Intrigue (10 page)

“Some. What I can read much better is body language and deadly looks,” he said with a laugh before the teacher started his lecture.

In our Shakespeare class, we got paired together to do our first project. Rafe smirked at me as he remarked, “Man, this is my lucky day. At this rate, we’ll be engaged by the end of the semester.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and accuse, “How much did you pay the office staff for your good fortune?”

He just nodded at me in a mafia boss sort of way and replied, “I am connected in ways that you wouldn’t believe possible.”

Thankfully, the school day ended with less drama than it began. Key dropped me off at my house while trying to guilt me into hanging with her, Jazz, and the basketball boys. I told her about my new building project, and she finally let me go. I immediately headed to DUA to meet with Dr. A. I was excited to hear about the building they had chose for my project and to get started on my research. Rafe and I had already stopped by the Superintendent’s office to make the appointment to pitch the renovation idea.

I was about to snark back at him as Dr. A walked in and announced, “I have the perfect place for your school’s restoration project, Calli.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense Dr. A, what is it?”

“It’s called the
Grande Ballroom
, and it is on the market for a steal. It will be about $28,000 to buy the place and at least another $60,000 or so to get it back in usable shape--more to really make it a knock out. The restoration part of the project can happen in phases. You will have to raise the funds for the building in the fall, and we can do the renovations in winter and spring along with the course.”

“Dr. A, $88,000 is
a lot
of money to raise! I don’t know if I can do that. That is
not
car washes and bake sale kinda fundraisers!”

Dr. A smiled at me and said, “I have asked our fundraising expert to walk you through a few strategies to hit your fundraising goal after this meeting. The Grande Ballroom is a landmark in Detroit and restoring it would be excellent press for your school, the DUA, and UM as a joint project. Many musical legends played at the Grande Ballroom like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Van Morrison, BB King, and The Grateful Dead to name but a few. So Calli, are you all in?”

I laughed at his poker terminology. Little did he know that my mother was a card shark. “Yeah, Dr. A, I’m all in.”

He shook my hand and smiled at Rafe and I. “Now, let’s go talk to Sadie, my fundraiser extraordinaire.”

Sadie was a ball of energy. There was no other way to describe her. She was already filled in on the project and suggested monthly fundraising events to get us to our goal. We would start small with a raffle in September where we would sell tickets for donated sporting events and spa services. The first big fundraiser would target getting a car dealership to donate a fairly nice used car to raffle in October at our homecoming. I worked with Sadie, Rafe, and Dr. A until about 9pm when my parents called and wondered where I was after Thrace had showed up for dinner and I had not. I told Dr. A and Sadie I would be back on Wednesday if they were available and bolted for home. Rafe walked me out to my car and said with his typical grin, “That was a pretty solid first day Calli. It will be interesting to see if you can keep up that level of enthusiasm.”

I laughed and replied, “You ain’t seen nothing, yet.”

When I got home, I explained the new project to my parents. They told me stories about when they had been to the Grande Ballroom, and the different groups they got to see play there. I told them that I would be volunteering at the DUA on Mondays and Wednesday for the foreseeable future. They seemed a little concerned with my packed schedule. I promised them that I would lighten up if I needed to. When I called Thrace, he was less enthused with the project, but only because it cut into his time with me unless he would come and volunteer. I lessened his concern by instituting Friday Date Night that would be solely our time together. Naturally, our first Date Night would be the concert, and he would unveil another of the 21 steps. I told him he could sneak over and say good night. I grabbed one of my balloons and headed downstairs in pjs and bunny slippers. My bunny slippers had a little bit of an attitude since Jazz painted an evil grin with fangs on them with a black Sharpie.

I met him at the front door. He handed me a small box when he reached me, and I smiled as I opened it. “Step 2: Hugging”

I gasped as he gave me a big hug that lifted me off my feet. When he let me down, I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his chest. He told me that he missed me this evening. He finally let him go with a sigh. I laughed as he ran home holding a balloon that said, “I’m a Tool.”

Chapter 8: Truth Serum

I was excited that Wednesday took me back to the DUA. My appointments were set for next week, so I worked with both Dr. A, Rafe, and Sadie for a couple hours. As I was researching The Grande Ballroom’s history, the most beautiful eye candy I had ever seen walked into the lab. I kept shaking my head to clear my vision. He looked liked the hottie younger brother in
Prison Break.
He was probably 6ft4 with honey colored skin and heavy-lidded stormy grey eyes. His hair was dark and cut very short
,
and he had the lightest coat of dark stumble on his face even though he probably shaved his morning. Although his body seemed very adult like, there was something about his face that marked him as not much older than me. I really don’t have enough pages to describe how gorgeous he looked in his fitted black t-shirt and dark grey cargo pants. A tailor could not have molded his clothes to him any better. He seemed to take my admiration, staring, and silence in stride.

A small smile played upon his lips and actually turned the stormy eyes to smokin grey. He finally spoke, “Are you Calliope?”

I stuttered out, “Yes. How..How.. did you know that?”

Now the smile turned from small to stunning as his intense gaze held me captive, “Admetus told me where to find you. I might help teach the class at your school next year, and I thought we could walk through the syllabus together.”

My shocked expression really wasn’t helping matters. I casually ran my finger below my lower lip to make sure I wasn’t drooling before I stuttered out, “I don’t know if that is a good idea. FLOCK! Did I just say that out loud. I’m sorry.”

Now, a hypnotic laugh joined his arsenal of weapons designed to turn me into a stark raving nutbar. When he was done laughing, he finally asked, “Why is that not a good idea, if I may ask?”

