Five Minute Man: A Contemporary Love Story

by Zanders, Abbie

  Chapter 13

  The movie was both funny and filled with action, a flick about so-called retired special agents finding themselves back on active duty. Adam had been a little worried at first when she’d suggested Redbox. What if she was really into those tearjerker chic flicks? Not that he wouldn’t be willing to sit through one if it meant spending time with her, but this was so much better.

  Once they’d had their fill of pizza, they paused the movie and made some popcorn. When they started it up again, she sat closer to him on the floor, enough that their shoulders touched. Warmth spread through him from the point of contact, sinking deep into his overworked, tired muscles. As entertaining as the movie was, it was difficult to pay attention when all he could think about was how nice it was to have her next to him.

  As the final credits rolled across the screen, Adam turned to look at Holly, only to find her already looking at him. Her gaze moved from his eyes down to his lips. He’d been able to resist kissing her once, but that same strength fled him now.

  He leaned toward her slowly, giving her every opportunity to stop him, to turn away, but she didn’t. His lips brushed hers, tasting of salt and butter.

  Her lips were so soft. Soft and full, and parting slightly in clear invitation. Adam deepened the kiss, his tongue allowing him a proper taste, and groaned. Needing more, his hand cupped the back of her head, silk beneath his fingers, holding her exactly where he needed her to be.

  Jesus. It felt as if liquid heat had been injected into his veins. Every nerve fired to life in a wave that started from where their mouths met and flowed out from there. In those moments, everything else ceased to exist. There was only Holly. Her taste, her scent, her soft and pliant mouth and the hesitant, exploring touch of her tongue.

  Never before had a kiss had such an effect on him. Never before had he felt such a sense of rightness nor a blaze of hunger that threatened to turn him to ash where he sat.

  When he finally pulled away, he looked into her eyes and saw the same dazed confusion he knew must be mirrored in his own. He wanted to say something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a single, coherent thing. The only things popping into this mind were single words or simple phrases, like “more” and “fuck yes”.

  She was staring at him, her little pink tongue grazing over her bottom lip and said...“I think Max has to go out.”

  It took him a few long seconds to translate her words over the rush of roaring blood in his ears, obviously on the express train south where the rest of his blood seemed to be gathering. Her lips were darkened and slightly swollen from his kiss, her skin flushed, her eyes sparkling. He was vaguely aware of Max pushing his way up between them, his paw coming to rest on Holly’s arm.

  Somewhat shaken, Adam leaned back enough to allow Holly to rise. Shit. What the hell just happened?

  ***

  Holy earth-moving kisses, Batman. Holly knew she was moving toward the back door, but it was not by conscious effort. Her feet took care of the left-right-left-right forward motion, her hand automatically reached for and opened the door. She even managed to step out into the cool summer evening and inhale a few deep breaths.

  She’d read about kisses like that. Even wrote about them herself. But she had never actually experienced one before. One minute, she and Adam were sitting next to each other; the next, his lips were on hers and she was lost. For a few minutes, everything else ceased to exist, and there was only Adam... The feel of Adam – all hot, hard, and warm. The taste of Adam – salt and sweet and spice. The scent of Adam – clean and fresh and male.

  If not for Max’s interruption, would they still be kissing? Or would they have progressed to other things? Would Adam’s hand have moved to cup something other than the back of her head? Would his skilled mouth have found something besides her lips to stroke and sip? Would she have let him?

  Absolutely.

  Holly wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, and not from the gentle breeze. It was completely unlike her to lose control so quickly, especially over a kiss.

  But good lord, what a kiss!

  Holly was a very staunch advocate of the five-date rule: no sex until a minimum of five dates, and they had to be good dates that spanned a multitude of venues and activities – not just hanging out at a bar or watching a game. Since the number of men who’d actually made it that far were countable on one hand, she didn’t have a lot of experience. And of those, none had managed to light a fire in her core the way Adam’s kiss just had.

  Had it been the same for him, too? She had been pretty out of it when he finally broke away, but when she had managed to pry open her eyelids, she thought he looked every bit as lost in the moment and stunned as she’d felt.

  Her lady parts tingled with a potent combination of hope, lust, and anxiety. The really big question was, what was she going to do about it? Technically, this was only the third time she and Adam were seeing each other. Coffee, dinner and a house tour, pizza and a movie. Was she willing to break her five-date rule? Was she strong enough to go back to kissing (yes, please!) and not melt into a puddle of sexual need at his feet?

  One thing was for certain, she thought as she impatiently waited for Max to do his business – she sure as hell wasn’t going to find any answers out on her porch.

  As it turned out, she wasn’t going to find any in her living room, either.

  Chapter 14

  Adam put the last of the throw pillows back on the couch with a little more force than necessary. He had turned the lights back on. The DVD was back in the case; the remnants of their little indoor picnic gathered and the immediate area tidied.

  He was still reeling from that kiss. Though kiss seemed a woefully inadequate word for what they had done. He could still taste her on his lips, still feel the way she’d softened so readily for him. His thirty-two year old body felt eighteen again, hot and hard and pumped up with primal urges.

