Page 59 - The Love Hypothesis

The ghost of a smile appeared on his mouth, but he said nothing.

“Okay. Second rule. Actually, it could be interpreted as an extension of
the first rule. But”—Olive bit into her lip, willing herself to bring it up
—“no sex.”

For several moments he simply didn’t move. Not even a millimeter.
Then his lips parted, but no sound came out, and that’s when Olive realized

that she had just rendered Adam Carlsen speechless. Which would have
been funny any other day, but the fact that he seemed dumbfounded by

Olive not wanting to include sex in their fake-dating relationship made her
stomach sink.

Had he assumed that they would? Was it something she’d said? Should
she explain that she’d had very little sex in her life? That for years she’d
wondered whether she was asexual and she had realized only recently that

she might be able to experience sexual attraction, but only with people she
trusted deeply? That if for some inexplicable reason Adam wanted to have

sex with her, she wasn’t going to be able to go through with it?
“Listen”—she made to stand from the chair, panic rising in her throat

—“I’m sorry, but if one of the reasons you offered to fake-date is that you
thought that we would—”

“No.” The word half exploded out of him. He looked genuinely
appalled. “I’m shocked that you’d even feel the need to bring it up.”
“Oh.” Olive’s cheeks heated at the indignation in his voice. Right. Of

course he didn’t expect that. Or even want that, with her. Look at him—why
would he? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume—”

“No, it makes sense to be up-front. I was just surprised.”
“I know.” Olive nodded. Honestly, she was a little surprised, too. That

she was sitting in Adam Carlsen’s office, talking about sex—not the meiosis
kind of sex, but potential sexual intercourse between the two of them.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.”
“It’s okay. This whole thing is weird.” The silence between them
stretched, and Olive noticed that he was blushing faintly. Just a dusting of

red, but he looked so . . . Olive couldn’t stop staring.
“No sex,” he confirmed with a nod.