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her eye made him happy. She was finally relaxing with him.
    “No matter how much I love it, not even
The Hobbit
.”
    “But I thought you wanted to get in synch with what we were teaching about
Mockingbird
.”
    “I want to talk about us and the closet.”
    Dani glanced away. “Nate…”
    Sitting back, Nate folded his arms over his chest and stared at her. He didn’t know her. Not really. Sure, they spent time together in school, working through their lesson plans and coordinating the sophomore classes. And she’d been a great mentor, showing him the ropes and making him feel welcome despite being dumped in her lap with no notice.
    No, he didn’t know her.
    But he wanted to.
    Now he needed to figure out if he was stuck in a one-sided attraction and whether that chemistry he’d felt had been his and his alone.
    “What are you so worried about?” he asked.
    Slowly, her eyes came back to his. “The kids have to take the Illinois sophomore literature test in November.”
    “You told me that.”
    “
Mockingbird
is a great book to prep the kids for that test.”
    “You told me that, too.”
    Her brows gathered.
    “I don’t want to talk about school anymore.”
    Her blue eyes widened. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
    Nate took a breath and blew it out slowly. For a while, he’d thought she’d simply been playing coy. On the drive there, they’d talked about the volleyball match and the upcoming Open House evening. Not a thing was mentioned about the fact that they’d come so close to kissing.
    Now that they were someplace private, Dani acted as though she had no idea why he’d dragged her out of town just to get a burger. No wonder. She really didn’t know what he wanted from her.
    She wasn’t being coy after all.
    “I want to talk about what happened… well, what
almost
happened when we were locked in the supply closet.”
    The speed that her face flushed red made him smile. “I thought we’d put that behind us.”
    “I don’t
want
to put that behind us.”
    Fiddling with her silverware, she said, “Nothing happened. Not really.”
    Nate laid his hand over one of hers. “You’re right. Nothing happened. But I brought you here to tell you that I wanted something to happen.” He smiled when she finally looked him in the eye again. “I think you did, too. Did you want me to kiss you, Dani?”
    Even though her teeth tugged hard on her bottom lip, she nodded.
    “There. Was that so hard to admit?”
    “Yes!”
    “Why?”
    Dani eased her hand back. “Why? You have to ask me
why
?”
    “Since I have no idea what’s going through your head right now, yes. I have to ask you why.”
    “I’m your boss, Nate.”
    “You’re my department head. While that might technically be my
boss
…”
    She let out an inelegant little snort.
    “Fine. You win. You’re my boss. But that only means you get to do a couple of evaluations of my teaching. That’s all.” Trying to get her to relax, he waggled his eyebrows. “Unless you think your lust for me would keep you from impartially judging my teaching abilities.”
    At least she smiled.
    “Seriously, Dani. If you weren’t my department head, would you at least give me one date? Just one date to see if whatever it was that we felt back in that supply room might lead to something… more?”
    “I don’t know, Nate…”
    The waitress interrupted, putting their burgers in front of them.
    They ate in silence, although Nate didn’t feel any kind of awkwardness between them. He hoped to hell that meant she was thinking things over. A good thing since he wasn’t about to give up on her simply because she’d have to give her opinion of the kind of teacher he was.
    It was time Dani learned he had a stubborn streak a mile wide.
    After wadding up his napkin and tossing it onto his empty plate, he rubbed his belly. “That was great. I’m definitely full.” Her plate was empty, too. “Want some dessert?”
    “Nah. You said you were