“What happened?” Gwen said as she flopped into the chair across from me.
I looked at her wet hair and slightly disheveled appearance. “Did you just get out of bed?”
“I took a three-minute shower and came straight here. You made it sound like something awful happened. Why do you look so casual? I was expecting blood or tears or something big.”
“Uh, sorry, it wasn’t that kind of an emergency.”
I pushed the coffee I picked up for her across the table. She took it but didn’t look happy. “Thanks.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I thought you would be up for class already.”
“I don’t have class until one today.”
I grimaced. “Shit. Sorry.”
“What’s up?” she asked. “Your text did sound somewhat desperate.”
“Not desperate but maybe a little panicked.”
“Why?”
I gnawed my lower lip. “Lukas wants me to go out with him again. Him and his brother and his wife.”
She grinned. “He does, huh?”
“His brother doesn’t believe he did karaoke,” I explained. “I guess he dared him or challenged him. You know how men are. Anyway, Lukas wants me to go with him and do karaoke to prove his brother wrong.”
She was smiling. “Oh, of course, I’m sure that’s the only reason he wants you there. He likes you.”
“No, no,” I said and shook my head. “We both know this is not a thing. We can’t date or do anything like that.”
“Rules were made to be broken,” she said.
“Not this rule. You know what would happen if my dad found out.”
“You keep looking at this with the assumption your dad knows. Why does he have to know? You don’t flaunt it. You keep it on the down low. This is a fairly good-sized city. You can avoid your father. You can go out of town and have dinner or a romantic getaway.”
“It feels wrong,” I said. “I don’t want to sneak around. If I have a man in my life, I would like to be able to share that with my father.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” she said. “Take it from me, someone who has dated plenty. There’s a process to this whole dating thing. You spend some time together and figure out if you really like each other. Great sex does not always mean a great relationship. You might not like him tomorrow. You might find out he has a foot fetish or has some other gross habit you hate. Before you cut this off before it gets started, at least give yourself the chance to figure out if he’s worth getting to know.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’m always looking for the worst possible outcome in a situation. I don’t know him. He could be a real dick. He might not like me. He may hate art.”
She nodded. “I doubt you’re going to run into Dean Miller at a karaoke bar,” she said with a laugh. “You can have a night out without looking over your shoulder. Have some fun. See where it goes.”
“That’s the problem,” I said. “It can’t go anywhere. And I’m certain my dad has spies everywhere. He was in my office this morning to ask what I knew about the new art program they are starting at the community college. He asked if I had been approached. I swear, he has eyes everywhere!”
She laughed as she sipped her coffee. “You could remind him you are well past the age of being a full-fledged adult and can make decisions on your own.”
“Ah,” I said and waggled my finger at her. “That’s how he gets me. When he’s not my dad, he’s my boss. He has some form of control over me in every aspect of my life. He says my contract means I can’t teach at the community college. I can’t date Lukas because that is also in my contract. I feel like I made a deal with the devil.”
“You could quit,” she said.
“No!”
“Do you want to teach at the other college?”
I shrugged. “Not necessarily.”
“I think you need to tackle one thing at a time,” she said. “Like when is this date happening?”
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “He’s going to let me know.”
“Okay, what are you going to wear?”
“That was part of the desperation you read in the text,” I said. “I need help. I don’t know if I have anything. I liked the outfit you put together for me. I want something kind of like that, but I think I’m going to have to do a little shopping.”
Her eyes lit up. “Shopping?”
“Yes, I know how much you hate shopping.”
“I only have the one class today,” she said. “What about you?”
“I have a class at two. I’ll be done by four.”
She clapped her hands together. “Then we go shopping! It’s been forever.”
“It’s been like a month,” I told her.
She swatted away the comment. “That didn’t count. This counts. This is sexy stuff. My favorite.”
“I’ll meet you after classes,” I said.
“I’m going home and going back to sleep,” she complained.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Don’t borrow trouble. You get to have fun. Even daddy dearest knows you deserve to have some fun. Hanging out with Lukas isn’t against the rules.”
I nodded once. “You’re right. Mostly. As long as we keep it PG, everything should be okay. There’s no reason for him to be upset with me if we grab a couple of drinks. I haven’t tried to dig into the clause, but friendships can’t possibly be against the rules.”
“Exactly. I’ll see you later. Do not chicken out on this.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
On my way back to class, I got a text. I checked it and saw it was from Lukas.
It’s me, Lukas. Now I have your number I get to bug you all the time.
I laughed at the message. Giving him my number had probably not been the best idea. It was too tempting to text him. God forbid I drank too much and did the whole drunk text thing.
I reserve the right to block. I added a few laughing and winking emojis to make sure he knew it was a joke.
The phone vibrated in my hand. I glanced at the screen. Does six tomorrow night work for you?
