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“That is… much appreciated,” I said, resisting the urge to gush. His calm demeanor was so different from my captors brooding intensity. It was reassuring. I wanted to say yes.
I could only imagine what Michael would say about it, especially when I heard about keeping office hours with him, helping to grade papers, and more.
But it was the opportunity of a lifetime. A shining start to my academic career. And just what I needed to keep my mind off of you-know-who.
“So, are you interested?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Yes. I am. Very interested.”
“Is that a yes?” He said with smiling eyes. “Or do you have to think about it.”
“No. I mean, I don’t need to think about it. I would love to, thank you.”
Did I imagine the brief flicker of disappointment in his eyes? I knew I was not imagining the relief I saw. I had learned to read people early on. In my world, my survival could have depended on it. I could see micro expressions. I had an innate bullshit detector. As a result, I was very, v very good at poker.
The only person I could not read, I thought to myself as I left the classroom with a new schedule, was Michael Margarelli.
Chapter Seventeen
Michael
“You were in there a long time,” I said, watching the most beautiful girl on campus walk towards me. My fingers itched to touch her. Hell, it took all my will power to keep myself from grabbing her, carrying her to the limo, and having my way with her in the backseat.
I didn’t give a damn if Tiny heard us. I didn’t give a damn who knew. I wanted everyone to know she was mine, I thought as a couple of underclassmen walked past, clearly drooling over Terri and her unstoppable legs.
Slow and steady, Michael. Slow and steady wins the race.
But slow didn’t come naturally to me. Especially not when I wanted something this badly. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I had ever wanted anything this badly in my life.
Every single moments since that night, the night we had argued and kissed, I had been doing my best to get into her good graces. And not just because I wanted into her bed, even though I wanted that desperately. Even more than that, I wanted her to admire me. Respect me. Care about me.
Good luck with that, you dick, I thought as I took her arm and guided her to the waiting limo. She hates you.
She fears you, my mind corrected. And she should.
I stared at her body as she bent down to climb into the limo, illicit thoughts running through my head. I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I recognized that I was beyond obsessed with the girl at this point. I’d fought it tooth and nail. But there was nothing left to do but give in, and wallow in it.
And wallow I did.
I’d imagined kissing her a hundred times. Undressing her, a thousand. Fucking her… well, it was some unknowable number.
The kind of unfathomable number that drove mathematicians crazy.
Something had to give, and soon.
But looking at her now, sitting primly in the limo and completely ignoring me… I didn’t even have a glimmer of hope. My mind had started going to dark places. Wondering if I could change her mind about me. Wishing she was the kind of girl who could be bribed. Or blackmailed. Or coerced.
The only problem was, if she had been that kind of girl, I would not have wanted her so badly. I could live with that. Maybe I could have had some damned control over this runaway attraction!
“How was class?”
She bit her lip and gave me a nervous look. I frowned. She was hiding something.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly. I decided that one of our guys was going to attend the next lecture with her.
“Somebody bothering you?” I asked dangerously.
“No!”
I leaned back in my seat and stared at her. She wasn’t being forthcoming. It didn’t matter. I would find out either way.
“We have dinner tonight. With Felicia’s cousin.”
She said nothing, merely glanced at me before turning her face to stare out the window again. We spent the rest of the ride home in silence. I had started picking her up on her first day and continued the tradition. I never gave a reason for it. I didn’t need to explain my actions to anybody.
So I didn’t.
“We leave in an hour,” I said tersely as she practically ran up the steps to the mansion.
“I was going to use the gym and do some homework.”
I knew she liked to use the elliptical and do her reading in the evenings before dinner. But there wasn’t as much time tonight. Still, I hated to disrupt her routine. The more comfortable and happy she was here, the less likely she was to try to leave.
