Page 28 of On the Edge

I noticed a few adults in the room who were dressed in red T-shirts and khaki pants. I assumed they were employees or volunteers. But where was Adam?

“You’re right.”

Huh? I turned around and saw Adam standing just behind me, his head almost touching his shoulder, his eyes squinting at me.

“What?” I propped my hands on my hips.

“I was just assessing the legitimacy of your earlier message to me. And you’re right.”

My cheeks flushed. “Oh God. I didn’t mean to send that.”

He tipped his shoulders up as he laughed.

“Adam.” Ugh. “Mr. McGregor.”

He came up to me, closing the gap between us. He leaned in close to my ear, and I could feel his breath there. “I think we’ve moved beyond last names, don’t you, love?”

With that, he brushed past, leaving me driving my short nails into my palms to try and calm down the sensations that shot through me from his simple touch. What was he doing to me?

“Listen up!” Adam placed his hands on each side of his mouth. “Come on over,” he hollered over the noise in the room.

The teenagers rallied around him, all twenty or so of them. I folded my arms and studied his physique. He looked just as good in sweats and a T-shirt as he had in a wet dress shirt.

“This here is Anna. She’s from the U.S.” He clapped his hands together, swinging them a little and bringing them up in the air, pointing my way. “She’s gonna hang out a few times a week with you all.”

“She’s hot!” one of the teenage boys shouted, which had my cheeks heating back up again.

Adam raised his hands in the air and narrowed his eyes the direction of the boy. “And you’d best respect her.”

I smiled and waved at the teenagers, feeling almost more nervous now than I had been at the office yesterday. “Hi,” I managed.

“I’m Jenna. Nice to meet you. Where in the U.S. are you from? New York?” The redhead girl smiled at me.

“I’m from Kentucky, which is pretty different from New York.” I looked over at Adam. “I lived on a farm. My parents breed horses.”

“Oh. Do you ride?” another girl asked.

“Yes.” And God did I miss it already. Part of me felt as if I’d given up breathing.

The same young girl asked, “Maybe we should take some sort of trip out of the city to a farm. We could all go riding!”

Adam came up next to me but looked out at the girl who’d asked the question. “Well, Chloe, I’m sure we can arrange something.”

“Conor here.” A flicker of a smile passed across his face as he neared me. Although I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to call him a kid. He looked like he was nearly out of high school, maybe the oldest here? “Could you teach us to ride?”

“Um, okay,” I responded, not sure if I would really be able to make that happen.

Adam poked me in the ribs with his elbow. “You really are full of surprises,” he said in a low voice as the kids began chatting in small groups. His blue eyes shifted to mine.

“Funny. I could say the same about you.”

“A man of mystery,” he joked, placing a hand over his heart. He winked at me and turned away to grab a basketball from the ground. He tossed it at Conor. “You ready to play?” he asked the group.

I approached some of the girls who were still crowded around. “What would y’all like to do?”

“We’d love to hear more about you,” the girl, I believe Adam had said her name was Chloe, spoke up.

There wasn’t much more to tell about me, but I’d do my best.

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