Oh, hell no. I caught her hand just as she touched the bar to push away from it. Trapping it against the countertop, I waited until she lifted her large, startled gaze. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased. I just wanted to hear you admit you were here because of me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why? Because you like to torture me?”
“No.” I shook my head, feeling plenty tortured enough for the both of us. “Because it would’ve made my entire day.”
She glanced away. When she dismissed me entirely and dug into her purse to pull out her phone, my disappointment almost ate me alive. She was probably telling her date to hurry his ass up because she didn’t want to be stuck here alone with me a second longer than she had to be.
If she’d agreed to give Dr. Chaplain another chance, even though he was already fucking engaged, I didn’t know how I would handle that. Probably very badly.
But about as soon as she put her phone away, my butt vibrated. Frowning, I tugged my phone from my back pocket and scowled at the unknown number. Curious to see who was texting me, I opened the message and my mouth fell open when I read what was written.
I AM here because of you.
“Oh.” The air rushed from my lungs. Fuck. The pleasure, and longing, and anxiety that roared through me was way more intense than I wanted it to be. I looked up at her.
She bit her lip and stared back, and this overwhelming sensation roared to life inside me.
God, she just had to go and do this, didn’t she? “You know, I was fully prepared to leave you alone. You convinced me this was a bad idea. I wasn’t going to gamble your entire career away just for my own pleasure. But you coming here tonight...” I blew out a breath and shook my head. “That’s a little too tempting to resist.”
Her eyes filled with panic. Lifting her chin regally, she said, “There’s nothing wrong with stopping at a bar for a drink.”
I leaned in until I could get a whiff of lavender oozing off her. Then I tilted my head to the side and grinned. “No, there’s nothing wrong with that at all.”
She sat down slowly, her gaze leery, as if she suspected I had an ulterior motive. I sent her an innocent smile, but she only narrowed her gaze more. Paranoid woman. I loved how easy it was to make her suspicious.
“I’ll be right back with your...cola.”
Turning away, I hummed to myself as I pulled down a cup and opened the ice chest.
“Thought you said you weren’t sleeping with your teacher.”
I looked over to catch Lowe sending me a curious sidelong glance as we both scooped glasses into the ice. He lifted his eyebrows. “Not that it’s any of my business or I’m judging or anything,” he was quick to add. “You just sounded pretty adamant the other night that you weren’t.”
“What makes you think she’s my teacher?” I evaded, curious to know how he’d come to such a conclusion. Risking a peek over my shoulder, I took her in. In blue jeans and a cashmere top with her hair pulled up in a perky ponytail, she looked like an undergraduate. Not a single professor vibe seeped from her.
Lowe just grinned. “My girlfriend and I take World Masterpieces from Dr. Kavanagh together. And Ten said her name the first night I worked here, so...” He let me figure out the rest of his deductive reasoning for myself.
Well, shit. If one guy could figure us out so effortlessly, then how easy would it be for anyone else to? Just how perilous to her job was it for me to even talk to her?
Feeling fiercely protective, I scowled at Lowe. “I think you’re reading too much into something that’s not there.” The look in my eyes and tone in my voice told him to back the hell off.
“Hey, you don’t have to worry about me.” He lifted his hands, trying to tell me everything between us was cool. “I wouldn’t say anything, and besides, I was just teasing you.”
No. Ten teased me, thinking I wasn’t even interested in her. I could tell Lowe knew I actually was.
I looked her way, every muscle in my body tense. I didn’t want to cause her trouble. I didn’t want some guy I barely knew and couldn’t trust yet getting her into trouble either. But then she turned her attention our way as if she could feel my gaze on her, and we made eye contact. Christ, but I couldn’t stay away from her either. The pull I felt toward this woman was crazy, and I knew I should fight it, but I kept forgetting why.
When the tops of her cheeks flushed and she darted her glance away, I jerked my elbow Lowe’s way. “She doesn’t seem to recognize you from one of her classes.” And that’s when it hit me. Aspen didn’t recognize Lowe. In fact, she didn’t even seem to be aware of him working alongside me.
Since the bastard had started, every woman had skipped over me to check him out first. Without fail. Everyone but Aspen. She didn’t even realize he existed because she was busy sneaking another discreet glance my way.
Heat seized me. I wanted to go to her, and grab her, and just...brand her as mine. Such barbaric, caveman urges had never afflicted me before, but they ro
ared to life now. She preferred me over Mason Lowe. Hot damn. Made me want to prefer her over every woman I’d ever known too.
Or maybe she just hadn’t really looked at him yet. A scowl marred my brow as I studied her. I didn’t like the self-doubt these thoughts caused. I hadn’t experienced anything like it since I’d been here. In Ellamore, I was treated like royalty. Strangers loved me for my football skills. Ladies loved me for my looks. And guys loved me for my cool-ass attitude. I never had to wonder who thought I was a piece of trash, because they told me I was amazing. Until Aspen Kavanagh came along. And now the uncertainty was creeping its way under my skin and making me itch for answers.
Her fingers tapped idly against the countertop to the beat of the music playing as if she was waiting for something. For me.