Page 124 of My Rules

“I’ll have a margarita, thanks.” Kayla smiles.

That’s my drink, bitch.

“Hmm, that sounds good.” Blake smiles all sexy-like. “Make that two.”

“So ...” Gregory smiles over at me. “I’ve been looking forward to this night all week.”

“Me too,” I lie as I smile nervously back.

From my peripheral vision, I see Blake take Kayla’s hand and put it on his leg.

Why does he always do that?

It’s infuriating.

Here I am thinking that he’s touching me because he wants to, when that’s just his language; that’s how he speaks to all women.

“So, what do you do, Gregory?” Blake asks.

“I’m in tech.”

“What kind of tech?” Blake raises his eyebrow in interest.

“At the moment, I’m working on robots that defuse bombs.”

“Bombs?” Kayla gasps. “Who employs you to defuse bombs?”

“The United States government,” he tells us. “They’re mostly used in international deployments.”

“Wow.” I smile.

“Impressive.” Blake smiles. “How did you get into that?”

“I’m an engineer by trade, and I used to make robots for the army for testing, and they told me what they needed going forward, so I designed the technology. And I guess it went from there.”

“Where do you work from?” Blake asks.

“I have a team. Our offices are downtown.”

“A team?” Blake frowns. “How many in your team?”

“Thirty-seven.”

“Impressive, man.” He smiles.

Gregory turns his attention to me. “So ... tell me about your class.”

“Nothing much to tell.” I smile, embarrassed. In my peripheral vision, I see that Blake and Kayla have gone back to their conversation. Her hand is still on his leg, and they are talking softly between themselves.

My stomach twists in jealousy. This is a living fucking nightmare.

The waiter arrives with our drinks, and he passes them out. “Thank you.” Blake smiles as he gives them out to us and then holds his glass up. “I would like to propose a toast.”

We hold our glasses to his.

Blake’s eyes go to Kayla. “To new beginnings.”

He taps his glass with hers, and they smile softly at each other as they take a sip.

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