Adelaide
The day was beautiful.The seasons were on the very cusp of changing, spring sliding into summer. Wren and Callum had gotten married in a park with lush greenery and blooms all around them. Their ceremony had been sweet and intimate, and the reception in the courtyard of a restaurant was just as intimate.
Adam and I had been invited separately, but we’d come together. He wore a navy-blue suit, and at the reception, he took off his jacket, revealing suspenders. I’d seen plenty of men in suits, and sometimes suspenders, but none wore them like he did. Tall and lean, too handsome for his own good, he elevated anything he wore.
He leaned over, resting his arm on the back of my chair. “Do you want another drink?”
I turned my head, bringing our faces close together. He backed off, cocking a grin.
“Do you want me to want a drink so you can flirt with the bartender again?”
He glanced at the curvy little brunette making drinks for our party. He’d been eyeing her since we walked into the reception. He’d already talked to her once. Obviously, that hadn’t been enough.
He cuffed my chin with his knuckle. “Drink or no drink, Baddie?”
I picked up my half-full glass. “I’m good.”
He rose from his chair, smoothing out his pants. “I’m thirsty. Gonna go grab a drink for myself. I’ll be back.”
I turned to the side, not watching him go, but to scan the reception. Callum and Wren were slow dancing off to the side of the dance floor, in their own little world. I liked that for them, even at the slight pang of jealousy in my chest.
Nothing a round ofCandy Crushcouldn’t cure. I started to take out my phone, but the woman slipping into the seat beside me distracted me from my task.
She released a soft groan. “He has a type, huh?”
Iris had taken Adam’s seat, her massive wall of a fiancé, Ronan, at her other side. Her sister, June, who was almost identical to Iris, minus the tattoos, plus a pair of glasses, was on the other side of him.
My smile was bemused. “I’m sorry, what?”
She laughed, nodding toward Adam leaning his elbow on the bar top on the other side of the courtyard. “Adam. He has a very distinct type. Short, super curvy, girl next door. He has since as long as I’ve known him. He can’t help himself.”
“I just thought he liked women in general.” I tapped my bottom lip. “But now that you say that, his last girlfriend did look a lot like the bartender.”
“Oh, hedoeslike women in general. But give him a wholesome girl with freckles, and he goes weak.”
“Really?” Something pricked the back of my mind. The way he’d answered a question I’d asked. “Did he have a thing with Claire Cantrell?”
Iris lifted a brow. “Oh, he wishes. He had a thingforClaire, but that was a few years ago, before she was with Dominic.” She leaned into me. “Did you know he was into Wren for a hot minute?”
I gasped. “No. What?” Adam really did fall for women left and right.
She nodded, clearly delighting in gossiping about our mutual friend. “Callum stole her right out of his arms. Literally. I mean, I wasn’t there, and Iknowthe story Adam told me was the tame version. Those boys used to get up to some trouble together.”
She giggled in a way that made it obvious she was more than a little tipsy. Her fiancé placed a glass of water in her hands.
“Drink,Meala.There will be no dancing on the tables tonight.” His order was firm but threaded with affection.
She poked her lip out at him. “You’re no fun.” Then she wound his tie around her hand. “Well, sometimes you’re fun.”
Ronan’s sharp, grass-green eyes slid to me. He offered me a brief smile. “Excuse the love of my life. She can’t hold her liquor.”
Iris swiveled back to me. “Excuse the love ofmylife, he can’t stop being bossy.” Her fingers pressed on my arm. “I’m glad you and Adam are friends. He seems happier lately. People think he’s golden retriever cheerful all the time, but it’s not true. He’s looking for something, and I’m not sure he even knows what it is. But now he has you, and I don’t know if he’s looking so hard anymore.”
“I don’t know about that. It’s just easy for us to hang out a lot because we live next door to each other.”
“Pffft. I livedwithAdam for weeks last fall and barely saw him. Adam does what he wants, and he clearly wants to hang out with you.”
“I like hanging out with him too.” I lifted my shoulder, deciding to ask questions now that Iris’s lips were loose. “What was he like before you guys got famous?”