Viv nodded. “I’m not trying to put any labels on them, but so far, I think Diego is more like you.”
He lifted a brow. “You said he got in trouble in class. What was he doing?”
Viv couldn’t help but laugh at the recollection. It was just so…Diego. “He struggles in math, right?”
“Sounds like me already,” Duke said.
Viv shot him a look. “Yeah, right. You got straight A’s.”
“Withgreateffort,” Duke added.
“That’s more like Diego. He can get the concepts, but so far it doesn’t come as easy to him as it does Dante. Anyway, I guess he was working on a problem the teacher put on the board, and he got it right.” She chuckled some more. “So he broke into what my boys call the booty dance.”
The gleam in Duke’s eye was priceless. Mischief mingled with admiration. “As in, shaking his booty in class?”
“Yep.” Her cheeks nearly hurt from smiling so big. “Makes me miss them. I mean, it’s only been a day and a half, but…” She shrugged. “They’re my life.”
“Lucky boys,” he rasped, eyes still locked on her.
Viv felt that one in her heart as well. A swelling of warmth and something she could only call desire. She wanted to see what it could be like to have Duke in her life too. She really did. As premature or reckless as the desire was, it was there all the same.
But maybe that wasn’t such a horrible thing. Viv had learned how to read people and their intentions, hadn’t she? It’s not like she was back in time, young and foolish and acting out. She could trust herself now. And she planned to do that very thing.
“I really like how this night is going,” Duke said. “And the last thing I want to do is mess that up by asking the wrong thing…”
Viv felt her guard go up. “Is there abutcoming?”
He looked at her carefully, seeming to gauge her expression. “The kids’ dad,” he said softly. “Is he in their lives?”
Oh.Of course he’d want to know that. And he probably wanted to know more than that. How they met. How long had they dated. Did she love the guy?
Viv released a sigh that came out louder than she’d meant it to.
“We don’t have to go there,” he assured, putting a hand up.
But Viv shook her head. “We only dated for a little while, which I don’t love admitting. But it’s true. I was still kind of…brokenat the time.”
Duke seemed to flinch at the word. “Wait, how long after we broke up—”
“A month,” she blurted. “It was the summer after freshman year. I was trying to force myself to move on with my life. To prove that Icould. I met a guy—well, I’d met him before…” She stopped there, not sure she should tell him his name. Duke had been friends with him, after all.
“It was Thomas Knox.”
“What?You dated Thomas Knox after me?”
“Not for long, but yes. You know how determined I was to stay focused on my school and not…do anything to mess that up.”
He nodded in encouragement, but Viv could see that he was trying to mask his reaction. Anger, hurt, shock. A mixture of all three.
“I had one weak moment. One stupid night. I hated myself for it too. I knew I was mainly just…acting out.” She tipped her head, waiting until his focus shifted from a spot in the distance back to her. Eventually it did.
“Have you ever done something that you knew you’d regret? Like, you know before even doing it, but you still just…” This time it was her who looked away.
“Yes,” he said. “Of course. I’m sure I outweigh you in moments like that ten to one. I’m a lot more impulsive than you.”
“I won’t say I didn’t like Thomas. He was intelligent, intriguing, and normally very kind. He said all the right things, you know?”
“Things about me?” Duke asked, shifting in his seat. There was something brewing behind his eyes now.
