Knowing how Tom felt about her may have been the cure to her sleepless nights if she hadn't had something new disrupting her sleep. Now visions of his mouth on her skin and his hands on her body kept Ada tossing and turning and doing other unspeakable things.

She'd imagined if they hadn't stopped, if he'd picked her up and laid his body over hers and undressed her in the dark coffee shop. She wondered if he was awake throughout the night doing the same unspeakable things with the same images playing in his mind.

When she thought about it, 'a quick screw on a public couch' sounded sexy as hell and what better place to make that ultimate connection than the place where they'd shared so many moments together.

It was tempting to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and go to his place. She'd even gotten halfway dressed once or twice. But Ada chickened out. She wasn't that sneaky and didn't have enough energy to make it across town in one piece.

Ada woke up and eleven in the morning, about five hours later than she was used to.

"Well, good morning, sleepy bird!" her mother sang out from the living room as Ada closed the door to her staircase behind her.

"Morning." Ada's tone was far more groggy and stammered into the kitchen and grabbed herself a coffee before joining her mother on the couch.

"Hey, quick question. Did you tell a customer to get the hell out of the coffee shop?" her mother asked.

Ada held up her fingers before answering. "Little bit? I'm guessing the 'cover my non-fat drink with whipped cream and syrup' bitch complained?"

Her mom nodded and pulled up her hair into a bun. "First thing this morning. Crystal calmed her down with a weeks worth of free coffee. So you live to work another day. You know, I don't think I've ever heard about you losing your cool with a customer."

"There was just so much stupid last night," Ada explained with a shake of her head. "Like, seriously. I don't think I've ever seen so many stupid people in one place. They just kept parading in one at a time to taunt me."

Ada took her first drink of coffee before running her fingers through her tangled hair. "Anyhow, Tom was right behind her in line and that's when he took over with the customers, and all the stupid seemed to stop."

"Is it just me, or is he getting more good looking?" her mother asked as she readjusted on the couch.

Ada nodded, thinking back to when he pulled his wet shirt from his body. The memory caused her to lick her lips. "He's starting to wear clothes that fit him now. Give customers a hot guy to talk to and they become less of a pain in the ass."

"Your dad wants Tom to work at the shop this summer," her mom said randomly.

If Ada had already been drinking her coffee, it would have been spat all over the place. "But dad doesn't trust anyone besides family in that shop."

Her mom shrugged. "Summer is too busy for us to handle with all the doctors appointments and your grandmother wants to slow down. I put my foot down and said that we needed to hire someone, and your dad said the only one he'd trust is Tom."

"He's got plenty of friends who have offered to work."

Her mother waved it off. "They don't show up on time for anything that doesn't have free booze."

Hearing that her father trusted Tom more than most people outside of the family tied her stomach in knots. Her father didn't know his daughter asked Tom to kiss her. Twice. No idea that she admitted to wanting him. Thrice. No idea that a little over twelve hours ago, Tom had his hands on her body and his mouth on hers. No idea that his little girl had slept in because she was fantasizing about her dad's new friend and her soon-to-be ex teacher.

"Whatever," her mother said, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm just happy he's willing to hire someone. Just think, with him around during the days, you can get caught staring at him and saying embarrassing things constantly."

If only getting caught by him was the worst outcome. Now getting caught staring at him could mean getting pinned against the front counter of the shop or ending up on the floor of the office.

Ada had to remind herself in that moment not to jump to conclusions. First, she didn't know if Tom was going to work for her parents. Second, where she and Tom stood was still questionable. They hadn't spoken about what would happen next between them, though he did hint towards it before and after he kissed her.

Still, she needed more than a hint before she began falling too hard for Tom Bennet.

"Has he asked Tom about working here yet?"

"He is now. They're in the shop."

Ada eyes turned twice the size they normally were before she set her cup down on the end table and shot up from the couch.

"You gunna go make yourself all pretty for your boyfriend?" her mother teased.

The answer to her mom's question was obvious when she bolted back down the steps to her room in a rush to make herself some version of presentable.

Ada went through the section of her closet where she'd hung up all her new clothes and looked for something that made her look cute, but didn't look like she tried too hard. She grabbed a pair of form fitting jeans and a yellow blouse.

What took the most amount of time was getting the snarls out of her hair.

It came as no surprise that as soon as she took off her shirt in favor of another, Tom and her dad walked through the backyard, right passed her window.

Ada was a deer caught in headlights as her dad covered his eyes and turned away. Tom took a few more seconds before he more slowly followed suit.

At least she still had her bra on.

Ada slipped on her other shirt right before Tom looked back to see if she was dressed. His hands dropped back to his sides and his eyes burned at the memory of seeing her shirtless. He seemed unwilling to look toward her dad out of fear he would see the look in his eyes was not one of embarrassment.

