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“What’s that?”
Huffing, Oleander shrugged off her denim jacket and tossed it onto her bag. She raised her arms to run her fingers through her hair and Jackson watched all of this in slow motion. She was distracting, but also intriguing. The fact that Oleander was spending time with him was a big deal. He didn’t want to say or do anything that would make her end this time together. Jackson looked away and found two guys at a neighboring table look at Oleander appraisingly. And it irritated him.
He didn’t want her to notice other guys when hefinallyhad all of her attention.
“Look, I’m not always the most pleasant person to be around, okay?”
“Oh yeah, I got that from every single one of our interactions,” Jackson said with a straight face and got a glower in return, which made him smile.
“I take time letting people in and getting to know them. And you…”
Jackson leaned forward, curious to know what he’d done, “I what?”
“You took me by surprise.”
“I’m confused.”
Oleander inhaled deeply, pushing her shoulders back and her chest up and Jackson’s eyes dropped to where the text on her t-shirt was stretched across her breasts before blinking away.
“You’re cute, you know that, right? A girl could get used to your attention and forget about everything else.”
“Right…” Jackson said, blushing because that was unexpected. But also confusing.
“And I haven’t…” Oleander blew out a frustrated breath and Jackson frowned. “I don’t do well around men, attractive ones especially.”
“Oh.”
Hot damn, she thought he was attractive. Jackson looked at himself, his black t-shirt, brown chinos, Vans and back at Oleander. She nodded when their eyes met and he blushed, looking away again because holy shit, she thought he was attractive.
Not justcute, but attractive.
Jackson cleared his throat, “I make you feel something?”
“Sure, let’s call it that. And my instinct is to react in the opposite way, like a defense mechanism.”
“Defense against my attractiveness?” He couldn’t help himself.
“Ugh.” Oleander dropped her head into her hands, but Jackson just smiled.
“Oleander.”
“No, don’t do—” she lifted her head and shook it at him. “Don’t say my name likethat.”
“Like what?”
“All charming, sexy and ugh,that. Stop it.”
Jackson pressed his lips together to fight back a smile. He cleared his throat, “I’m sorry. Can I call you…Ollie, was it?”
“Gah, no keep calling me Oleander. It sounds nice when you say it.”
Jackson just nodded and lifted his coffee to his lips. They smiled at each other as they sipped and the moment was ruined by Oleander’s ringing phone. She answered it with a huff and Jackson tried not to listen, but heard her apologizing for being late and that she would be there in 15 minutes.
Jackson arched an eyebrow when he saw the dejected look on her face, “You have to go.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, twisting her lips to the side. “I lost track of time and now my first class for the day has already arrived and I’m not there.”
“Is it close by?”
“Not really, but I’ve got my car, so I’ll get there in time,” Oleander told him as she stood up, lifting her Mary Poppins bag. Jackson took a moment to look at her properly and smiled at her worn-out gray sweatpants and the flannel shirt tied around her waist. He stood up and finished his coffee before bending to retrieve his bag as well. He stepped aside and let Oleander move around him, biting his lip as his eyes drank in the sight of her in baggy clothes. He liked it. He’d seen two different sides of her and he liked both.
“It was good to see you again, Jackson.”
“You too, Oleander,” he said with a smile, holding the door open for her. He stepped out after her and raised a hand to gesture in the direction he was going and she gestured the opposite way. They laughed and nodded, starting in their respective directions. Jackson got a few feet and turned around to find Oleander walking backwards with a smile on her face. She waved at him and Jackson did the same before turning in the direction of the dojo.
