Chapter 2:- Two
All right, Athena, just relax, she coached herself. There’s no need to panic. He’s just a man in a bar. Yes, that was it. He was just a man. In a bar. Watching her. Why? Why was he watching her? And with that expression on his face that he always adopted when he was just about to impart some unsavory news to her. Like when he told her that her lecture on the protocol of dancing in Jane Austen’s time was too dry for her intended audience and that it would be in her best interest to “spice it up” or risk putting that audience to sleep. He never looked at her male peers like that when he lectured them. Oh, no! That look was reserved especially for her. He all but told her so when he informed her that he dubbed the grooves forming between his brows A and W – for her, since she was the reason they were forming there. Not that she set out to annoy him. It just…happened. Frequently.
    Oh, lord, was he coming over? Athena fretted when Gabriel straightened from his reclining position against the bar. Had he recognized her despite her disguise? Oh, no. That would not be good. How could she possibly explain what she was doing in a bar, dressed in this get-up, taking pictures of a politician’s wife as she dirty danced the night away with her trainer? She couldn’t. Plain and simple. There was nothing that could justify her actions. Nothing that could keep her reputation at the college intact. Nothing –
    He was coming over. Good lord, what was she to do? What would Perez Hilton do in a situation like this? She glanced about the packed room, her gaze ricocheting off prime subjects for her blog as she searched for a means to escape. Blocked. Too far away. For employees only. Oh. No. Too late now, anyway, she discovered upon returning her attention to the bar where the dean once stood. He was steadily weaving his way toward her now, the disapproval in his expression replaced with determination.
    Come on, Perez, don’t fail me now, she thought as she once again glanced about, looking for that elusive exit. What do I do now? When the answer was not forthcoming, she thought, All right, forget you, Perez. Jane, what would you do?

    For a woman who was bold enough to wear thigh-high black boots with a mini-skirt, she was a skittish little thing, Gabriel Sommersby observed as he approached the mystery woman he’d spied from the bar. In fact, the closer he got to her table, the twitchier her mannerisms became. So when he finally came within arm’s reach of her, she was practically rocking herself right out of her chair. Interesting.
She certainly hadn’t looked like the nervous sort when he first noticed her. No, she had appeared confident enough as she watched the couples on the dance floor – or, that was to say, a specific couple, he soon discovered upon following the direction of her gaze to an older woman gyrating next to a much younger man. Indeed, she’d seemed rather pleased with herself, laughing as if from some private joke. It was the laughter that had first captured his attention. If not for that, he would’ve kept on scanning the bar for his tardy colleague, the woman in the tacky vinyl jacket and black boots long forgotten. She wasn’t his usual choice for a female companion, after all, and not just the way she dressed, but the fact that she was in this place without a companion. That omission made her intent clear – she was hoping to leave the bar with a partner.
So why did he feel compelled to approach her? Why was he drawn in by her laughter? He didn’t pick up women from bars – he was the dean of a college, for heaven’s sake! And she was…oddly familiar, he realized as he scrutinized her face. Beneath the blood red lipstick and dark eye shadow, there was something about her that struck him as, well, familiar, he thought, for lack of a better word. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that gave that impression. And the medieval lighting of the club was not conducive to further exploration. Especially not when she seemed to deliberately pull back into the darker realms of her environ, hiding herself within the shadows. Well, this was getting more intriguing by the moment. The researcher in him surged forward, overtaking the more conservative dean, propelling him onto the path of discovery. He had to know more about her.
To that end, he took another step forward as he said, “Hello. I hope you don’t mind me being so bold, but…I feel as if I know you from somewhere.”

Oh. No, Athena thought. This was not good. Help me, Jane!