Page 11 of Textbook Defense

“You probably haven’t observed this about me yet,” Rowan said to Louis, “but I have my clumsy moments. Weak ankles, you know. So one day at work, I trip and stumble right into a bookshelf.” He mimed stumbling and flailing, gaining the chuckles from Jordy and Louis he’d been aiming for. Good. It wasn’t nearly so funny when it happened to him two years before. “Now library shelvesshouldbe stable, but they’re getting ready to move this one and it’s empty, so when I stumble, the whole shelf tips.”

“Oh my,” Louis said with genuine concern.

“There I am, crouched on the floor, my life flashing before my eyes, when this man swoops in from nowhere and catches the shelves. I look up and there he is, standing over me.” Rowan reached out and stroked a hand on Jordy’s shoulder as if getting rid of some lint. “Shoulders like Atlas. They come in handy.”

“I bet they do,” Louis agreed warmly with a smirk.

Maybe the sugar baby theory wasn’t wrong.

“Well,” Jordy said dryly. “Like you said, you are clumsy.”

Rowan fluttered his lashes and leaned into Jordy, hamming it up. “My hero,” he swooned.

Jordy did not look moved, which only seemed to convince Louis of their act.

“It seems like you are off the market, and you found a good one.” He nodded his approval.

“Oh, I definitely did.” Rowan smiled, aiming for a mix of besotted and lascivious.

Louis turned to Jordy and said sternly, as a father to their child’s new boyfriend, “You be sure to treat him right.”

“Of course.” Jordy nodded. “Though if I didn’t, I think Rowan would be the first one to tell me off.”

Louis chuckled, and Rowan couldn’t help but smile—Jordy had him pegged well enough. Even without having pegged him. Rowan might have awful taste in men, but once he accepted the evidence of their inadequacy, he didn’t mince words letting them know about it.

“Too right. You best stay on his good side, then. Treat himwell.” He winked at Rowan, not in the least subtle, before taking his leave.

“How,” Jordy began after a brief pause, “is it that that conversation didn’t confirm or deny our theory of both?”

“I don’t know,” Rowan admitted. It was unsettling.

“Jordy,” drawled a singsong voice from behind him—the Atlas shoulders blocking Rowan’s view.

They turned to see an attractive blond in a red wiggle dress that highlighted her many assets, which she clearly knew, given the sway in her walk as she approached them.

“Alana.” Jordy did not sound excited. The woman he had been avoiding, Rowan guessed.

“I told you I’d see you here,” she cooed.

Rowan manfully resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” he cut in.

She turned to him but didn’t look happy about it. “No, I don’t think we have.”

“Alana Woodruff, this is Rowan Chadha.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Rowan said cheerfully, figuring that the best defense was a good offense. “I’m Jordy’s date.” He smiled. “It’s been so lovely meeting some of his acquaintances.”

Alana’s smile turned brittle. “His date?”

“Yes.” Rowan powered through and Jordy shifted his weight.

“Oh. I had heard the rumors,” she said to Jordy, “but I hadn’t thought…. Well, anyone handsome and charming enough to capture the likes of Sanna Miller surely doesn’t have to stretch to broadening their dating pool.”

For a split second, Rowan was left speechless by the biphobic nonsense she’d dared to say to Jordy’s face. A glance at Jordy showed he was equally dumbfounded. “I’m sorry. I must have misunderstood you,” Rowan said politely. “Since I’m sure you did not just imply that bisexuals were people who were desperate to get a date.”

She turned back to Rowan and her face did… something. It seemed she wasn’t sure how to respond to Rowan’s service-industry cheer. “I think anyone could agree that a man who can land a gorgeous and sophisticated woman wouldn’t want to look elsewhere.”

Ugh, this woman was intolerable. Rowan had given politeness a fair shot, but now he saw that it was a lost cause. No wonder Jordy wanted to avoid her. Rowan resolved to annoy her as much as possible without letting on that she’d gotten to him. “Beauty is a short-lived tyranny,” he quoted dismissively. “And even Gemma will tell yousophisticatedis just a euphemism fortedious.”

---