Dakota took a seat on the edge of the desk at the head of the room like he was a ninth-grade English teacher. Lord knows I had a giant crush on all my teachers who habitually perched on their desks while trying to drill facts into my horny head.
He watched Yara as she spoke, nodding like he didn’t already know everything she was sharing with the class. I took a breath when he yawned and stretched his arms over his head, revealing a sliver of skin. His stomach tensed and relaxed as he pulled his large arms back down by his side.
Damn it, he was cute when he was tired. Sure, it was difficult for anyone to not be cute when they were tired. But I didn’t think a guy of Dakota’s size could pull it off with so little effort.
When he covered his next yawn behind his hand and whispered a sheepish ‘excuse me,’ I willed myself to harden up. No guy was going to have me awing like he was some puppy at the shelter. No guy was going to unknowingly reel me in when I decided space was what I needed.
“Ready for CPR basics?” Yara asked us with a little excitement in her voice.
When we all stared at her blankly, she answered for us, “I think they are, Dakota. Wanna pair off?”
“Let’s do it.” He nodded, trying to match her energy as he pushed off the desk and peered down at her clipboard. “How ‘bout Carlos, Raine, and Emmy come with me?”
My stomach flipped hearing my name on his lips. I couldn’t protest. Not with people around and no decent excuse in sight.
“Works for me.” Yara nodded and checked our names off her list. “The rest of you stay here with me.”
I tried to catch Yara’s eye, but we didn’t know each other well enough to sixth sense a request. There was no other choice but to grab my bag and follow Dakota out of the room.
You can do this. He’s just a good-looking guy. I’d met plenty of those and only half of them were worth getting to know. All I had to do was pretend I wasn’t attracted to him. Treat him like a casual acquaintance.
Dakota held the door open for us to file out of and when we made eye contact my body panicked. Because he wasn’t just another good-looking guy. He was anicegood-looking guy who was rare — at least, in my experience — to come by. Keeping a distance was exactly what I needed, though. I hated that I needed it.
Dakota set us up in a classroom identical to the one we left. There were two CPR manikins, one of which had a near full face of makeup, laying on the wooden tables.
Raine unlocked her phone immediately to document the experience on her social media page.
“They’re creepier than I thought they would be up close.” Carlos moved closer to the manikin and poked its hard cheek.
“So creepy,” Raine agreed with a laugh as she moved her camera in to get a closer angle.
“Do they have names?” I wondered touching a hand to the chest of the one not wearing make-up.
Raine and Carlos looked at me like I’d said something off the cuff. I shrugged, unsure why that’d be such a far-fetched thing. I named most inanimate objects that had character. Lots of people did — or so I thought.
“I call that one Arthur.” Dakota pointed at the made-up one. “And this one’s Eames.”
I took a place in front of Eames. “I can appreciate anInceptionreference, no matter if it makes sense or not.”
“This one’s a little larger despite them coming from the same package,” Dakota stood on the opposite end of the table.
“That’s what she said.” Carlos chuckled.
“Nice,” Raine said, flatly.
I didn’t realize until it was too late, but Dakota and I were standing to work on Eames. My original plan was to stick to Raine like glue until this training session was over. A part of me felt like she wanted the same thing - for a different reason - when I noticed how she grimaced when Carlos let out a loud belch.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” Dakota rubbed his hands together, sounding a little more awake than he’d been in the class. He rolled his sleeves up, gearing to take charge.
I straightened my shoulders too and told myself it was time to act like an adult. Adults could focus despite standing across the table from a smiling guy with graceful hands. I watched those hands as Dakota placed them on the chest of the manikin.
“This instruction is for people ages twelve and up,” he prefaced. “Infant CPR’s going to be a little different. You’ll get a lesson on that too later, but since we’re on a college campus that’s not the top priority.”
We all nodded and watched in silence as Dakota explained what to do when you found someone unconscious.
When he placed the heel of his palm on Eames and started pumping, I got distracted by the tension in his muscles. I chewed on my lip and looked away for a moment. Carlos and Raine were also watching with similar expressions on their faces. I nearly laughed when Carlos fan himself for a second. And Raine dropped her phone on Arthur’s head when Dakota bent over to blow into Eames’s mouth.
“Wow,” she mouthed, scratching her head. That deserved an audible laugh on my end.
