18. Kirin #2
“Would you grab her a Spicy Wanderer, please?” he asked Jaime, pulling a twenty out of his pocket.
“On the house.” Jaime waved off the money with a wink. “Just bring her back for the old man.”
“Oh, I will.” Kirin smiled, noticing Rose’s cheeks pinking up again as he shook Jaime’s hand. “Thanks, man.”
With a last nod to them both, Jaime disappeared into the slowly dissipating crowd and through the kitchen door. For the first time since Rose took the seat opposite him, Kirin looked around the small sandwich shop and was surprised to see more than a couple of sets of eyes on them.
“Might be time to put another photo out on the socials.” He pulled his phone out and took a candid photo of her. This one caught her looking right at him, the exasperation he loved all over her face.
“Did you just take my photo?” She dragged her fingers under her eyes. “I look like shit. I didn’t sleep last night.”
He sidestepped the question in favor of the second half of her comment: “Why not?”
“Like I said earlier,” she sighed and scrubbed her fingers along her scalp under her curls, but he refused to get distracted, “my advisor hates me.”
“You’re being awfully dramatic,” Kirin said through another smile as she groaned.
Her face dropped back into the droll look. “Women love when men say that to them.”
“By chance, was yesterday your first Wednesday advisory meeting?” She nodded, and he hummed.
“Wednesdays are the busiest days for the lit department because my mom schedules all her staff meetings for midweek. She read something twenty years ago about it being a good way to energize a team for the rest of the week.” He leaned forward, watching her brows knit.
“And I know Professor Humphrey usually forgets to have her third cup of coffee because her meeting with Mom is between her ten and noon classes, which means she gets grouchy. She’s basically a book dragon by the afternoon because she tries not to drink her sugar coffees after one.
” A plate slid onto the table in front of each of them, a cookie and cup following closely behind before the server disappeared again before they could say “thank you.” “You’re going to love that sandwich. ”
She stared at him, then down at her sandwich before stuffing it into her mouth and narrowing her eyes. “Couldn’t have warned me about the coffee and the meetings?”
“How’s the sandwich?”
“Amazing, obviously,” she groaned and took another bite, her eyes closing as she chewed, and a warmth filled his chest. She looked happy. “I’m going to get so damn fat if I eat here regularly.”
“It’s a once-a-week treat, for sure.”
She nodded. “So why didn’t you warn me?”
“Where would be the fun in that?” He winked, and she scoffed, licking the sauce off the edge of her lips, which sent heat pouring into his veins.
The sight of her tongue tracing the edge of her lips had him wanting to lean over and taste her.
Pushing back all the mental images of how he could kiss her, he refocused on his food.
It didn’t help, so he asked another question.
“Didn’t you meet with her over the summer?
You said you spent hours on the phone with your advisor to get those classes set up. ”
“Different advisor,” she said around a bite of her sandwich. “I met Professor Humphrey once before the semester so we could figure out how the game schedule would work with her classes. Since then, we have mostly emailed. Most of my meetings were with your mom, actually.”
Kirin hummed his understanding. “Well, Professor Humphrey isn’t a big fan of put-on faces.
That’s why she loves literature. She always says: ‘Everything you need to know is on the page. You just have to finish the story.’ If I had warned you about Wednesdays, you might have avoided it or, worse, been prepared for her being grouchy, and she’d think you were false.
Your genuine reaction to her was necessary.
” He finished his sandwich and leaned back in his chair. “Why do you think she hates you?”
“Aside from the grouchiness?” she murmured, rubbing her fingers over her eyes.
“Okay, so maybe considering that, she doesn’t hate me, possibly just isn’t a huge fan?
If I imagine that meeting with a caffeinated filter over it, she just asked some basic questions and wanted to know my long-term goals. ”
“Did you tell her you hate the Bronte sisters or something?” he asked, laughing as she grimaced. “Oh no, you didn’t.”
“Jeez, of course not.” She took another bite of her sandwich, speaking around it. “I talked about my interest in analyzing the classics for the cause and effect of love, rejection, and manipulation, which is why I’m taking those classes.”
Ah, he nodded. “You’ve opened Pandora’s box.”
“What?” she asked, wiping her fingers on her napkin.
“Did she salivate? Patrice Humphrey loves a good deep dive into the emotional motives of classic characters.” He rubbed a hand over his face. How many staff parties had he spent sitting at a table listening to his mother and Pat debate the complexities of Madame Bovary? A million? Felt like it.
She nodded slowly, as if she weren’t sure. “So this is good?”
“Oh yes, she probably stopped processing the second you said that and wondered if she was having a fever dream.” He chuckled, “It’s good. Give her a second to fangirl, and I’m sure your next meeting will go better.”
“Should I bring her coffee?” she asked, devouring the last couple of bites while glancing at her phone. “Shit, I have to go.”
She was up and ready to bolt when he grabbed her wrist, her gaze shifting to his as he tugged her down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Bring her a large black decaf coffee. She’ll love you forever. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan, right?” She pulled back, and her smile wobbled, but he nodded. She leaned down and brushed her lips against his cheek before whispering in his ear, “See you then, Daddy.”
She pressed a kiss hard onto his cheek, forcing his head into a tilt, and disappeared before he could choke out a laugh.
A glance at his phone confirmed he needed to start his own trek across campus.
They had a team meeting, check-ins with the training staff, and film to prep for their next game.
His focus should be entirely on his season, but he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit the party they were planning on attending and the impending kiss were high on his anxiety list.