It was my turn to shock him. It was like his voice was airborne truth serum. “Because every girl in class and probably even some of the guys are
not
going to be able to concentrate on a word you say because they are going to be too busy staring at you.”

The laugh was back, and I was just as mesmerized again. He sat down at the computer next to me and turned to face me. The inside of his knees actually touched the outside of mine, and I thought I would actually either throw up or faint. Instead, I concentrated on breathing.

He leaned towards me and his gaze practically set me on fire as he whispered, “Maybe it’s just you that would have this type of reaction.”

I managed to break away from his gaze and grabbed my phone to take a picture of just his face. I sent the pic to Jazz and Key and asked what they would think if he was one of our teachers next semester. Instead of a text back, I got a three-way call from Key who always had the latest and greatest in phone service. I just put my phone on speaker for Mr. Disturbingly-Hot-Guy to hear the level of comments and squealing by my friends. I thanked them for their input, and I told them I would keep them posted as I got off the phone.

“So you think it would be
just
me. Huh?”

Mr. Disturbingly-Hot-Guy took my phone from my hand, and the warmth and spark from his hand to mine was yet another shock. “I guess I will take your word on that,” he said as he deleted the pic.

“Hey, what if I wanted to keep that for my screensaver? And who exactly who are you?” I demanded.

The solemn smile was back and the heavy-lidded gaze was smoking as he shook my hand and said, “My name is Delian, and I am a student at UM doing an internship here this year. Admetus is my supervisor. And, I distinctly remember hearing that
you
have a boyfriend, so I was not to be enchanted by you. I was told if you looked up heartbreaker in the dictionary your picture would be there.”

I snorted,
not cool.
“I think you might want to look in the mirror for that picture. And get this straight, I have not tried to enchant you. What I have done is stuttered, stammered, gawked, turned bright red, and said things aloud that I shouldn’t have.”

“What if I am just enchanted by your honest reaction to me?”

I studied his perfect face and finally asked, “Aren’t you a little too old to be hitting on high school girls that you could have the potential to teach next semester?”

“First of all, it is not high school
girls.
It is just you. And second of all, you practically devoured me with your eyes earlier, in addition to your comments about my general hotness.”

I actually blushed even redder as I hissed, “Those were
not
my comments. Those were my friends’ comments!”

“So you
don’t
think I’m hot?”

I was too stunned to put back up that filter that usually stands between my brain and my mouth, “Of course, I think you’re hot. Hands down, you are the most beautiful and exotic creature I have ever laid my eyes on. Oh god, did I say that out loud again? Flock! Well, so what! It’s not like you haven’t been told that a million times.”

Delian’s mesmerizing laugh and heated gaze were back. “I can honestly say I have
never
been called a beautiful and exotic creature. You really need to help me out here Calli. I am trying to keep away from you, and your honesty is playing hell on all my good intentions.”

I rolled my chair back to get out of arms reach, then for some reason I bolted for the door. In a flash, Delian was in front of the door with his back to it and his front facing me. His arms were crossed, which gave me a much better view of his fireman biceps. I gawked again as he purred down at me, “Calli, running scared from beautiful and exotic creatures turns them into predators. Always slow and small movements around predators. Remember that.”

Once again, Delian’s voice was like an airborne truth serum as he towered over me and held my gaze because I could not lie to him. “I’m more afraid of me and my reactions than I am of you, Delian.”

Delian swore very fluently with some words in a different language even as he turned his back to me, which gave me another nice view. I commented, “I am in a relationship, but that does not mean I am dead. I have a boyfriend that I love and keeping my distance from you is probably the smartest move I could make. So you need to stay away from me.”

He laughed and turned back around and put his hands on my shoulders, “I suggest a compromise. I still need to complete the syllabus for my internship with input from a potential student. I propose one hour a week of your valuable time. And I will desperately try to behave myself if you will.”

His thumbs moving back and forth on my collarbone literally turned me mute. He must have said my name a couple of times before I said, “I’m sorry did you say something?” He looked to the ceiling and groaned loudly then turned back around and repeated himself.

I sort of shook myself like a dog shakes after a bath and the truth came out again, “One hour….Once a week ….Pure Insanity…..I don’t see it happening….. Definitely not in my best interest…. Now, move away from the door slowly, small movements, no eye contact, no noise. Got it?”

He did exactly as I said as he laughed, and I bolted from the room. I breezed by Dr. A as I said. “I gotta run, Dr. A. I’ll talk to you on Saturday.”

In the background, I heard Dr. A ask Delian, “What did you do to Calli?”

I actually slowed down to hear his response, “You should have warned me about her, Admetus. She is going to turn my world upside down.”

I just heard Dr. A say faintly, “Yes, she is.”

I got a call from Rafe that night. He asked me in a tentative voice, “I heard you met Delian.”

I laughed in a slightly bitter way and said, “I can’t say that I met him as much as I made a total flocker out of myself in front of him. Tell me my totally freakish behavior is not being gossiped about all over the DUA.”

I heard Rafe’s wicked laugh as he replied, “Well, the janitor said that it was pretty funny.”

“Niiiiccccccee,” I replied sarcastically.

“What happened? Delian is pretty much already smitten with you. How exactly do you enchant someone while you are acting like a total freak?”

“It was like the 16 year old filter that I had developed between my thoughts and my words just disappeared. It was gone. A thought came into my head then it went right out of my mouth. No stopping.”

“Wow. I wish I could have been there to ask some questions,” Rafe commented.

“I am sure he thought it was flattering considering he is both hot and vain. But, I was totally mortified. It was like someone shot me up with truth serum right before he walked in the door. You have to find out his schedule, so I can skip the days that he is there. Pleasssssssseeeeeee.”