Page 18 of Adrian (Love Under the Lights 3)

I really, really, really wanted to say yes, but… “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

He pulled me close, one arm going around my back and the other reaching up so he could cradle my chin in the palm of his hand. Staring into my eyes, he murmured, “That’s an oversight I’m more than happy to fix.”

Tilting my head up, he crashed his mouth down over mine. My lips parted, and his tongue swept inside. I’d never been kissed with such burning intensity before, to the point where he took my breath away. By the time he lifted his head, I could barely think straight enough to gasp, “Yes.”

“Good.” His blue eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he smiled down at me before restarting the movie. I cuddled into his side again, and his long fingers stroked up and down my arm. I was so comfortable that I fell asleep before it ended and missed out on him carrying me to his bed.9AdrianWaking up with Casey in my arms was quickly becoming my favorite thing. Especially in my bed since it was a fuck of a lot more comfortable than hers. It wasn’t just that, though. I liked having her in my space, which was unusual for me since I’d never been big on having people over. And after the whole stalker thing, I’d wanted to keep my new place all to myself for a while. That plan had been blown to smithereens by my need to keep Casey close, and it felt right to have her here with me.

“Morning,” she whispered, turning her head to look at me over her shoulder.

“Morning, sweetheart.” She blushed at my greeting, and I brushed my lips over the light pink color on her cheek. “We better get moving if we want to grab the ingredients we need for that recipe you’re going to teach me.”

“Good call,” she agreed with a smile. “If we don’t get to the farmers’ market early enough, then all the good stuff will be gone.”

I wasn’t worried about the lack of fresh ingredients. It was the crowds that had me on edge. A baseball cap and sunglasses only went so far as a disguise, and I didn’t want some asshole to snap pictures of Casey and me until she was ready. But I found myself relaxing when we got there. How could I not when her hand was in mine and she kept feeding me samples from the stalls?

After spending an hour at the market, we still hadn’t added anything from our shopping list to the basket I was carrying, but we’d had a lot of fun trying a bunch of stuff. “It’s a good thing we skipped breakfast.” I patted my stomach. “If I’d made us another round of omelets, I wouldn’t have had room for all the stuff you keep wanting me to try.”

“Sorry.” She grinned, looking not even the slightest bit apologetic. “Free samples are my favorite part of coming to the farmers’ market. I tend to go a bit overboard.”

Considering how little food she had in her kitchen, this didn’t surprise me. “I’m game for another round of free samples if you are.”

“No need. I forgot how many vendors there were on Sunday mornings.” She imitated my gesture and patted her belly. “Now I’m full and ready to hunt down the ingredients we need to make honey lemon chicken tonight.”

I pulled the list she’d jotted down out of my pocket and handed it to her. “Lead the way, sweetheart.”

“Since you already had chicken breasts in your freezer, and Jen bought way more asparagus than we needed for one omelet, all we need now is honey, cilantro, broccoli, and lemons.”

It took us another twenty minutes—and ten more samples that I talked Casey into eating—to grab our stuff and head back to my Jeep. The market was only a ten-minute drive from my house, but I hadn’t realized it was there. When we were leaving, I’d noticed a couple of people walking in with their dogs. “We should bring Duke with us next weekend.”

“That’s a great idea,” Casey agreed with a smile. She had her head leaned back against the seat, her eyes were closed, and her hair was wrapped around her right hand so it didn’t blow around too much. “I bet he loves riding like this, with the top off.”

She hadn’t complained about the wind or the temperature outside when I suggested we take my Jeep. Her excitement had been yet another example of how perfect she was for me. She fit so easily into my life, as though she’d been made to be at my side. It should’ve freaked me out, but it didn’t. Instead, I found myself trying to come up with an excuse for her to spend the night again after we put the stuff we’d bought at the market away, even though I knew she had a tutoring session early in the morning. “What do you want to do today, now that you’re all caught up on your homework and we have everything we need to make dinner tonight?”

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