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I smile, though I’m having trouble remembering to breathe.Phosphorus, Sulfur… Oxygen.
“I appreciate the offer, Mr. Mackenzie, but I don’t fraternize with my students.” He laughs at my comment and shakes his head, running his fingers through his thick black hair as if contemplating the right answer, then rubbing his big palm over his neck again.
I’m starting to realize he may be as nervous as I am, and it makes my insides melt a bit. Eventually, he lets out a low huff and meets my eyes.
“In that case, Dr. Lawrence, it’s a good thing I’m not one of your students.”
“You’re not?”
Chlorine, Argon, Potassium…
“Nope. I’m from Professor Thorne’s course; only stuck around to ask you out because I thought you were an administrative worker here to set up a presentation for the next professor and ended up sitting through an entire lecture about hydrogen bonding. So Ireallyneed that drink.”
I laugh despite myself. “Going for the honest approach I see.” I contemplate his invitation as I slide my laptop into its protective sleeve and shove it into my giant tote.
I grab my coat and turn back to him. “And yes, I could go for a beer, Mac, as long as you call me Zoe.” Mac smiles, his entire face lighting up, and I feel the flutter double, forgetting to resume my mantra.
“How does Stout sound, Zoe?” It’s an establishment which prides itself on having all the local beers, from the biggest breweries to the micro-breweries, but more importantly, it’s right outside campus grounds.
“Perfect.” Definitely perfect, I muse to myself watching his sculpted rear end walk ahead of me to open the door.Not ten minutes had passed from when I was fully resigned to tucking him into the fantasy drawer in my mind and spending the evening with a glass of wine and maybe a toy from the shoebox under my bed if the mood struck.
This is a much better alternative.
And who knows? Maybe drinks will be the prologue of the evening.
Chapter Two
Mac
“Okay, okay!” Out of breath from the fit of laughter, Zoe and I shared, I suck in some oxygen before continuing. “That was a way better ‘most embarrassing high school moment’ than mine, and you totally win.”
Zoe wipes the corners of her eyes. “I still can’t believe you weren’t a jock. You have football wonder-boy written all over you.”
“I still can’t believe you were a cheerleader; you have chess club star player written all overyou.” Zoe’s bubbly laugh is delightful, and I really like the sound, especially when I’m the catalyst for it.
“Maybe I was the chess clubs’ star player.” She leans forward with a wicked twinkle in those big doe eyes, as if she knows exactly what she’s doing to me with those earthy browns, scrambling all my signals.
“Really?” I look at her with wonder, thinking it would be too many fantasy boxes ticked off in one girl.
“No.” She giggles. “I mean, I’m not half bad, but not star quality level.”
“Disappointing. Next question: the clothes. Seriously?” I give her a once over and shake my head in disdain.
“I don’t dress like this all the time.” She takes another gulp of her beer. “It’s my lecture look.”
“Your. Lecture. Look?” I repeat slowly, accentuating each word as I peer at her with a raised eyebrow. “It is way too old for all of your twenty-two years, Babe.”
“Babe? Seriously?”
She laughs with her entire body again and shakes her head at me, and I can’t help but be embarrassed that I’m coming across as a chauvinistic ass. I’m not one to usually trip over my tongue like this.
“And for your information, I just turned twenty-five.” She points her almost empty beer at me.
“No fucking way.” I gawk, and she just nods. “I only said twenty-two because you seem too by-the-book to drink underage. I wouldn’t give you a day over nineteen.”
“And my guess is you’re twenty-six,” she replies with a cocky grin.
“Will be for the next two months.” I let her have her moment of glory. “But let’s get back to the leper look.”
