“Something like that.”
I sipped from my iced caramel macchiato and worked at not crossing my legs beneath the table when his gunmetal-gray eyes smoldered over the rim of his coffee cup.“I’m looking forward to Thursday night.”
“About that.Why do I need to bring my swimsuit if we’re meeting at the theater?”
“Because we’re starting in one place and ending in another.”
I blinked.
“Saylor,” he chided, “It’s our first date.Don’t think for one second you’re coming back to my place at the end of it.”He drank some coffee and set his cup on the table with a grin.“I’m not that easy.”
“You are so full of yourself,” I huffed.
“You are so interested.”He dialed up the sexy in his lopsided grin.“Which makes two of us.”He waggled his raven-black brows.“Like I said before, brilliant minds think alike.”He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, drawing my eyes to all those impressive muscles and daring me to contradict him.
“I have to head back to the studio.”I pushed away from the table.
“You wouldn’t be running away from this conversation, would you?”
“It’s one date, Cash.”I tossed my hair over my shoulder so I didn’t trap it with the strap of my messenger bag—or something.“I have to load the second-to-final cut of our film project into the computer so we can screen it.”Wrinkling my nose, I added, “So the others can ‘contribute’ to my edits.”
“It’s our first date,” he corrected as he stood to walk with me out of the Union.
“You’re way too sure of yourself, Champ.In case your roommates haven’t told you already, I’m not that kind of girl.”
“We already established no one’s putting out on the first date.”
“Ugh!I meant I’m not the kind of girl who dates one guy exclusively for long.It sounds like you think one date could lead to something.I’m making sure you know not to get your hopes up.”
He fell into step beside me as I headed back to Dahl Hall.“You’re not the only one who can play poker.I have an ace in the hole the other guys you’ve dated didn’t have.”
“Yeah?What’s that?”
“How you respond when I kiss you.”
I snorted at his comment, but he kept going.
“Judging by the number of times your eyes have strayed to my mouth this morning, you can’t stop thinking about my lips pressed to yours.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”I wanted to kick myself at the sniffy way my words came out.At least he couldn’t see the way my hand tightened on the strap of my messenger bag.
His rich laughter sent shivers over my skin.“Once I remind you how intense our chemistry is, you’re going to want to explore it as much as I want to.I doubt one date will be enough.”
Fortunately, or unfortunately—I couldn’t decide—we’d reached the building housing the film school.I was enjoying Cash’s company way more than I’d ever admit, especially not to him.The teasing, the way his gaze heated when he looked at me, and his genuine interest when I explained esoteric aspects of film to him were as attractive as his gorgeous face and too-hot-for-my-own-good body.I’d spent the entire time we were sitting at that table silently talking my lady parts down from the excitement of his words delivered in that gravelly voice.
“I truly do wish I could be a fly on the wall for whatever you have planned in there.”Cash nodded in the direction of the building.“But I have an organic chem quiz waiting for me.”He reached up and brushed my hair back over the shell of my ear with his calloused forefinger.A wicked grin stole over his face when I couldn’t hold back a tiny sigh.“Thursday night is going to be a great time.See you then.”
Still smiling that naughty smile, he dropped his hand and walked back in the direction we’d come, telling me he’d gone out of his way to spend a few extra minutes with me.The thought rattled me almost as much as my reaction to the ethereal brush of his skin over mine.
Shoving my shoulders back, I spun on my heel and headed for the double doors to the studio building.I had no business—none, zero—letting my thoughts stray to where Cash’s words and his touch had led them.Yet, if I were honest with myself, my thoughts had been straying to lusty places with a certain Wildcats player since the previous Friday afternoon when Piper had stuck me with him at the SCR house.
A low growl escaped my throat.The real truth was worse.I’d been thinking of him, the hard-bodied hottie, on and off ever since those ill-advised antics that had ended with me sandwiched between him and a hallway wall, my leg wrapped around his hip and our mouths fused together like we were trying to become one entity.After our conversation this morning, a weird feeling stole over me that he might be right about having something going for him none of the other guys I’d ever dated had.
From the wide-eyed stare the receptionist shot me as I walked past the front desk, she’d heard my growl and thought it was directed at her.Deliberately smoothing my face into a bland smile, I said, “Final projects day.Everyone’s probably in a mood.Don’t mind us.”
She let out a nervous laugh and nodded.“It’s that time of the semester.”
Something likethat.
