I laughed nervously. My brain kept trying to rationalize all the ways she couldn’t be Xander’s student. She could go to Camberwell or University of Arts. They were the most competitive with University of West London for fine arts degrees. All I had to do was ask.

Ask dumbass.

But I didn’t want that truth glaring at me. This was a complication that I didn’t need. So instead, I said, “I get the non-supportive parent thing.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. It’s no big deal. I don’t need their approval.”

But the way her shoulders slumped said she cared no matter what she spoke.

“So you're here to become the next Annie Lebowitz?”

She beamed at me. “You know Annie Lebowitz?”

I made a mock wounded face. “I know things. I’m not just a playboy who has fabulous parties, you know.”

“I stand corrected.”

Her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips, and all I could do was stare.

She gave me a nervous smile. “What are you staring at?”

I nodded absently. “You. Your mouth, specifically.”

She rolled her lips inward. “Um, why?”

Lit by the moonlight and the lanterns on the roof, she looked incandescent. And I knew I was going to do something stupid. “I'm trying to talk myself out of kissing you.”

Abbie shifted away an inch to look at me more fully. “You don’t want to kiss me?” Her voice was small when she asked.

It was all I’d wanted to do since I’d saved her from that Mini Cooper. The pull toward her was like the gravitational force of the sun. I could fight it all I wanted, but sooner or later, I’d be sucked into her orbit.

“Because I’m probably not the kind of guy you should get involved with.”

Her eyes rounded, and she mouthed, “Oh.”

I liked her. And not just because she was that broken-looking girl I'd rescued from a Mini Cooper. But because she was brave and adventurous but didn’t know it yet. “But I’ve been doing a pretty crappy job of staying away from you.”

Abbie licked her lips again and I bit back a groan.

“I-uh.” She started again. “Alexi, I—”

Alarm bells rang in my head. This was a bad idea. A very bad idea. Worst idea I’d ever had. Worse than even dancing with her and getting a vivid picture of how her body would slide against mine in bed. But I didn’t care. In the morning, I’d figure out a way to leave her alone. But right now, I just wanted to taste her. Just one taste. I could stop at one.

Reaching out a hand, I cupped her cheek. “I really am going to hell for this.”

I dipped my mouth to hers. As soon as our tongues met, electricity coursed through my body. I pulled back in an effort at self-preservation.