“Oh yeah, gobs. But I’ve known that for a while. But we’re also two adults who should be able to acknowledge that chemistry and not do anything about it.”
How the hell was she so calm? Like the explosion in his heart hadn’t just happened. She had no idea what she’d done to him. Did she do this to Tanner as well?
She started at the fire a few moments longer and then stood. “I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”
“Wait. Can I ask a question?”
“Sure.” She looked at him expectantly. Like nothing had changed between them.
“You and Tanner. Do you have this kind of chemistry?”
Her smile flickered a bit, but she caught it quickly. “Yes,” she said simply. It didn’t fool Adam though. Maybe at one time they did, but she was questioning it now.
She spun around and escaped into the tent. Maybe all hope was not lost for his heart.
He stayed by the fire for another half hour and then crawled into the tent. The moon was bright, and Snow was sound asleep, her breathing deep and even. Nona climbed into the sleeping bag, and he slid in after her.
He watched Snow for a while, wondering what life would be like if he woke to her face every morning. She was gorgeous, that was for sure. But there was more to her than that. The chemistry, as she called it, for one. But she was quick to smile, and she didn’t expect anything from him. She just accepted him the way he was.
And yet. She’d never be his. She was Tanner’s.
Life wasn’t fair.
He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of her. He wanted to remember this moment. The time he fell asleep next to the woman of his dreams and didn’t do anything about it.
He wouldn’t post that one on Instagram. But he wanted to do something. He thumbed through and threw a different picture up on Instagram, pondering for a second how to tag the picture. Thinking about life, love, and happiness #slayed. It was an innocent enough picture, one of them sitting by the campfire, but he’d declared how he felt about her.
She’d kill him. He knew that. But if he was going to have even a prayer of winning her heart, he was done hiding his feelings. He’d respect hers, but she had to know.
Chapter 14
Liz woke the next morning to the sound of rain on the tent. Dammit. They’d come this far without worrying about water. This was not going to be a fun tear down. She doubted Adam had put the chairs in the car last night.
She was afraid to even look at him. She should’ve never done that last night. What was she thinking? She’d felt the spark between them for the entire trip, but she wasn’t quite prepared for his reaction or even her own. She’d come dangerously close to doing something dumb. She wasn’t even sure why she sat on his lap. She only planned on leaning over him.
She picked up her phone. There were fifty-three texts from Jenny. Oh no.
They all were some variation of I knew you’d hook up with him. Or How did Tanner take the news?
Shit. She and Adam had talked about pictures. Obviously he had posted something. What now?
What the hell are you talking about? There was no hooking up. No news for Tanner.
How do you explain this?
She posted a screenshot of Adam’s Instagram account with a picture of them sitting by the campfire. Which was not that big of a deal. He posted all kinds of pictures of them camping. She read the caption. Anger coursed through her veins. How could he?
She slammed the phone down on the air mattress and shoved his shoulder.
“What were you thinking?” she asked, her voice going up several notches.
He rubbed his eyes. “You mean the picture?”
“Hashtag slayed?” She was fighting hysteria. He’d basically told the world he was in love with her.
He sat up, and she had to look away from his shirtless body. She liked it a little more than she should.
His eyes turned serious. “I just wanted you to know how I felt.”
Butterflies danced in her stomach in spite of her anger. He wasn’t denying anything. This was stupid. She was not the Snow of his fantasies and it was time he learned that.
She would not fall for his charm. She couldn’t. She met his eyes. “Take it down.”
His face hardened. “No.”
“I don’t think Tanner has seen it yet. Please take it down.” Tanner was going to be so angry.
“No. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“You’re infuriating. Why won’t you take it down?”
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. “Because I’m sick of hiding how I feel about you.” He was so relaxed. How he could not see he was ruining everything?
“Oh give me a break. It was a high school crush. I’m not the same person I was back then.”
He climbed out of his sleeping bag and crawled across the air mattress to her. He sat a few inches away and took her hand in his. “No, you most certainly are not. But that doesn’t change anything about who you are today. The way I feel has nothing to do with high school.”
She jerked away from him. “This is my life you’re screwing with. Now take it down.”
He sighed and grabbed his phone. “Fine.” Her phone rang a second later.
Tanner.
“Never mind, I’m going to answer this. Keep your mouth shut.”
She took a deep breath and answered the phone. She could fix this. Play it off as a dumb joke or something.
“Hey, Tan.”
“It’s time for you to go home.” His voice was tight and angry.
“I know the picture probably pissed you off, but I can explain.”
“Explain? It looks like my girlfriend is sleeping with another man.”
“I know it does. We obviously didn’t think this through.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was joke meant to make you jealous because I was upset you didn’t call last night. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the impact it would have until Jenny messaged me this morning. I was just trying to get Adam to take it down. I’m really sorry.”
“I’m uncomfortable with this. I want you to go home.”
“I’ve been dreaming about this for years. We’re halfway done. Please, you have to trust me.”
