“You went to school with Charlotte?”
“Since second grade.”
“Wow, how cool.” I look across the room at Charlotte to find her yucking it up at a boisterous table full of men and women.
Samantha follows my gaze. “Looking at Charlotte now, it’s hard to believe she didn’t forcibly drag some guy to his own school’s dance.” She chuckles. “But, actually, Charlotte was a bit of a goody-two-shoes in high school.”
“Were you?”
“Oh, God, definitely. The worst.”
“Was it a Catholic school?”
“Yup. Uniforms and nuns. The whole nine yards.”
I lean my elbow on the bar and flash her a huge smile.“So, did you wear a cute little plaid skirt like some kind of Argentinian Britney Spears?”
“Yep. That was me. I danced down hallways in pigtails and plaid, singing ‘Oops, I Did It Again’ in Spanish. ‘Oops,Lo Hice Otra Vez.’”
I chuckle. “Oh, man, my teenage self would have been obsessed with you. Of course, my teenage self wouldn’t have understood a damned word you were singing, but he wouldn’t have cared in the least.”
“You don’t speak any Spanish?”
“Not at all. Two years of high school Spanish and to this day I don’t know anything except black isnegro,white isblanco,beer iscerveza,and bathroom isbaño.”
“Twoyearsof Spanish and you’re that useless? For shame.”
“It wasn’t my fault—I couldn’t focus. The Spanish teacher was ridiculously hot.” I laugh. “I just needed a tutor, that’s all. Oh my God, if you’d been at my high school... How do you say ‘rice’ in Spanish?”
“Arroz.”
“If you’d gone to my school, I’d have been all over you to be my Spanish tutor likeblancoonarroz.”
“Charm me all you like, Romeo, but I’m not buying it. You were Mr. Prom-King-Big-Man-on-Campus. If our paths had crossed, you’d have been way too distracted by all the cheerleaders and Extroverted Barbies throwing themselves at you to notice the quiet girl sitting in a corner with a book.”
“Bullshit. Put you in a room with a million Extroverted Barbies and cheerleaders and anyone else, back in high school or today, and I’d go straight for you likeblancoonarrozevery time.”
She shoots me an adorable smile that sets my soul on fire.Oh my God, I’m having a chemical reaction to this woman. I want to drag her out of here and rip off her clothes and kiss and lick and suck every square inch of her and then fuck her ’til she’s speaking in tongues.
Samantha clears her throat. “Okay, so it’s time for you to answer my question. You said you’d answer one question of mine, remember?”
I lean back on my stool. “Sure. Hit me.”
“You promised total honesty.”
I grab her hand. I can’t resist touching her anymore. “Baby, I know of no other way.”
10
Ryan
Samantha looks up at the ceiling, apparently gathering her thoughts. “Okay, my question—and remember, you promised to answer it honestly—is: what are you thinking right now?”
I raise my eyebrows.
“Not what you were expecting?”
“No.”
