She was always fine.
“You look like someone kicked your puppy.”
Jo startled, whipping around. Kim stood over her, holding a shopping bag of her own, one eyebrow raised. Jo clenched her hands into fists, trying to calm the way her heart was jackhammering around behind her ribs. She knew better than to let go of her surroundings like that—to get so caught up in her own mind that someone could sneak up on her.
She was off her game. Way, way off.
Her fingers shook a little as she combed them through her hair. “Am I supposed to look happy? It’s a million degrees out here.”
“You could’ve waited inside.” Kim shrugged and plunked down beside her. She nudged Jo with her elbow, and Jo stiffened, quashing the instinct to defend her space, to keep anyone from intruding into it. “Penny for your thoughts?”
Jo shook her head and scooted an inch to the side. “They cost a lot more than that.”
Squaring Jo with an appraising look, Kim smirked. “Then let me guess. You were thinking about Adam.” She said it with a teasing lilt to her voice, and Jo bristled.
“Hardly.” Forget that it’d been one of the first times all day she hadn’t been.
“If you say so. Not sure why you’re denying it, though.”
“Nothing to deny.”
“Uh-huh.” Kim dragged her purse into her lap and dug around until she came up with her phone and a tube of lip gloss. Watching her reflection in the blank screen, she swiped the color across her lips, then smacked them together. “The program’s almost half over. If you two don’t stop dancing around each other soon, there’s not going to be much point.”
And it wasn’t as if Jo hadn’t known that. The calendar she kept beside her monitor at work made it abundantly clear how quickly the summer was slipping past. She’d kept it in mind every time she thought about her progress on her research. But she hadn’t considered it in that context before.
By the time Adam returned, their time together really would be half over. Maybe that was for the best. If he and his girlfriend sorted their shit out, Jo would only have his happiness shoved in her face for another five weeks.
But if they didn’t… if he came back and he still wanted her…
She dug her nail into the pad of her finger. Adam himself had said it, and she’d laughed at him when he had. But all the same, Jo found the words slipping out. “It’s complicated.”
Kim snickered. “It sure as hell doesn’t have to be.” She capped her lip gloss and dropped it in her purse, teasing at her bangs before stashing her phone. “I mean, we’re only here for a little while. Might as well make the most of it, right?”
“Is that what you and Jared are doing?”
Kim grinned. “You’d better believe it. Boy drives me crazy, but he’s a monster between the sheets. Or up against the wall, or—”
“I get it,” Jo cut her off.
Jo wasn’t any stranger to taking a man to bed and getting what she wanted from him. What she usually wanted was an orgasm or two, and once she’d had it, she was good to go. It was the contact and the release she needed to return to her work with a clear head.
Adam, though… He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be into that. The way he acted about that girl of his it was evidence enough. He was serious about just about everything, and doubly so about the women in his life. He’d been serious when he’d grabbed Jo by the shoulders and refused to let her walk away. When he’d refused to kiss her.
Until he could give her everything.
“And you’re okay with that?” Jo heard herself ask. “Knowing it’s only temporary?”
If Adam did come back to her, he’d do it with the same intensity he’d brought to dragging her out of the water and holding her tight, to clasping her hand and to their not-quite-kiss. She’d never wanted more than sex from anyone, but the idea of keeping it casual, keeping it short-term with him made her head hurt.
Kim cast her gaze skyward. “Jared’s not the kind of guy you fall in love with. Having a time limit is for the best.”
If only things with Adam were so simple.
Before Jo could even begin to figure out the mess of feelings tangled up in her head, the rumble of an engine saved her. Sure enough, it was Roberto and the van. Happy to end the conversation, she rose, taking her packages with her and going for the door. She climbed her way into her solitary seat.
And in the silence and the heat, she waited.
Chapter Ten
Adam’s hotel room was spotless. He circled it one last time, peeking under the huge, king-sized bed that had seemed like such a good idea when he’d booked it, making sure there weren’t any socks or pairs of underwear lurking underneath. His things were all put away in drawers, his suitcase in the closet, his toothbrush and razor and comb lined up in a neat little row beside the sink.
The last session of the conference had ended a couple of hours ago. He’d had a quick dinner with his advisor, then come here to make sure everything was ready. Shannon would be here any minute.
With a restlessness in his hands, he checked his phone, but it was silent.
Lacking anything better to do, he gave himself a once-over in the mirror and winced at his appearance. Not for the last time, he second-guessed his decision to stay in conference attire. Shannon had always liked him dressed up, though, and his khakis were neatly pressed. The blue button-down shirt brought out his eyes, and his tie was the one she’d bought for him last Christmas. The part in his hair was so maniacally straight, it looked like he’d combed his hair with a ruler.
He looked like an idiot. Stiff and uncomfortable. He felt even worse.
That first week at the observatory, when everyone had gotten together to make dinner at the girls’ house, Jo had called him out on everything he was doing wrong with regards to Shannon. She’d told him it never paid off to wait for someone to care about you, and every word of it had hurt. It had hurt because it was true.
What would she think of him now?
“Fuck it,” he muttered. He turned on the tap and wet his hands, then raked them through his hair, messing up the style a bit. Making it look more like it did most days on the island. Better.
The tie went next. He opened the top two buttons of his shirt. After a moment’s hesitation, he traded out the khakis for the one nice pair of jeans he’d brought.
Much better. Less nervous first date material and more… him.
He coiled up his discarded tie and folded his pants and put them both away. He took another lap of the room and wrung his hands. Maybe he should’ve stayed in his nerdy professor clothes. Or—it was kind of hot out. Shorts and a T-shirt wouldn’t be inappropriate.
He couldn’t take this anymore.
Shaking his head at himself, he turned on his heel. He patted his pockets for his wallet and phone and headed for the door. Shannon had said she’d just come up to his room, but there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t head to the lobby to meet her. On the elevator ride down, he tapped out a message letting her know he’d meet her there.
He stepped through the doors, thumb hovering over the button to send as he scanned the space. It was mostly stuffy sciencey types, people lingering even though the conference was over. A few more glamorous people presumably heading out for a night on the town. He scanned red leather couches and the length of the marble floor, the big glass bank of windows, and the revolving door.
Then he stopped. Looked closer.
Her hair was red.
Three years he and Shannon had been friends, or a couple, or something in between. Through all of it, she’d had the same blond fall of hair trailing halfway down her back. He’d loved to run his hands through it, loved the way it glowed in the early morning light. She’d known how much he’d loved it.
The floor beneath him tilted for a second. When it settled, the world looked different.