Discipline

“So, have they come after you yet?”

Surprise lifted my brows and I peered up to see Mr. Cole biting a guilty and damned sexy grin back. “No,” I answered slowly. I hadn’t expected him to acknowledge the things he’d heard, and now it was my turn to chew on my lip, especially as I gazed at the adorably conflicted look on his face — like he was fighting against the things he really wanted to say.

“Uh… yeah. I’ll admit that surprised me,” he said with a little grin. I had been an exceedingly well-behaved student in high school. Probably not someone my teachers would peg to make out with other girls at lingerie parties. Though I didn’t really consider myself that person either, despite having been her for a little while.

“I know. I, um, guess I made up for lost time once I left Woodhill.”

Mr. Cole considered it. “It’s not a bad thing.”

“Yeah, they’re still secrets though. From everyone in Woodhill,” I said, relieving my nervous energy by playing with the string below the bust of my dress. “Or rather, they were,” I laughed, “until a few minutes ago.”

I looked up to see his eyes lingering just above my hands. “I won’t tell on you,” he said. The grin he kept trying to hide tugged at the ends of his mouth, finally sliding across his lips when I was forced to hastily retie the bow on my dress. I’d pulled it loose in my nervous excitement.

“Thank you. And please forget all of the things you heard today.”

“If you’ll forget the things you heard, too.”

I couldn’t help the smirk wriggling my lips as I remembered Mike’s claims — that Mr. Cole had checked me out from the sidewalk and that he’d said a thing or two about me. It was hard for me to even fathom. “I can’t help but wonder about the things your friend said,” I dared to admit.

He gave a short laugh, his mouth opening and closing as if he were hesitating to utter his next sentence. But he finally caved. “Same here. About the things your friend said.”

Oh. Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I guess we’re even then. We’ll both forget everything.”

He creased his brow. “Sure,” he replied with a one-shoulder shrug that said something more along the lines of maybe. I narrowed my eyes at him with mock suspicion and my heart fluttered as I did so. Were we officially… flirting? It was unreal. He was watching me with a playful, slightly mischievous smile that I’d never seen on him before.

But just as his gorgeous lips parted to say something else, I jumped.

My damned phone.

It was buzzing in my hand, making me silently curse Adriana for forcing me to bring it everywhere for fear of having my Facebook statuses hacked. I looked down at the screen to see the

last name that I wanted to see calling at this particular moment — a name that Mr. Cole was all too familiar with, considering it had graced his varsity wrestling roster for the past three years.

Jake. You’re dead, Jake, I groaned inwardly. Cockblocked by the little bro. And suddenly, but not surprisingly, there was a sudden stiffness in Mr. Cole’s posture.

“Um,” I tried to pick up on our conversation again, but he interrupted me, a tinge of discomfort in his voice.

“Nina, I should go.”

I silenced my phone so hard that I nearly crushed it. “Why?” Damn it. I knew that was coming. I could hardly help the pout on my lips. “You just sat down.”

He tried to sigh inaudibly as he ran a hand through his short, dark hair. “I think I’m going to head somewhere else so you can have a peaceful dinner. You and your friends should be able to talk without, you know… someone from Woodhill within earshot.”

“I don’t mind!” I couldn’t hide how badly I wanted him to stay. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so excited to have a conversation and we had just gotten somewhere interesting. “I’m sure your friend doesn’t want to leave.”

“I know he doesn’t,” he said with a little laugh. “He wouldn’t want to move tables at this point.”

I smiled, well aware that his friend was flirting with at least one of mine. I was pretty sure that I could hear Linh’s coquettish giggle. “Then let him stay. They can talk all they want. We don’t have to if you don’t want to. We don’t even have to look at each other,” I said, clearly meaning not a single one of my words. His laugh was charmed.

“But I want to talk to you,” he said to my surprise.

I tried not to look visibly flustered by his remark. There was a bit of a pause and his smile slightly faded as he gazed at me.

“And I want to look at you.”

Oh. My lashes fluttered and made him lower his eyes to the floor for a moment. I tried to think over my pounding heart but I couldn’t find anything good to say.

“Well… that means you should stay.”