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I laughed and turned him around. “Okay, Uncle Jesse. Your place is that way.”
He glanced over his shoulder with an exaggerated whisper. “Sorry. I really shouldn’t have had that third beer on the fairway. Damn Lucky and his craft beer. I got a little lost.”
“I hope you weren’t driving.”
“P’shaw. No. I’m a resp-respons—respectable teacher, and I would never do such a thing.”
I took his keys from him. “Good to know.”
He leaned against the wall beside his door, his flyaway overlong hair in his eyes. “You are really pretty.”
“Thank you.”
He reached out for my hair, flicking the little curls sticking out of my space buns. “Are you wearing pigtails?”
I unlocked his door and handed him his keys. “I am.”
“That shouldn’t be hot.”
“And yet I’m a-freaking-dorable.”
He laughed. “You are.” His eyes were soft and sweet and a lot unfocused. Much as I’d been last night with my friends.
“And so are you. Didn’t realize you knew all the words to One Direction.”
He shrugged and tried to straighten up, but ended up leaning on the wall again. “Seven-year-olds w
ill always love Harry Styles.”
“So do twenty-something-year olds.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” he was back to the exaggerated whisper, “but some of the songs are pretty good. Catchy. Especially this one.” The end of the song floated into the hallway. “Hey, do you want to kidnap me?”
“Not really.”
“Aww.” He hiccupped. “I’d be a good captive. I clean up after myself.” He shouldered open his door to show off his pristine apartment save for a few boxes in the corner. They must’ve done a lot of arranging last night. He even had a rug that was surprisingly not beige propped up against the wall. “I’m housebroken and everything.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. No, my nipples were not reacting to a male who had their shit together. Or that even when he was a tad drunk, he made me want to lean in and take a good whiff. He just had to smell like bergamot—spicy and warm. One of my favorite essential oils, of freaking course. “Good to know.” I took a big step back. “Think you can manage now that you’re in the right apartment?”
He held on to the door to steady himself. “If I said I needed help out of my clothes, would that be too forward?”
“Yes.” But I couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter from escaping.
He sighed and hung his head. “Okay. I think I’m good.”
Dammit, he really was adorable. A rumpled golf shirt was half untucked from his khakis and his face was almost glowing red. My witchy self couldn’t leave him in that state. And I didn’t want to think about undressing him too much, but I held up a finger. “Wait a second.”
“Did you change your mind?”
“No.”
Disappointment creased his brow. “You sure?”
“Well, I’m going to help you but not to get undressed.”
I stepped back just in time for Ryan, my best friend in all the world, to appear in the hall with two bags and her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.
“Hello.” She glanced from me toward a swaying Caleb. “Did I interrupt something?”
