Page 105 - The Love Hypothesis

good was a topic worthy of a Ph.D. dissertation, for sure. Earth’s finest

scientists should have been hard at work on this.
“Why don’t I . . .” Olive inched slightly into him, and after letting her
hand hover for a moment she rested it over Adam’s shoulder. She pushed up

on her toes, angling her head up toward him. It helped very little, as Olive
was still not tall enough to reach his mouth, so she tried to get more

leverage by putting her other hand on his arm, and immediately realized
that she was basically hugging him. Which was the exact thing he had

asked her not to do a second ago. Crap.
“Sorry, too close? I didn’t mean to—”

She would have finished the sentence, if he hadn’t closed the distance
between them and just—kissed her. Just like that.
It was little more than a peck—just his lips pressing against hers, and his

hand on her waist to steady her a little. It was a kiss, but barely, and it
certainly didn’t warrant the way her heart pounded in her chest, or the fact

that there was something warm and liquid looping at the bottom of her
belly. Not unpleasant, but confusing and a bit scary nonetheless, and it had

Olive pull back after only a second. When she eased back on her heels, it
seemed like for a fraction of a moment Adam followed her, trying to fill the

gap between their mouths. Though by the time she’d blinked herself free of
the haze of the kiss, he was standing tall in front of her, cheekbones dusted
with red and chest moving up and down in shallow breaths. She must have

dreamed up that last bit.
She needed to avert her eyes from him, now. And he needed to look

elsewhere, too. Why were they staring at each other?
“Okay,” she chirped. “That, um . . . worked.”

Adam’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t reply.
“Well, then. I’m going to . . . um . . .” She gestured behind her shoulders

with her thumb.
“Anh?”
“Yeah. Yeah, to Anh.”

He swallowed heavily. “Okay. Yeah.”