Something flickers in his eyes.
Not anger.Not amusement.
Certainty.
“I know you will,” he says quietly.“Because I’ll be here.”
My heart stutters.
I hate that it does.
I hate that his voice—low and steady and confident—makes me feel something dangerously close to safe.
And I really hate that a part of me wonders if this whole speed dating thing was doomed from the start.
Because standing in front of me is a man who looks like trouble.
And somehow, impossibly?He looks exactly like what I didn’t know I needed.
The classroom door swings open with a dramatic gust of energy that could only belong to one person.
“Hey Sabrina!”Mary chirps, barreling in like a miniature hurricane, face buried in her phone and tote bag flapping against her hip.
“The diocese sent a message—tonight’s been moved up and will start at four because of the impending storm.Did you still wanna grab a coffee before we head downstairs?”
She doesn’t look up until the very last sentence—and when she does, she stops short so fast her voice cracks mid-syllable.
Her eyes bug out of her head as she stares at the wall of man standing between me and the coat hooks.
“Oh.Uh, maybe you started already?”
That one question is filled with at least twelve different kinds of curiosity and two types of judgment.
“Mary,” I say as calmly as possible, “this is Mr.Montego.”
“Mister Montego,” she echoes.
Her eyes narrow slightly as she takes him in from head to toe and then slowly drags her gaze back to me like we’re in a made-for-TV movie and I’ve just been caught canoodling the gardener.
I clear my throat and try to sound professional.
“He’s with—uh, private security.”
Mary lifts one perfect eyebrow.
“Oh, is he?”
Ego—ugh, Theodore, crap, I don’t know what to call him—doesn’t flinch under the scrutiny.
Instead, he gives her a small, polite nod, hands still relaxed at his sides, like he’s been in more intense standoffs, and this one isn’t even in his top fifty.
Which honestly only makes him that much more interesting.
Mary steps closer, her voice pitched just above a whisper.
“Private security, huh?For you?Since when?”
“Since someone’s been breaking into my apartment and classroom.Apparently, someone thinks I’m in danger.”
