“He’s generally too busy staring at you.”
“Or my computer to copy what I’m writing,” she said dryly and bit into her pizza.
He shook his head, taking his own slice. “No, sweet thing. I’m pretty sure he’s looking at you.”
Darcy shook her head. “Please. That ship sank before it even took sail.”
Interesting. Jordan decided not to reply. Instead, he dug into his pizza. She’d almost finished one whole slice before he was halfway through his own. Apparently, she could eat better than she could cook.
The silence that lingered as they ate held a twinge of awkwardness that he knew came from her. He glanced at her several times, expecting her to say something, but each time, she either picked at a slice of pizza or sipped from her wine glass.#p#分页标题#e#
He wanted her to say something. He sure as hell had no idea what to say to her, even if he was relieved that Jake Haas was out of the picture.
Immediately, he reprimanded himself. What did it matter? For one, he knew that no other men were within a ten-mile radius of her because he’d demanded it so. For two, he had no business caring about her emotional relationships.
If he told himself that, he might just believe it.
Darcy licked the sauce off her fingers and put the box on the table. “I should probably go home.”
He stayed quiet as she swung her legs off the sofa and pushed her hair from her face. She did that so often that he couldn’t help but wonder why she never clipped it back.
“You don’t have to go.”
“What?” She froze, barely perched on the edge of the cushion. Slowly, she turned her face toward him, and her eyes glinted with violet as the light caught them.
Why the fuck had he said that?
He rubbed his hand across his jaw and sat forward. His elbows rested on his knees, and he clasped his hands together in front of him as he peered over at her. “You don’t have to go, Darcy. If you want to stay…you can stay. I’m just gonna be reading up to prepare for lesson plans tomorrow, but don’t think I’m throwing you out.”
She narrowed her eyes. A long moment passed between them before she relaxed the tension in her shoulders.
“Okay. I have a case to start putting together for law anyway.” She reached down for her purse and pulled a small laptop out.
When he raised his eyebrow in question, she smirked.
“How did I know how this night was going to go?”
He shook his head, laughed, then leaned into her. He took her chin between his finger and his thumb, and with a small smile playing on both of their lips, he touched his to hers. “I told you, sweet thing. Not happening. That was a one-off. The only person who gets to see you is me.”
“I know,” she whispered, her voice thick.
He didn’t want to dwell on that, so instead of kissing her again like he wanted to, he pulled back and cleared the table. He lifted her wine glass in an offer, and she contemplatively sucked on her lower lip before she nodded.
He poured her another and took it over to her. After he’d grabbed the things he needed and put his glasses on, they settled into a companionable silence, both doing the things they needed to do.
Jordan hated how comfortable it was.
He hated that he glanced up every few seconds to see her fingers flying across the keys while she chewed on her pen.
He hated that he felt her eyes on him for a brief second every few minutes.
He hated that he cared.
But, most of all, when she’d shut her laptop and fallen asleep with her textbook and her notepad on her knees, her pen on the floor, he hated that he didn’t wake her to go home.
He hated how his eyes traced her profile, from the dark locks of hair sweeping across her forehead to the thick eyelashes fanning across her pink-tinged cheeks. He hated how his gaze lingered on her lips, which were slightly pouted, and how he silently shut his own book so he didn’t wake her.
He hated how he was so careful to move her things onto the coffee table and pull her into his arms. He hated how he shushed her as she stirred in his grip while he carried her upstairs.
He hated how he paused on the landing before taking her into one of his spare rooms and tucking her into bed before going into his own room, leaving the lights on downstairs.
He hated how, as he stripped off, all he could think about was the soft, young woman sleeping in the room next to him and how she was fucking there… Even as he took one look at his own empty bed and waved his hand at it… Even as he retraced his steps back into the spare room and climbed into the bed next to her.#p#分页标题#e#
He hated how he closed his eyes the second his head hit the pillow and rested his arm over her waist…. Hated how, when she rolled over to face him, his only instinct was to move closer.