“Oh it’s water under the bridge, isn’t it?” she tells me, waving at them.
I dare to look over to the alley. Blake’s eyes light up when he spots me. Even though I’ve never met the guy he’s with, he doesn’t look too confused. He probably assumes that Blake has slept with one of us.
His assumption would be right.
“Hello ladies,” Blake says, hands thrust casually in his pockets as he strolls to the railing between us. His eyes linger on me and they’re nothing but warm. “How are we this evening?”
“Where are you guys going?” Rio asks. She gestures to the seats. “Here, sit with us. It’s been ages since we’ve seen you, Blake.”
“Yes,” he says, smiling at me. “Ages.
I try to show nothing on my face but I can tell his friend is studying me very closely. I wonder what Blake has said about me, if anything.
“We’d love to have you drink with us,” Rio says, finally sitting back down. “And I just ordered more sangria!” She pretty much yells that last part. People in the alley turn to look at us.
I give Blake a withering look. “You better sit with us or she’s just going to get louder.”
He holds my eyes for a moment saying nothing and saying everything. He nods, biting his lip in that way he does while still smiling.
“Heath,” he says to his friend and gestures to the table. “Might as well.”
Heath looks at us eagerly. He’s definitely game.
“We’ll be right in,” Blake says and they disappear inside the front door of the restaurant.
Once they’re out of earshot I grab Rio’s hand, squeezing it painfully hard. “What are you doing?”
“Ow, you wench,” she says, ripping her hand away. “Like I said, water under the bridge. When’s the last time you saw him, when you handed in your assignment? That was ages ago. So he was an asshole in class, he’s not in class anymore.”
“You can’t fuck him,” I warn, shoving my finger in her face.
She looks completely taken aback.
Just then the boys show up.
“Hey, thanks again,” Blake says, taking the seat across from me. “We were looking to get a few drinks somewhere but every place is packed.”
“It’s the weather,” I tell him.
“What a small town Victoria is,” Rio muses.
“Very, very small,” Blake says, grinning at me.
I can’t help but smile back. Yeah, that smile? Still horribly infectious. Every part of him is horribly infectious. Once you have his cock inside you, that’s pretty much all you’ll ever want for the rest of your life.
“Amanda,” Rio repeats and I realize she’s been talking.
“Huh?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from him.
“I asked you if you had fun working with Blake,” she says.
I raise my brows. “Uh, yeah it was fun.”
“She’s very smart you know,” Blake says.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I tell him lightly.
Heath’s eyes are volleying between us. “Wait a minute. Is this the Amanda you had to work with on the book? For school?”
Blake gives him a warning look.
“Yeah that’s me,” I say quickly. “Why? What did he say about me?”
“That you were a stuck-up bitch,” Heath says.
Blake pounds him hard in the shoulder. “You are such a wanker!”
“That’s okay,” Rio speaks up. “Amanda hated your guts the whole semester.”
“Oh she told me that,” Blake says.
“You thought I was a bitch?” I ask him, surprised, but not exactly insulted.
“Peach,” he says, “I’ve told you I thought you were a bitch.”
“No, you said I was a dork.”
“And a nerd.”
“And a prude.”
“And a stick-in-the-mud.”
“And a lot of things.”
Rio and Heath are watching us. I shrug, trying to act causal. “Luckily we were still able to work together. We ended up getting an A on the project.”
“You know, she’s not prude,” Rio says out of the blue or maybe her mind is just ten steps back tonight “She just doesn’t sleep around.”
“That’s good to know,” Blake says, leveling me with his gaze.
“Wish we could say that about old Blake Dawg here,” Heath says. “I’m pretty sure there’s a waitress here that wants to kill him.”
“What else is new?” Blake and I say in unison.
We both grin.
Eyes twinkling.
And I’m realizing how damn hard it is to sit across from him and not touch each other. Even when we’re working, I usually have my limbs draped over him or he has his hands in my hair, or he’s stroking his thumb over my shoulder. There’s always contact.
“I guess you two really got to know each other, eh?” Rio says carefully. I’m wondering if she’s picking up on anything.
“A bit,” Blake says lightly. “Wouldn’t mind knowing more though.”
I feel like I’ve got something lodged in my throat. I try to swallow.
Then the waitress comes by and while she doesn’t appear to know Blake—thank god—the rest of the conversation eases off of us and onto other topics. All the while though, as the drinks flow and the tapas come out, I feel locked in Blake’s force field. From the depth in his eyes, to his easy smile, the way his hand is across the table, so close to mine, he’s all I can think about.