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I flushed. "No."
"Then the party stays on." He shrugged, rifling through his cabinets. "See how easy that was?"
"I’m not messing around with you."
"I wish you would."
Blinking at him, I decided I couldn’t throw things at him or hit him again with a pie. This would be settled diplomatically. I would be the bigger person, even if I had to kick his knees to do it. "End the party. Now. Or—"
"Or what? You punish me? I think of the two of us, you’d look better tied up."
That was enough. I’d had enough of blushing and stumbling over my words because of him. The worst part was, he knew it. Adam practically oozed with self-satisfaction. It drove me crazy.
"Admit you’re attracted to me, and I’ll stop the party," he promised.
"What?" I shook my head and placed my hands on the counter. "Stop this party or I’ll call your coach."
The effect was immediate. Adam stopped making the drink for me and hesitated, holding the glass over the sink. His grin slipped to half a grin, and with slow, careful movements, he set everything back on the counter.
His eyes met mine. His voice was soft. "You want me to stop the party?"
"Yes."
"Okay, ice princess. Do you want to see a magic trick?"
The way he said that mocking term of endearment made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I tried to shrug, to match his energy.
"I want to see the party wrapped up, Adam. That’s it. I want the noise complaints to stop, and I want to go to sleep."
"I’m going to make everyone in here disappear, five minutes or less." He held up his hand and counted down his fingers. "Are you ready?"
I hesitated.
Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
Adam walked right past me, and before I could tell heads or tails from anything, I could feel his hand reaching back to take me by the shoulder.
Oh.
My whole body stiffened at the touch, and I stumbled to keep up with him. He swiped something off a bookcase and turned around, right in the middle of the room.
"Can I get everybody’s attention?" Adam shouted. The party quieted instantly.
Here’s a thing about me. If you’ve heard of stage fright, I’ve got two or three times that. Stage terror. Stage horror. Stage agony. It was my semester goal to get over it, but I hadn’t even gotten to step one - teaching a workshop at the RA conference.
With all of those eyes peering from around the room, I melted into myself, a pool of anxious Jello, unable to unclench my jaw long enough to speak. Not good. Danger!
Abort! Abort!
Adam got down on one knee in front of me, that beautiful, enormously annoying man, and flashed a gas station ring in his hand. I stared at it, completely frozen. My heart leaped to my throat.
"Piper Fontaine, will you marry me?"
5
Adam
The Circus Monkey Act
