LITMIR.BIZ

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around the mug she was holding. “No, I’m not saving it.” Her voice sounded almost tinny, she thought disparagingly.

      “Then you don’t mind if I sit down next to you?” Daniel asked, still not making a move to slide onto the stool.

      Shania shrugged, doing her best to seem nonchalant. It occurred to her that she had spent so much time looking out for Wynona, she had forgotten how to socialize on her own.

      “It’s a free country,” she replied, taking another sip, a longer one this time.

      Daniel slid his long frame onto the stool, setting his drink—a beer—down on the bar in front of him. His eyes skimmed over the woman next to him. The second look was even better than the first. Simply dressed, the dark-haired woman was nothing short of a knockout.

      He hadn’t come here looking for anything except for people who didn’t look at him hostilely the way that Elena had. But, having found someone who definitely captured his attention, he wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

      “I haven’t seen you in here before,” Daniel commented.

      “There’s a reason for that,” Shania replied, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she faced the long mirror that ran the length of the bar.

      Daniel’s eyes met hers in the mirror and he said the first thing that occurred to him. “It’s your first time here?”

      “No.” While she didn’t frequent the saloon on anything that would have passed as a regular basis, she had been here a few times since her return to Forever. But she’d never seen him during any of those times.

      “I’m confused,” Daniel admitted.

      This time she did look directly at him. And then she smiled. “Happens to the best of us,” she told him.

      His smile was slow as it spread over his lips—and extremely compelling. She could feel something inside of her responding to it.

      “I’m also intrigued,” Daniel said.

      Finding it disconcerting to make eye contact, she lowered her own. “I can’t help that.”

      “Oh, but you might be able to,” Daniel told her. Even though he continued sitting exactly where he was, it felt as if he had somehow drawn closer to her.

      Shania had to concentrate in order not to fidget. “Oh? And just how do you propose that I do that?”

      “Propose?” he repeated, the smile on his face deepening. He had dimples, she realized. One in each cheek. She found herself growing more intrigued than she wanted to be. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Daniel told her. “Although, the evening’s still young.”

      Mention of the time had her looking at her watch. “Actually, it’s getting late.”

      Daniel glanced at his own watch. It was only a few minutes past eight.

      “No, it’s actually not,” he contradicted. “It’s still early.”

      But Shania held her ground and shook her head. “Not really.” And then she explained by saying, “It’s a school night.”

      Her response only served to confuse him further. “What’s that got to do with it?”

      And then he looked down at her hand as a belated explanation for her concern hit him. Was she married and needed to get home? There was no ring on her hand, but in this day and age, that didn’t mean that the woman was single.

      The shortest distance between two points was a straight line, so instead of beating around the bush, he decided to ask her. “You’re not married, are you?”

      “No, I’m not,” Shania answered. Even as she said that, she felt an atypical pang twisting the pit of her stomach.

      What was wrong with her? All these years, she had never once felt that marriage was for her. But ever since Wynona had gotten married, Shania had found herself reevaluating everything, including what she’d thought were her deeply rooted feelings about marriage. Maybe it was time to rethink her position on that.

      Would it be such an awful thing to get married? Marriage had certainly made Wynona happy.

      “The conversation just got more interesting,” Daniel said with a smile that unnerved her.

      Shania thought of finishing her beer in order to dramatically put the empty mug down on the bar and push it away before she got off the stool. But in order to do that, she’d have to actually drink the brew and she decided that she’d had enough. So she just pushed the mug aside.

      “I’ve got to go,” she told him, and started to get up off her stool.

      He gave her a long, soulful look. “Was it something I said?”

      She needed to avoid looking into his eyes, she silently insisted. He had beautiful, sexy eyes and eye contact had a way of making her thoughts evaporate.

      “No, I just have to go,” she told him seriously. “I have school tomorrow,” she explained.

      His eyes narrowed as he studied her more closely, doing his best to see past her beauty even though it wasn’t easy.

      “No offense, but just how many times have you been left back?” he asked.

      “Left back?” she echoed, clearly confused about what he was asking.

      “Well, yeah. Because I know for a fact that the Murphys are really strict when it comes to serving alcohol to minors.” Then, because she was still staring at him quizzically, he clarified it for her. “They don’t, which means that you’re not a minor even though you’re fresh-faced and pretty enough to pass for one.”

      “I’m not a minor,” she assured him, not sure if she was flattered or insulted by his comment.

      “Then why...?” He left the end of his question up in the air, waiting for her to finish it.

      “I’m a high school teacher,” she told him.

      “A high school teacher,” he repeated.

      He hadn’t thought of that. He was slipping, he upbraided himself. But then, he wasn’t used to putting moves on a woman. Because Elena had aggravated him, he’d wound up doing something out of character.

      “Yes,” she confirmed in case there was any doubt. “So you see why I have to go.”

      But Daniel wasn’t quite ready to let this go just yet. Questions popped up in his mind. “What do you teach?”

      “Algebra and physics,” she answered.

      He nodded, impressed. “Ambitious.”

      “Tiring,” she countered.

      He thought of what he’d just endured trying to deal with his sister today and he understood exactly what this woman was telling him.

      “It’s a tough age,” he agreed.

      “You say that like someone who’s been in the trenches,” Shania noted. “Were you a teacher?”

      “Me?” he asked, surprised that she’d think that. “Hell no.” Realizing he might have offended her, he corrected himself. “I mean heck no.”

      She tried not to laugh and only partially succeeded. “That’s okay. I find myself swallowing a few choice words too, especially whenever I’m having a particularly bad day communicating with my students.”

      Although, she thought, those were happily few and far between.

      “Was that what this was all about?” Daniel asked, nodding at her unfinished mug of beer. “A particularly bad day?”

      “You might say that,” Shania admitted. “There are some times when I really don’t think I’m getting through to them.”

      “If it’s only ‘some times’ then

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