“You and she are close, huh?” He worried his lower lip. “I mean, she seems to know you really well.” He opened his laptop and turned it on. “How long have you been tutoring her?”
“Since the first week of the semester.” I watched his thick fingers type on his keyboard. If his fingers were that thick, how thick was his?—
“How often do you two hang out together?” With his brows wrinkling, his attention drew to me.
“Hang out?” I shook my head. “N-no, we don’t. Tutors can’t date the students they teach. It’s against the school policy.” Shit, this didn’t look good.
“Okay, so you can’t date, but you can hang out?” He lifted his brows. “Like we could grab a beer sometime and shoot the shit, maybe?” He shifted closer to me. “If you’re going to the game with Sara, then maybe we?—”
“I’m going to stop tutoring her after next week.” I widened my eyes. How had I blurted that out?
His brows snapped together. “I can’t hang out with you if you’re tutoring me?” He scoffed. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“I…” My heart thrummed against my ribcage. Why couldn’t I tell him the truth? We weren’t anything. “She asked me on a date. She wants that night to be a date.”
He looked away, his expression going flat. “Oh, okay. So, I guess you like her then.” He clenched his hand into a fist and released it. “She’s pretty and bubbly. I can see why.”
An ache floated through my chest. I wasn’t sure what to think, but if he offered me a beer out, I wanted it. “It…it doesn’t mean we can’t hang out.” I sank my teeth into my lower lip. “It’s just a date with her.” I choked out a laugh. “I don’t think I like her in that way.” Could I dig a deeper hole right now?
“Yeah?” His smile returned with a vengeance. “Good, then maybe next week we can grab a beer. And if it’ll make you feel better, you can quiz me or something while we do it.” He narrowed his eyes. “You strike me as a guy who doesn’t go out much.”
My body relaxed, and I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so.” A smile tugged at my lips. He was such a nice guy. “But I saw Evan last night. We had dinner.”
“You did?” He wrinkled his nose. “How is he? Does he have any prospects for moving to the Coyotes this year?”
“He’s great and yes, it looks like Lucas’s D-line partner is having problems.” After spending so much time with Evan, I knew a few things about hockey. Football? Not so much. “Show me what you’re working on this week.”
He turned his laptop toward me and pointed at the screen. “This shit.”
Freeing a soft laugh, I said, “It’s not shit. It’s the future of big data.”
We’d studiedfor almost an hour when my phone buzzed on the coffee table. I glanced at it. “Shit, I’m sorry, but I need to take this.” I didn’t normally take calls while tutoring, but it was my dad. I rose from the couch with my phone and answered the call, jogging toward my bedroom. “Hello?”
“Hey, Colt. Why don’t you ever call?” He huffed a laugh. “It’s been what, a month?”
Colt, like I was a fucking pony.I cringed. I hated when he called me that. Had it really been a month since I’d spoken with him? Nope. “It’s been two weeks, Dad.” My yearly wellness exam had forced me to call him about our health insurance policy so I could givethem the numbers.
“Oh. Right. So, how are things?” The tinkling of ice in a glass carried through the connection. He was drinking, which meant he was bored in a hotel room somewhere.
“Are you on the road?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and paced across my bedroom.
“I am. I’m in Philly. I had an excellent meeting with the head of surgery at a hospital here.” He inhaled deeply. “Have you met any new friends?”
He always asked that, as if I wasn’t capable of it. I could tell him about Travis. Glancing through the hallway, I said, “Yes, in fact I have. I’ve met a football player for ASU.”
“You have? What’s his name? You know I love college ball.” The tinkling started up again.
Putting my hand over the phone and my mouth, I said, “Travis Rowlings.” Hopefully, Travis couldn’t hear me.
“Travis Rowlings? The guy from Austin they call Tex? He’s amazing.” Dad snickered. “I watched an ASU game last weekend, and he was all over the field.”
My brows lifted. His nickname was Tex? Why didn’t he tell me?
“How the hell did you meet him? Are you in a class with him?” Dad asked.
“No, I’m…” Shit, would it count in Dad’s head if I told him about the tutoring? “Yes, I met him in class. He’s in school for business.” Rubbing my forehead, I paced across the floor and stopped at the other set of sliding doors leading to my patio.
“Oh, that’s great. You really know how to pick ‘em. First a hockey player and now a football star.” He cackled. “Too bad you never played sports.”