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"Ah, man, you're supposed to leave that burdensome shit at the door with your phone." Bill wiped down the glossy wood of the bar and glanced to my right. I followed his line of vision.
I slung back another swallow of Lag and finished it off. A girl I'd seen in here before was making her way toward me. I held on to her eyes as she came forward, knowing precisely why I remembered her in the first place. She looked a lot like another long-legged beauty who tempted my dreams relentlessly. Thick brown hair I wanted in my hands. Pretty eyes that told me I could do a lot more than pull her hair. A lush body just aching for some properly dispensed attention at my hands. Fucking perfect.
"That's the plan, Bill," I answered, without taking my eyes off the girl. "That is my plan."
The feeling of calm I'd earned from my time at Lurid disintegrated as soon as I pulled into the basement parking garage two hours later. Because who pulled in just five seconds behind me? Yep, Winter's silver hybrid slid into her dedicated parking space just four spots away. I killed the engine and mentally willed her to go up without me.
Didn't work.
Because when she got out of her car, she headed to where I was parked, a half-smile on her beautiful face. A messenger bag slung over her shoulder and a backpack in her hand, she looked every inch the young university student she was. Wearing jeans and a jacket, her long brown hair pulled up into a loose knot, she appeared before me completely fresh-faced and innocent.
So beautiful.
Utterly perfect.
Fucking gorgeous.
But facing her right now—in my current state of mind, and from where I'd just come—was a disaster waiting to happen.
Unluckily for me, my sorry ass was out of options. So, I plastered what I hoped was a pleasant expression onto my face as I got out of the Lexus. "Hey you." I locked it and made my way to where she waited. I made a show of checking my watch. "It's almost midnight, young lady."
"Night class. Three hours once a week. It was the only time offered."
I didn't like the idea of her walking alone on campus so late at night. "What's the course?"
"Ethics with Dr. Drummond," she said, giving me another one of her half-smiles.
The irony wasn't lost on me. Did ethics even exist in the workplace anymore? My father certainly didn't have any. I held my hand out for her backpack so I could carry it for her.
"What's so funny?" she asked as she handed it over.
"Hmm?" I looked into her eyes, which were uniquely beautiful all on their own. A deep green and ringed with a gold band. Stunning even at the end of what had to be a very long day. I could only imagine how magnificent her eyes would be looking at me while I was deep inside her, and she was about to come. You can stop the fuck right now with those kinds of thoughts, because it's never happening with her.
"You laughed when I told you my class tonight was ethics."
"I did?"
"Yes, James, you did. What's wrong?" She tilted her head at me and waited.
"Nothing's wrong. Everything is fine. Good. Great." You can shut off the lame-ass babbling too, asshole.
"You're looking at me weird." She licked her lips and dragged her tongue over her teeth. "Do I have something stuck in my teeth? I had a granola bar for dinner during our break."
A granola bar for dinner? I didn't like what she'd had for dinner any more than I approved of her walking alone across a dark campus to get to her car. Next Wednesday night would go down much differently. No, I took the opportunity she'd just handed to me so neatly and used it to my advantage instead. I'm not a complete moron all the time.
"Let me look." I took her chin in my hand and tilted her mouth toward mine. "Don't move." I brought my finger to her mouth and tugged it along her bottom lip. I leaned closer and studied her pouty lips and the bottom row of her even, white teeth. I felt how she trembled slightly in my hold, and I heard her quick intake of breath. I even caught the flowery scent of her perfume all in the span of a precious moment. "There's something…I see a—"
"What?" she asked worriedly, her chin still held in my hand. I didn't think I could let go. I'd made a big mistake touching her. I realized it too late to stop the madness that tumbled from my godforsaken mouth in my next breath.
"All I can see is a very beautiful, lovely girl named Winter, and I think she should marry me."
Her eyes flared a little before she took a sharp breath and pulled out of my grasp. "You ass." She punched me playfully in the shoulder and then laughed, her face a little flushed.
I breathed a massive sigh of relief she'd taken my little confession as a joke.
Thank Christ.