Ada forced her gaze away from his and walked out the door to her bedroom and into the backyard.

"Sorry about that."

Her father still wouldn't look at her. "Sorry I saw it."

Tom was the one to change the subject. "So your dad asked me if I wanted to work at the shop for the next few months." By the look on Tom's face, he was more than aware of their betrayal of her dad's trust.

"Are you going to?"

"Take it?" Tom shrugged. "I have nothing else to do this summer."

Her father raised himself on his toes and looked in the shop's direction. "Gotta customer."

They both watched as her dad trotted toward the shop.

A muffled grunt escaped Tom as he rubbed at his face. "I've never felt like a bigger asshole in my life," he admitted before his hand dropped to the back of his neck and watched her father make his way across the lawn.

Ada cupped her palm against his cheek and turned his face toward hers. "You aren't an asshole," Ada spoke with a firm yet quiet tone.

"No? I told your dad that nothing happened between us and nothing would. He stood up for me when he didn't have to."

With a heavy heart and sad eyes, she could see how conflicted he was about all of this. And as she thought about it, she realized the same emotions and same reality could be found within her.

"Do you regret it?"

He looked at her then, his grey eyes softening as the seconds ticked by. "If I thought I'd regret kissing you, I wouldn't have. It's what comes with kissing you I wish didn't have to happen, like betraying your dad."

Ada sought refuge against the old willow tree that once held her beloved tire swing. She looked up at the missing branch as if it'd snapped away the last of her childish ways in that same storm that brought out her admission.

"You know, after I got home from your apartment that night, my dad was still up. He asked what guy I was with. I don't know how he knew, but I guess that comes with being a parent. When I said I was with my friend Tom, he asked if we were dating. I told him 'no' and he asked if we were going to date, and I said 'no' again and he told me he was going to hold me to that.

"I told him the same thing you did, so if you're an asshole, so am I."

Tom sat next to her, keeping a small amount of distance as they were in unobstructed view of the house. "Well, we can't both be assholes."

"Wanna flip for it?" Ada asked. "Heads is the asshole."

Tom cocked his head. "Wouldn't it make more sense for tails to be the asshole?"

"I guess it would," she said with a small laugh. "So, are we flipping for it, or what?"

He shrugged. "I don't have any change."

Ada snapped her fingers with a flick of her wrist. "Damn."

"Guess we'll just both have to be assholes."

"Guess so," she agreed with a small nod.

"So," Tom began before nudging her with his body. "Are you going to date Tom?"

Ada tucked her hair behind her ear. "What?"

"You told your dad you wouldn't date me. If you're an asshole for lying to him, does that mean you're planning on it?"

"Depends if he asks me and never refers to himself in third person again."

Tom chuckled and allowed several quiet moments to pass before speaking. "So, you wanna go out on a date after you graduate?"

The words caused butterflies to flutter around in her stomach, but she tried her best to keep her cool with a simple shrug of her shoulders. "I'll think about it."

"You do that."

Ada laughed and made a move to lay her head on his shoulder, but corrected herself when she remembered how easily it was for them to be seen. "So what would we do on this date?" she asked.

"Depends how much sexual tension's been built up by then."

It was her turn to nudge him. "I meant where were you planning on taking me?"

"Oh, that," he said with an exaggerated 'ah ha!' moment. "I figured we'd start against the wall, then end up on the couch before making our way to my bedroom."

"That sounds classy."

"What can I say, I'm a classy guy."

Ada heard the back door open. "You guys want some lunch?" her mother shouted from the kitchen.

It was then Ada felt relieved she hadn't leaned against him.

Tom was the one to yell back. "Lunch sounds good!"

"Not the way she makes it."

Her mother's glare was visible even with the distance. "I heard that."

"Am I incapable of being sneaky?"

Tom laughed as he stood, extending his hand to help her stand off the ground. "I'm not gonna lie, you're pretty fucking terrible at it."

Once Ada was standing, she watched as his hand fell from hers and together they walked back to the house.

"Mini golf," Tom said just before they got to the house.

"Huh?"

He explained further. "Last year when we all went to the newspaper conference, you got crazy excited when you saw mini golf across the street. Any time we left the hotel to do anything, you were like, 'But mini golf is right there'. I felt bad that I never got you over there to play, so that's what we're gonna do for our first date."

His gaze was neither smoldering nor intense. It was simple, yet it burned through Ada's veins and clouded her brain. Ada felt her body become clammy and had to force the response out of her mouth. "That sounds like a perfect date."

"That's what I was going for," Tom said with a light smile before he continued walking to the house.

Ada realized that short of it being a giant catastrophe, any date with Tom would be perfect.