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“That’s because I’m a student.” Sort of. She was an adjunct professor during the school year, but it was summer and she was firmly in researching student mode.
“Ro
man said you’re getting your Ph.D.”
She shrugged. Playing down her academic accomplishments was a long-held habit for her.
He looked her up and down. “You’re pretty young to be going for your doctorate, aren’t you?”
“Not if you consider I started college when most of my peers were starting high school.” When even being reminded of how out of step with her peer group she was didn’t dampen his effect on her libido, she was in serious trouble.
“That’s my point.”
“Point?”
“Don’t play dumb, Professor. We both know you’re smarter than that.”
“Don’t call me Professor.”
He just gave her a look.
“Being younger than my peers is bad enough. I don’t need to talk like a total geek on top of it.” The normal college student speak was something she worked diligently on. It was too easy to let five-syllable words slip into the conversation when she wasn’t thinking about it.
“Why not? You should be proud to be so intelligent.”
“I am more than my brain.” Not that other people seemed to realize that.
Sometimes, even her family, as wonderful as they were, tended to treat her like an extension of her I.Q. They were all highly intelligent, but the fact that she’d outdone every one of them academically put her inside a bubble that could get really lonely.
Not that she ever complained. She wouldn’t disappoint her family for the world. And being anything less than grateful for the opportunity of the amazing education she’d had would do that.
“Why didn’t you just stay in a hotel overnight?” Max asked, apparently dismissing the subject of her smarts.
Thank goodness.
“The super wasn’t sure he’d get to the door right away.” And she hadn’t wanted to stay in her apartment alone right now.
Her roommate wouldn’t be back until a few days before fall term started and that was weeks away. Rebekah had gone home for the summer, while Danusia had opted to stay on and work on the research for her doctoral thesis.
The attempted break-in had shaken her; not that she’d admit that to anyone else.
“Bullshit. A new door for you is his top priority.”
“Now you really sound like my brother.” And she didn’t feel sisterly toward Max. Not even a little.
“Do you want me to talk to your super?”
“I’m perfectly capable of handling this on my own,” she gritted out. She was not his little sister and even if she had been, Danusia was twenty-four. “I’m an adult, or hadn’t you noticed?”
Something flared in his gaze that sent butterflies on suicide bombing missions in her stomach. “I noticed.”
“I don’t need anyone talking to my super for me, not you, not my brother. Understood?”
Amusement curved his lips and he saluted, way too precisely for him to be anything but true military. “Understood, ma’am.”
She laughed. “Oh, knock it off.”
“You’ve got Roman’s temper.”
