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."Of course I'll be there," she said."I didn't know Christian was fighting.""You didn't? Yeah, Christian, and we have three or four other guys on the card too.It's gonna be fun."Nadine shrugged one shoulder."I guess I can sort of understand that now that I've gotten to know you guys a little bit and see how much you love what you're doing," she said.Julien smiled."What are your kids doing for the program?"Nadine gave him a confused look."You said you have a Christmas program to go to before the fights.""Oh yeah," she said.She beamed at him like a proud teacher."They're so cute.We're doing a production of the night before Christmas, in French of course.There's a reception after with desserts.They're so excited.""I wish I could see it," he said.His sweet comment had her wishing he could see it and every other school function she ever had.She imagined him coming with her to school functions looking all dangerous like he did, and smiled at the scene she pictured in her head.She liked the idea of walking into a room on his arm, and hoped she'd get to act it out in real life."We'll probably all go out after the fights if you want to come with us," he said."Are you staying in Baton Rouge?" she asked."Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that.Those of us who are going out afterward are gonna go ahead and get hotel rooms even though it's just an hour drive.""I probably won't do all that," she said."I'll be traveling, and Lindsay has to work at the mall Sunday morning.She might even have to work Saturday too, there's a chance she won't even be able to get off and can't make it with me.""Are you still gonna go?"Julien was standing next to Nadine as he waited for her to answer, and as she looked at him, she wanted to say, "Of freaking course I'll be there.I'll be wherever you say."Instead she said, "I'll try.I got my ticket already just in case.""I'd like you to go," he said.He reached up and smoothed a stray lock of hair that had come out of her ponytail, and she marveled at how this guy managed to make her feel like she couldn't get adequate air into her lungs."What's up, J-dog," Eli said peeking his head into the room."You all done in here? I have someone coming in for a private."Eli, like all of the other instructors there, gave private lessons to make extra money.Julien nodded and continued straightening the hand weights they'd just finished using."Who you got here," Eli asked, gesturing toward Nadine."Nadine," Julien said, without thinking.Eli laughed."Nadine from the book?" he asked.Eli wasn't one to ignore an elephant in the room, so he was going to call her out on it without hesitation.She looked at Julien with a helpless smirk, knowing he was sensitive about the book Eli was mentioning."Nadine's never read the book," Julien said in an impassive tone, as if that should be enough to make Eli stop asking questions right that very second.Eli just looked at Julien as if he didn't understand why he wanted to be straight-faced about calling a girl Nadine."Okaaay," Eli said sarcastically."Nice to meet you Nadine who's never read the book." He smiled and stuck out his hand and Nadine shook it.Julien looked at Eli like he wanted to kill him, and Eli looked at him like he should probably lighten up.It was an awkward encounter for everybody, but Eli apparently didn't know what was going on and handled it pretty well given the circumstances.Julien felt like that could have gone much worse."Did everyone read the book?" she asked.He'd hoped to just change the subject, so he cringed a little when she brought it up."No, no, Eli probably didn't even read it.Everyone's just heard the characters' names and they tease me about it."He was trying to shrug it off, and Nadine knew enough about Julien to know that, for whatever reason, he didn't really enjoy discussing the book.She didn't push him.They left Eli in the striking room going over his curriculum and started walking toward the front door.When they came to the hallway, he put his hand at the small of her back to steer her around the corner.She tried not to physically flinch at the contact, but it was really hard.Her heart was beating about ninety miles an hour, and she had to work to steady her breath—all this from a touch of his hand on the small of her back.Then just as soon as it began, it wasn't happening anymore.Damn it.There were several people in the lobby, all of whom had been coming to the gym for a while.Julien figured most of them had at least heard of the book, and his ultimate goal was to get Nadine out of there as quickly as possible so no one would accidentally say something.He told himself to relax, that if she'd been coming to the gym for a few weeks already and still didn't know about it, then maybe it was safe to assume no one would mention it."I cant believe Christian's fighting in the fights and he didn't tell me," Nadine said to John David as they approached the front desk."Yeah, I thought you knew," John David said."His picture's right there on the front of the tickets.""Are you serious?" she asked.She opened the front pocket of the duffel bag that was slung over her shoulder, fished around, and pulled out the tickets she purchased on the way in.Sure enough, there was a picture of Christian standing toe to toe with another shirtless guy.Christian had no tattoos at all and the other guy was full of them.She wondered if Julien had tattoos.Nadine knew she probably didn't have the right since she'd only been coming to the gym a few weeks and she barely knew the guys, but she couldn't help but feel proud of Christian for having his picture on the ticket.She was definitely excited to see the fights.She put the tickets back in her bag and smiled up at Julien."I can't wait.Thanks for telling me about it."He grabbed her by the waist again, and she almost swooned right there in front of everybody until she realized he was helping her out of the way so someone could pass behind her.It didn't really matter why he was doing it, his hand lingered there for a few seconds, and she felt a surge of the warm-fuzzies all over her body."I have to get ready for my next class, but I'll walk you out," he said.This statement drew curious glances from more than one person in the lobby since Julien Breaux didn't usually go around walking girls to their cars.Chapter 12"You've got my phone number," Julien said as he stood in the open door of Nadine's car.She had a small, black, convertible Volkswagen that looked to be ten or twelve years old, and he tried to think back to what Nadine drove in the book but didn't think Shea had mentioned it."You have mine too," she said.He'd been thinking about her car, so it took him a second to realize she was talking about her phone number.He gave her a smile and a half shrug."I guess I'm gonna have to text you then," he said.Her green eyes sparkled up at him and he hated himself for being so affected by the sight of her."Not if I text you first," she said, reaching out to close the car door.Julien watched Nadine drive off before he checked his watch to make sure he had enough time to make a phone call.He dialed Shea's number.It was rare for her to see Julien's number on a phone call instead of a text, so she picked up the phone right away [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]