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Shaking my head like he was being ridiculous, I turned back to Ruslan. “He’s going to make us late.”
I’d already dropped off a crockpot and brownies in the room the club always used for parties, so I was ready to go. “Do you need to grab anything else?”
Ruslan had already made it clear he had everything he needed, so I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head. “You’re right. We need to head out but I’ve got everything I need.”
We both aimed for slightly aloof as we shook our heads and headed down the stairs as Malcolm’s frustrated huff followed us. We were amazing and managed to make it outside the building before we fought off laughter.
“He does gossip entirely too much.” Ruslan grinned as he nudged his shoulder against mine. “But that’s not our problem, so we’re not going to worry about it.”
“No, you’re going to worry about our conversation later because I didn’t make you late this morning.” His cheeks went fiery red and a student walking past us even giggled even though there was no way they could’ve heard our conversation.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ruslan played dumb as we headed across the path. “Oh, was there anything else I needed to grab for the party? I keep getting told everything is under control but that’s a nerve-racking answer.”
He needed to work on his distraction techniques because that hadn’t been subtle at all, but I let him get away with it and shifted our conversation toward practical things related to the party as we headed inside.
Ruslan might’ve been wanting to make some kind of statement but us talking about the party as we walked in didn’t set that tone. The handful of people who’d already arrived gave us curious looks and clearly couldn’t decide what they were supposed to be thinking.
I wasn’t sure if that would send odd guesses flying around campus or if it would tone down the gossip, but either way, I was looking forward to seeing what he thought of his last presents from his Secret Santa.
But he seemed to be more focused on getting rid of his job as a Secret Santa because he quickly set his messenger bag under the table and pulled out the present he’d brought. It would’ve been sweet if he hadn’t dropped it almost like it was a hot potato. “This was so stressful.”
I must’ve looked guilty as he turned around because his gaze narrowed and his voice dropped to almost a whisper. “What did you do?”
Smart was sexy right up until he was aiming those brains at me.
“Nothing.” I needed to work on sounding more innocent because his head cocked and he stepped closer. “Are you okay?”
I was grasping for a distraction but nothing came to mind and I found myself inching back from him. “I made you the good kind of brownies with the extra chocolate chips in them, oh, and the mac-n-cheese I brought is the sausage one with the really good sharp cheddar.”
He’d really liked that one at the beginning of the semester because I used some badass cheese, so it actually stopped him for a few seconds. “No, you can’t bribe your way out of this one.”
Shit.
“It’s not bribing you to make you something that you like.” Especially since we were dating at the very least…but I was a very good partner and didn’t mention that part while we had an audience.
An audience that was growing more and more curious by the second.
Ruslan was being careful and kept his voice low, but his frustration was clear even if they didn’t know why he was pissed at me. “You did this. You really rigged this game and made sure to give me Jamie.”
Okay, so I could see part of why he was so frustrated.
“I owe you an apology for that but no one else wanted her, and if I made it random, one of the freshmen could’ve ended up with her. What would that have done to their self-esteem?” It was a very reasonable and completely legitimate question that had him pausing to think things through.
“All the other seniors and older students in general said they’d play and it sounded like fun but only if they didn’t get Jamie.” Luckily for us, she wasn’t there yet because she constantly overscheduled herself and she’d be hurrying from another class. She seemed to have a thousand. “I knew you were strong enough to handle her.”
And he had been…it might’ve just given him a bit of heartburn.
“I’d have stepped in to help if I thought you’d needed it. I even had a list of ideas prepared.” I’d been ready to jump in at any number of points if he’d gotten too stressed. “I was so proud of you.”
I was being honest and that was what might’ve been the reason he actually stopped considering how to kill me.
“So you’re saying that to rig the Secret Santa project you had to torture the man who’s supposed to be important to you?”
Well, when he put it like that.
“I don’t know what you mean by rig.” Had I admitted to that on a broad scale? “I just needed to have a strong person step in and take care of a big problem so that everyone else could have fun. You were the strongest person I knew.”
And he was also the person who noticed all the little details, so I knew he’d have figured out what to get her…and he had.
