The Liar's Wife (Adam Levine Dark Romance)

Chapter 13: 22 and I'm With You

Jane blew gently on her steaming cup of tea as she peeked her head through the doorway of the library. She’d heard Adam moving about the house earlier. He’d come home early enough this evening to tuck in Adele himself and sing her a lullaby, and Jane had tried her best not to disturb them. It had been impossible, though, not to listen to the sound filling the house as he’d strummed his guitar and crooned in that sweet, high singing voice. She couldn’t resist going to look for him now, hoping he would be in the mood to sit with her in the library again this evening.

She found him nestled in one of the comfy leather armchairs with his feet splayed out in front of him on an ottoman. The skin at the bridge of his nose was wrinkled in concentration, and he was chewing absentmindedly on one of his thumbnails as he held her worn out copy of Jane Eyre in his lap.

He looked up and raised his eyebrows at her when she knocked softly against the doorframe to get his attention.

“Good book?” she asked, as she stood hesitating in the doorway.

“Not bad,” he replied, setting the book down and picking up his half-full glass of red wine. “But you know, you kind of left out a part.”

“What?”

“You know.” He was grinning at her mischievously. “How the nanny and the asshole father are, like— an item?”

Jane felt the heat suffuse her cheeks and prickle the skin of her neck and chest. She cast about for a suitably sarcastic reply, but her mind was a total blank, and she was aware of her blush deepening as the silence dragged on a beat too long. She knew he was looking at her, but she found herself utterly unable to meet his eyes. “Oh, right,” she mumbled. “That.”

“Yeah,” he said, chuckling at her from behind the wine glass. “That.”

She shrugged her shoulders slightly, opening her mouth to speak and then closing it again. “Um, honestly I didn’t think you’d make it that far,” she said at last. “Anyway, goodnight.” She turned to leave the room, but the sound of his voice calling after her stopped her in her tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Jane froze where she stood, holding her breath and feeling every muscle of her body locked in paralysis. Every muscle except for one, of course – her heart was thrumming so loudly in her chest that she was certain he could hear it. Was he hitting on her? She had no idea how to react. It was one thing to flirt harmlessly while sitting safely on opposite sides of a room, but she had no idea how to handle anything more direct. Her only experience with romance came from reading novels. Actual living, breathing, attractive men – just one more thing she’d never really come into contact with, growing up where she did.  

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she heard Adam say to her back.

Breathe, Jane commanded herself. She turned back around and screwed up the courage to meet his eyes.

He was smiling at her now with one eyebrow raised and that sardonic half-smile that brought out the dimple in one cheek. Dear lord, that dimple was even more prominent than usual. Had he shaved today? He never shaved. Jane brought her teacup to her mouth and took a gulp, choking slightly as she felt the scalding liquid burn the inside of her mouth. “What?” She tried to make her voice nonchalant, but the word came out more like an unsteady croak.

“The music?” he said, gesturing at the shelves of CDs. “We had a deal, remember?”

Jane smiled crookedly, mentally slapping herself in the forehead. Of course he wasn’t seducing her. She was making an idiot of herself. “Right,” she said, taking a step back into the room and looking around at the music collection. She ran her eyes across the rows of unfamiliar titles. “Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin.”