He steps forward and grips my hip, pulls me to him and leans down until I can feel his breath on my cheek. He smells of mint and leather and cold and the combination makes me shiver into his touch. Instead of answering my question, he brushes his lips over mine softly. So much softer than I ever would have thought Joel Moreno capable of. I can feel him smile on my lips and then he presses harder, beckoning me to open. His tongue sweeps in and I melt into him, thankful he’s got a tight grip on me because I feel ridiculously shaky.

He pulls back and leans his forehead against mine only loosening his hold on my hip slightly. “Tonight was our third date.”

17

JOEL

“Got a favor.”

Blair narrows her gaze. “I’m not setting you up with any of my sorority sisters.”

“I don’t need your help getting a date, but thanks for thinking so highly of me.” I roll my eyes and grab one of the donuts from the two boxes she brought over. “Can you babysit Thursday night?”

“Can you repeat that?”

“You heard me, weirdo.”

“Who would I be babysitting?”

“Uh.” I rub my jaw. I haven’t mentioned to Blair that I’m talking to Katrina partly because she’s the only one that seems to know her, and I already know how highly Blair thinks of me by her constant reminder that I’m not good enough for her friends. “Katrina’s son, Christian.”

“Why?” She crosses her arms and damn, I feel like I’m about to get Blair’s wrath. All five foot nothing of her is making me more nervous than I care to admit.

“Katrina and I have been talking, and—”

“Oh no. Jooeeel,” she whines, and I grind my teeth because I can tell by her tone that she doesn’t approve. “Katrina is not someone you can screw around with.”

“Again, thanks a lot for the vote of confidence. Can you watch him or not?”

“She’s agreed to go out with you?”

I sigh. “She’s worried about a sitter. From what I gather, she doesn’t have a lot of people here she trusts, but I think she’d trust you.”

She bites at her bottom lip studying me carefully.

“Please?”

“I have stipulations.”

Of-fucking-course she does. “Such as?”

“I want to talk to her first.”

I roll my eyes again. “She’s very well aware of my reputation. You don’t need to warn her off.”

“Yet, it appears she’s still willing to go out with you.” She shakes her head. “That’s non-negotiable. I’ll stop by the café and talk to her.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Gabby is moving down next month.”

I smile. “Yeah? That’s awesome.” I’ve only met her a couple times, but from what I know of Blair’s best friend Gabby, it’s no small miracle that she’s finally moving to Valley. “She gonna take classes this semester?”

“She’s going to finish out the semester with her online classes and then take a couple summer classes to help get settled before next year.”