Page 21 of Do It With Me

“Would you like to take a walk?” I finally asked as she slipped her hands into her coat pockets. “Again, there’s no obligation. It’s just an offer.”

She gave me another smile. “In that case, let’s do it. I’m not quite ready to go home yet.”

“Same here.” I found myself slowing my pace to match hers. “Would you like to know why I’m on a first name basis with that chef?”

She glanced up at me. “Yeah, I actually would. I assumed it was just because you’re a regular.”

“Nope. It’s because this area is part of one of the redevelopment projects we did a while back.” I pointed down the block. “That building with the green awning over there? It used to be condemned. It’s a wine bar now with a cultlike following.”

“What does that have to do with Marco?”

“He used to sling pizzas out of a food truck, but he’s classically trained. Fine-dining and all that kind of thing. A restaurant like the one he wanted to open just wouldn’t have worked here before, but he couldn’t afford it in any of areas where it would’ve worked. Now that he’s made a name for himself, he’s one of the hottest chefs in the city.”

“That place over there?” she asked, nodding toward a storefront with its doors open, music spilling out while young professionals milled on the balconies above.

“It was an old textile warehouse. There’s some retail space at the bottom now with lofts and studios above it.”

She followed my gaze, taking it all in. The street was busy, full of people laughing and even a few dancing on the sidewalks outside of the trendier pubs. The area had been thriving since the restoration and it was honestly one of the projects I was incredibly proud of, but I still glanced down at her, wondering what she thought about it.

“It’s beautiful,” she said finally without me even needing to ask. “I never came down here much before, so I don’t really know what it was like, but it sure seems to have become a hive of activity. It’s lively and happy now.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s good to see life come back to a place.”

She smiled up at me. “You sound proud.”

“I am,” I admitted. “It’s nice when a plan actually works out.”

We reached a corner and she turned to me, tilting her head up to look into my eyes. “You’re not as scary as you seem sometimes in class.”

I laughed. “Thank you?”

Neither of us moved for a beat, and she kept looking up at me through those long lashes, her playful smile melting into something more thoughtful. “So what’s next? You’ve already got half the city with your name on it. Are you working on something new?”

I hesitated. “We’re cooking something up. It hasn’t been announced yet, so I can’t really talk about it. But if it all works out…” Trailing off, I glanced down the street, imagining the skyline I wanted to leave behind. “It’s going to be spectacular. The kind of project that cements my legacy.”

She tilted her head, studying me like she was trying to see the man behind the ambition.

“Your legacy,” she repeated softly.

I nodded once. “That’s the goal.”

I sighed and turned back in the direction of the restaurant. If we didn’t go our separate ways soon, I was going to start thinking of her as more than my student. More than a pretend date. If I made a move on her, we’d both regret it. And I still needed her to be my date for the wedding.

I couldn’t scare her off just yet, no matter how badly I wanted to kiss her until she couldn’t remember how to even spell her own name.