Page 76 of Lorcan's Obsession

“You know how it is, Tristen,” he said, his eyes following a stack of pizza boxes being delivered to one of the offices. “Gosh, I’m starving. What about you?”

"Famished. I want to eat and rinse my exhaustion with Mai Tais."

"Shall we go to Zuma? I know you like the food there."

"You know me too well." I chortled, taking the arm he offered and following his lead.

This Japanese restaurant was the hottest spot in town because of its contemporary cuisine and proximity to all the hotshot offices in the region. Every who’s who wanted to do business in this zip code.

Including Lorcan.

His office was a stone’s throw away from here. Maybe I could invite him over for a drink once Fayed left. This way, he could see I was making an effort to share more with him.

A red-lipped hostess smiled widely and showed us to our table. Fayed and I were regulars here, and Dom had introduced us to one of the servers, Curtis. They hooked up regularly sans strings.

"Hey, girlfriend!" Curtis grinned.

"Hey, handsome! How’s everything going?"

“Just fabulous,” he answered. “What you gettin’ today?”

“I feel like getting wet and dirty. My usual Mai Tai, and no empty glass. We will also have the Chef’s selection for Sashimi Moriawase for lunch.” I cocked my head towards Fayed. “The usual Rubabini mocktail?”

He acknowledged with a nod, and Curtis left to place our orders.

"You okay, Tris? It’s unlike you to ask for an open tab during the middle of the week at lunch hour.”

I shrugged, running a hand through my cascading curls. "I'm happy to start the weekend early." That, and calming my nerves about the "Lorcan falling in love with me" situation.

He pulled out his phone and held it in front of me. It was a photo of us on the college induction day, the day we met. I was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and an oversized red sweater. He'd worn a gray suit and a tie that seemed too tight at his neck.

“Remember when I brought you your cup of coffee the next day?” I asked.

“How could I forget the way your hair covered your beautiful face when you placed the cup on my desk and said, ‘Here’s your Caramel Macchiato, Venti, skim, extra shot, extra hot, extra whip, and sugar-free, just the way you like it.’?”

“Wow. You have it memorized?”

“It gave me the courage to ask you out the next day. And you shut me down with a resounding ‘no.’ I thought you had noticed me or knew who I was and that’s why you came on to me strongly.”

To be fair, I had noticed him. Just for very different reasons. The dean had told me he would most likely be the best student in class, and I wanted in that circle. Truth is, I’d paid the Starbucks teller to save the contents of his favorite drink, and the next day, I slammed it on his desk with the attitude of a worthy adversary.

"You forgot to memorize what I said after that. Something along the lines of...‘I got your painful order right so it will be extra sweet when my grade is better than yours.’ God, three years fly by so fast." I chortled.

Two servers brought out the food, and after prepping the wasabi and soy sauce, we started selecting our favorites and devoured it. We kept the conversation light, and every once in a while, Fayed touched my arm or swatted it playfully. I thought he was a little too touchy-feely today but dismissed it as familiarity. But ten minutes later, he stood from his chair and moved to the one next to me, bringing his food with him.

"Why did you move?" I asked, dipping my toro tuna slice in soy sauce.

"I needed to ask you a question."

He scooted even closer, whispering into my ear, his lips grazing my lobe. I furrowed my brows. What on earth could be so important and secretive?

"What question?”

“Do you think Chase will dump the twin girlfriends Rina and Alia before the semester ends?”

I angled backward, looking at him skeptically. “That’s what was so hush-hush?”

“Like you’d miss a good scandal?”

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