I should have done this on the first part, but I was all wrapped up in the glee of having actually finished something... doesn't happen very often, but the original background idea of this story was posted by Janet (wildcherry45) awhile ago, and since she didn't end up writing it, she was kind enough to let me do so. That's because she's cool, cool, cool.

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Chapter One, Part Two

Haley could feel his breath, hot, against her cheek as his mouth rested on hers. Her eyes remained open and she stared at him, his face a little blurry because he was so close, waiting for something else, she wasn't sure what, to happen.

This was a little awkward.

There was one thing for sure though, she'd been right when she imagined his lips so perfectly soft.

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. She was there, looking all hot in front of him, nibbling on her lip in what almost any guy would consider to be that innocent, come hither sort of way. There hadn't been anything else in his mind to do besides kiss her, finally kiss her, like he'd wanted to do for weeks.

Now, Nathan was wondering if wasn't a mistake.

She was stiff and unresponsive beneath his mouth, and for a moment, he wondered if she'd stopped breathing. This was a little awkward.

So, shifting against her one last time to take her bottom lip between his and tug lightly, trying to catch just a little bit more of her taste so that he'd have at least some sort of comfort from this horribly embarrassing incident, he pulled away.

But then, there it was, hope in all of its shining glory, just as he separated from her.

She moaned.

Haley's eyes grew even wider at the guttural sound that pulled from the back of her throat just as he pulled away.

God, he must have thought she was the biggest freak. First, he kisses her and she just sits there like she's bored, and then he pulls away, and she starts making weird mating calls.

She was so embarrassed, and as one, because of that wonderful klutzy gene, that found herself in embarrassing situations more often than most, she knew there was only one way to handle this sort of situation.

Deny, deny, deny.

Nathan watched, confused, as Haley nodded, obviously finishing off some sort of conversation in her head, and turned back to the forgotten math homework in front of them.

Now, he didn't really consider himself a conceited sort of guy. He knew the things that he was good at, and he stuck to his strengths. Kissing was one of his strengths. He was experienced, he was hot, and practiced good dental hygiene. So, it was a bit of a hit to his ego to have a girl blow off his kiss so completely. Especially when it was this girl, this one he liked so much, and if he'd read the signs correctly, which he thought he had, liked him in the same way.

"Haley?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I thought we should get started on the next problem."

Nathan nodded, taking in the jittery way she tucked her hair behind her ear again. She had shifted away from him so completely that her leg no longer touched his and she was leaning so far forward that she was completely out of reach of his hand that still rested across the back of her chair. Her body was closed off from his so that even if he'd wanted to focus on the math problem she was working, which he didn't, he'd have to crane up over her shoulder to do so.

"Haley?"

She didn't answer this time, so he slid his hand up the length of her back to catch her attention, but withdrew it quickly as she nearly fell out of her chair to get away from his touch.

"Haley!"

Haley caught herself as fast as she could, settling back into her chair. Jeez, she was making such an ass out of herself. There was no way he would be kissing her again anytime soon.

And that sudden thought almost made her want to cry.

"I'm fine," she assured him, trying to keep her face straight as she tapped her pencil back toward the neglected notebook. "Math! We should... um, math. Homework."

There was absolutely nothing she wanted more in the world than to be able to run out of the room and away from him. She knew, in the logical part of her head, that they were wrong and that they couldn't work. As much as she wanted him, liked him, it wasn't right. They weren't right.

But she couldn't help but feel like she'd just missed out on the chance of a lifetime by not kissing him back.

Nathan kept silent for a moment, letting it all sink in before he did something rash again.

He'd kissed her. She'd freaked out. She hadn't stopped freaking out.

He learned rather quickly, actually probably in their very first tutoring session, that Haley wasn't like the other girls that he knew. That was one of the reasons that he liked her so much, was so drawn to her. But it was also one of the reasons that he didn't always know how to handle her and he didn't always read her correctly.

There was a lot at stake for him in that moment. So, he needed to manage this right.

"Haley?"

She didn't look up. "It looks like your problem with number seven was the same as with number three. Do you think you'd be able to fix it on your own now?"

"I just kissed you, Haley."

He kind of cringed at the bluntness of the statement, but he needed to know where she stood. And her silence was making him nervous in the most unfamiliar of ways.

