Teacher - Voyeur

“I think you look great,” I almost whispered.

His brows rose a fraction in surprise before his lips followed. “You aren’t so bad yourself.”

The compliment wasn’t even a real compliment. It wasn’t like he called me beautiful, gorgeous, or sexy, but heat still bloomed in my cheeks.

I quickly brushed the feeling off. It didn’t matter what Daniel thought of me because he was my friend, and friends didn’t feel butterflies in their belly when the other offered a simple compliment.

Besides, Daniel was around beautiful women day in and day out. He was probably just being nice.

10

Daniel

“Do you have any other family besides Olivia?” Hanna asked across the table. “Obviously, a sibling of some sort since you have a niece.”

“I have a brother named David. I know, D and D. My parents were super unique.”

She dragged her fry through ranch and laughed before popping it into her mouth. “You close?”

“Yes, but I’m closer to Kent than David. Otherwise, it’s just my parents. They were both only children, and their parents died when I was little. You?”

Her eyes dimmed, and she looked down at the remnants of her burger before shaking it off and returning her gaze back to mine, the melancholy hidden, but not forgotten. “Erik and I have our parents and a few aunts and uncles who visit. Of course, there was Sofia,” she quickly muttered.

I ached, unable to imagine losing a sibling, let alone a twin.

“Then Ian, who’s leeched on,” she continued.

I laughed at her eye roll and bit back the next question I wanted to ask, hedging around the rumor of Hanna’s previous crush on Ian instead. “How long have you guys been friends?”

“Since he and Erik were kids. I kind of grew up with him as a permanent fixture.”

She dropped her eyes back to her plate and let her hair fall around her face. I could peek through enough to see her bottom lip tucked firmly under her teeth.

“You’re probably wondering about him. About what happened.”

As much as women talked, men talked too, and I’d heard through the grapevine that Hanna had come on to Ian once upon a time—pretty hard too. “You don’t have to explain anything.”

She brushed her hair behind her ear, and her grass-green eyes shined like emeralds, slipping through the thick fringe of her eyelashes.

“Ian was always the nice one. He didn’t have to live with us on a daily basis, so he wasn’t so annoyed like Erik used to be. He’d let us tag along. And to be honest, Ian’s hot, especially to a teenage girl. Don’t tell him that, he already has a big enough ego.”

“I won’t,” I promised, laughing.

“Then, after everything that happened, he was the only male in my life that wasn’t truly family. I trusted him and cared about him. Maybe with my naive emotions, I mistook that for more. More than comfort and security.” She snorted softly. “Well, there’s no maybe about it. I was sure I was in love with him. Which looking back now was stupid.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s good you figured it out.”

Her lips tipped in a lopsided grin with more than a little self-deprecation. “It’s too bad I couldn’t have figured it out sooner.”

“There’s a lot of things we wish we could figure out sooner. Sometimes it takes a chair to the face to finally make us see what’s right in front of us.”

“Speaking from experience?” she asked, her brow cocked.

“When you live to be my age, you have your own novel of mistakes.”

“Soooo old,” she exaggerated. We both laughed until our waitress came by.

“Another round?”

Hanna waved her hand, and I asked for waters.

“So, how does it feel, having your best friend and niece together?”

“Ugh,” I groaned, letting my head fall back against the booth. “Don’t remind me.”

“That bad?”

“Not really. I just like giving them shit. Plus, Kent knows I’ll kill him in his sleep if he hurts her, and I won’t feel any pity if she hurts him.”

“Seems fair,” she nodded, her smile wide. “How is it now that your best friend is in a relationship? Carina always talked about how you two were perpetual bachelors.”

“Owning a business together helps keep us in touch. And family get-togethers now.”

“Does it make you want to settle down?”

“Nah.”

“Would it be too forward to ask why?” Her eyes squinted like she was bracing for my rejection.

Any other woman, I’d be questioning the motives behind her seemingly innocent questions. But I knew with Hanna, they really just were out of curiosity. Not because she wanted to get a feel if I was open for a relationship. It was nice to be able to answer without over-analyzing each response.

“It’s just not for me,” I said with a shrug. “I like taking care of only me and my interests. I have a full life on my own.”

“Did you ever have a girlfriend, or did you just come out of the womb a loner?”