Page 85 of The Stalker Snafu

“No way. You know what I said, so it’s only fair.”

He shrugged. “I don’t really remember.”

I narrowed my eyes, not believing his nonchalance for even a second. “Liar.”

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and I raised my eyebrows expectantly.

Adrian wiped his hands on the towel with a low chuckle. “Fine. At first, I claimed I was lost—just in case you spoke Spanish. I was going to ask for directions.”

I shook my head at him and his quick thinking. “Smooth. And then?”

He smiled, holding my gaze. “Then, since you asked me if I was following you, I said… ‘How could I not follow a beauty like you?’”

Shock thrummed through me, and I swallowed.

… He thought I was beautiful?

My hackles lowered, and suddenly I had no idea what to do with my arms. Was there even a point to having them? They felt like useless weights attached to my shoulders, so I crossed them as my cheeks heated. “Oh.”

Adrian’s smile widened, and my eyes dropped to where his tongue peeked out to wet his bottom lip. I abruptly averted my gaze.

“Wanna know what else I said?” he asked.

“No, no. That’s okay, actually. I’m good,” I mumbled, gazing resolutely at the squeaky-clean floor.

There was definitely laughter in his voice. “I said, ‘Did you know you tripped three times while I’ve been watching you this morning?’”

That cut me deep—no matter how accurate it probably was—and he practically busted a gut laughing at my scowl.

Rude.

I grumbled, turning back to the coffee machine and giving it every ounce of my attention.

“Oh, come on. It was cute,” Adrian managed through his laughter.

It was time for a subject change, so I faced him again and asked the first question I could think of. “And when I saw you at my work—you were there to pick Finn up, weren’t you?”

His laughter slowly eased, but the humor didn’t leave his eyes. “Yeah. You could say I was shocked to run into you there.”

He wasn’t the only one. I cleared my throat. “Do you usually pick up Finn from his magic shows?”

“Nah, but his Jeep was in the shop getting detailed. Something about a rogue slushie.”

I pressed my lips together to hide a smirk. Typical Finn. “That was nice of you.”

He shrugged. “I’m used to chauffeuring his ass around. Finn would take turns begging me and Rafe to drive him places when we first got our licenses. The arcade. The movies. The candy store. He was relentless.”

He painted a fun picture. “You’ve been friends that long?”

“The three of us go way back. Rafe and I were in the same foster kid group as him.”

“Foster group?” I frowned. “But Finn’s dad is my boss. What would Finn be doing in a foster group?”

“Mr. Everton adopted him after fostering for a few years.” Adrian smiled. “I think it was the happiest day of Finn’s life.”

“Oh.” My brain overflowed with questions. I wanted to ask so many things, but it was probably better to wait and ask Finn himself. Then the oven dinged, and Adrian pulled out a cookie sheet filled with the most delicate, flaky pastries I’d ever seen.

I wiped a bit of drool from the corner of my mouth.