"I know... but I'm avoiding it," she said finally, still refusing to look up. She just continued on as though nothing had changed. "So, I can just run through number seven for you again. It isn't tha-"

"You're avoiding it?" This girl just had a special knack for confusing him... and kicking his ego in the balls. No girl avoided the topic of kissing him. "Why?"

She finally glanced up, and he could see how reluctant even that was. "Because it shouldn't have happened."

Reality came rushing back at her words. All of those reasons, Lucas and his friends and his dad and the positions they held, it all came pouring down on him, reminding him why he hadn't made a move earlier.

Nathan hated that reality.

He looked at her. She was chewing on that full bottom lip again, and she still had that beauty mark on the corner of her jaw. Her cheeks were flushed and her wide brown eyes were sad.

There was a different reality in this tutoring center where they spent so much time together. A reality where she liked him and he liked her and they both knew it and nothing else mattered.

Nathan liked that reality a lot better.

And so he kissed her again.

The hand that had been draped across the back of her chair moved to wrap around her shoulder and pull her toward him, while the other reached up to slide along her jaw, cup her cheek, and guide her mouth toward his. It took her a moment longer, but he finally felt a soft sigh push out of her lips to sweep across his face as she relaxed into his embrace.

She was kissing him back. Nathan Scott, star basketball player and all around hottie, was kissing Haley James, tutor girl and all around goody two shoes, and she was kissing him back.

Haley felt herself melt against him. She wasn't sure what the difference was this time, this kiss, whether it was that she had been ready for him or that she knew for sure that she wanted it, but she was able to loosen up and let him lead.

There was a bit of that earlier awkwardness as she still really had no idea what she was doing, but his lips, those perfectly soft lips, slightly moist, moved against hers, teaching her and tasting her and making any thought process at all completely impossible.

His mouth opened, sucking lightly at her top lip before his head canted and he nipped at the bottom one. The hand that cupped her jaw tightened to tilt her head a bit to the side so that he could deepen their contact, and the new angle allowed him to form a gentle seal over her mouth.

Haley tried to follow his example, to move her lips against his and to give him the same pleasure and enjoyment that he was giving her. She knew that she was hardly the first girl he had kissed, but she wanted to be special for him, she wanted to be good and for him to want to kiss her and not stop kissing her just like she never wanted this to end.

So, she pushed back, a bit timid at first, but then more sure, and as her teeth scraped over that soft skin just on the inside of his lip, she was rewarded with a quiet moan that vibrated in the back of his throat and pushed out to brush across her cheek.

His hand slipped off of her jaw and trailed down her neck to stop, long fingers curving over her collarbone, thumb resting on her pulse point, and palm positioned out over her heart. She was sure that he could feel her blood pressure rise beneath his fingertips as she let herself get lost, just for a moment, in his mouth. He felt so much better here, where she could actually touch him, than he did in even her naughtiest of late night fantasies.

Nathan could feel her heart race beneath his touch and under his kiss, as his hand settled over her chest and the heel of his palm pressed slightly into the soft rise of her breast. His other hand pressed into her back, pushing her further into him. He'd been addicted before even the first taste, and now that he had her in his arms and on his lips, he knew that he really would be willing to get down on one knee and spout off all of that fag poetry if it meant that he could keep on kissing her.

He could feel her inexperience in the way that she mostly just followed his lead, with sudden bursts of daring coming out here and there, but Haley was a quick learner and the flavor of that cherry lip gloss, just like he'd guessed, mixed with the tang of her morning cup of coffee in the most delicious of ways.

He didn't want to stop kissing her.

However, air was quickly becoming an issue, and he didn't want to push the envelope with her too far now that they'd finally gotten somewhere, so, giving himself one last moment to savor her lips, he pulled away just far enough that he could meet her gaze.

Her eyes stayed shut a moment longer, giving Nathan a chance to just look at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were curved up in a soft smile, giving off almost the impression that she was caught up in some daydream that she just didn't want to let go of. He wanted to laugh as she let a quiet giggle escape, the giddiness nearly radiating off her in waves, making him giddy as well... er, a manly kind of giddy.

Haley's eyes snapped open at the sound of a girly giggle slipping from her lips; high-pitched and annoying to her own ears. Her cheeks flushed at the sight of him, still so close, his bright blue eyes twinkling at her and his lips stretched into an amused smile.

