Page 17 of Up All Night

Her eyes narrowed when I said the wordlittle. She took a step toward me, in what I assumed was an attempt to intimidate me. “We’ll see who’s the one gloating when the class is over.”

I took a step closer to her. “Yes, we will.”

“I teach on Saturday mornings at nine.” She took another step, continuing to close the distance between us.

“I’ll be there.” Another step.

She stepped closer. “Sure your legs will be recovered by then?” she mocked.

I took the last step remaining between us so we were now toe-to-toe. “I’ll be just fine.”

As I looked down at her, I could see the look of determination in her eyes as she looked back up at me, her neck slightly craned back, both of us refusing to break eye contact as the charged air seemed to crackle around us.

I’m not sure how long we stood there locked in some kind of silent battle, but I slowly started to get lost in the depths of her blue eyes. I could see specks of green in them, as well as different shades of blue. My eyes betrayed me as I began to roam her face. Her delicately arched brows, the outline of her cheekbones, her slender nose, and then there were her lips. They were full and a beautiful dusty pink. Were they as soft as they looked?

She cleared her throat and took a few steps back, breaking my trance.

“Then it’s settled,” she said, avoiding my gaze.

I stepped back, too, needing even more distance from her. Shaking my head, I reprimanded myself for getting lost in her features.

What was wrong with me?It had been a while since a pair of pretty eyes and pouty lips had distracted me. It probably had more to do with how I hadn’t dated in so long than anything to do with Halle. I mean, she was gorgeous, and I was only responding to her in a normal heterosexual male way. A simple physical attraction. Nothing more than that.

Maybe Ishouldthink about dating again.

My dad would be happy about the idea of me looking for a potential wife. But then how would I do what I needed to do for work? I’d already tried the girlfriend thing while working lots of hours, and it had eventually ended in a breakup. I didn’t see a new relationship going any differently.

Halle and I barely spoke the rest of the session, only talking if it was necessary. I didn’t know if we weren’t talking because of our disagreement or our neighbor feud or because I had made things awkward by staring at her lips. Probably all of the above.

Once I got home, I barely had one foot in the door before Cannon started harassing me.

“How was your training session with Halle this morning?” He waggled his eyebrows at me as he grabbed a mug from the cupboard.

I ignored his insinuation. “We still don’t like each other, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Do people who don’t like each other stay up late talking to each other through air vents?” he pressed.

“They do when one of them is trying to bug the other one to get out of training them,” I shot back. “And it wasn’tthatlate.”

He gave me a pointed stare. “It’s late foryou. You go berserk if you go to bed a minute past nine.”

“I do not,” I disagreed.

“Oh really?” he scoffed. “Who stormed out of here the other night in his slippers because someone was keeping him from his schedule?”

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “So I like to go to bed early. I don’t see the big deal.”

He looks at me knowingly. “Your dad isn’t going to know what time you went to bed.”

“Yeah, but he’ll know if I’m tired at work and not able to concentrate on negotiating acquisitions or arranging the sale of a company.” It was like my dad made it his second job to analyze me, to see if he could find any shortcomings.

He shook his head. “I think you put too much pressure on yourself. Your dad knows you’re great at your job.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” I gestured to him. “He isn’t constantly telling you what you need to do better, picking out all your flaws. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually passes down the company to you.”

He poured coffee into his mug. “That’s never going to happen. I know he’s hard on you, but no one cares about that company more than you do, and he’d be blind to not see that.”

“Yeah, maybe. All I know is that I need to keep my head down and keep working my hardest so there’s no doubt, no wishing I had done more. And if going to bed at nine helps me achieve that, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

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