My stomach erupted in butterflies. This was it. I wasn’t going to back out. I said I would go, and I was going to do it. If by some crazy chance we got caught, I would stand my ground with the dean. I would let him know he could not dictate my life outside the walls of the university. Grabbing a drink with a friend was not against the rules.
I took a deep breath and started a text. I typed it out and then erased it. Then I started again before hesitating. Pick me up at my place?
That was stupid. That was inviting trouble. What the hell was I thinking? I held my phone in my hand and waited for his response.
I’ll be there at five thirty.
I let out a small squeal before remembering I was an adult and wasn’t supposed to be excited about going out to karaoke with a fellow professor. It was strictly professional.
I walked into the art studio and put my things down. I couldn’t wait to go shopping. I was going to brush off the credit card and splurge a little. I was always very frugal, but I wanted to look good. I wanted to make him proud to have me by his side when I met his brother.
Gwen was waiting for me after my last class. We went directly to the strip mall with the clothing stores we liked to shop at. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, minus the wad of cash and the hot silver fox. I tried on countless outfits and finally settled on three. She convinced me to buy extra just in case there were more karaoke dates.
I couldn’t argue with her reasoning.
16
Lukas
“I’ll be down in a minute,” I said to the Uber driver.
I hopped out of the car and looked up at the building to make sure it was the right one from the address River had texted me earlier. I took the stairs up to the second floor and found her apartment number. Was it ridiculous my palms were sweaty? We were going out to a bar to sing karaoke with my brother. It wasn’t exactly an intima
te dinner or anything close to a first date. It was just a couple of friends getting together.
I knocked on the door and waited. She pulled it open and there was a moment of shock and awe. “Hi,” I managed to get out.
She smiled. “Hi. Let me grab my purse.”
She didn’t invite me in. That was a good thing. I didn’t trust myself to keep my hands to myself. She was wearing a pair of jeans with ankle boots. The heel on the boots was dangerously skinny. It always amazed me how women could walk in those things. She had on a deep green shirt that hung past her ass. It was unbuttoned enough to reveal something black and lacy hiding the cleavage I craved to see.
“I got an Uber,” I said.
“Plan on drinking?” she teased as we walked out.
“If I’m doing karaoke, there must be alcohol involved.”
We made our way downstairs. I felt obligated to keep my hand at her elbow just in case she tripped in the heels. I probably didn’t need to be worried. She walked like a runway model with all the confidence in the world. I couldn’t wait for Lincoln to see her. He thought I was making it all up. This was going to be good.
We walked into the bar and scanned the place. “There they are,” I said and pointed out my brother and his wife.
We walked to the booth they were sitting at. There was someone on stage already singing some horrible song. I cringed when they attempted to hit a high note. We sat down.
“Lincoln, Mara, this is River,” I said. “River, this is my brother and his wife.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” River said with a smile.
Lincoln looked at me with a smirk on his face. “I can’t believe you showed up.”
“I showed up and we’re about to show you how well we sing together,” I said.
River laughed. “Let’s just say we sing together. I don’t think we want to say we sing well.”
“It’s not terrible,” I said.
She wrinkled her nose. “Remember, we had a few drinks. Our judgment might have been a little skewed.”
“I’ll order a pitcher,” Lincoln said. “We all might need a little numbing.”
While we drank our beer, River and I browsed through the karaoke catalog. It wasn’t a lot different than the other one. “What do you think?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “I’m game for whatever.”
“Let’s do the ‘Señorita’ one we did last time,” I said. “I liked that one.”
She laughed. “I’m sure you did.”
“You sang that?” Mara asked with surprise.
I grinned. “She did most of the singing. I was more of a prop.”
“Liar,” she teased. “You were doing your thing.”
“What are you two going to sing?” I asked Lincoln.
They looked at each other. “Oh no. This is all you two. This is your party. We’re just here for the show.”
“Chicken,” I said.
“You’re welcome to make a fool out of yourself,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I will.”
“It’s our turn,” River said and slapped my arm. “Let’s do this.”
The alcohol had helped loosen my inhibitions once again. I made my way up to the stage in the corner. It was a little out of the way and hopefully meant there would be a lot less eyes on us. “Ready for this?” she asked with a shy smile.
“I am.”
The song started and it was better than before. She danced while I sang, sidling up against me in the most seductive way. She was doing it on purpose. I played along with her little game. I barely paid attention to the lyrics. I was enjoying the dancing far more.
When the song was over, there was a lot of clapping and Lincoln let out a few catcalls. I took her hand and led her back to the table. Mara clapped as we sat down. “Damn, you two look like you’ve been doing that for years,” she said.
River laughed and poured herself a fresh glass of beer before filling mine. “He’s a natural,” River said.
“I did not think you would actually do it,” Lincoln said. He opened his wallet and pulled out a dollar bill. “Here you go.”
I picked up the dollar and flicked it once. “I win.”
“What is that?” River asked.