  From a fucking kiss. It was unnerving as hell.

  He didn’t have to turn around to know that Holly had returned; he could sense her. His cock twitched in welcome as she hovered in the archway separating the living space from the kitchen area, looking every bit as off-balance as he felt. It was that – that hint of vulnerability – that made up his mind for him.

  “I should be going,” Adam said, his voice somewhat husky. His eyes flicked over her, but he didn’t hold her gaze. If he did, if he allowed himself to look into her eyes and see the passion burning just below the surface, he couldn’t be responsible for his actions. He wanted her with a ferocity that shook him to his core.

  Disappointment and confusion flashed in her eyes as Holly accepted the empty popcorn bowls he thrust into her hand. “Okay.”

  “I had a great time.” The words fell so far short of the mark that he winced. It sounded more like an insincere platitude than the heartfelt sentiment it was. The evening had been perfect, exactly what he needed after a long day of busting his ass. Holly had been perfect.

  How was it that he felt so comfortable, so at peace around her when he hardly knew her? At least until he’d started kissing her. Then the comfort and peace burned up like dry tinder in the sudden flames consuming him from the inside out.

  “Me, too.” He wondered if her answer was reflexive, or genuine. It was hard to tell. Her voice gave nothing away, and she was looking down at the bowls in her hands instead of at him so he couldn’t see her expressive eyes.

  “Thanks for having me.” Shit! That sounded even worse. Forget eighteen. What was he, twelve?

  “My pleasure.”

  She walked him to the door and opened it, keeping her body slightly behind it as if subconsciously putting a barrier between them. Unlike the other night, she made no move to follow him out onto the porch.

  Adam hesitated. Maybe he was making a big mistake. It wasn’t like him to panic like that. Maybe he just needed to take a breath and follow his instincts. And she had been right there with him – he was sure of it.

  Holly
made the decision for him. “Drive safely.”

  Holly made the decision for him. Nodding his head, he turned and walked out to his truck. This time, when he looked in the rearview mirror on his way out, he didn’t see her watching him go.

  Well, shit.

  ***

  Holly didn’t hear from Adam for the rest of the weekend. She tried not to read too much into that, but it was hard not to. Especially after the kiss they had shared. “Kiss” really didn’t describe it at all. It was like trying to call the Adirondacks a series of consecutive bumps in the landscape.

  But maybe that had just been her. Maybe he hadn’t felt the same thing. Maybe it had been just the opposite for him. She didn’t think so, though. Right afterwards, when she’d looked into his eyes, she could have sworn she saw the same awe, the same surprise, that she’d felt.

  Although, it might be easier to believe that if he hadn’t practically left skid marks on his way out.

  ***

  The gum-smacking hostess at Applebees was one they hadn’t seen before. Holly decided right off the bat she didn’t like the girl, especially when they were told Brandon’s section was full up and they were seated on the other side of the restaurant.

  “Whatever happened to the customer is always right?” Holly muttered.

  Liz looked back, narrowing her eyes at the young, ebullient foursome of college age girls, sitting at Liz and Holly’s usual table and shamelessly vying for Brandon’s attention. As a matter of fact, nearly all the tables in his section were occupied by young females.

  She snorted. “Looks like we’ve been put out to pasture.”

  “Whatever,” Holly said, feigning disinterest. She’d been hoping maybe Brandon would say something about his uncle, but that wasn’t likely to happen now. “Next week maybe we should change things up a little. Hit Chili’s or Olive Garden instead.”

  “Works for me.” God bless Liz, she got it.

  After waiting much longer than usual, they gave their selections to the plump, middle-aged server with the bad dye job. Liz wasted no time in swooping in for the scoop the moment the woman moved away. “So. What‘s up with you and the contractor?”

  Because Liz was her best friend, and because Holly felt like she was going to implode if she didn’t talk to someone, she brought Liz up to speed. Maybe Liz could help her sort things through, because she sure as hell wasn’t doing very well on her own. A best-friend biased, semi-objective analysis was just what she needed.

  “Back to back evenings, then nothing?” Liz asked, frowning. “What’s up with that?”

  “You’re the one with real-life experience. I was hoping you could tell me.”

  Liz thought about it. “Maybe he’s afraid things are moving too fast,” she said thoughtfully. “If you guys hit it off as well as you say you did, he’s probably pissing his pants right about now. Maybe he’s just giving it a few days, letting things settle till he can make sense of them.”

  “Maybe ,” Holly said doubtfully.

  “Or... maybe he’s waiting for you to make the next move. He asked you to coffee, you invited him over, then he called and asked you out. Could be your turn.”

  It sounded reasonable enough when Liz put it that way, but Holly didn’t think so. It just didn’t feel right, somehow. “You think?”

  Liz shrugged. “Hard to say. Some guys love it when the woman makes a move, some guys hate it. What’s your read on him?”

  “I don’t know.” Holly wasn’t sure that second time really counted as her asking him out, especially since they spent most of the night talking about renovating her cottage. Adam had been the one to suggest and provide dinner, so technically he was the one who kind of turned it into something more than a professional consult (not that she minded in the least). “I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable calling him, though.” If he was having doubts, he might see it as pushy.

