Page 45 of Bottles & Blades

I turn back, slip my arm free, winding it around her waist and using it to bring her close again. “I’m too old for you.”

“That’s not a question,” she whispers.

“My life is complicated.”

“Also not a question,” she points out.

Funny.

Fucking funny and smart.

“But I like you, Tiff. You’re smart and funny and sweet and kind and sexy as hell. So maybe a lot of what we’re feeling doesn’t make sense, but the rest of it feels completely right. Unless, of course”—I lean back enough to meet her gaze again—“you’re not feeling it?—”

“I’m feeling it.” Bald words without hesitation.

My heart squeezes. “I like that, a whole lot. But I need you to know that you can tell me the truth.Always, buttercup.”

I won’t push.

Won’t push her to do something she’s uncomfortable with.

Fuckingnever.

“I can do that, Jean-Mi.”

“Good, baby,” I murmur.

I want to stay here, want to soak up her presence, to kiss her senseless, peel back the layers, learn every part of her, but my phone buzzes in my pocket, reminding me that she needs to go. “Now you need to take off so you’re not late to class.”

She pulls out her own phone, glances at the screen then the guys working on the door. “Crap,” she whispers, teeth pressing into her bottom lip.

“Go, buttercup. I’ll stay until they’re done. That lock has a keypad. I’ll text you the code so you can get in later and give you the physical backup keys tomorrow, okay?”

“At lunch?”

I nod, heart giving that squeeze again. “At lunch. I’ll text you the details for that too.”

“Do you have my number?”

“Not yet, but I can get it.”

She stills, studying me closely, then shakes her head, mouth curving into a rueful smile. “How about I save you the trouble and just give it to you?”

Easy.

It’s so easy with this woman.

“That’d be good, buttercup.”

She recites her digits. I plug it into my phone, hit the button to call her, and watch as she programs my name into her contacts.

“If you need anything, anytime just call, yeah?” I tell her.

“Okay.” More whispering. More teeth in that bottom lip. More shy brown eyes.

I tilt my head toward the door.

“Go now, baby. Learn a lot.”

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