Page 73 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

God, this girl. No one should be this nice around someone who was stoned. "No, enjoy the rest of your night. I'll see you tomorrow." I pulled James away from the table.

I didn't look back at her, because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make myself leave. I couldn't even be mad at Matt for cock blocking me, though. I wasn't going to get lucky tonight. But I just wanted to spend more time with her.

"I ruined your night," James mumbled as we made our way to the elevator.

"No. You're fine, man." Matt ruined my night.

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize."

"I didn't mean to take anything. Penny's going to kill me."

"I know. And don't worry. Penny's not going to know about this." You're not even going to remember this in the morning. I pressed the button and the doors opened. We stepped on and I pressed the button for the top floor. The doors closed. I looked up at my big brother. I didn't want to take advantage of his state, but I was curious. "You really wish you were still teaching?"

"I loved it."

"You can still teach. Even if it's not at a university. You could give speeches and guest lectures. If that's what you want, you can still do that."

"I don't want Penny to think I regret anything."

"So your solution is to pretend you don't want to be a professor anymore? You're lying to her."

James pulled away from me. "Is it true?"

"Yes. Not telling her that you still..."

"No. Is it true that you're in love with her?"

"It's not true." I laughed. "Honestly, I thought I was for awhile."

Something flashed across his face. It looked like he wanted to kill me.

I held my hands up. "But I'm not. I just like the idea of her. You know, like the way Mason feels about Justin Bieber."

James laughed. "I think I get that."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

He kept his hand against the wall as we walked toward our room. "You'll find your own Penny." He leaned against the wall outside our door. "I like Daphne. She's really nice." He smiled. His grin was a little goofy looking because of the drugs.

"She is really nice." And beautiful, smart, funny...I could think of endless ways to describe her.

"I think she's your person."

I laughed. "What does that mean?" I held the door open for him.

He slowly walked inside and flopped down on the bed. "You're going to end up with her, I can just tell."

"I didn't think you believed in fate."

"I didn't. But then I met Penny." He yawned. "Thanks for letting me come back to the room. I didn't feel good."

I tried not to laugh. "Yeah, I know."

"Do you want to know why I think she's your person?"

I sat down on the edge of his bed. I wasn't sure how logical high James was, but I'd play along. "Sure."

---