She almost gasped when she realized what he meant. “No, I—Adam, no.
You have to go to the department social. And to the opening ceremony.
You’re the keynote speaker!”
“And I keynote-spoke.” He grabbed her red duffle coat from the bed and pulled her toward the entrance. “Can you walk in those shoes?”
“I—yes, but—”
“I have my key card; we don’t need yours.”
“Adam.” She grabbed his wrist, and he immediately turned to look at her.
“Adam, you can’t skip those events. People will say that you—”
His smile was lopsided. “That I want to spend time with my girlfriend?”
Olive’s brain stopped. Just like that. And then it started again, and—
The world was a little different.
When he tugged her hand again, she smiled and simply followed him out of the room.
Chapter Fifteen
delivered by conveyor belt.
Everyone saw them.
People whom Olive had never met before, people whom she recognized from blog posts and science Twitter, people from her department who’d been her teachers in previous years. People who smiled at Adam, who addressed him by his first name or as Dr. Carlsen, who told him “Great talk” or “See you around.” People who completely ignored Olive, and people who studied her curiously—her, and Adam, and the place where their hands were joined.
Adam mostly nodded back, only stopping to chat with Holden.
“You guys skipping the boring shit?” he asked with a knowing smile.
“Yep.”
“I’ll make sure to drink your booze, then. And to extend your apologies.”
“No need.”
“I’ll just say you had a family emergency.” Holden winked. “Perhaps future-family emergency, how does that sound?”
Adam rolled his eyes and pulled Olive outside. She had to hurry to keep up with him, not because he was walking particularly fast, but because his legs were so long, one of his strides was worth about three of hers.
“Um . . . I’m wearing heels, here.”
He turned to her, his eyes traveling down her legs and then rapidly moving away. “I know. You’re less vertically challenged than usual.” Her eyes narrowed. “Hey, I’m five-eight. That’s actually pretty tall.” “Hm.” Adam’s expression was noncommittal.
“What’s that face?”
“What face?”
“Your face.”
“Just my regular face?”
“No, that’s your ‘you’re not tall’ face.”
He smiled, just a smidge. “Are the shoes okay for walking? Should we go back?”
“They’re fine, but can we slow down?”
He feigned a sigh, but he did. His hand let go of hers and pushed against her lower back to steer her to the right. She had to hide a small shiver.
“So . . .” She stuffed her fists in the pockets of her coat, trying to ignore how the tips of her fingers were still tingling. “Those free drinks you mentioned? Do they come with food?”
“I’ll get you dinner.” Adam’s lips curved a little more. “You’re not a cheap date, though.”
She leaned into his side and bumped her shoulder against his biceps. It was hard not to notice that there was no give. “I really am not. I fully plan to eat and drink my feelings.”
His smile was more uneven than ever. “Where do you want to go, smartass?”
“Let’s see . . . What do you like? Aside from tap water and hard-boiled spinach?”
He gave her a dirty side-look. “How about burgers?”
“Meh.” She shrugged. “I guess. If there’s nothing else.”
