Page 10 of You + Me – Against the World

He narrows his eyes, looking displeased, then toys with his glass. Inside, the clear liquid swirls.

“So, you basically just came to tell me you couldn’t come.” His words come out in a growl.

“I did what I could. I came! And I’m still waiting to know why.”

“So, I managed to pique Little Miss Goody-Goody’s interest… You snuck out for me?”

I take his glass and slam it down on the counter.

“Alright, what do you want from me, Arcadi? Were you bored because you couldn’t line up a date for tonight? Or did you just want to humiliate me?”

Vadim turns to me. There’s no trace left of his arrogant smile. “I just wanted us to be able to talk. Without your belligerent bodyguard. Without your nosy friend. Without it being because Abrams forced us to.”

“Mr. Abrams thinks we make a good team. That we can bring out the best in each other, if only we—”

“I don’t give a damn what he thinks! He’s a loser who thinks I’m his protégé. And as for you, he just wants to—”

“No, he doesn’t. But… is that what you want?”

I don’t know what’s come over me. Vadim Arcadi turns me into a girl I don’t recognize. Someone impulsive and provocative. But my shyness quickly reasserts itself, and I blush, not knowing where to look.

“If we only have thirty minutes left, we’d better be quick,” he observes, amused.

“You wish. We’ve already wasted five minutes. If you don’t have anything more interesting for me, I’m leaving.”

“Or maybe you could not do what’s expected of you, for once.”

“Is that your new hobby, setting me challenges?”

“Yes. I bet you don’t have the guts to stay out tonight.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that I don’t really want to.”

“Even if I happened to be Timothy Wallace?”

“Tim would never suggest such a thing. He’d bring me home right on time.”

Vadim rolls his eyes, then thinks for a moment.

“If I drop you off in my truck, it’ll will save you some time, right?”

“No way I’m riding in that hunk of junk.”

“Because it isn’t good enough for you or because you’re afraid of what might happen to you?”

I won’t let him fluster me. I’m not going to let him win.

“What makes you think I’m afraid of you, Arcadi?”

“I don’t. I think you’re afraid of yourself, Lancaster. Of what you might want to do. Anyway, why haven’t you left yet?”

For the first time, I catch a glimpse of his irresistible, seductive smile. Not the scornful, disdainful one. The one that promises the moon and the stars.

And my traitorous heart races.

I think I finally understand why no female student has ever been able to resist him. He’s disarming, drop-dead gorgeous, and always ready with a comeback. His mesmerizing, gray eyes are purity itself, but there is an undercurrent of danger in them. And it’s hard not to be drawn in by the small, white scar that runs across his lower lip when he smiles.

“Alright, you can take me home. At least if you’re driving, I won’t have to look at that annoyingly smug smirk of yours. But no detours, no pretend breakdowns. We’re going straight to my place.”