Robin Wasserman - Lust

She walked away-and this time, he let her go.

“Thanks for the heartfelt apology!” he called after her, punching the wall in frustration. The stinging pain in his knuckles only made him angrier.

This was his reward for doing the right thing? For resisting temptation? He might as well have thrown Kaia down on the locker room floor, torn her clothes off, satisfied his every pornographic desire-why the hell not, if that’s what Beth was going to believe either way?

He’d been there for her, he’d thrown himself into this relationship, he’d done everything he could for her-and she couldn’t even be bothered to ask him for the truth. She couldn’t be bothered to stick around for a damn conversation.

And you know what?

Good riddance.

She’d never known a knee could be so sexy.

But there it was. Under the table. An inch away.

She could feel his leg there next to hers, could imagine moving hers over just a bit, just an inch, pressing their legs together. And that’s not all she could imagine. He was so close-she could just slip her foot out of her shoe, slide her toes up his calf, trace a gentle design across his skin. She could reach out, take his hand in hers beneath the table, massage his fingertips and then press him against her body, so hungry for his touch…

“Harper? What are you thinking about?”

Adam’s warm voice startled her out of her frozen reverie. And thank God for small favors-if she didn’t stop obsessing over her stupid fantasies, she might miss the chance to turn them into reality. And that’s what this was-her chance.

“Harper?” he repeated, sounding concerned. “What’s up?”

“Nothing-don’t worry about it,” she assured him.

“Are you sure?”

“No, I’m fine, it’s nothing,” she said again. “Besides, I’m supposed to be cheering you up. What are you thinking about? As if I have to ask…” Beth, of course. It was always Beth. Whether they were in the gazing-into-each-others-eyes-there s-only-two-of-us-in-the-whole-world mode, or in the I-may-never-speak-to-you-again mode (as, happily, they were tonight), Harper knew that the Blond One was never far from his thoughts.

But Adam just laughed. “No, I’m not thinking about her, Harper, I swear-I’m just enjoying the music. Thanks again for dragging me out tonight.”

It had been a brilliant idea-after all, who knew how long Beth would be stupid enough to stay away sulking, leaving Adam on the open market? Opportunities like this didn’t come along very often and didn’t last for very long-so Harper was planning to take full advantage of this one while she had it. Seize the day, right? She looked around at the grungy bar, the local band that was-just barely-cranking out something that bore a distant relation to music, and sighed. If only she didn’t have to seize the day in such seedy surroundings. Though she had to admit, what with the darkness, the haze of smoke, the music (sort of), the place had possibilities…

Of course, a true friend probably wouldn’t take advantage of Adam’s postfight instability, wouldn’t do her best to talk him out of a relationship he clearly wanted to stay in (not that she planned to stick with talking)-on the other hand, Harper reminded herself, wasn’t it her duty as a true friend to help him see the error of his ways?

“You know I’m always here for you, Adam,” she said, hoping he would hear the emotion in her voice, would, for once, realize what all her loyalty, all her attention, all her efforts really meant.

“It’s true, Harper-you’re really a great friend.”

And that was Adam-hopelessly oblivious, as always.

But so painfully perfect, in every other way.

She closed her eyes for a moment, imagining what it might be like to open them to a different world, one in which Adam was sitting across the table gazing at her in that way, that tender awestruck way that had always been reserved for Beth. If she could just get him to really look at her, to see what he was missing. She raised a hand to her neck, let her fingers play their way down the bare skin until they reached her silky neckline-if she opened her eyes, would she catch him sneaking a forbidden glance, wondering what lay beneath?

She opened her eyes.

And the answer was no.

He wasn’t even looking in her direction-he’d turned toward the door, toward a gaggle of girls from their school who had just walked in. Toward Kaia. Of course.

And there went her perfect night, her golden opportunity.

Kaia spotted them, raised an arm in greeting, and treated Adam to a long, slow smile. Harper just sneered. And waited.

Adam paused for a moment, nodded briefly in acknowledgment-and then turned away.

Harper breathed a sigh of relief, and only then realized that she’d been holding her breath, tensed and ready for rejection. But Adam was still there, and Kaia-one eyebrow raised in-surprise? Skepticism? Disbelief? Whatever-Kaia sat down across the bar.

Good. And you’d better stay there, Harper thought. She resisted the impulse to make some snide comment about her nemesis-or about the fact that Adam seemed suddenly to have abandoned his Siamese twin act and was actually allowing some space to intrude between him and his illicit beloved.

No reason to ruin a perfect moment-even for the perfect snark.

Besides, the important thing was that he was staying away. Whatever the reason, Kaia had lost this round-she was across the bar and Harper was here, across from Adam.

Across from his deep blue eyes and luscious smile and biceps that could-

“Harper, there’s-there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

That’s it-no more gazing, no more dreaming, she told herself sternly. Must stay focused. Listen. Even though he was looking at her so intently-was, unbelievably, leaning in close and laying his hand on top of hers. Even though it was hard not to lose herself in the electrifying contact and in fantasies of where this might be going… No. Must focus. Pay attention. Hope.

“You’ve always said I could talk to you about anything,” he began hesitantly.

Harper just nodded, afraid, for once, to speak.

“Well… you know that Beth and I have been really happy together, that I think she’s wonderful…”

His voice trailed off, and Harper nodded again, impatiently. There was only so much of this she could listen to, and if the evening was about to devolve into yet another monologue about Beth’s million-and-one divine attributes, she was going to need a lot more to drink.

“And I mean, she is wonderful,” he continued, “but…”

But? That was more like it.

“Well, this last week I’ve just been-”

“Harper! Harper! Over here!”

Oh God, not now.

Distracted by the shrill voice, Adam broke off what he was saying, and they both looked up to see a pale, skinny girl waving frantically from a few tables away.

“Harper! Look, we’re here too!”

A ditzy blond sophomore who’d decided last spring to make Harper her role model, life trainer, and personal guru, whether Harper liked it or not.

It wasn’t enough that the girl followed her around so much at school that Harper had dubbed her “Mini-Me”? She had to follow Harper here, too? Had to ruin what might have been her perfect night?

“Just ignore her,” she urged Adam. “What were you about to say?”

Adam paused, then laughed nervously. “You know what? Forget it.”

“But-”

“No, you go talk to your friends-I’m heading off to the bathroom.” He grinned. “You’ll still be around when I get back, though, right?”

“I don’t know, Adam.” Harper looked pointedly at the next table over, where a middle-aged guy with too much stomach and too few teeth was chugging his beer, soggy cigarette lodged firmly in the corner of his mouth. “Lots of hot prospects around here-once you disappear, who knows who I’ll find…”