Page 70 of Grand Escape

“Taken,” a gruff voice said from behind him.

Brian held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, no harm done. Thanks for the drink.” Scanning the crowd, he sauntered off, probably looking for another potential wedding hookup.

“As much as I like a fruity drink, I’ll take a bourbon on the rocks,” Adam said with a straight face.

“I didn’t know I was taken.” Snagging the bottle of Maker’s Mark, I eyed Adam the whole time, not even breaking eye contact to pour.

“I wonder if you could do that blindfolded.”

“I can. Teddi put me up to it one night.”

“Is that so?” Adam sipped his drink, his gaze locked on me.

It was like we were in some weird staring contest with no end in sight. I couldn’t stop drinking him in, and he was surveying me for something I wasn’t sure I had in me.

A slight and very made-up blonde slipped up to the bar next to Adam. “Can I have a glass of rosé?”

“Sure thing. Love your hair,” I told her.

“Oh. Thanks. I had it done at the Ritz. I couldn’t get an appointment here.”

“They did a nice job.” We chatted, and I poured her rosé while keeping one eye on Adam the whole time.

“So, taken?” I asked him when the blonde sashayed off.

“Taken. And ever since I sat at the end of your bar, I am too. I didn’t know it, and you would have never guessed it, but it happened.”

The music started to play a little louder, and I looked over, remembering this was the song Chewy and Sarah were making an entrance to.

“Time for you to be quiet,” I told Adam.

The band leader was announcing, “Please welcome for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. ...” when Adam leaned in and said, “The bite is back. I like it.”

Like a monsoon, all the feelings of the last several months came rushing over me. I remembered that girls’ night at the Ritz where Scott told me I had bite, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Adam.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

Gripping the side of the bar, I watched Chewy and Sarah make their entrance and then walk around the pool wearing huge smiles. They looked blurry to me for a moment, and then Adam came into focus in front of my face.

“Ry? Ry!”

“What?”

“You went somewhere for a moment. Somewhere dark.”

Closing my eyes, I said, “No, I went to the place where I knew you were right, and I’m taken. I didn’t want to be. I fought it, but here I am, blowing off my job to talk to you.” I smoothed a shaky hand over my hair, leading back to my bun, grasping for control.

Always seeming to know what I needed to hear and feel, Adam said the magic words. “As long as you know you’re mine and I’m yours, go do your job, Ry. I’ll sit here and behave, but know I’m here for you and not leaving.”

“Hush,” I said, trying to regain my composure. I couldn’t remember who said it first, but I remembered a quote about how it took courage to reveal your dreams to someone else, and I’d just done that very thing.

My parents didn’t want any part of me—how I was, who I was, or who I wanted to be—but this man did. Yet for some strange reason, I was pushing him away, and I didn’t know why.

Luckily, there wasn’t time to dwell on it because as soon as Chewy and Sarah were finished making their rounds, I was slammed with drink requests again.

It wasn’t until I was making a Shirley Temple for one of the kids that I remembered Erma Bombeck had said that quote. I was assigned a paper on Erma in my high school English class, and I’d thought she was pretty profound, leading the way for funny women. She also seemed to fiercely love her children, and I was envious of that, even back then.

“Well, good thing I decided to get married so you two could hook up again.”

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