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“Take the sandwich, Oaklyn.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking it from him. The first bite was phenomenal. It was a simple club sandwich, but I was so hungry the flavor of the bacon and cheese exploded on my tongue. I closed my eyes and swallowed a moan along with the bite in my mouth.
When my eyes flicked open, he was staring at me with an unmistakable heat in his eyes. Other times I’d ignored it, pushed it under the rug, called it my own imagination. But the way he stared at me—at my lips—there was no ignoring that heat. The way his bright blue eyes darkened when I slicked my tongue across my bottom lip to collect any crumbs.
There was no hiding how much I liked it.
But even if I couldn’t ignore it, I could try to keep it under wraps because he was my professor and a look meant nothing. People watched me at Voyeur all the time. If I stared at a cute boy at a coffee shop, it didn’t mean I truly wanted him. It was simply finding someone attractive. Nothing more.
Besides, what would I do? Pursue him? Flirt? Make it obvious? He was too sophisticated to act on an attraction to a student. Too smart. He could easily report me for misconduct. I’d lose my scholarships or extra income. All for a silly feeling.
So, I pushed it down hard and moved on, breaking the spell.
“So, California? I bet your parents miss you,” I repeated the same statement he’d made to me the other day in the classroom.
He coughed behind his hand and looked away before answering. “I’m sure they do, but they visit enough.”
“Do you ever go see them?”
“No.”
The answer was short and hard. No hesitation at all, like he didn’t even consider it. I wondered again if something had happened to make him leave and maybe not want to go back.
“Oh, yeah. It’s probably a long trip.” I said, giving him an out.
He nodded, taking it, and finished the last bite of his sandwich. “How about you? Did you go home for Christmas?”
“No. It was too expensive, and I had to work.”
The small wince that flicked across his face almost happened too fast for me to see, but he continued his questions before I could think any more about it.
“I bet your siblings and family missed you.”
“I’m an only child, but my extended family is really close-knit. I definitely missed them this year.” I finished off the last of my sandwich and couldn’t remember a time I’d felt more satisfied. Sure, it was dramatic, but I had been really hungry. Maybe because it was from him, it had tasted that much better. “What about you? Any siblings? Cousins you’re close to?”
Paper crinkled, and I looked to see his fist clenched tight around an envelope.
“I’m also an only child,” he said calmly, releasing the paper, like he hadn’t just had a reaction.
He played it off so cool, I began to wonder if I’d imagined it, but the crinkled paper in front of him proved it.
It wasn’t my business, no matter how curious I was.
“I bet you were an all-star kid.” My eyes roamed over him, taking in his large build. “Football?”
His laugh filled the room and it seemed to always hit me like it was the first time. “Hardly. More like the class president and leader of the physics club. I did play soccer for a bit though.”
“Me too,” I said excited to have something in common. “But I sucked.”
“God, so did I. My buddy said it was the greatest gift to the team when I quit. I never understood the sport anyway.”
My body shook with laughter, imagining him fumbling around. “I loved it. Sucked. But I loved it. However, I ended up joining the dance team my senior year to stay active.”
His eyebrow lifted as though I surprised him with that. His expectations of my dance skills were probably too high, and he imagined someone good at dancing.
“I kind of sucked at that too. I was okay. But I can’t dance. Moving to a count is a lot different than finding your rhythm.”
“You paint a hell of a picture,” he said, lifting his water for a drink.
“Let me guess. You’re an amazing dancer. B-boy? Hip-hop? Whacking?”
He almost spit his water across the desk, a little bit slipping from his pursed lips as he fought the laugh. He ended up coughing which mixed with his choked laugh.
And I laughed with him. The room just a blend of our sound making beautiful music.
But it came to a screeching halt when someone at the door interrupted us.
“Callum?” A tall, slim blonde walked in and straight to his desk, laying a kiss on his cheek. I thought she was going for his lips, but he turned at the last minute. My whole body froze as I watched her place her hand on his shoulder. Their movements seemed to filter to me in slow motion.
