know, I’m sure it’s purely coincidental, but your main characters look a lot like us,” he said smugly. I rolled my eyes.
“Are you calling to point that out to me?”
“No, I’m calling to tell you I’ll meet you in the lobby in five minutes.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Bring Gabrielle down with you. We’ll bring Cameron and arrange a trade.”
“We’ll be there,” I answered and ended the call, looking up to see my friends smiling at me gleefully, just like Bruce last night.
Gabrielle and I said our goodbyes to Jess and got our things together, heading for the lobby. She went over to chat with her former doorman, so I picked up a copy of the Metro, a free newspaper, and stood leaning against a wall. I started to read the coverage of a big mob trial that was about to begin. Apparently, the government had some important witness who could put the favored son of a famous South Philly crime family behind bars.
My concentration was broken a couple of minutes later when I felt a hand at the small of my back. My jacket was thin, and so even over the top of it, it felt nice. I smelled Acqua di Gio and a warm, excited feeling filled me up inside.
“Well, if it isn’t Lilah Alden, erotic novelist.”
“So you liked my book, huh?” I asked without turning around.
“I couldn’t put it down.”
“I assume you can read with one hand then,” I joked.
“You have a dirty mind, Ms. Adler. I like that in a woman.”
“I’ll bet.” I laughed.
“Reading about the Moretti trial, I see. They’re talking about doing some of the related cases in Common Pleas. I’m hoping they’ll assign me to one of them.”
“Couldn’t that be dangerous?” I asked, trying not to sound like I cared as much as I did.
He rested a hand on my hip and leaned in so close that I could feel him smile against my ear. “Why, Lilith, are you worried about me?” he asked in a quiet, sultry voice. I pulled in a deep breath and steadied my nerves. Then I folded my paper and spun around quickly, so that we were literally toe to toe. I looked up at him and gave him my best cocky smile.
“If anything happens to you, I’ll have to start driving again. Let’s go, Phone Sex.”