Page 2 of Releasing Reenie

I looked around as if I hadn’t noticed and shrugged. “A bit.” We saw each other here nightly when we’d pick up our lunch bags from the fridge after class. Usually, it was just the two of us.

“I’ve been trying to come over here all night.”

It was true, but every time he’d looked in my direction, starting to head my way, someone would snag him and he’d be dragged into another conversation.

“How was your last class?”

“Uneventful. No one drooled on my face.” I pressed my fingertips to my lips, holding back my smile.

His gaze roamed over my body, down, then up again, until our eyes met. “You don’t know what you’re missing.” And then he leaned down, capturing my mouth.

His tongue was warm with whiskey, lemon and ginger, and it teased past my lips with a skill far surpassing the last man I’d kissed. His hand found my neck and he cupped it as he continued the kiss, deepening it, sweeping his warm tongue over mine, making me tingle all the way down to my toes. And when he released my mouth, my eyes, heavy with desire, fell to his beautiful lips, and I was left wanting more.

“Go out to dinner with me? It’s all I want for Christmas. And I promise not to drool on your face.”

My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected him to ask me out. Then again, I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting after that kiss. For a second, the flashing Christmas decorations reflecting in the metal rims of his glasses felt like warning lights.

Twisting my mouth, I assessed him. We’d been casually flirting for months, but he’d never made his move. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to date, so I’d never made one either.

Maybe it was the kiss, the warmth in my belly from the three glasses of wine, or the thought of another lonely holiday. Even though, deep down, I knew it was a bad idea, I wanted to say yes.

“I can’t answer that. It’s not Christmas yet. I don’t want to ruin it for you.”

His brows rose. “Santa already personally told me he was wrapping my gift in a red bow.”

I swallowed hard, looking down where his finger traced the red bow tied at the waist of my red wrap dress. My breath hitched and my belly fluttered with each inch his finger traveled.

“Well, I guess I can’t be the reason you stop believing in Santa, now can I?” I said, looking up when he finally stopped touching me.

He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear and flashed me a smile that weakened my knees. “Not unless you want to end up on his naughty list.”

The way he said it made the weakness in my knees rise to my middle and increase by tenfold, maybe a hundredfold.

“Oh, no. Not the naughty list,” I whispered, staring way too intensely at his lips.

“Oh, yes, the naughty list. You don’t want to be there, Maureen. You’d much rather be on Santa’s nice list. I hear Santa spanks the people on his naughty list.”

It was a perfectly vanilla thing to say, right? But it still caused my kinky side to hum, reminding me I shouldn’t be dating anyone, not even a vanilla.

And certainly not someone who fit in a perfectly decorated Daddy Dom box the way this man did. He may be sexy as fuck, the kind of sexy that fueled fantasies with my battery-operated boyfriend, but he wasn’t the type of guy to dip your toe into the dating pool with.

So why was I considering it? Why was I holding my breath, waiting for him to ask again, to press me for an answer?

“How about Friday? I’ll make a reservation?”

There was a glimpse of hope in his expression, as if for once he wasn’t confident in the outcome of his invitation. It wasn’t a look I was used to seeing on him since his charm most often swayed things his way, and admittedly I found it appealing.

The rush it gave me made it impossible to say no, even though I knew I should. For a woman like me, who needed to be in control, and couldn’t fathom giving it up, dating a guy like Trent seemed like a recipe for disaster. But what if it wasn’t?

“Sure,” I blurted, impulsively. My hands started to shake as I looked around for my stuff. Somehow, I’d lost control of myself, and of the situation. I’d let him kiss me, I’d said yes? It had to be the alcohol.

My need for control was the reason I rarely drank more than a glass of wine or two. But tonight, I’d had three. And I probably hadn’t eaten as much as I should have. So I wasn’t in my right mind. I didn’t have my wits about me. And I said yes, before I could stop myself.

I could cancel later, right? Even as I had the thought, my stomach rolled. Canceling a date was such a shitty thing to do, and I liked Trent. And not just as a man. He was an excellent teacher, and a genuinely good person. I liked him as a colleague,and a friendship would be nice. I didn’t have many friends here. So maybe I wouldn’t cancel.

I touched my lips, the memory of our kiss sending a zing through me. The room suddenly felt too small.

“Call me.” I looked down at my watch. “I’m sorry, I have to go. My Uber is almost here.”

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