Oh, God.

Her mind flipped through the events of the morning like a serious of snapshots, trying to catch up with exactly why Nathan was sitting so close to her and looking so damned pleased with himself. There was the math problem, the first kiss, the ass she made out of herself falling out of the chair, second kiss, and now...

Oh, God, again. Nathan, the most popular boy in school, the captain of the basketball team, the hottest guy in their class, had kissed her and then he'd kissed her again, and she'd all but fallen in his lap that second time. And now, he was laughing.

She was so very embarrassed.

The smile wiped from her face and she went into full on avoidance mode as she snapped away from him, pushing her chair back to put some extra distance between them and turning back to the homework at hand. Her whole deny, deny, deny strategy hadn't worked so well the last time, but it was a time tested technique that she was confident would come through for her in the end.

"So, number seven –"

"Oh, no, no, no."

A bit of that man giddiness had slipped away from Nathan at how quickly that dreamy smile had dropped away from Haley's lips, and it just continued to fall from his grasp at the way she jumped back from him like he'd bitten her.

And he hadn't. They hadn't gotten that far.

"There is no avoiding that kiss," Nathan told her firmly as he wrapped his hand around the front leg of her chair and pulled it back toward him. Reaching across her lap to the other side, he twisted her seat until she was facing him head on. Then, trapping her legs between his own so that she couldn't just turn back to that stupid math homework she seemed so intent on finishing, he leaned forward into her space to meet her surprised gaze. "That was a good kiss."

"Nathan! What are you doing?" Haley tried tilting back away from him, but there really wasn't anywhere to go with the chair behind her, him before her, and his arms trapping her in on the sides.

How did she get herself into these messes? She did her homework and she obeyed her parents and she was nice to the elderly. She didn't deserve to be in these messes!

Nathan took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Haley was looking at him like he'd kicked her puppy, when in reality, it was she that was doing her damnedest to make him look like the biggest retard on the planet.

"Okay, Haley," he started. "I understand that you really like number seven and that you feel we should be working on it right now, but it's going to have to wait. We have a bit of an issue on our hands."

Haley crossed her arms over her chest and willed her voice to stay even. "And what issue would that be?"

Nathan just stared for a moment. There it was again. Haley kicking his ego in the nads, only this time, she'd found a pair of those three inch stiletto spike heel things to do it with and he was going to be sounding like an eight year old girl for the rest of the day.

"Okay, here's the thing." He searched for the best way to start this conversation that she so obviously didn't want to have. "I don't really have a lot of experience with rejection... actually, I pretty much have no experience with rejection." He chose to ignore the way she rolled her eyes. "So, I'm a little confused as to this whole avoidance thing you've got going on."

Oh, crap. He was on to her master plan. "I'm not avoiding anything," she scoffed.

"Haley, you liked that kiss."

See, why did he have to keep bringing that up? Especially when he was so close and those perfect lips and that beautiful face were right within her reach. It took all the will power she possessed then to not buckle and give in and admit that yes, she liked the kiss. Of course, she liked the kiss. She loved the kiss. She wanted to marry the kiss and have tons of little kiss babies. But that wasn't the point.

"A little cocky there, aren't we?" She was able to muster up another eye roll.

"Uh, yeah." That eye roll thing of hers was starting to grate on his nerves. "Although, I think it might have something to do with the giggling and the moaning and the you kissing me back."

"Hah!"

Nathan shook his head and slouched back into his chair, taking a moment to just stare at her. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her face was hardened down into that scowl that he'd gotten to know so well from their earlier tutoring sessions. It was the one that she used to give him when she'd snap at him for messing with Lucas or yell at him about how she wasn't going to do all his work for him and if he wanted her help, he'd better start shaping up. It was the one that said that she wasn't giving him an inch. Not an inch, not a millimeter.

So, why wasn't he just letting it go?

A part of him, the one that knew that pretty much every girl in school would give anything to trade places with Haley right then, was smarting from her refusal to fall at his feet. His pride was on the line here, and if there was one common string among the Scott men, it's that they were a prideful bunch. He didn't like to lose, not to anyone, not even the girl he had been crushing on big time for the last several weeks.

