God, why was he here? She did not want to see him. Standingnext to her chair his waist came up to her head forcing her to lean back tolook up his long body and up to his stern set face. The man probably tookshowers and went to bed with that serious look she thought. Today he waswearing pretty much the same thing she always saw him in, a pair of dark jeansand a dark top. Though she did admit as she turned her face back to hercomputer screen, the dark pullover sweater he was wearing today was muchdifferent than the starched long-sleeved button-down shirt he normally wore toclass. The knitted sweater clung to his torso, sinfully so, highlighting themuscular bulge of his biceps and his narrow waist on his large athletic frame.
“Ummm yes,” keeping her eyes focused on the error message onher screen she avoided his searching glacial gaze. “The scanner keeps givingme…”
The sudden pressure on the back of her chair as he leanedone hand on the headrest of her chair and one hand on her desk caused her tounintentionally swivel back to facing him. Much closer to her now, he caged herin as he casually leaned closer letting her inhale the earthy scent of his verysubtle cologne.
“I know we are in a library Everly,” God her name sounded sodifferent when he said it. The rugged pitch of his voice made her name soundlike no way she had ever heard of before— nor any way she ever wanted to hearit again. “But you and I are the only ones here, so you have my specialpermission to speak up.”
The professor’s deep blue eyes pinned her to her chair,waiting patiently, as if he had all the time in the world for her to respond.Uncomfortably, she shifted at his overwhelming closeness.
“I was saying,” she began louder this time, trying to ignorehis steady gaze. “The scanner stopped working and there is no lab assistant hereto fix it.”
“Then let me take a look,” grabbing a nearby chair theprofessor pulled it next to hers before sliding the keyboard out from under herhands.
Sitting stone still, Everly tried to ignore the anxiousfeeling that instantly sprung to life inside of her stomach. This was terrible,this was the second time she reacted this way around a man, first with Zane andnow with Dr. Black. Trying her best to focus on the screen in front of her,Everly unwillingly let her eyes fall on the massive shoulders next to her andshe felt her pulse quicken. Was it just large men that she had the problemwith? Why was she feeling this nervous around men now? It had to be their size,what else could it be she thought, never before had she felt so anxious around men.It was true she had never been around very many men in her life but it wasespecially true she never been around such obviously fit and powerful men likeZane or her professor.
Slightly comforted by her own logical analysis, she focusedon the movements on the screen. Watching him bring up a small black box, Everlyleaned forward with rapt attention as she watched him type in a string ofrandom letters and numbers that made no discernible sense.
“I’m typing in some manual commands for the scanner’s driversto read,” Dr. Black explained without prompt, sensing her questions.
“Like binary code?”
“Exactly,” he turned to meet her gaze while his fingersstill typed out the last of the white text against the black command box.
“That is amazing Dr. Black, thank you,” smiling she turnedto see him still looking at her.
The black pupils set deep within the dark blue pools of hiseyes contracted like a bird of prey honing in on its target. Slowly her smileebbed away as she instinctively shifted in her seat from the sudden change inatmosphere between them.
“You know, I hardly recognized you with her hair downtoday,” his voice felt lower somehow, as he raked his eyes over the loose, darkcurls around her shoulders.
Everly’s lips parted slightly at the loss of what to say. Shenever had anyone look at her this way before, she wasn’t sure how to respondmuch less what to even think. God, she felt so clueless around a man like this,she wasn’t used to discerning the emotions of a man who kept his feelingstightly in check. Back home, the male counterparts of her community wereprideful, arrogant, and often times quick with their anger like a childthrowing a tantrum.
The thoughts of her past immediately snapped her out of herthoughts.
The change in her expression must have had the same soberingeffect on him, standing up abruptly from the chair next to her Dr. Black gaveher his usual stern look. “It should work now. Get home carefully MissPengram.”
Alone again Everly slumped back in her chair. Her heart waspounding in her chest. Why were the men in this town affecting her this way?She couldn’t decide if it was fear, attraction, or what, but she knew one thingshe had absolutely no room in her life to take another chance on a man. Especiallynot another professor.
±
The only thing that could top Saturdays were her blissfullypeaceful Sundays. A cup of steaming black tea on her nightstand and her laptopsitting on top of the large pile of blankets she was curled up under, nothingcould be better. Leaning against her headboard, Everly looked up from thesketch she was working on and stared out the window at the gray, bleak sky.
2Blackhearts: it’s so cold here I think I already haveicicles forming around my roof.
When they first started chatting 2Blackhearts shared thatshe lived on the border of Canada near one of the Great Lakes. The bit ofinformation may have seemed inconsequential to some but it was a big step forthem, since they never even shared their real names.
AdamantEve: it’s a little warmer today it seems, so nosnow. It’s just gray, rainy, and cold. Do you have any snow-covered mountainswhere you are?
The flat, rural community she grew up in back in Tennesseewas the very definition of bland isolation. A town with no major landmarks tospeak of and a town where everyone knew everyone. It took hours of drivingthrough densely pined forests along a narrow two-lane road to even reach theinterstate and another few hours of driving to reach a major town. The land wasflat, the summers were scorching, and winters were cold and windy. There wasnothing there that she would miss.
2Blackhearts: yes actually. In the distance we have somesnow-covered mountains but it will be weeks yet before we start getting somereal snow where I live… hopefully.
AdamantEve: I would love to see something like that oneday.
2Blackhearts: Don’t worry, you’ll definitely see it.
Smiling Everly just shook her head. That girl could be soself-sure sometimes it drove Everly crazy. Leaning her head back against thewooden headboard Everly let her mind drift towards her uncertain future.Thoughts of her life with the baby, financial security, her time being splitbetween being a new mother and working full-time. Again, her mind recounted theday Peter gave her three thousand dollars and told her to leave town. He wantedher to get rid of the baby and then get out of his life. Walking away from thathorrible liar wasn’t an issue at all, but getting rid of her baby, her onlyfamily now, that was impossible.
2Blackhearts: have you eaten this morning?
