Page 75 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

"This looks fantastic," James said and sat down at the table.

I looked away from Rob. Of course we could control ourselves. And we kind of had to. Right now his brother needed us. I opened up one of the water bottles and handed it to James.

"Your friend drugged me."

I laughed. "Kirsten does have a crush on you, but she doesn't do drugs. At least not hard drugs. She's a competitive athlete. She'd get kicked off the team."

He looked at the bottle. "You were sitting next to me." He lowered his eyebrows slightly as he looked at me.

I wanted to laugh, but he looked so serious. I turned to Rob for help.

"It wasn't Daphne," Rob said.

"If you say so." He took a sip from his water bottle. "So, you guys like each other?"

"Dude." Rob put his face in his hand, clearly embarrassed.

I laughed. "How about you eat your food?" That would help too. Whatever he had taken, it was on an empty stomach. Eating would help with the symptoms.

"There's another room in the suite. I can eat alone if you want." He poked at his food.

"Don't be silly."

"Okay, I'll stay." He took a huge bite of his steak. "Fuck, this is really good. Tell us about yourself, Daphne," he said with a mouthful of food.

I looked over at Rob. He shook his head and took a bite of the steak he ordered.

"What would you like to know?"

"Where did you grow up?" James asked.

"Newark. I live in New York now, though."

"We grew up in New York." James hit Rob's arm across the table.

I laughed. "Yeah, Rob told me. And you lived together in Newark for a little while too?"

"Yeah. Not for very long though. I had to leave because of everything that happened with Penny. But Rob stayed. He likes the college life. Right, Rob?"

Rob cleared his throat. "It's okay."

"No, come on, you love it there. I personally think he should settle down though."

Rob laughed. I was glad he was finding this humorous instead of mortifying. He did look a little flustered, but in a cute way.

"How old are you, Daphne?" James asked.

"I'm 23."

"Oh, that's a good age. Rob is 27. I was 27 when I met Penny. But she was only 19." He cleared his throat. "But she was almost 20. I thought she was a senior. She made me think she was. Not that I wouldn't have pursued her anyway. It just would have been nice to know. I've had to wait so long to marry her. You two are closer in age, though. That's easier. And he's not your professor. What do you do?"

"I'm a high school math teacher."

"Really? Well, I guess I should say at least you're not his professor." He giggled at his own joke. "Can I try that?" He pointed to my crab cake with his fork.

"Um...yeah, sure."

"Don't touch her food, James," Rob said.

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