“That’s not boring. You like the quiet life. Nothing wrong with that.”
I shrugged. “If you say so.”
That mesmerizing smile again. I practically wobbled in my seat.
“What do you like to do when you’re not studying?”
He looked pensive for a moment. “I like sailing, snowboarding, reading, and 90’s rave music from the UK.”
I laughed at the last part. “That’s different. I never heard of anyone from the US liking that kind of music before.”
“I traveled a lot when I was younger and was exposed to lots of different cultures. I found a great affinity with 90’s rave music out of Manchester and London, even though I wasn’t alive when it was being made.”
“That’s so interesting.”
He chuckled. “That’s awfully polite of you.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “I’m not being polite. I’m genuinely interested.”
He leaned forward a bit more so that his lips were inches away from mine.
“What are you doing after this?”
“Nothing. I was going to head back and study some before going to sleep.”
He was so close I could have kissed him. I remembered back to four nights ago when we kissed outside my dorm room. It had been steamy and romantic.
“Would you like to come back to my apartment for a coffee?”
I looked directly into his beautiful bright blue eyes and swallowed hard. I made a split-second decision. I wanted this man. I wanted to dwell in this bubble of happiness and pleasure as long as possible.
“Yes. That would be lovely.”
His smile widened. “Great. I have a bag of Jamaica Blue Mountain, medium roast that I think you’ll love.”
I don’t think I’d ever looked forward to coffee quite as much before in my life.
We sat and watched the remaining performers and when it was time to leave, Christos took my hand and led me out of the booth. We said goodbye to Helena, Foxy, and Nathan and I followed him out of the bar. He called an Uber and we got inside.
All the way there he held on to my hand. I kept looking down to gaze at how our fingers were entwined. He was being romantic and cute. I was getting worked up with desire. This time I didn’t mind at all. I was still grieving for Adam, but, for the first time, I didn’t have such mixed feelings about Christos. I was able to let myself enjoy the feeling of floating on a cloud of pleasure, captivated by this kind, commanding man who was holding my hand like he was born to do so.
Chapter 7 – Mason
Herhandfeltgoodin mine, like it belonged there. And she didn’t seem to mind that I had taken hold of it.
The Uber took us back to my apartment and we took the elevator to the top floor. We went inside and I rushed to collect all my paperwork and secure it in my desk while she looked around the open concept living and kitchen area.
“Wow. This is an amazing apartment. Better than most student apartments I’ve seen.”
“Yeah. My parents have a bit of money and wanted to make sure there was room for them to visit,” I said casually.
“Just a bit, huh?” she teased. She pursed her lips and looked around the apartment. “I doubt I would be able to afford a place like this even if I was working and earning money.
“Yeah, I don’t really like to talk about them, because it seems like bragging, but my parents are big in pharmaceuticals. I’m supposed to take over when I’m done messing around with ‘stupid degrees’”. He changed the intonation of his voice when he said ‘stupid degrees’ as if he was imitating his parents.
Her eyebrows raised in surprise. “I don’t know what to be more shocked at- that you’re heir to a huge fortune or that your parents think you chose a stupid degree. I’d have thought they’d be proud of you for getting into a prestigious program at Stanford. Do they know how competitive it is?”
I shrugged. “Classics wasn’t my parents’ idea of a useful degree. They wanted me to take Law or Business or something that they consider to be practical. As far as they’re concerned, I might as well be doing Art History.”