“Relax,” Cole said in a low voice. “Nobody is paying attention to us anymore.?
??
Easy for you to say. She tingled with the urge to touch him again. “Cole Serenghetti, too cool for school.”
“If you were the teacher, I’d have had my butt glued to my seat in the front row.”
“You say that now,” she teased, even as his nearness continued to affect her like a drug.
“I was a callow teenager who couldn’t appreciate what you were going through.”
“Callow?” she queried, still trying to keep it light. “Are you trying to impress the teacher with your vocabulary?”
He bent his head until his lips were inches from hers. “How am I doing?”
Oh wow. “Great,” she said a bit breathlessly. “Keep at it, and you might even get an A.”
It was the pep talk that she usually gave her students. Keep trying, work hard and the reward will come... The moral of her own life story, really. Well, except for her love life...
Cole’s eyes gleamed as he straightened and murmured, “I’ve never cared about grades.”
She didn’t want to ask what he did care about. She’d guess his currency of choice was kisses—and more... Troublingly, she could seriously envision getting tangled up with Cole again even though she should know better...
* * *
Cole swiveled on his bar stool and looked at the entrance again.
This time he was finally rewarded with the sight of Marisa coming toward him. She was wearing jeans—ones that hugged her curves—and a mint-colored sweater. She had on light makeup, but it was a toss-up whether her curls or her chest was bouncier.
Cole felt his groin tighten.
He hadn’t been sure she would show. His text had been vague.
Meet me at the Puck & Shoot. I have a plan u need to hear.
Ever since he’d upheld his end of the bargain by giving her students a tour of the Razors’ arena, he’d been desperate to come up with another excuse to see her.
She stopped in front of him. “I heard women proposition you in bars these days.”
“Care to make one?”
“How about a drink instead?”
“That’s a start.” He stood, closing the distance between them even further. “What’ll you have?”
“A light beer.”
Cole fought a smile. “Lightweight, are you?”
“Only in bars, not in the boxing ring.”
“Yeah, I know.” At the gym, she could pack a wallop in a simple dress that brought grown men to a standstill. But she wasn’t too shabby in bars, either. She could still make him stand up and take notice. Without the baggage of her seeming betrayal in high school, he could acknowledge without reservation what a beautiful woman she was.
He signaled the bartender and placed an order.
She glanced around, as if uncertain. “This is my first visit to the Puck & Shoot.”
“I thought you said this is where you got a tip about how to run me to ground at Jimmy’s Boxing Gym.”