To Professor, with Love (Forbidden Men #2)(14)

“Yeah, I am. So show him what to do.” With that, she slammed back into her office, leaving the three of us alone in the bar.

“She totally wants me.” Ten sniffed knowingly at the closed door, while I sighed and set my hands on my hips, taking in the new guy.

God, I couldn’t wait until Jess’s dad returned to work. He’d recently had open-heart surgery, and she’d taken over while he was down. But if he didn’t hurry his ass up and recover soon, his precious baby girl was going to run his nightclub into the ground.

Tipping my head up in greeting, I said, “Hey. What’s your name?”

The new guy shoved his hands into his back pockets and tore his attention away from Ten to glance my way. “Mason,” he said. “Mason Lowe.”

I nodded. “Nice to meet you. You ever bartend before?”

When Lowe shook his head, Ten snorted and slapped me in the stomach. “He’s all yours, baby.” Dismissing us both, he returned to his job of taking the chairs off the tables.

“Fine,” I called. “We get the bar then; you wait tables.”

“What the f*ck ever. Make the new guy wait tables.”

“Shit, you want him to quit on his first night?”

Ten paused to study Lowe from head to foot. Then he nodded. “Yeah, with a pretty face like his, he’d be molested beyond repair within the first five minutes. I’ll take the tables. But just for tonight.” He pointed threateningly at Lowe. “You got that, newbie?”

Lowe was beginning to look a little alarmed. “What’s he talking about? I thought this was just a regular bar.”

Humph. There was nothing regular about Forbidden. But to reassure him, I said, “It is.” With a friendly pat on his back, I shrugged. “Don’t listen to Ten. He’s just sore because his vagina got ridden too hard last night.”

“Fucker,” Ten called from across the room.

I ignored him, focusing on Lowe. “But every Thursday is ladies’ night. So it’ll probably get a little crazy. Drinks are fifty percent off for every woman who comes in, which means a lot of drunk, handsy chicks are going to try to get a piece of you...all night long.”

A green tinge immediately coated Lowe’s face. “Great,” he muttered weakly.

With a laugh, I slugged my elbow into his arm. “Trust me. It is. Your tips will triple. But seriously. You might want to protect the boys. I recommend wearing a cup every Thursday from here on out.”

“Sure.” With a gulp and longing glance toward the exit, Lowe nodded.

“Your accent’s different,” I noted as I led him toward the bar. “Where’re you from?”

“Florida. Just moved here a couple months ago.”

“Dude.” Appearing out of nowhere, Ten plopped down on a stool and rested his elbows on the bar while he frowned at Lowe. “Why the hell would you leave Florida for f*cking Ellamore, Illinois?”

Mason shrugged as if it was no big deal. “My girlfriend’s from here. She wanted to come home.”

Ten snorted. “Wait, wait, wait. You traveled halfway across the country for some *? Damn, that’s lame.”

I thought Lowe was going to leap across the bar and strangle my pathetic excuse for a roommate, so I beat him to the punch. “Ignore him,” I said, slinging my hand out to smack Ten on the side of the head. “Like I said; sore vagina.”

Glaring at me, Ten sniffed. “At least I’m not banging my teacher for a good grade.”

Oh, that did it.

“Go away.” I pointed at his face and sent him the stare of death until he rolled his eyes and pushed from the bar to saunter off. Once his back was turned, I couldn’t help but slice a worried glance toward Lowe. “I’m not—”

Lowe lifted his hands and waved me quiet, telling me I didn’t have to explain myself. “Hey, cougars aren’t my thing. But if you—”

“She’s not a cougar,” I hissed in defense before I could stop myself. “I mean...shit.” I stabbed my fingers through my hair, my mind skipping to figure out how to talk my way out of this because now it totally sounded like I was banging my teacher. “I’m not sleeping with any of my teachers, okay. Butt Licker over there is just harassing me because I somehow miraculously sweet-talked my hard-ass English professor into letting me rewrite a paper. That’s it.”

Fuck, I sounded too defensive, didn’t I?

“Kavanagh and Gamble sitting in a tree,” Ten—the five-year-old trapped in a horny twenty-one-year old’s body—sang from across the room. “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”

I shut him up at that point by grabbing a football from a shelf behind the bar and winding back my arm to take aim. When I hit him square in the back, he grunted and went sprawling forward to the floor.

Lowe whistled, clearly impressed by my skill. “Lucky shot.”

“Lucky?” I cranked my head around to gape at the new guy. “Obviously you have no idea who I am.”

“Uh...” His eyebrows wrinkled as he shook his head. “No. Who are you?”

“Son, you are in the presence of a local legend.” With a sweeping bow, I introduced myself. “Noel Gamble, beloved quarterback for the university’s football team.”

“Oh, okay.” Lowe nodded as recognition sparked in his gaze. “I didn’t transfer over until this semester, but I heard how well the team did this year. And I’m pretty sure I’ve heard your name float around campus.”