But as his eyes narrowed and he took in every line of that beautiful face, he noticed the nervous way her teeth were pulling at her bottom lip and the blush that colored her cheeks, flushed across that long, graceful neck, and reddened the tips of her ears.

This wasn't over. She wasn't as hard as she thought she was.

"Okay, Haley." He shifted in his seat, running through strategies in his head. It was time to turn back on the charm. No one, not even Miss Haley James herself, could resist the Scott charm. "I get that you're a little riled up right now. I am, too." He leaned forward again and reached out to grasp her hands. She resisted, trying to keep them firmly crossed over her chest, but after a quick tug of war, she gave in. "That was a good kiss. Hell, it was a great kiss."

Haley could feel her resolve melting away as the soft calluses of his thumbs skimmed over the backs of her hands. He was giving her that smirk, the one that he gave all the cheerleaders and the pretty girls, the one that made sure he was never alone on date night. Normally, that smirk would have her scoffing and calling him a jackass, but then, normally, that smirk wasn't directed at her.

Crappity, crap, crap, crap. There was just something about him that absolutely made her want to swoon. And it was hard to stick to a reasonable battle plan when she was just a puddle of mush on the floor.

"See, so, if we both enjoyed the kiss, if we both wanted the kiss, then I don't see what the problem is." Nathan could see her defenses slowly starting to give way, and it was giving him the coolest rush. That feeling that he got from scoring a winning basket or intercepting a key pass started to pulse through his veins. He was going to win this one, just like he won all the rest. The difference here was that Haley was so much more than a conquest, and watching the ice melt from her eyes was twisting at his stomach.

She was within his reach.

"Because you know, I like you, or at least, I think you know that." He smiled at the way her frown began to fade and her cheeks flushed to an even deeper red. "And since I know that you like me-"

Haley snapped to attention at that. "How do you know I like you? I mean, sure, we're friends and everything, but not every girl is dying just for a chance to be your girlfriend."

Nathan wanted to laugh at her indignation, but he didn't think that would help his cause a whole lot. "Haley, seriously." She cocked an eyebrow at him, obviously not taking that as reason enough, and so he reached across her toward her notebook. Flipping through a few pages, he found what he was looking for and plopped it down on the table beside her.

N H scribbled inside a slightly lopsided heart

Haley didn't think her face could get any hotter. Oh, and the kicks, they just kept on coming.

"There are lots of guys whose name start with N," she scoffed, refusing to make eye contact.

Nathan watched her for a minute. He had her, right were he wanted her, and after weeks of this back and forth between them, it felt so damn good. "Come on, Haley. Admit it. You totally like me."

Haley spared him a glance out of the corner of her eye and she could see that pleased look at his face. Cocky bastard.

But she couldn't help the smile that started to curve the corners of her mouth and the delight that fluttered in her belly. He liked her, too.

"Nathan..."

The air shifted between them again, and the frustration and annoyance that had been weighing them down faded into the lighter, more teasing and flirty mood that made the tutoring center such a safe haven for them both.

Nathan grasped her hands in his again and pulled her forward until their faces were just inches apart and he could look into her eyes. "You know you want to say it, Haley. What could possibly be wrong with just saying it?"

One of those fruity laughs that Haley hated so much pushed past her lips. They were so close again, and she could feel his breath against her cheeks, and see the flecks of green that mixed in with that deep blue in his eyes. She wanted to be cool and coy and throw out something about how his head was already big enough or how a woman never gave away her secrets, but that just wasn't her.

And Nathan liked just her.

The grip on her hands tightened and he tugged her even closer. He was going to kiss her again, and it was all that she could not to let out a crazy fan- girl squeal. This whole kissing thing could not be good for her heart as she was sure it was about to beat right out of her chest.

Haley's eyes began to flutter shut and the last thing she saw before they closed and his lips touched hers was a flash of his blue eyes, so much like another person that meant the world to her.

And that's what was wrong with just saying it.

"Lucas," she whispered against his mouth.

Nathan shot back, dropping her hands as if they'd burned him. That did not just happen. She did not just say that ass's name.

If Haley had been a more scheming type female, he would have thought she had some master plan to take away his masculinity step by step. And saying that name, yeah, that was the kicker.

He focused on her face though, looking for those lines of guilt that would edge Peyton's features every time he called her on the lame crush she had on that dick, but there was none of that on Haley's face. Her eyes only gave away regret.

