Page 23 of Brutal King
“What are you doing here... I mean in my dorm?”
Damn, he looked good. And the sudden flush of pink on his cheeks as he tried to avoid looking directly at me only made him all the more appealing. He looked like a true gentlemen... a damned handsome gentleman.
His gaze darted from my slippers to my hips to my breasts to my lips and down to my crotch.
“Damn,” he muttered under his breath.
He suddenly shook his head as if to clear it, rolled his shoulders back as if to regain his composure and then looked straight at me.
Well, well, well. After that arousing moment of discomfort, bully Kobe was back.
Shit.
“Get ready,” he ordered. “We have work to do.”
“Work? What? What are you talking about?”
“Our little project, remember? The restaurant.”
“But I thought we were starting that tomorrow.”
“Not much of an early bird, are you?” he shot back.
Frowning, I set my fists on my hips and looked up at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that the early bird catches the worm... and I want that worm. The quicker we get started; the bigger head start we’ll have over the others.”
I shook my head. “Honestly, Kobe. I don’t think that using worms as motivation is a good way to get started on this project,” I said with an amused chuckle.
“Funny.” He waved me into the room. “Go get dressed. And do something professionally pretty with your hair.”
“No, Kobe. Mr. Singh said we could start tomorrow.”
“Look,” he said as he took an authoritative step inside. “These classes aren’t like what you’re used to. When there are teams, they are usually measured by one another. In other words, we are competing. So, the team that comes in later with their project, gets the worse grades.”
Still frowning, I stared at him.
“Don’t you see? We need to get our project done first and do it better than the other group working in the Napa restaurant in order to get the best grades in class. So, for the last time... go get dressed. I want to see you looking like a professional. We are going to go to the restaurant this morning and make a good... no, a great first impression.”
Wanting to argue with him, I hesitated. I hated the thought of starting this project with him bossing me around. That’s not the way I wanted to go forward with this. We were equals... then again. Maybe he was right. Maybe getting an extra day to work on the project would give us an edge.
“Kat, I will not let you be the weakest link in this chain. If you drop the ball, we both fail.”
“Gee, Kobe. Are you sure you can’t fit another idiom or cliché into your argument? Early bird. Weak link. Drop the ball. I get it. I get it. We need each other to do well on this thing. Fine. Wait out in the hall and I’ll go get ready.”
“I’ll wait right here,” he said heading to the loveseat.
“Hang on,” I said as I looked around. “I don’t live alone here, you know. My roommate might not like the idea of having a strange guy hanging out in her dorm room. She could get up any minute now and scream when she sees you there.”
“A little heavy on the melodrama, aren’t you?” He looked around, making an exaggerated attempt to find her. “I don’t see anyone. Seems as if you’re here alone.”
Pressing my lips in frustration, I went to her door and looked into her room to find that Layla had already left.
“Fine.” I shot at Kobe. “Sit down. But don’t touch anything.”
He glared up at me as he sat down. “What are you going to wear?” He called out after me as I headed into my room.
I was about to tell him but realized that I didn’t have to. Surely, he didn’t expect me to get his approval on my attire. I knew perfectly well how to dress for a professional meeting. I ignored the question and entered my closet.