I wave at her, a smile spreading across my face. She frowns.
I have no idea what she’s thinking, but she’s walking over to my car, so that’s a good sign.
“Hey.” I straighten. “The country singer thing didn’t work out, huh?”
I grab her bag and lower it into the trunk. I offer her a coffee, ignoring the way she’s staring at me like I just stepped out of a spaceship. I clink my coffee cup against hers and raise it to my lips.
“Thanks… I guess.” She squints at me. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
“Google!”
“Creepy,” she mutters, lifting the cup to her lips. “You’re— Oh my God! This coffee isinsane!”
I grin at her. “How many points does a perfect coffee earn on the book-boyfriend scale?”
She takes another sip. “Ten for showing you care, and another five because it’s still piping hot. Where’d you get it?”
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.”
She peers at the side of the cup. “Commando Café, right?”
I stare glumly at the logo on the cardboard. “Busted.”
“It’s just what I needed, honestly. What do they put in this stuff? It’s amazing.”
“It’s a Wolinski special.” I wink.
I lean back against the hood, and she pauses mid-sip.
“Okay, that doesn’t sound good.” She arches an eyebrow. “A ‘Wolinski special’? My spidey senses are telling me a fangirl made this.”
“Correct.”
“Which means there’s probably some secret ingredient in here I don’t want to know about.” She curls her lip.
“Anyone ever tell you you’ve got an overactive imagination?” I sigh. “Yes, Ididhave an insane night with Jodana once, sure. But that was at least two years ago, and she’s had a kid since then. Bobby or Billy or Buddy, or something. And no,” I add, before she has time to ask, “I’m not the baby daddy.”
“Jodana, as in Jodana Odalec?”
“How come you know every single girl I ever slept with?”
She snorts, and I immediately regret asking.
“Considering you’ve slept with every single girl I ever met, it’s notexactly hard, is it? Anyway, I don’t even want to know what bodily fluids this mystery mix contains. I feel like there’s a fifty-fifty chance she spit in it.”
She scrunches her nose, and it’s so damn cute, I burst out laughing, coaxing a meek smile out of her.
“That a flirting technique?”
“You have no idea what women are capable of.” She takes another sip, more gingerly this time.
“I’ll add that to the agenda for our next tutoring session.”
“Trust me, you’re not ready for the truth.”
“Is this the part where I show some more vulnerability?” I pretend to quiver, and she slow-claps.
“Want me to drop you at home?”