  “Yeah. I got the impression he likes to be the one taking the lead.” Liz tapped her fingernails – now a dark blue with silver sparkles – against the table. “You said he has pick-up games at the Y, right? Why not come to my yoga class with me this week? You could accidently run into him on purpose, see how he reacts.”

  After briefly considering the idea, Holly nodded. Liz had been trying to get her to go for a while now. As much as she eschewed the idea of public exercise, it would be worth it to see Adam again. She could use his reaction to seeing her as a kind of sign post, hopefully providing direction into the nebulous realm of what-the-heck-is-he-thinking. She could stop all of this non-productive obsessing and guessing and move on from there. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Great. We can hit Target – “ Liz pronounced it tar-jhay – “after dinner tonight and pick you up a mat and some flattering yoga pants.”

  Holly frowned. “Why can’t I just wear my sweats?”

  Liz rolled her eyes and gave Holly a look of suffering. “Because we want him to notice your ass.”

  Chapter 15

  Adam’s head wasn’t in the game. He’d let too many guys get by him because he’d caught a glimpse of Holly on the way in. She’d been in one of the group exercise rooms, looking way too flexible in a tight black number that hugged her curves like a high-performance vehicle on a mountain road. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and she was smiling at that young yoga instructor as he tried to demonstrate a pose that put her cute little ass high in the air and slammed him with a wave of heavy lust in the process.

  He forced himself to concentrate, stealing the ball and driving down the court. Shoot. Miss. Again. Damn. Well, at least he was being consistent. He hadn’t made a decent shot all night.

  After the game ended, Adam hovered near the door, hoping to catch another glimpse of Holly. He hadn’t called her since leaving her place abruptly on Friday. Christ, if the dog hadn’t intervened, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself. That soul-searing kiss would have turned into some heavy petting, the kissing and suckling of several other areas, and probably hot and sweaty sex right there on her living room floor. Why that might have been a bad thing, he was having trouble reasoning out; all he knew was that Holly deserved better than that.

  Was she disappointed that he’d turned tail and run? Or relieved?

  “You’re off your game tonight,” his friend Chuck observed as they gathered their things. “Everything okay?”

  Adam shrugged and refilled his water bottle. “Yeah. It happens.”

  Chuck looked doubtful, then he caught sight of something over Adam’s shoulder and grinned. “Nevermind. I get it now.”

  All Adam could think of was that Chuck had spotted Holly in that form-fitting spandex. Chuck couldn’t possibly know about him and Holly, because he hadn’t told anyone, but any guy with a working pair couldn’t fail to notice her. The thought tapped into his inner caveman and released something sharp and ugly. He turned, ready to place himself between Holly and anyone else’s line of vision, and was immediately sorry he did.

  “What’s her name again? Ellen? Erin?” Chuck asked quietly when the woman caught sight of Adam and started making her way over to them.

  “Eve,” Adam said with little enthusiasm and a whole lot of dread. For one very long night he’d had to endure just how cute she’d thought it was that his name was Adam and her name was Eve, a “sure cosmic sign” that they were fated to be together.

  “Right,” Chuck laughed. “Uh-oh. She’s got an apple. Prepare to be tempted.”

  Adam groaned. She really did have an apple in her hand. Not that she needed it. On the surface, the woman was temptation personified. Tall and blonde, with a fuck-me smolder that was so perfect she must have practiced in front of a mirror for hours. Her feminine assets were beautifully displayed, wrapped in something that looked more like it came from Victoria’s Secret than the Sports Authority. Unfortunately, once you got past all the pretty packaging, the rest left a lot to be desired. Yeah, the woman had some impressive skills in the bedroom – she was limber as hell - but she was lacking
everywhere else.

  It was a lesson Adam had learned the hard way. He’d made the mistake of taking Eve up on her offer once. It was a decision he’d been regretting ever since. As sinfully packaged as she was, he’d given himself over to temptation in a moment of weakness and he was still paying for it.

  Damn, how could he have forgotten that she taught Zumba here on Wednesday nights? It was a testament to just how out of it he was. If he hadn’t been so distracted with the idea of seeing Holly, he could have slipped out the back like he usually did. Now he was stuck in the doorway, visible to anyone in the corridor, and it would be impossible to make a clean getaway without being obvious.

  And Eve had spotted him. Double damn. “Hi, Adam,” she purred.

  “Hi.” He did his best to not look her directly in the eye. Unlike Holly, Eve was almost as tall as he was. A picture flashed in his mind of Holly tucked into his body, head tilted, big green eyes looking up into his face. Funny how she seemed to fit perfectly against him despite their differences in height.

  Eve stepped closer in a clear violation of his personal space. Adam stepped back, his body language speaking for him with a very loud and clear “not interested, please move on” message. Unfortunately, Eve wasn’t one to pick up on subtle clues.

  “I didn’t know you still played here,” she chastised lightly.

  Shit. Busted. “Sometimes.” He wondered how the guys would feel about maybe switching their games to Tuesdays. It was the one night of the week he knew of when Holly had standing plans with her friend, according to his nephew.