“Not bad,” she murmured as she headed back to the front of the room, taking a wide berth around me. “We can take a break for lunch.”
I frowned, wondering why she was avoiding me. Or was she avoiding our attraction? Yeah, that wouldn’t work for me. But I decided to try getting to know her a little better before approaching the subject of our sexual chemistry.
“Thanks. You’re an excellent teacher. And, damn, woman. You’re in sick shape to be dancing circles around me like that.”
Lisa giggled, and her eyes twinkled as her cheeks dusted with pink, making my groin tighten with lust. She was so fucking beautiful.
“I thought you football players were supposed to be in tip-top form?”
“Me too,” I grunted with a chagrined smile.
She laughed again, and I had the urge to kiss the lips that musical sound came from.
“How about I take you to lunch, and we can get to know each other better?”
Lisa’s smile dimmed, and she hopped up to sit on the table. “Um, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
I swaggered over and leaned my hip against it, so I was facing her, and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why not?” It didn’t escape my notice that her gaze had lingered on my cut arms before darting away.
“We should probably just keep things professional.”
I wanted to argue but sensed that it would be the wrong tactic right at that moment. “We’ll come back to that another time,” I warned her. “But assuming I agreed, why would that have any effect on whether we have lunch together and get to know one another?”
She bit her lip, and I resisted the urge to pull it from between her pearly white teeth with my thumb.
“It’s just…there’s always a lot of press around.”
I wanted for her to continue, but when she didn’t, I prompted, “I’m still not understanding the problem.”
Lisa sighed and hopped off the table, then faced me directly and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t want the gossipmongers tagging us as a couple, okay? They’ll make up ridiculous stories, and when the show ends and you go on your merry way, the hot stud of an athlete, I’ll be left looking like the sad, jilted ballerina.”
My brow rose at her tone and very specific example. “Okay, no public dates.” For now.
Lisa squinted at me and pursed her lips—inspiring images of those puffy lips pursed around my fat cock—then snipped, “No dates at all.”
Yet.
I could wait, though. Even though it might mean a pair of award-winning blue-ribbon berries between my legs. She couldn’t avoid touching me if we were going to be dance partners. In fact, that was what I was counting on. Soon, we’d be up close and personal, bodies pressed together, twisting and turning to a beat, burning up from the fire between us. It was basically the equivalent of hot and heavy foreplay.
But I had to make it to that point without her running or kneeing me in the berries. So I tried a different tactic and walked over to my bag to retrieve my phone. “I’ll order in. You can tell me all about the ways you’re going to whip my ass into shape.”
She chewed on her lip again, then shrugged. “You’re buying.”
I grinned. “Deal.”
We decided on a restaurant, and I put in the order, then we talked about some of the show logistics until our meal arrived.
Once we were settled on the floor with the food spread out between us and munching on our meals, I brought up our schedule and what she needed from me in the coming weeks.
“I expect you to show up,” she muttered, another hint that I was determined to understand eventually. “And to work hard, not just rely on your pretty looks to move us through to the next round.”
I chuckled. “Well, as flattered as I am that you think I’m attractive—I’ll just pretend you said sexy rather than pretty—we need to win, and there’s too much at stake for me to try to skate by.”
Lisa paused with a bite of her salad halfway to her mouth, and her head cocked to the side, her expression confused. “Too much at stake?”
“Yeah, so there’s this bet.” I told her all about it, ending with my nieces’ involvement. “Those two monsters are my kryptonite. They are the cutest kids in the world, and they know it.” I shook my head in mock sadness. “And I fall for their drama every fucking time.”
Lisa chuckled and nodded. “I get it. My friends’ kids are really hard to resist. I love them to death, but they are constantly reminding me that I’m a total sucker.”
She likes kids. Excellent.
I laughed and nodded. “Exactly. They didn’t have to beg, though. Not when I got most of the team to pledge to match my donation to this research foundation.”