Page 99 of The Lessons

“But you guys were so cute together.”

When had they seen us being cute together?

“We were?”

“Well, would have been. Could have been…” Justine got a dreamy look on her face; she was clearly imagining Brad.

“Can you imagine their babies?” Renee chimed in. Boy, that girl had kids on the brain.

I blushed. “Oh. Well. I don’t know…” I trailed off vaguely. Truth? I hadn’t even thought about Brad over the last few days.

“So is there anyone else?”

My throat tightened. “Anyone else?”

Justine nodded. “Yeah, you know, anyone else on the radar. Anyone else stepping up to the plate? Cute neighbor? Guy at the coffee shop? Garbage man?”

How about my sex surrogate? You didn’t mention him.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No, not really. Sorry. My love life sucks.”

“Well, thatisdisappointing. We need to get you on Tinder or something.” Renee sighed. “Listen, I’m going to run to the bathroom before we head back. Anyone want to come with me?”

“I’m good,” I replied.

“Nah,” Justine chimed in.

“Okay. Be right back.”

Once she left, Justine and I started chit-chatting about a project meeting later this afternoon.

“Cathy is totally going to— Natalie, don’t turn around now, but there is a hottie checking you out at seven o’clock.”

“What?” I asked, immediately straightening.

“Oh, my God, he’s headed over here.”

“Who is it? Do you recognize him?” I smoothed my hair with one hand. I silently prayed none of my sandwich was lodged in my front teeth.

“No, but he’s hot in a biker-boy kind of way.”

I swallowed as I turned around. It had to be—

“Ryan. Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Natalie, I thought that was you,” he said, his voice warm and smooth. His hand grazed the edge of my shoulder as he shot a panty-dropping smile toward my dining companion.

“Hi, I’m Ryan,” he said, offering his hand to a—for once—speechless Justine.

She was gawking.Hard.

“Ryan, this is Justine. We work together.”

“Ah, at Heaven Sent? Cool.” His gaze returned to me. Damn, he did look good. He was wearing jeans and a faded black T-shirt that stretched over his torso like it was custom made.

“What are you up to?” I asked again.

“Just getting some lunch on the way to campus.”

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