"Do what now?"
He looks at me, his shoulders slumping. "I can't remember where I parked my car."
The defeated expression on his face plucks my sympathy strings. I try not to feel bad for him—honestly, I try so hard—but I've always been a sucker for a pathetic, sexy man.
"Come with me," I say. "Let's look for your car."
"Thank you, Dr. Griffin. You're a real mate."
"Uh-huh. Did you have to put coins in a meter, or did you have a student parking card?"
"The former."
"We'll start with the metered lot that's closest to the main campus."
I start walking, waving for him to follow. He falls into step alongside me, walking with that same self-assurance as earlier, and he keeps glancing at me sideways with a faint smirk on his lips. Did he trick me into helping him? No, I don't believe that. He had seemed genuinely upset when he realized he forgot where he parked his car.
But I'm sure he'll now take advantage of the situation to flirt with me.
We reach the first metered parking lot, and it's packed.
"See your car yet?" I ask.
He squints and scans the parking lot, just like he'd scanned the quad a few minutes ago. Then he grins and points to a vehicle three cars away from where we're standing. "There it is. Blimey, I was afraid I'd have to sleep on a park bench tonight."
"You've never heard of taxicabs?"
"I hate those." Nick aims his playful grin at me. "Maybe I could sleep on your couch, Dr. Griffin."
Will he never stop calling me that? Sure, I ordered him to use my professional name, but I hadn't realized how often he would say it or how hot he would sound doing that.
"There are sofas in the administration building," I say. "But you found your car, so you won't need to crash on anybody's furniture."
He takes my hand, lifting it to his lips, and kisses my knuckles. "Thank you, fair lady, for assisting me in my quest to find Camelot."
"This is a parking lot, not King Arthur's kingdom."
"But you have saved me." He kisses my hand again, then winks. "I'll repay that debt any way you want, Dr. Griffin."
"Uh, sure, whatever." I pull my hand out of his grasp. "See you on Monday at eight o'clock."
"For a clandestine liaison in your office?"
"No, for the first day of classes. Business analytics starts at eight. Please be on time."
His lips slide into a smile that's too damn sexy for my sanity. "How will you punish me if I'm late?"
"Goodbye, Mr. Hunter."
I hustle toward the cafeteria and pray Nick doesn't follow me there.
That man will drive me insane—and I can't swear I won't love every minute of it.
Chapter Three
Nick
I think Dr. Griffin assumed I was lying when I said I forgot where I parked my car. But I told the truth. Honestly, I did. Yes, all right, I waylaid her on purpose so I could talk and flirt with her, but losing my hired car was no ploy to stay close to her. That was an unexpected benefit of forgetting which bloody lot I'd parked in. This campus is larger than I remember these places being back in the Dark Ages when I'd last attended university.