Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,30

have no choice."

"Or you could keep some of them and use them on some other poor girl."

"That doesn't sound appealing at all. I fully intend to use all my cards on you."

"Is that supposed to flatter me?"

"Supposed to? I don't know about that. But based on how rosy your cheeks are, I'm guessing that it did."

I pressed my lips together. Stupid rosy cheeks. I didn't know how I was going to shake this guy. And I didn't even know if I wanted to. That was such a lie. I knew I didn't want to. I wanted him to push me against the wall again and do more than kiss me.

"My friends signed up for a bunch of activities. So I'm sure I'll be pretty busy for the rest of the day. You'll probably need to find someone else to hang out with if you want to put a dent in those cards."

"What a coincidence. My friends signed up for a bunch of activities too. Maybe we'll be at some of the same ones." He opened up the door for me, completely ignoring my comment about finding someone else.

I walked back into the heat. My friends were all laying in their beach chairs tanning. Mason and James were both still reading, but Matt had disappeared. He was probably off harassing some innocent woman.

Rob flopped down in the empty chair beside my friends and put his arm out. "Right here, snuggle bunny," he said and tapped the very small empty spot beside him.

Kristen turned toward him. "It seems like you and Daphne are hitting it off."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that kiss sealed the deal. Right, beautiful?"

Kristen pulled her sunglasses to the top of her head and stared at me. "You kissed him?" she mouthed silently to me.

I could feel my face turning red. I had kissed a complete stranger. And not even a peck. Like a full blown make-out session. "He keeps using cards on me."

Rob feigned shocked innocence. "That kiss was not on my cards." He tapped the seat beside him.

Kristen gave me a thumbs up.

Fucking hell. I sat down on the very edge of the chair, trying not to touch Rob. I wasn't at all surprised when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me down beside him. He quickly adjusted himself so that my head would be on his chest.

"Are you done?" I asked.

"Almost." He grabbed my thigh and pulled it across his legs. "There, that's better."

"How long do I have to do this?"

"I'd say 20 minutes would suffice."

"Twenty minutes? That's ridiculous." I lifted up my head to protest and he immediately put his hand on the side of my face. The way his thumb gently traced under my cheekbone sent chills down my spine. He was staring into my eyes so intently. And I couldn't help but get lost in the deep brown of his. He was so handsome. Why the hell is he hanging out with me?

"I'm more than happy to do one of the other cards," he whispered so that my friends couldn't hear. "I just thought it might be nice if we got to know each other first." His hand left my face and he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

My heart was beating so fast, I'm sure he could feel my pulse against his torso. I tried to steady my uneven breaths. I should have slapped him. I should have told him I had no interest in accepting any more of his cards. But the way he was looking at me made it seem like he actually did want to get to know me. That was the most important thing on my list. For someone to be genuinely interested in getting to know me for me.

"What do you want to know?" The words tumbled out before I even realized I was saying them.

He smiled. "Everything."

I laughed and readjusted myself so that my head was resting on his shoulder. Our faces were only a few inches apart, and his hand slid down my back, resting just above my ass. "Ask me something more specific."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a high school math teacher."

"Really? I wish I had you for a teacher. Although it's probably for the best that I didn't, because I would have found you very, very distracting. Your students must have a hard time focusing."

I laughed. "I don't think so."

"You probably have no idea how many inconvenient boners you've caused." He laughed and I felt the