Unable to help the sudden jubilant feeling, I giggled. “Well, it could still happen if I don't get the shots I need for this assignment.”

“School. Right. You did mention that last night. I was a bit too preoccupied to ask you more about it.”

I flushed and immediately looked down at my camera. You will not think about the way his lips feel. You will not think about the way his hands feel. You will not think about how long it’s been since you had a proper, honest to God, sheet-clawing orgasm. “You probably know more about my school than I do, since your brother’s my professor. We had a nice chat at your party.”

Lex’s smile faltered, and his lips thinned for a moment before he muttered, “London is entirely too small a world. He didn’t mention you two had spoken.”

I shrugged. Maybe because he’d acted like an ass. “Nothing to mention, really. Sort of inconsequential.” Was I supposed to tell him that his brother told me to stay away from him? “Are you two close?”

Lex’s gaze slid away from mine. “Sometimes a little too close for comfort.” When his gray eyes met mine again, they were stormy.

My heartbeat slowed, each beat echoing between my ears. In the blink of an eye, I made my decision. “He said I should stay away from you.”

His eyes went from a dark gray to cold, flinty silver. “What did you say in return?”

I shrugged. “That I barely knew you.”

His loose shoulders and hands in his pockets would have had most people believing he was completely at ease, but I’d studied enough faces to know better. He was livid. Surreptitiously, I inched backward, looking to put some physical distance between us.

Alexi’s voice was low and rough. “Did he say anything else?”

Oh no, I’d already stepped in it. There was no way I was going to roll around in it too. “No.” I took another step back.

He studied me closely, his eyes roving over every inch of my face. Then as if sensing my unease, he stepped back. When he spoke again, his voice had lost its edge and was softer, coaxing, and seductive. “Do you plan on staying away from me?”

A small shiver stole through me as I debated the urge to flee. Do not run. Not every man is Easton. Besides, we were on a crowded street. “That would be a little difficult, since you’re stalking me.”

His grin was quick to surface, and I wondered how I hadn’t seen the resemblance to Xander right away. “I’m stalking you? You wandered in to my hood.”

I laughed as I took in the urban landscape of graffiti-sprayed walls, chip shops, and Ladbrokes gambling spots. “Right. Your hood.”

Lex cocked his head as he continued to smile at me. “You’re not buying it?”