"Lucas?"

Haley could hear the anger, the hurt, and the confusion that seeped into Nathan's voice. They had been right there, and she'd ripped herself away again.

It was just, earlier in the morning, before Nathan had come in and before he'd opened this Olympic pool-sized can of worms, it had been okay to crush on him. Well, not okay, but not totally wrong because nothing was ever going to come of it. She was never going to make a move and Nathan was never going to make a move, and yeah, she had fantasies about him, but it wasn't a complete betrayal to her best friend forever because she was never going to act on it. No one ever had to know.

But now, God, she'd kissed him and she'd flirted with him and she'd kissed him again. This boy who she liked so much, but had hurt her best friend in ways that he didn't even care about. She'd seen Nathan's eyes, eyes so much Lucas's, and she realized that she was the crappiest friend ever. Lucas would be so hurt.

"Yeah," she pushed out, trying not to meet his upset gaze. "You asked what was wrong with saying it, and... it's just, Lucas is my best friend."

Nathan resisted the urge to pout. Damn, but did he hate Lucas Scott, with his stupid good grades and basketball skills and nice guy personality. He hated him for having the same dad, he hated him for being such a kiss ass to Whitey, and he hated him for taking away Peyton.

But most of all, at that moment, he hated Lucas for getting Haley first.

"Right." He needed to say something, anything to stop her from letting this pass them by. "Well, you know... I've pretty much spent the last month trying to forget that little fact, and I'm sure that if you tried hard enough, you could too."

"Nathan!"

Okay, so that definitely wasn't the right thing to say.

"Right." He reached forward to hold her hands once again, and he found a shimmer of optimism in the fact that she didn't resist. "Look, I know that Lucas doesn't like me very much, but-"

"Well, yeah, and he's got reason to," Haley broke in.

"But..." Nathan pushed on, ignoring her interruption. "But, I've been nicer to him lately. I haven't pulled any pranks and we've been treating him like he's part of the team. That says something, doesn't it?"

Haley wanted to tell him that it did because it said a lot to her, but Lucas wouldn't feel the same way. "The last few weeks don't erase the last few years, Nathan."

"Yeah, but, if Lucas is you're friend and as great as everyone says he is..." Nathan trailed off at the face she made. Hidden shots at the guy probably weren't going to work in his favor just then. "If he's your friend, wouldn't he want you to do what makes you happy? Wouldn't he want you to be with someone that you really like?"

Haley resisted the urge to smile even as her heart was twisting in her chest. Never in a million years would she have ever expected Nathan to be so adamant about this. It was like he was afraid to let the moment and the chance pass. She was afraid of that too. This was like a fairy tale to her, the kind of thing that all girls wished would happen to them, a guy like Nathan caring so much, and wanting him so much in return.

It was frightening, though, too. There was so much that could be lost.

Of course, Lucas wanted her to be happy. He told her all the time how much he thought she deserved that, but with Nathan? She had tried telling him the ways that they had become friends, but he didn't even want to listen to that. There was too much baggage there for Lucas to ever really be okay with him, to be okay with him and her. He would always be worried that Nathan would hurt her.

And she couldn't say that thought didn't worry her as well. Nathan was made to break hearts.

There was a voice in the back of her head, though, that was telling her that it didn't matter. Nathans didn't come along all that often in life. This, whatever it was, was a one-chance shot.

"When you say be with someone...when you say that, what do you mean?"

Nathan weighed her question back and forth in his mind, taking in her hesitation and soft tone. What did he mean?

This had all come upon him so fast. Twenty minutes ago, the thought of something really happening between them hadn't even seemed possible. It wasn't even in reach.

In his head, throughout the past few weeks, the desire to make her permanent in his life had become so strong. In his head, he wanted her to be his. He wanted her for his girlfriend.

But that was only in his mind, late at night, when his parents were fighting in the other room and he wanted something to make sense in his life, or at games when his Dad was yelling at him and Whitey had his head stuck so far up Lucas's ass he was surprised the other boy could play, and he needed someone that believed in him. And sometimes, it was when he was just by himself and he could picture that smile she would give him that always seemed just a little brighter than she gave anyone else.

He liked that idea in his head, but Haley James didn't exactly fit in his world.

