Page 7 of Love Me Boldly

“Dinner.” He shrugged and uncurled his arms from where they’d been across his chest, pushed off the wall, and took one step toward me.

My boots dug into the ground so I didn’t step back. “Why?”

“Because we both need to eat, and you seem like you’d be stellar company.”

I huffed out a laugh. He had to be joking, but the longer I watched and waited for him to laugh it off with me, the more serious he grew.

“You’re serious.”

“Very rarely, but about dinner, yeah. I eat a lot.”

This guy. He was making my head hurt.

“When?”

“Tonight.”

“And if I go for dinner with you, you’ll leave me alone after?”

“Probably not.”

“Really?” I arched my brows in surprise.

He leaned in. It was the tiniest amount, and yet I was suddenly surrounded by him. His looks. The size of his shoulders. His mere presence was overwhelming. “Spitfire, if you really wanted me to leave you alone, you would have blocked my number.”

He reached out and booped my nose. Heboopedmy nose. My jaw unhinged in shock, and by the time I thought to say something, he was gone, his hand gripping the railing and ready to head off down the stairs.

“One dinner,” I called out. “Where do I meet you?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll find you.”

He vanished down the stairs, boots thumping and echoing with his hurried movements.

I gawked at the stairwell, filling with more bodies coming up the stairs.

Heknewwhere I’d be. And he had my phone number…

I was going to go to dinner with him for the sole reason of finding outhow.

Then I was putting an end to this. I didn’t have time for his games, and I didn’t have time for him. Not with graduation looming and my last semester in full swing.

I headed toward my classroom and slid in with seconds to spare and refocused.

Derivatives. Financial risk management. They were the only things I needed to focus on in my life.

But a girl did need to eat…

* * *

“Have a good weekend.”I handed the purchase to the customer and glanced at my phone.

I wasn’t checking to see if Graham texted. I wasn’t keeping an obsessive eye on it, hoping it’d light up. I wasn’t at all getting nervous about having dinner with him.

I also hadn’t canceled…nor had I blocked him…

A sharp poke hit my shoulder, and I spun, only to come face-to-face with Tracey, grinning from ear to ear. “Itoldyou I didn’t give him your phone number.”

I texted her as soon as I finished my financial risk exam, before grabbing lunch at the student center. Fortunately, while the wind was still rough, the snow had slowed.

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