Page 38 of By The Book


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He opened it and she blinked. She’d never seen him in anything but well-worn casual clothes before. Tonight he wore black linen dress pants, shiny black leather loafers and a black shirt of a weave so fine she wanted to touch it. The neck was open and just a hint of chest hair teased her, reminding her of how it had felt to rub her naked chest against his. Tonight he’d dressed. Forher.

She felt a shiver of delight at the implied compliment, then made the mistake of looking right into his eyes. She froze. His green eyes were always a little sleepy, as though nothing in life was worth getting too worked up over, but tonight they were sharp and keen, slicing through all the airy decisions she’d madeearlier.

These weren’t the eyes of a laid-back guy who didn’t know how to please a woman. These were the eyes of a predator, one who would take control of her body, of her will, and bend her tohis.

She sucked in a startled breath and blinked. And the impression was gone as though she’d imagined it. Back was the Luke she knew. He was running his gaze over her outfit and a quick gleam of humor made her suspect he knew exactly why she was wearing the closest thing to a nun’s habit she couldfind.

“Come in,”hesaid.

“Thanks.” She presented him with a bottle of chilled white wine. “I wasn’t sure. But it seemed kind of warm today forred.”

“This is perfect,” he said, but something in his tone made her feel the way the fly would after giving the spider a present—as though she were being toyed with before beingeaten.

She entered the apartment and the feeling of strangeness didn’t leave her. He had a small round table set for two outside on his patio. Near the door, there was a tub of herbs, which impressed her, and there were metal lanterns containing candles. Once they were settled with glasses of wine, he flipped off the lights inside his apartment, and she found her sense of displacement growingstronger.

The sun had already set and there was only a sliver of moon. The air was still warm from the unseasonably hot day, but in the dark, with a hint of fresh herbs scenting the air, she felt as though she were in the south of France orItaly.

With her companion seemingly so mysterious and this patio so visually disconnected from the rest of the world, a turmoil of sensations stirred inside her—mystery, uncertainty and the hot, enticing spice ofdesire.

In an attempt to drown that desire, she gulped wine too quickly and chattered manically about how excited the kids were that Luke was coming to talk to them next week. “I decided to assign them all an article to write after you’ve done your session. We’ll go through them as a class and vote on the best ones. Perhaps the best three. And then, if it’s all right with you, you could pick thewinner.”

“I think I could pick a winner,” he said, his voice seeming surprisingly deep all of asudden.

“Thank you.” She picked up her glass to drink more wine and discovered it was empty. Wow. That was fast. She checked to see if he used really small glasses, but they were a generous size. She must bethirsty.

As she put down her empty glass, he rose to fill it. “Are youhungry?”

Hungry. She was so hungry every part of her felt empty and screaming for fulfillment. Why did he have to have all the appearance and attributes of a sexually exciting man and always fall apart at the critical moment? Anyway, for all the nuance she heard in his voice, he was obviously talking about food, and if she was smart she’d switch to drinkingwater.

“I’m ready for dinner,” she said carefully. “And may I have a glass ofwater?”

“Sure. I’ll be just aminute.”

In less than a minute he’d filled her wineglass and set a glass of water in front of her. He disappeared inside and in no more than ten minutes, reappeared with two plates. Lighting a couple more candles on the table, he illuminated a dinner that could have come from any five-starrestaurant.

“Mmm. Tuna?” she guessed, staring at the steak-like piece of fish, with some kind of vegetable salsa on top, complete with rice and spears of babyasparagus.

“Energy food,” he answered. “Great when you’re working out alot.”

“Is that my personal trainer talking?”

His eyes glowed, enigmatic and devilish against his black clothing. “Something likethat.”

Was there a technique in his stupid book about talking in nothing but double meanings and obscure statements? She should find that thing and burn it. She felt as though she were being nudged along, page by page to the chapter of no return and she didn’t like it. She was the teacher, damn it. She was supposed to be incharge.

Still, the fresh tuna was incredible, dense and flavorful, and Luke’s conversation seemed a lot less weird once they tucked into theirdinner.

Once she’d told him a bit more about her day at school and thrown in a cute-kid anecdote or two, she asked him what he’d been up tolately.

He seemed to squirm a little in his seat, then said, “I was working on anarticle.”

“For the local paper?” She’d have to watch for it and take it intoclass.

“No, for amagazine.”

“Really?” She didn’t recall him telling her about magazine work. “That’s exciting. What kind of magazine? Is it afeature?”

He cleared his throat, reached for the nearly empty wine bottle and topped up their nearly full glasses—which he’d topped about two seconds ago. “It’s a men’s magazine. I do some work forthem.”