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She found a bench and let the sun warm her skin. Standing on the precipice of self-inflicted chaos—even if it was necessary—did a number on the nerves. She closed her eyes and took a few yoga breaths; she pictured the ocean.
Then she heard a voice that snapped her eyes open.
“Okay, I have to ask: Are you following me, Birthday Girl?”
She looked up to find a very pleasant surprise.
“Adam!”
He stood in front of her looking like he was ready for a jog. Forget the jeans and tee; he wore pleasantly short running shorts and a tank that showed off arms Lucy suddenly couldn’t stop staring at. She thought she might be dreaming. The thought of their kiss came rushing back like a rogue wave. So much had happened since they parted, but she could feel it on her lips like it had just happened. She was glad she was sitting down.
Adam pulled earbuds from his ears and sat on the bench next to her. “So?” he said with a grin. “Are you following me or what?”
Lucy laughed, wondering if they were going to carry on like their lips hadn’t been pressed against each other not long before. “I think it’s more appropriate for me to ask you that, seeing that you know I work right around the corner.”
He craned his neck to look where she had pointed, and she studied the line of his jaw. The thick stubble was soft, she’d learned from their little mishap earlier. She wondered what the divot at the base of his throat would smell like if she dipped her nose into it.
“That’s right; we are in your neighborhood, aren’t we? But in all fairness, you also know that I work right around that corner.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder in the other direction from her office.
He made a fair point, and she wondered if it was a subconscious choice that she had moved herself closer to where he was, though she had had no idea they would run into each other yet again.
Or, perhaps it was like Oliver said, and their chance encounter was the universe saying yes.
“So, what do you do in these parts?” he casually asked, and Lucy realized they were indeed going to skirt the elephant sitting between them. He was flirty and cute, and Lucy was up for it, of course she was, but she couldn’t deny the need to know where she stood with this handsome stranger who had caught her with his lips.
“I’m sorry,” she said, holding out a hand like she was confirming she wasn’t misremembering, “but we kissed earlier.”
Adam shyly laughed, and his face turned the sweetest shade of pink. He bit his lip. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, we did.”
Despite having been in a committed relationship for the past two years, Lucy remembered what it was like when things were fresh at the beginning. The insecurity and second-guessing wrapped up in all the butterflies. Did I do something wrong? What did he mean by that? Is he not into me? The questions she’d dissect with Nina while they replayed every conversation and reread every text, pouring mental and emotional labor into distilling meaning from ultimately trivial social cues.
Frankly, it was exhausting.
And there on that bench, staring at Adam the hot bartender, whom she’d known for less than a day, kissed by accident, and would like to kiss again, Lucy did not have the energy.
“And?” she asked. “Now what?”
For a second, Adam looked startled by her candor, but he scooted an inch closer. “Well, that first time seemed like it was a bit of an accident. How’s your ankle, by the way? You looked like you caught that curb.”
“My ankle is fine,” Lucy said, inching her way toward him and growing less interested in small talk.
“Good,” he said on an exhale Lucy was close enough to feel against her skin. “I’m glad I was there to catch you. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or anything.”
“Me neither.”
She didn’t know if her response made any sense, but she knew his lips were very close to hers, and the sunlight was picking up tiny flecks of gold in his eyes. She felt his gaze studying her mouth and wondered if his heart was beating as hard as hers.
“So, what are we going to do?” she said breathily.
She watched him blink. His lashes fanned in that enviable way typical of so many men when women were always the ones gluing on falsies. “Well,” he said slowly, “I suppose we could do it again, if you want—”
The end of his sentence disappeared into Lucy’s lips. She turned and leaned forward, gripping the back of the bench for leverage. Where the first kiss was all awkward positioning and capitalizing on a lucky stumble, this one was straight on target and completely on purpose.
They sat close enough that their knees pressed together, but that was it. The kiss was just lips; a sample. An experiment. Lucy liked the outcome very much.
Very, very much.
So much that she hungrily leaned into it, embracing the thrill of her own desire. It felt good. Adam felt good—like something she’d been missing long enough to not even realize it wasn’t there, and nothing like kissing Caleb. She let herself go, breathing him in and feeling the heat of his mouth, and the freedom was intoxicating.
