He raised his gaze to meet hers, the kaleidoscope of colors in his eyes clear beneath the library’s lights and the morning sun streaming in the tall windows.
“So, you look really busy, but if you get all your homework done, any chance you’d like to hang out later?” he asked.
She was no longer thinking about the color of his eyes now. Had he seriously just asked her out?
Heart pounding, half in dread and half in breathless anticipation, she nodded.
Gathering up every ounce of cool she could muster she said, casually like it didn’t matter either way, “Yeah, sure. I guess I could hang.”
Holy shit.She had a date with Dean.
Chapter Ten
Dean opened the front door of his parents’ house, sighing when he noted that it wasn’t locked. He shook his head at their small-town naïveté. Even small towns had crime.
Before he’d even closed the front door, the vibrating of his cell in his pocket dragged his attention away from the lecture he’d been preparing in his head to be delivered to his parents about safety.
Maybe it was one of the guys, checking on him. Or reporting some tale of their adventures out last night.
At least he could hope that was it. He pushed the door closed and pulled out his cell… and groaned when he saw the name on the display.
Freaking Juniper again.
Apparently his ignoring her first text this morning, the one that had come through while he’d been in the library talking with Tessa, wasn’t enough of a hint for his ex.
He only kept her number in his phone so he wouldn’t accidentally answer a call or text.
There were a whole bunch of women’s names and numbers saved in his contact list for that very reason. Because he didn’t want to talk to any of them, or her.
Drawing in a deep breath, he shoved the phone back in his pocket. He’d made a good decision asking Tessa out. She’d be his shield against Juniper’s unwanted advances while he was in town. He only hoped it would be enough.
He would feel bad about using Tessa like that, except for the fact he’d been perfectly upfront and honest with her about it last night at the bar. She’d seemed fine with playing his pretend girlfriend. Into it, even. In fact, she’d offered to do it.
Not that he would mind hanging out with Tessa anytime anyway. It would be no hardship going on their fake date tonight. She was… intriguing.
Writing papers on neuroplasticity? For students for cash? He had to respect her sense of entrepreneurship. And her intelligence. He wasn’t even sure he could spell neuroplasticity correctly, never mind write an entire paper on the subject.
Had he been a professor he might feel differently about her little illicit enterprise that helped students cheat. Since he wasn’t, he let out a chuckle at her ingenuity and reached for the railing on the staircase. He wanted to change into PT clothes and get in a good run before it got too late in the day.
“Dean, sweetie, is that you?”
Dean paused at the bottom of the stairs with one hand on the railing.
“Yes, Mom. It’s me,” he called back, hoping that would be the end of this conversation.
“Can you come into the kitchen?”
He drew in a breath. “Of course.”
So close…He’d almost made it upstairs without getting the third degree.
He knew how this conversation would go already. He could hear the questions now.
Where had he gone? Who did he see while he was out? Did anything interesting happen?
He loved his mother. She was a wonderful woman. A good person. A great mom. But sometimes all he wanted her to do was leave him alone.
Just that thought made him feel like he was a horrible person. That guilt didn’t quell the innate instinct within him to keep his private life private. Even from family. Hell,especiallyfrom his family.
