I sag in relief and put my face between my hands for a moment, pulling myself back together. “Thank God,” I whisper and straighten.
He manages to give me a curt nod.
“Are we really going to pretend that we don’t know each other?” I twist my pen, nervous for his response.
His jaw relaxes. “I’m afraid I’m ten minutes late for my meeting.”
Huh?That’s his answer?
I check my phone to see the hour, and he’s right. We must have lost track of time. Or maybe he was kind enough to let me ask him more questions for the article. Although with the information I have, it won’t do much for a feature. It’ll be a simple profile.
Ace—I mean Professor Hayes, stands, and I follow suit.
“I hope you got everything you needed for your article.”
Shrugging and slipping my purse onto my shoulder, I mumble, “Not unless I can write about your fingers inside of me.”
“What was that?”
“Yes, it’ll be out in the paper next Saturday morning.” I smile, glad that I’m a good mumbler.
He nods and grabs his shoulder bag. We stand there, lookingat each other, and I make one last attempt to get him to talk to me like a normal person.
“Grayson—”
He walks past me and reaches for the doorknob to his office. “I’m in a hurry, Ms.…” He trails off, clearly not knowing my last name.
“Haywood,” I finish his sentence.
“Ms. Haywood.”
And now we aren’t on a first-name basis.Great.
He turns the knob, and I step toward the door. I’m back in the hallway, but don’t make a move for the elevator.
It’s all too formal. I never expected to see this man again, and if I did, it wouldn’t be under these circumstances or with this kind of attitude from him. Not that I’ve thought about it much…okay, maybe a little…who am I kidding? It’s been too many times to count.
He locks his office door and makes eye contact with me. The tension between us still lingers, and I know he can feel it too.
Maybe he’ll ask me out for coffee to clear the air, but instead he says, “It was nice to officially meet you.”
And just like that, he walks away, and I’m left standing here with more questions than I had the first time I left him.
But the one thing he made clear? That night was a one-time thing.
Chapter Seven
GRAYSON
Fuck.
Chapter Eight
EMMA
“Do you guys want to go to the movies on Tuesday? Tickets are half off for students. But let’s make it a girls’ night out,” my friend Luna, whom I don’t see often, asks Kamila and me as we finish our final dance and drink at King’s Wolf.
I get excited thinking about a girls’ night out. It’s been too long since we’ve had one.