“No, I don’t. Not after a picture like that.” His voice had gone quiet.
Why were all the men in her life so completely unreasonable? She rolled her eyes, and Adam raised his eyebrows. Yeah, he’d like for the conversation to take a turn for the worse.
“Oh grow up. We were sitting by the campfire. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Which was true, but a slice of guilt crossed her mind. Adam was obviously in love with her and she was spending weeks alone with him. She never should’ve pulled that stunt last night.
“Grow up? Why are you acting all pissy? I’m the one who should be mad.”
“No, you’re not. Not anymore. I explained. Get over it. I did nothing wrong. ”
He went silent for a moment.
“Fine. Over it. What’s on the agenda for today?” His voice was still angry, but she was going to pretend like everything was fine anyway.
Liz let out a breath. “It’s raining, so we’re going to try to outrun the rain. Then the redwoods. I’ve been wanting to see these trees for forever.” Adam opened the tent and let Nona out. He continued to watch her but she kept her eyes down so she didn’t have to look at him.
“I know you have. Send me some pics. Preferably without the asshole in them.”
She rolled her eyes again. At some point Tanner would have to come to terms with her and Adam’s friendship. Sure, she was pissed about the picture, but she’d get over it. It’d only been a couple of weeks, but this friendship felt real to her. Like the kind that doesn’t go away. If she hadn’t been on this trip with him, she would’ve never thought it was possible, but he was such a genuine person.
“Okay, we need to break camp. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you too, Liz. I can’t wait to see
you again.” He hung up the phone.
Adam frowned at her. “You lie pretty well.”
She snorted. “Yeah, you know, I never used to. At least not with Tanner. But seems like since I’ve been with you, that’s all I do.”
“Maybe there’s more to this than you think.”
Oh gosh. She could not put up with one more thing this morning. She was about ready to tell them both to leave her alone. “Stop right there. We’re not going to do this anymore. You and I are friends. That is all we’ll ever be. Please stop trying to make it something it’s not. I’m completely comfortable with you now, and that can’t change. This trip has been incredible, and I don’t want it to end. Please.”
He pursed his lips. “Okay. Friends with—how did you put it?—gobs of chemistry.”
She shook her head at him. Rain still came down outside. Nona raced back and forth in front of the tent, happy as anything. “We need to get going. This is not going to be fun.”
Chapter 15
They stopped a few hours later at a park. The clouds had cleared, and the sun was bright. Adam took the lead on spreading the sleeping bags, tent, and chairs out on the grass to dry, per Snow’s instruction. She was still angry with him, but hid it pretty well. Trying to ease the tension even further, Adam started a conversation.
“So the redwoods, huh?”
Her face split into a grin. “I’m so flipping excited.”
“Are they on your dream board?”
“Oh yeah. They were one of the first.”
“Can I see it?”
“The dream board? Sure. Let’s get some food first though.”
They dug out the sandwich meats and cheese from the cooler and settled on a picnic table where Snow opened up her computer. Her dream board was her desktop background.
Adam looked over the pictures. A single redwood tree sat in the middle of the screen. There were a few cars and a picture of a mechanics shop. He recognized Hearst Castle. He pointed to a beach. “Where is that?”
“A beach in Thailand.”
“I was just there last year. I nearly bought a hotel.”
“Of course, you’ve been there.”
“Only on business, but it is beautiful.” If he hadn’t been chastised for even giving the slightest hint to a future with Liz, he would have mentioned taking her there someday. But he was trying to be good. Every time he looked at her, he fought the urge to reach out and hold her.
“What’s with the trees?” In the corner there was a fall scene.
“I’ve never seen trees change color or gone skiing.” She pointed to a snow-capped mountain. The Alps.
“You know you could go skiing in Utah. Switzerland is a little far away.”
“You’ve been there too?”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful.” Don’t say it. Don’t say it. “Maybe someday you’ll get to go. Or I could take you. Or…” Well, so much for keeping his mouth shut.
Snow looked at him, her eyes wide. “I suppose you could whisk me away on your private jet to wherever I want to go.” Her voice held a hint of annoyance.
“I could.” He waved his hand in front of her screen. “Aside from bringing your mother back, I could give you all this.” She brought it up so why not take advantage.
“Adam, you need to stop.”
He flung his leg over the bench so he was straddling the picnic table seat, and he pulled her into him. She didn’t say anything, but she made no move to wiggle away. He leaned his head on her temple and whispered in her ear.
“I could give you everything you ever wanted. All I’m asking for is a chance to love you.”
She moved her head back and looked him deep in the eyes, desire burning behind them. “Could you really? Tanner and I have been together a long time. He’s my best friend. Could you replace that?”
“Maybe not right away, but I can. I want to know everything there is to know about you and share all my secrets. I want to watch movies with you and listen when you’ve had a bad day at the shop.”
She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, there was something else there.
“Okay, then. I want to be your friend, and I’m willing to give you the chance to be my best friend, but I can’t give you anything more than that. Can you be my friend?”
