Turning back around, I ask Kamila about her birthday plans this weekend with Cameron. Although she’s turning twenty-one, she wants to celebrate it with her boyfriend’s family. She may say it’s because she doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I know her better than that.
Kamila is my best friend, and I know that she’s avoiding her jerk of a twin sister, who’s also Cameron’s ex. But she’s still stopping by her parents’ house on Sunday—Cam in tow—for a celebratory lunch. Her sister won’t come with Cameron there.
The person behind the concession stand begins to hand me my things as Kami continues. “Then next Tuesday we can go out to eat and either to the Kappa house or King’s Wolf,” she finishes.
Stevie nods, but I also know the real reason she wants to go to a Kappa party. “You want to celebrate your and Cam’s first fuck anniversary in the same bathroom where it all began, don’t you?”
Stevie almost spits her drink out as I finish grabbing the last thing I ordered.
Kami smiles devilishly. “It’s either there or our dorm, player’s choice.”
Oh jeez.“Go ahead and fuck away in the bathroom. Have him make you come multiple times, so I don’t have to hear his or your moans while I’m trying to fall a?—”
My head hits a hard chest as we walk to the theater, and I stumble back a bit, dropping my popcorn bucket to the floor with all its contents spilling out. Two large hands catch me before I can fall flat on my ass.
“I am so sorry.”
That voice and those hands.
Goose bumps break out all over my body, and I hold my breath as I look up to see blue-green eyes, but unlike last time, there are no glasses surrounding them.
His mouth drops, eyes widening slightly. “Em—Ms. Haywood,” he quickly corrects himself and snatches his hands back as if my skin burned him.
Hell, if anything, it feels like he burned me with his touch.
It takes me a moment to respond when I feel Kami elbow me lightly.
“Professor Hayes,” I say calmly.
Both of us are silent, staring at each other. Someone clears their throat, and I’m snapped out of my haze.
“You’re the professor Emma wrote about for the paper?” Kami asks. She gives me a quickoh my Godlook as she and Stevie check him out.
Yeah, I know, guys. He’s hot.
He blinks a couple of times before answering her. “Yes, yes, I am.”
“Oh, is this one of your students, Gray?” a woman who must’ve been beside him this entire time asks.
His jaw clenches slightly as I observe who I assume is his date. She’s tall, with dark brown hair and doe-shaped brown eyes. Her figure would turn heads in any room, and she’s clearly closer in age to Grayson than to me.
A slight flare of jealousy stirs in my stomach, but it vanishes just as quickly. That was way too personal a feeling.
“Ms. Haywood isn’t one of my students. She works on the paper that’s going to publish a small piece about my time at the university so far,” he answers while looking down at her with thin lips.
I manage not to flinch at his words. I’m trying to keep my emotions in check at the casual way he describes me.
I’m Ms. Haywood. A student who is ten years younger than him and who he thought he’d never have to deal with again.
That last part was true until earlier today. He still doesn’t know that the piece has been pulled or why it isn’t being published.
Right as I’m about to tell him that my editor pulled the article, Stevie interrupts.
“Em, your popcorn.” I look down and frown at the mess. “You want us to come to the concession stand while you wait to get more?”
“It’s on me.” Grayson’s voice is deep and final, with some softness behind it.
My eyes meet his again, but he manages to avert his gaze. “It’s my fault we bumped into each other. We were deep in conversation, and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I can bring it to your theater so you’re not late to your movie.” He stuffs his hands into his jeans pockets, searching for something. That’s when I realize that this is the first time I’m seeing him in casual clothes. He’s wearing a light green short-sleeve shirt, black jeans, and sneakers.
