“So, let’s circle back to your comment outside.”
I tilted my head, trying to remember everything that happened and was said, but there had been so much even in the short amount of time. “What comment outside?”
“You could bust my arm without breaking a sweat.” He didn’t even blink when he repeated my ridiculousness back to me.
I chuckled. “Well…” I drew out, covering my mouth as I chewed. “I wasn’t lying. My parents made sure I could take care of myself even if I didn’t want to learn. I could probably teach you a few moves.”
The smirk on his face was nothing short of glorious as he placed his hand on his chest, laughing. “You’re going to teach me?”
I nodded, laughing too. “Just because you’re a man doesn’t mean you couldn’t learn something new from a girl.”
“You’re going to teach me?” he repeated, tapping his chest with his palm as he blinked a few times.
“Uh, yeah.” I smacked his shoulder playfully. “Since you bought me dinner, it’s the least I could do.”
He shook his head and bit his lip, stifling his laughter. “You’re a piece of work.”
I dipped my head. “Thank you.”
“Nineteen-hundred hours at Pete’s Gym.”
I blinked. “What?”
“For my lesson.” He grinned, running his hand up his shirt to his neck. “I want to make sure I’m able to defend myself in case someone attacks me,” he teased. “And don’t make me wait. If someone jumped me over the weekend and you didn’t give me my lesson, you’d feel really guilty.”
I balked. “I would not.”
His beautiful grin spread into the most sinful smile. “Darlin’, you would.”
“Fine. Fine.” I threw up my hands. “Pete’s Gym.”
The look of satisfaction and smugness he wore fit him well. He was yanking my chain, and I knew it. I’d learned enough from my parents to read someone, especially when they were trying to play me. Austin whatever-the-hell-his-last-name-was was definitely working me.
“Nineteen-hundred hours.”
“I know.”
“Promise me you’ll be there?” he asked, running his hand over the back of his neck, kneading the muscles.
“I always follow through, Han Solo.”
“I don’t know enough about you to make that determination yet, Dynasty.”
“Dynasty?” I asked, almost choking on a bite I’d just taken of the burger.
He leaned back, soaking me in, making me feel more exposed and bare than I would’ve felt being actually naked in front of him. He was studying me, forming an opinion about me without even knowing me. “Your mom is a secret agent, your dad is a ‘badass’—your words, not mine—security guy who I assume was military at one point. So, yeah. You’re part of government royalty. You’re part of the Dynasty.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Crazy-hot, yeah?” He winked, the smirk rising on his lips.
And goddamn it if my cheeks didn’t heat by the one simple move I’ve seen come my way dozens of times in my life. But for some reason, in this moment, with this guy who was of course hot too, my body decided to respond.
“You’re pretty.”
The single word was enough to make his cocky smirk falter. “Pretty?”
I nodded, giggling like an idiot. “So pretty with your blue eyes and long eyelashes.”
