Major turnoff there trying to show off.
Not that he was interested to begin with, but still. He stressed not to do that.
He looked down at Jocelyn. “Okay?” he asked.
She turned her head, their faces just inches apart. Closer than he’d do with anyone else. “Yeah,” she said, her grin spreading. “My turn.”
He let go of her and stepped back. She moved behind him. She was a good foot shorter than him, her face against his back, but she could reach around and execute it, then returned in front of him.
“Very good,” he said.
He went around the room to everyone else, his ear half listening to Jocelyn’s friend laughing and whispering loudly.
He saw the pink hue on Jocelyn’s face but ignored it.
When the class was done, he sent the paper around. “Make sure your name and email address are correct and clearly written. You’ll get an email in the next twenty-four hours, so check your spam if you don’t see it. Just fill out the prompts, and we will send your certificate electronically or physically, depending on your choice.”
“I’ll talk to you later, Jocelyn.”
He expected her to leave with her friend, not linger around as the last person.
“You know,” she said when the two of them were alone, “I’m wondering if all you do is work. Fireman, code enforcer, bar owner, CPR instructor. Do you even have a personal life?”
He leaned against the table, his ankles crossed in front of him.
“It’s all built over the years,” he said. “I haven’t done the training in a while but filled in for a guy last minute.”
“When my friend asked me to come with her, I looked it up online and what do I see? Your name as the instructor for the night,” she said.
“So you only came to see me again?”
“That was the driving force. Problem with it?”
“It’d be stupid for me to say that I did.”
“And we know you’re smarter than you want people to believe.”
“That’s right. And on Friday, you sought me out.”
He wanted her to admit that too.
“I did.”
“What was your reason?”
“Do I need one to get another look at you?”
“Is Jocelyn McCarthy flirting with me?”
“Obviously not that well if you need to ask,” she said drily.
“Just never thought I’d see the day.”
“Could be you didn’t open your eyes enough.”
He closed one at her now. She’d always been in your face with her words and he was glad to know not much had changed.
“No way you’d have wanted any part of me years ago. I’m trying to figure out why you do now. Or maybe I’m not the lowlife troublemaker that I was back then.”