If it hadn't been for Lucas and the tutoring, he never would have given her a second glance. She wasn't a cheerleader or a part of student council. She didn't run with the popular crowd. Actually, she spent most of her time with the crowd the popular kids picked on.

Nathan didn't think that things like popularity or parties mattered to Haley, but they mattered to him.

There was still that voice though, the one that insisted that she was too important to let go, that echoed in his skull. This was a one-shot deal, and he was a bigger dumbass than he'd ever realized if he let her slip through his fingers.

"I'm saying..." Nathan hated hearing the nerves in his voice. How could one girl make him so sure and unsure all at the same time? "I'm saying that I want you to be my girlfriend."

Haley's eyebrows shot up. She heard his words and she felt his fingers tighten over hers, and her heart soared. She'd never thought she'd hear that come out his mouth.

Nathan tugged her hands into his lap. "Look, I know that we both have things, you know. You have Lucas, and I have..." He trailed off. "We just both have things... but I kind of think you should give us a chance, you know. Just so we can see."

Haley's attention quirked at his mention of Lucas and whatever it was that he wasn't saying. She was being pulled in two different directions, hurting Lucas or letting Nathan go, and neither of those seemed like good ideas.

"Maybe we could just, I don't know, give it a test shot."

Haley looked at him curiously. "What, like a trial run?"

Nathan rolled the phrase over in his head, and he felt a bit of that earlier apprehension push off his shoulders. A test run. "Yeah, what about we give it like a week? You can deal with Lucas, and I can show you that we're worth this shot."

"A week?" Haley let out a laugh. This is why she didn't play sports. Athletes had their heads banged around and they ended up spouting off crazy crap. "You want us to have a week long relationship?"

"Well, maybe longer." Nathan could see her giving him that what the f uck look, and he didn't like it. A test run was a good idea. He'd had a good idea! "Just give me seven days to prove to you that we could be longer."

Nathan's insistence was doing something to her, and causing her to do something that she knew she shouldn't because she probably wasn't strong enough to resist him and his ocean blue eyes just then. She considered it, mentally adding up the pros and cons of the issue, ticking points on one side next to movie marathons with Lucas and on the other side next to Nathan's perfect hands.

Haley was the safe girl, and she always did things the safe way. She didn't walk alone late at night, she wore her safety belt, and she always waited a solid forty-five minutes after lunch before swimming. And maybe the safe way wasn't always the most exciting way, but it worked for her. It worked in her world.

So, when opportunity presented itself for stepping out of line with the rules and regulations, she didn't normally give it much thought. It wasn't who she was, and she was okay with that. She was perfectly content in her beige little corner with her sweater jackets and Friday nights in with the parents.

But this time, oh, there was just something so tempting about his offer, about his confident smirk. It gave her that desire in her belly, the one that Lucas told her about when he joined the team, the desire to color outside the lines and prove that she didn't always do the easy thing, the reliable thing.

Lucas, God, she loved him, but watching Mall Rats for the umpteenth time was the safe way, and Nathan's hands, well, she was pretty sure they could crush her heart.

But she wanted to risk it; she wanted to try it.

The bell sounded behind them, signaling the end of the period, but neither moved, waiting to hear what her answer would be.

"Okay."

Nathan was surprised. He thought that she would dig her heels in a little bit more. See, this is what he meant by not even her being able to resist that Scott charm. "Alright then. One week. Next Tuesday morning, you'll decide."

Haley nodded and took a deep breath. Telling Lucas was not going to be pleasant, but this felt right.

Not wanting her to dwell too much on the new decision and determined to make the most of the boyfriend benefits he would have for the next week, Nathan pulled her forward again, catching her lips in a quick kiss.

He let her go then, standing up and gathering his notebook and homework into his bag, and he could feel her stand beside him to do the same. Looking down at her, he couldn't stop a grin from stretching his lips. Haley was his girlfriend.

"So..." She looked up at him expectantly, a grin tugging at her lips as well.

"I guess I'll see you in history," Nathan said, backing away toward the door.

"Right. Okay." Haley followed him, still not quiet able to process just what all the last hour had changed, and it certainly didn't help when he bent down to pop another quick kiss on her mouth.

"To the next seven days," he told her. "And seven nights." He winked then, and pushed open the door, disappearing into the crowd.

Crap. It was going to be a long week.

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