Page 39 of Her Greatest Adventure

“One of us has to keep a level head tonight.”

“Oh, please. You just don’t want to be hungover again.”

I chuckle. “Maybe that too.”

“I don’t plan on being hungover either. I give you permission to cut me off after a few more, even if I complain.”

“You got it.”

“I mean it. Throw me over your shoulder and drag me out of here if you have to.”

“You told me that you loved being tossed around from time to time. I don’t want to give you a reward for misbehaving.”

She tosses me a dimpled grin. “Of course not. That just means you’ll have to punish me later to make up for it.”

Thank fuck the DJ yells something in French that I can’t quite pick out before the music shifts to something quicker. A perfectly timed distraction. I glance up at the ceiling and will my blood to keep from flooding south at the images trying to barrel through my head.

Adalyn splayed out on my bed, hands crossed above her head, rope keeping them together, even as she begs to touch me. My face between her legs as I pull away when she starts to writhe—

“I know guys your age don’t usually like to go out on the town, but thank you for coming with me tonight,” she teases, changing the subject.

I choke on a laugh. “That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day.”

“If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that, Sparrow, I would never have to work again.”

“I’m glad you haven’t let anyone change you,” I admit, setting my empty water glass on the table, wishing I had another. “We might bug you for being so smart-mouthed, but that’s who you are. It’s what makes you Adalyn. I can’t imagine you any other way.”

She shifts to look at me, eyes bright, almost glowing, and it has nothing to do with the lights above us.

“See, I told you. Your heartisthe size of a dinner plate,” she teases.

I laugh, wrapping a silky strand of her hair around my finger. “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. I’m honoured to be one of the few who know your little secret.”

“Is it really that big of a secret?”

“No. But it’s possible to be a nice person and just not care as much as you do. You’ve always been nice. I just didn’t know how soft you were inside until this trip. I have a feeling not a lot of people do.”

“I don’t see the point in exposing everything about yourself to people who are just passing through.”

Her throat moves with a swallow. “Is this your way of telling me I’m different?”

“I thought that much was obvious. You could never simply be like everybody else.”

My heart stills in my chest when she replies, “Good. Because neither could you.”

16

ADALYN

I glance away from Cooper,suddenly too shy to keep eye contact. It’s silly, but he makes me feel vulnerable. Not in a bad way, of course, but in a new, unexpected way. Like he’s seeing me for all that I am and only grows more curious, not wary.

I’ve grown attached to him. I trust him in a way I don’t trust a lot of people. That in and of itself is more than I bargained for this summer.

He’s brave in a way that comes from age and maturity and life experiences. I’ve never had a problem with speaking my mind and telling everyone exactly what I feel, and I think that draws me to him. He might not be as outspoken as I am in that way, but he never makes anything feel one-sided. Even when I drive him a little crazy.

Maybe it’s the boys I’ve dated in the past that make it hard for me to understand how he can be so open and honest about everything. My dating life is nothing to write home about. I’ve had a handful of boyfriends over the years, starting when I was sixteen and told the captain of my high school football team, Ben Levy, that I liked him and insisted he be my boyfriend. His yes was instant, but there was only ever one love in his life, and it was a brown leather ball. We broke up three months later.

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