He wanted to tell her no. To tell her he needed to be her everything, but he’d ruin not only their trip but any possibility of having her.
“Under one condition,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“If anything happens with Tanner, I get first shot.”
She let out a breath and gave him a small smirk. “You’ll just have to follow the rules to find out. Now, let’s get a move on. I want to see some redwoods.”
“Oh, oh. Can you stop again?” Snow asked. Adam chuckled and pulled off the road. They’d stopped every few hundred feet in the last mile. He didn’t mind. Snow was beside herself with excitement as they moved through the forest. She scrambled out and took off down a small path.
Adam followed with Nona. “Snow, wait up.” He caught up with her.
“Sorry, this is just so amazing.”
“I know.”
She spread her arms on the tree as if she were hugging it. Though her arms didn’t even cover a fraction of the tree. It must’ve been ten feet in diameter. Maybe more. “Can you believe this? I can barely see the top. Oh, look.”
She tugged at his hand, and he tried to ignore the sparks. She treated him like he was hers, but he wasn’t. If she was to be believed, she was equally as affectionate with him as she was with Tanner. How did she even justify that in her head?
She stopped in front of a downed tree. Even laying on the ground the tree was taller than the both of them.
“Let’s see if we can climb onto it.”
There was a smaller tree lying perpendicular to it. He let Nona off her leash and watched Liz try to scramble up on the side of the tree trunk. It was twice as tall as her and she couldn’t seem to find a good foothold.
“Here, let me help you.”
Adam offered his knee, and she climbed up. She held out her hand, but he didn’t take it, afraid he’d pull her down into his arms—though he didn’t really consider that a bad thing. He was able to get a good grip on the trunk and swing his leg up. Nona stood there whining.
“Sorry, girl, you’ll just have to stay down there.”
Snow was already climbing up on the trunk of the bigger downed tree and he stumbled after her. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to fall right off and crack her head open.
“This is amazing. We should stay here forever,” Snow said.
He caught up to her. “We should.”
They were among giants. Giants that had lived here for hundreds of years. The secrets they’d seen and stories they could tell, if only they could talk. Snow looked mesmerized. A sense of pride, of purpose, rolled through him. He had given her this, and she had to know that. Without him, she would’ve never seen this, been here. Yes, he had promised to only be a best friend, and he would force himself to do so, but he could also love her. And as she looked up, and spun around taking in the whole scene, he knew he did.
Snow spun again and slipped. Adam darted over and caught her, forced to pull her into him to steady the both of them. She giggled and looked up at him, those blue eyes completely captivating him. Her smile fell, and she was suddenly serious.
Best friend, he reminded himself.
After being sure she was steady on her feet, he stepped away. A hint of anger coursed through him. She knew how he felt, and she felt some of it too. How dare she promise him everything but forever in his arms?
“Thanks,” she whispered, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “I got lost in it all.”
He forced a smile and shoved his hands in the back of his pockets to keep himself from reaching for her again.
She took a step, stumbled a little, but caught herself this time. She laughed nervously and wiped her palms on her jeans.
“I’m sorry. I just…”
“You don’t need to explain. I understand. That damn chemistry keeps getting in the way.”
She nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah, that’s it.” She turned away from him and strolled farther down the log. “Oh, Adam, come look,” she called.
He went to her, and she pointed out a bird high up in the trees. How did she turn it off so fast? The connection was there. He could feel it and he knew she did as well.
And then in the next moment she acted as though she was one hundred percent okay with only being friends. Maybe there was something Tanner had on him. Something Adam couldn’t understand due to his upbringing and his status.
Or perhaps he had just joined the race too late, and there wasn’t enough time for him to catch up before Tanner reached the finish line.
Chapter 16
“How much longer to the campground?” Adam asked. Darkness had fallen before they even left the Avenue of the Giants.
Liz crinkled her forehead. “An hour, maybe an hour and a half.” She pulled out her list of campgrounds and put an address into his GPS. He groaned when he saw the time.
“Try two and a half hours. It will be nearly one by the time we get there.”
“Sorry,” she said. Adam didn’t say it, but it was her fault. She’d been having too much fun playing in the trees. His phone rang just before he pulled out onto the main road.
“I’m going answer this and put it on speaker so I can talk as we go. It’s my dad, it would be best if you didn’t say anything.”
“Sure.” As far as she knew, Adam hadn’t talked to his dad since they started the trip.
“Son, what in hades name are you doing?” His voice was deep and rich. A voice that was used to being obeyed.
“I’m camping dad.”
“I heard. Who’s the girl?”
“A friend.”
“That’s not what the media saying. They’re all wondering who she is.”
Adam’s fingers clenched the steering wheel. “It doesn’t matter. Did you need something?”
“I need you to come home and make up with Kelly.”
“Not happening. We weren’t right for each other.”
Roadtrips and Romance (Omega Mu Alpha Brothers Book 5) Page 10