“No. I tripped and fell out of my office and landed here.”
I scoff. “You know what I mean. Did you specifically come here just to bring me home?”
“No, I just happened to be spending my evening amongst uni students and inappropriate professors when I spotted you by chance.”
“Stop being a smart arse. How did you even find me? There’s at least six coffee shops on campus. And Brett isn’t inappropriate! I’m not some vulnerable, underage student. ”
We step out of the grand, arched entrance to the university and I spot Zayn’s car parked illegally out the front. Of course the lawyer thinks he’s above the law.
“He wait for all his students to finish work and invite them for drinks, does he?” Zayn shoots me an annoyed glance as he unlocks his car, then waits for me to disappear into the passenger side before he joins me. I settle into the immaculate car that smells like Zayn and ignore the way it makes my body respond. I admit to myself that it’s an addictive rush being in one of Zayn’s personal spaces, like I get a little piece of him that few others get to see.
“No, but stop making him sound like a creep. We were friends before he was my professor.”
The engine purrs to life and Zayn swings the sleek piece of black machinery effortlessly into the Friday night traffic.
“You didn’t tell me how you found me,” I continue.
He lounges back into his seat and pulls up at a set of traffic lights before turning his dark gaze on me.
“I’ll find you anywhere, Gianna.”
I roll my eyes and pretend that his words don’t turn my insides to molten honey. “Now who sounds like a creep.”
He only chuckles softly. Then, when the light turns green, he plants his foot on the accelerator.
19
Zayn doesn’t drop me outside like an Uber driver. He parks out the front of my building -illegally again, might I add -and escorts me all the way past the foyer and into the lift. He doesn’t bring up the last conversation we had in my apartment, and neither do I.
“Don’t you have anything better to do on your Friday night?” I ask as I push the button for the fifth floor and silently hope he doesn’t have anything, or anyone, better to do. “A girlfriend to see? Friends to go out with?”
“No. I don’t have plans and I haven’t had a girlfriend since you.”
He leans back against the wall and his gaze finds mine. I have to break the intensity of the moment by rummaging around in my bag for my house keys before my blood catches fire and my heart is successful in its plight to escape my chest. He really hasn’t committed to anyone since me?
“Okay, maybe not a girlfriend, then. A... lady friend?”
I act distracted, but my cheeks flame as a lick of jealousy rips through me.
“A lady friend?” he asks, dark amusement brushing his lips. “Not tonight, no.”
“Oh?” I feign nonchalance while my stomach flips harder than a pancake. “Is that something you do often, then?”
He raises a brow at me, his amusement growing. “I admit I haven’t been celibate since we were sixteen, if that’s what you’re asking.” He cocks his head to the side. “Are you jealous, Gianna?”
It doesn’t go past me that he doesn’t actually answer my question. He admitted as much as I could have guessed, but I want to know if he’s seeing anyonenow.With a face like his, I’m sure he has many, many lady friends -the asshole.
“As jealous as you were when Brett asked me out for drinks.” Which is a lie, of course. I’m so jealous I feel borderline violent.
“Very, then,” he replies, an edge to his voice I can’t quite place. Did he just admit hewasjealous of Brett asking me out? What is this weird game we’re playing? Are we…flirting?
When the lift doors glide open, I hurry out and fumble with the key before I unlock my door and head inside. I don’t explicitly invite Zayn in, but he takes my lack of resistance as an invitation in itself and follows me inside, closing the door behind him. I kick off my shoes and make my way to the kitchen.
“Would you like a wine?” I ask, not bothering to be embarrassed at the fact I’m assuming he’ll stay for a while.
“I’d love one.”
I feel his electric gaze on my back as I pull down two wine glasses and falter.
