“No. You’re the first.” She shook her head, and together they started across the parking lot. “You’re just yanking my chain again. Like when you offered to pee in my coffee and told me you were going to a strip bar.”
“I was serious about the coffee and I’m serious now.” He stopped at the rear of his Land Cruiser.
“Ah-huh. Right,” she said as she continued to her Honda Prelude parked a few spaces from his SUV.
He tossed his bags in the back of his Toyota, then looked over at her. The trunk of her car was open and she was making little huffing sounds as she tried to get her big suitcase inside. Luc walked past the two cars separating them, and the heels of his shoes echoed in the near-empty lot. At the sound of his footsteps she looked up. The lights in the garage cast deep shadows in the corner where she’d parked her car. A lock of her hair fell over one eye and she pushed it back. Her lips were slightly parted as she breathed.
“Need help?” he asked.
She pointed to the big suitcase still on the ground. “You can help me with that. I bought some books last night and they’ve made it really heavy.”
Luc easily heaved the suitcase into the trunk.
“Thank you.” She put her laptop and briefcase inside, then shut the trunk.
“You’re welcome.”
“Did Marie tell you I’m going to pick her up Saturday?” she asked as she moved to the driver’s side door.
“Yep.” He followed and took the key from her fingers. He unlocked the door and added, “She sounded real excited.”
She held out her hand and he dropped her keys in her palm. “I’m glad to hear it. We haven’t talked in a while, and I didn’t know if you were okay with the plan.”
He lowered his gaze from her hair, past her green eyes and straight nose, the bow of her top lip. “We’ve talked.”
“You may not know this, but me calling you a big dumb dodo and you razzing me about my bra isn’t considered talking.” The corners of her mouth turned down. “At least it isn’t outside of the locker room.”
He returned his gaze to hers and he wondered if she was trying to piss him off on purpose. He suspected she was. “What’s put your panties in a twist, sweetheart?”
She folded her arms across her chest and took a step back-Luc figured so she didn’t have to bend back her head so far to look up at him. “I think we both know.”
“I’m just a stupid hockey player, so why don’t you go ahead and spell it out real slow for me?”
“I never said you were stupid.”
He took a step closer so she’d have to look up at him again. “You implied it, Jane, and I’m not so stupid that I didn’t get the implication.”
She stepped back. “I didn’t mean that you’re stupid.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Okay, but I don’t think you’re stupid. You’re…”
He followed her. “I’m…?”
“Rude.”
He shrugged. “That’s true.”
“And you say inappropriate things to me.”
“Like?”
“That I look like I walk around turned on.”
She did.
“You wouldn’t say that to a male reporter.”