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It was my turn to arch an eyebrow. “What made you decide to come?”
“I didn’t,” he answered, prompting my confusion. “I said I wouldn’t. I just couldn’t stop myself.” Oh. I was both flattered and clueless as to how to respond. But I didn’t have to, because he spoke again. “I’m already regretting it.”
“Why?” I couldn’t hide my immediate hurt.
“Uh,” he gave a short laugh as he ran his hand across his tight jaw. “Because you look better than I know how to handle right now, Nina.” His smile was sheepish but so damned sexy. “I tried preparing myself for tonight. I guess I didn’t do a very good job.”
Oh my God. What. Okay. Breathe. I tried to stay cool despite my racing heart. “Listen, Mr. Cole – ”
“You can call me Daniel,” he interrupted. “I’d prefer that, actually. Since I haven’t told Mike yet… about having had you as a student.” There. He said it. Something about the way “student” rolled off his tongue gave me a thrill.
“Why not?”
My heart pounded as his eyes lowered. I didn’t even realize that I was playing with the hem of my top until Mr. Cole – Daniel – let his gaze drop and return to that strip of bare skin. This time, he gave himself a much longer look.
“Because what I’m doing right now is extremely inappropriate,” he said flat out. “And so was the way I spoke about you the other night.”
I froze. “How did you speak about me?”
“Nina…” There was a hint of shame in his laugh. “I know we’ve already crossed that student-teacher boundary, but I’m not going to tell you what I said.”
Damn it. Of course not. I opened my mouth to protest but right then, a voice bellowed from behind him.
“There they are!”
Mike draped a heavy arm around Daniel’s shoulder, shoving a drink into his hands. He had his other arm around Linh, who presented me with a glass of my consolidated shots. I knocked back a third of it while flashing her a look, playful despite my true frustration. Damn it, you two, why did you have to show up? Though once I noticed how extremely intoxicated Mike was, an idea sprung to mind. There must have been mischief in my eyes because Linh narrowed hers at me as I suggested brightly that we all sit down. But being a little imp herself, she said nothing.
Only when we approached the booth in the back corner did she murmur to me. “Explain.”
I gave her an innocent smile. “We’re going to exchange boys for a second.”
“Because?”
“You love me? Come on, I just need you to distract him for ten minutes.”
Linh sniffed. “Easy,” she said, and off she went.
I watched confusion take over Daniel’s face as he slid into the booth after Adriana, Em and their guys, only to see Linh sidle up next to him instead of me. His eyes darted across the long table, growing immediately wary when they met mine as I took the seat next to Mike. He opened his mouth to protest but Linh asked him something or another and being a gentleman, he answered. Once they were engaged in conversation, I tapped Mike on the knee.
“Oh, hey there. You’re not Linh.”
“Nope. Nina, actually.”
“Ah, Nina,” he repeated with a sly grin, immediately glancing at Daniel. To my relief, he wasn’t looking our way. He was courteously obliging as Linh made him finish his drink so she could make him taste another. Thank God for her. She was giving me time to get the dirt from Mike. He had to be drunk enough to reveal what Daniel had said about me the other night.
“What’s that face for?” I asked t
easingly.
“Ah, well… you know. It’s just good to know your name.” Mike scratched his stubble. “It’s less syllables for me to say than ‘The Fucking Gorgeous One.’”
“You were calling me that?”
“He was calling you that.” Mike pointed his beer bottle across the table at Daniel. I raised my eyebrows, breaking into a big grin as Daniel looked over at us, tense in both his posture and expression. He knew what I was doing and it was making him panic. I couldn’t help but love every minute of it.
“Daniel curses?” I asked as he stared at me, reading his name on my lips, his eyes darting back and forth between me and Mike as he no doubt wondered what was being said.
“Not normally,” Mike admitted. “He’s a polite dude. Usually. But that night it was like fucking Jekyll and Hyde. That thing you were wearing… it got his imagination all worked up.”