I waved the bill. “He bet me I wouldn’t do karaoke.”
“You put yourself through that for a dollar?” she asked incredulously.
I shrugged. “It’s the standard bet.”
“A dollar?” she asked again.
“I’m not going to throw away money on a bet I could lose,” I said. “That’s gambling. Gambling is a fool’s game.”
“You buy stock,” she pointed out.
“Only stock that I know is going to work for me,” I said.
“There are no guarantees in the stock market,” she countered. “You could lose money.”
I flashed her a cocky smile. “I’m not worried about that. I’m very good at what I do.”
“And so humble.” She laughed.
“I thought we already established that,” I replied easily.
“What’s the encore?” Mara asked.
“There was no stipulation about two songs,” I said. “Lincoln only said he had to see it to believe it. He saw it. Now, he has to believe it.”
“I don’t know,” he said and tapped his finger on the table. “I might need to see something again.”
I looked at River. She flashed me a grin. “You know I’ll do it again.”
I slowly nodded. “We’ll take another run at it, but only if you guys do one.”
Mara and Lincoln exchanged a look. “Okay,” Lincoln said. “Let’s go, baby. We’ll show these guys how damn good we are.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please. We’re experts at this point. While you’re up there warming up, we’ll be practicing our next hit. We will be amazing. We’re going to bring the house down.”
“Slow down, big boy,” River warned.
“What’s the next song?” I asked her once Lincoln and Mara were up from the table.
“Didn’t you have a request earlier?” she asked.
“I don’t even remember what it was,” I said. “You made me forget just about everything when I saw you tonight.”
“Have you been listening to the radio a lot?”
“Yep.” I nodded. “I’ve been trying to get hip.”
She groaned. “You just took a hard left away from hip.”
“I’m not sleeping with you again,” I told her.
She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You’re hot and those heels are making me think some pretty dirty things, but I won’t do it.”
“I wasn’t aware that was on the table,” she said with a hint of a smile.
“On the table would be great, but nope. Can’t. Won’t. I will resist you.”
“I wasn’t aware I was doing anything to tempt you,” she replied.
I looked her up and down in the seat next to me. “I think you know very well you are tempting me.”
“But we can’t,” she said. “We agreed.”
“Yes, we did.” I nodded. “I just wanted to make sure we were clear.”
“Oh, they’re up,” she said and patted my arm.
I turned my head to look at the stage. The music started and so did they. It was like cats fighting. There was screeching and what sounded like hissing. It was not good. I felt terrible that I challenged them to get up there at all. It wasn’t fair to the rest of the bar.
“Damn,” I said.
“Yeah, not good,” she said as she looked at me with a grimace. “I think you got the singing talent in the family.”
I burst into laughter. “We should put them out of everyone’s misery,” I said. “This is terrible.”
“The song is almost over,” she said with a grimace. “If it doesn’t end in thirty seconds, I’ll unplug the speakers.”
Thankfully, the song ended. Lincoln and Mara came back to the table. I immediately poured them each a glass from the pitcher. �
��You guys need this,” I said.
“Why?” Lincoln asked.
“You guys sucked,” I told them. “Please, never do that again.”
“Hey,” Mara protested. “We weren’t that bad.”
River almost choked on her beer. “No, it was good,” she squeaked.
Mara laughed. “That doesn’t sound convincing.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry. Maybe it was the song choice. It wasn’t the right song.”
“I think she means it wasn’t the right voices,” I said. “As in, your voices were terrible.”
“Lukas,” River said and slapped my chest. “That’s mean.”
“I’m not known as being nice,” I told her. “Ask them. I’m the one that tells them straight.”
“He’s not lying,” Lincoln said. “He’s an asshole. I don’t know how you got him to be nice.”
“I’m not an asshole,” I argued.
“You’re a little bit of an asshole,” Lincoln said.
I couldn’t argue with that. “Maybe.”
“Are you ready to do our thing?” River asked.
“I thought we agreed,” I said with a naughty smile.
I loved teasing her. “I’m going up to sing,” she said. “You do you. But first I’m going to the ladies’ room. If you do decide you’d like to duet with me, you pick the song and I’ll be there.”
“You’re on,” I said as she walked away.
Lincoln looked at me with a stupid grin on his face. “Interesting,” he said.
“Very interesting,” Mara agreed.
“What?” I asked, slightly defensive.
“You’re into her,” he said. “You’re really into her. When did that happen?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Uh, yeah, it did,” Mara said. “It’s pretty clear you guys are a thing. First the dirty dancing on stage. Then the flirty little looks between you guys. You two are so into each other.”
“We work together,” I said. “Not even really work together. She’s a professor at the university. She teaches art in a totally different building than I do. It’s not like a high school. We don’t hang out in the teachers’ lounge. Our schedules are different. The campus is huge.”
Our Little Secret Page 10
