Suddenly pushing off the wall he’d been leaning against, he took the two steps toward me and I tried to mold myself to the door. A heart-stopping smile and bright blue eyes now replaced his darkened features as he completely invaded my personal space. If he weren’t so damn beautiful I’d have karate-chopped him and reminded him of personal bubbles. Or gone all Stuart from MADtv on him and told him he was a stranger and to stay away from my danger. Instead, I tried to control my breathing and swallow through the dryness in my mouth.

“No, Rachel. What I find weird is that you don’t seem to realize that I don’t even notice those other women or what they’re doing because all I see is you. I look forward to seeing you every day. I don’t think you realize you are the best part of my weekdays. I moved here for this job before I even knew you and Candice were going to school here, and seeing you again for the first time in years—God, Rachel, you were so beautiful and I had no idea that it was you. You literally stopped me in my tracks and I couldn’t do anything but watch you.

“And you have this way about you that draws people to you . . . always have. It has nothing to do with how devastatingly beautiful you are—though that doesn’t hurt . . .” He smirked and searched my face. “But you have this personality that is rare. And it bursts from you. You’re sweet and caring, you’re genuinely happy, and it makes people around you happy. And you have a smile and laugh that is contagious.”

Only men like Blake West could get away with saying things like that and still have my heart racing instead of making me laugh in their faces.

“You’re not like other women. Even though these are the years for it, you don’t seem like the type of girl to just have flings, and I can assure you, that’s not what I’m into, nor what I’m looking for with you. So I don’t see those other women; all I’m seeing is you. Do you understand that now?”

Holy shit. He was serious?

“Rachel?”

I nodded and he smiled.

“So, will you please let me take you out this weekend?”

For the first time since he’d come back into my life, he actually looked unsure of himself. I was still in complete shock, but I somehow managed to nod again and mumble, “Sure, where do you want to go?”

He smiled wide and exhaled in relief. “It’s a surprise.”

I frowned. How did he have a surprise planned if he hadn’t even known I was going to say yes? “And by ‘surprise,’ do you mean you have no clue?”

“No, it’s just a surprise.”

I started to turn into Candice and whine that I wouldn’t know what to wear but was interrupted by my own huge yawn, which made me sound more like Chewbacca. I covered as much of my face as possible with the hand that wasn’t holding the rose and laughed awkwardly. “Oh my word, that’s embarrassing.”

His laugh was deep and rich. “It’s late and I stopped you from going to sleep. If for some reason I don’t see you for the rest of the week, I’ll pick you up at seven on Friday. That sound all right?”

“That sounds perfect. I’ll see you then, and, uh, thanks for my rose.” Before he could say anything else, I turned the doorknob, gave him a small smile, backed up into the room, and shut the door in his still-smirking face. “Holy hell,” I whispered, and let my forehead fall against the door.

“Tell. Me. Everything!” Candice practically shrieked, and I turned to narrow my eyes at her.

Like she hadn’t been listening.

“We’re going on a date Friday. That’s about it.”

“That is so not all that was said, Rachel! Ohmigod, did you swoon when he said all he’s seeing is you?”

“Swoon, Candice? Really? This isn’t one of your romance novels.” And yeah . . . I did kind of swoon. “And that’s exactly why I’m not telling you. You eavesdrop anyway, so what’s the point in going over it all again?”

“Because I want details of how he looked at you and how you reacted to him.”

Oh dear God, this was going to be a long night.

WHY BLAKE THOUGHT we wouldn’t see each other the rest of the week was beyond me, because sure enough he was the first person I saw when I walked into the athletic center the next afternoon. And surprise, surprise . . . he only had four girls around him that day. That wasn’t including the one he was stretching out on the ground.

Candice’s constant talking faded out as I watched him explaining why he was stretching those particular muscles. But I knew the girl wasn’t paying attention; all she could care about was that he was practically in between her legs.

The girl on the ground said something I couldn’t hear, and the runway-beautiful, mocha-skinned girl standing closest to me practically purred as she reached for his forearm, “Well, that’s just because Blake’s so good with his . . . hands.” The other four girls started giggling and I wanted to gag.

Blake’s head shot up and I realized I must have actually gagged out loud. Whoops. Our eyes locked for a few seconds before he quickly looked at the girls surrounding him and his position with the one on the floor. When he looked back at me, his blue eyes were pleading, but I just shook my head and walked off toward the back to get my out-of-the-classroom part of my course over with.

“Hey.” Candice nudged me. “Don’t get upset about that. They aren’t the ones who have a date with him on Friday.”