“Excuse me?” My dad looked ready to implode.
“Come now,” Dante said again, and then paused as if he was mulling it over. “It’s a command you’d give to a dog to get it to heel, no?” He took a drink from his flute, and I questioned whether he had apple juice like me, because nobody sober would just say what he did to my dad. “Do you expect her to bark on command too?”
“Dante!” I realized my mouth was hanging open and saw Professor Yates turn away, hiding his grin as Dante openly challenged my father. “Enough.”
Dante looked at me, his mouth twitched slightly, but he said nothing and simply turned his attention back to my dad.
My dad watched him with a narrowed glare. I knew that look too well. That was the look of a man who was plotting your demise.
“Dad, I—”
“You’re right,” Dad said with a slight dip of his head. “My terminology in addressing my only child was poorly worded.” Hesmiled thinly. He broke his stare off with the man beside me. “Savannah, would you care to join me?”
“I need the restroom,” I blurted out, ignoring his look of disappointment, but I needed space. Space to get myself together, and in a way, do what my dad wanted, which was to get me away from the provocative art professor and the even more alluring quarterback.
My heels clicked too fast across the marble floor, betraying the jitter in my chest.
I pushed open the heavy bathroom door, planting both palms on the sink as my reflection looked back at me. Cheeks flushed, eyes too wide. Pathetic. One close call with Dante, and that whole awkward encounter between him and my dad, and I looked like I’d run a mile.
I turned the faucet on and let cold water run over my wrists, breathing until my pulse stopped trying to punch its way through my ribs.
The door creaked.
I glanced up in the mirror — and froze.
Dante leaned casually against the frame, his suit immaculate, and that perfect smile playing as if we hadn’t just crossed a line in front of half the university’s boosters. Like he hadn’t had the perfect moment to tell my dad my secret.
“You planning to hide in here all night?” His voice was soft enough to crawl along my spine, daring me to admit I was still rattled from being so close to him.
I straightened up, forcing calm I didn’t genuinely feel. “What the hell wasthat?” I demanded, grabbing a towel to dry my hands.
“What?” Dante shrugged insolently. “He treats you like a show pony, it pissed me off.”
“A show pony?” I felt my temper rising. “I thought I was a dog?”
He had the audacity to roll his eyes. “I never called you a dog, don’t get excited.”
“You can’t speak to my dad like that.” I tossed the towel toward the linen basket and missed. I pointedly ignored the snort from the man lurking by the door.
Lurking. Stalking.
“What are you even doing in here? Do you make a habit of following women into restrooms?”
He shrugged, pushing the door closed behind him with the back of his hand. “Just the ones who run away after almost kissing me.”
Shit.
“You’re delusional.” I grabbed another hand towel just to have something between my hands and him. “You can’t be in here.”
“Relax, I’m not here to cause a scene.”
“You meananotherscene?” I snapped at him.
His smile was just for show, but his eyes were piercing. “We need to talk, Sav, and you keep running.”
I turned away from him, folding the towel slowly as I walked to the linen basket, stooping to pick up the one I had thrown earlier. “Talk about what?”
He took one step closer, enough for the scent of his cologne to drift through the sterile soap smell. “About how you’re not really tutoring me, but have no problemmockingmy lack of intelligence—”
