“Yes.”
“Can you get there, say, around seven? I’ll arrive a little later. You have to pretend you don’t know me. We’re meeting for the firsttime.”
“This is the silliest thing I’ve everheard.”
Luke grit his teeth. Truth was, he agreed with her. When he’d written that tripe in chapter one, he’d never imagined himself traipsing off to a bar to pick up a woman who lived one floor above him. He sensed her wavering on the whole thing and decided to remind her that this bargain went both ways. “I dropped my tux off at the dry cleaner’s today, just to make sure it’s nice and crisp for thatwedding.”
“Don’t get to the bar too late or somebody else will get lessonone.”
He chuckled at her cocky tone. Somehow, he had a feeling this evening was going to be fun. He just had to remember to follow his own instructions to the letter.Noimprovising.
If he wasn’t trying so hard to play this charade strictly by the book, he’d be tempted to toy with her on the phone. She had a quick wit and wasn’t afraid to put him in his place. He imagined there weren’t many subjects about which she didn’t know something. But for his experiment to have any validity, he had to stay within the guidelines of the book. Flirtation by phone before he even got to chapter one didn’t suit his notions of fair play. So he squelched his desire to have some telephone fun and told her he’d arrive a few minutes afterher.
“And, Luke,” she said in that snotty teacher’s voice that completely turned him on, “next time, I’ll expect you to do your homework ahead oftime.”
