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I felt the eerie sensation of being watched and looked up.
Professor Ellis leaned against the wall on the far side of the room, his body partly shadowed as he spoke with another professor. He met my eyes, holding my gaze for what felt like an eternity before he finally looked away and nodded at whatever the other professor had said.
Mortification ripped through me like a tidal wave.
“Don’t worry about it, honey,” came a warm, feminine voice behind me. I turned to find one of the cafeteria workers, an elderly woman with a kind face and tortoise-rim glasses, standing broom in hand only a few feet from where I stood.
“I am so sorry,” I croaked before steeling my expression and scurrying back to where I’d left my textbooks.
I shrugged on my jacket, cursing Christian and his motley crew of brainless jocks. I gave up on lunch altogether and gathered my books but stopped to look over my shoulder before leaving the commons. Professor Ellis still leaned casually against the wall, talking to his colleague. He turned his head, his dark curls trembling with the movement as he met my gaze. His arched a brow and nodded, holding my gaze as if to silently ask if I was okay.
I nodded back and left.
I HADN’T BEEN PLANNING to go to the party at the Alpha Chi Omega house, Christian’s fraternity. In fact, I changed into shorts and a sports bra and propped one of my textbooks on the Stairmaster in the sorority house’s gym and zoned out completely. But the pregaming was already in full swing all around me. The constant, excited chatter broke me from my trance after only half an hour, and not all of it was about the impending party down the block.
Turned out Professor Ellis didn’t only teach graduate level classes, and I hadn’t been the only one transfixed by his good looks.
“He’s so dreamy,” one of my sorority sisters said as she poured cheap margarita mix into a red plastic cup. “Don’t even get me started on his accent.” She rolled her eyes and winked at her companions, all of whom were huddled near the entrance to the gym.
The whole house was spilling over with women, no corner left unoccupied, and everyone in giddy spirits for the first real party of the term. And, of course, everyone seemed to be gossiping about the new hot professor on campus.
“I heard he went to Oxford.”
“Well, I heard he has his PhD.”
“Of course, he does! He wouldn’t be teaching here if he didn’t!”
“Who do you think is going to try their luck on him first? Jane or Rebecca?”
“Rebecca already said she purposefully dropped her textbooks in front of him, but he didn’t even make a move to help her! Can you imagine?”
Laughter broke through the thrum of the music in my ears as I fought for focus. Professor Ellis had helped me when I’d dropped my books. Well, he’d been the one to knock them clean out of my hands. What was this odd feeling? Jealousy?
I smirked and shook my head at the thought.
It was no surprise that everyone in the Theta Nu Delta house—those required to take a sociology or philosophy course—were lusting over the mysterious Professor Ellis. Handsome, charming, and incredibly young compared to rest of the male professors on campus, he was the perfect catch. He was also totally off limits, which would inevitably make people want him all the more.
They could have him for all I cared. I was here for one more year. That was that. I had no time nor desire to put my education and reputation on the line for a forbidden fling with a professor.
“Whitney!”
I flinched, my heart skipping a beat as I gripped the handles of the Stairmaster and looked down to find Nicole bouncing on her toes holding two red cups overflowing with the sticky, neon green margarita mix I could probably taste in my dreams at this point.
“What are you doing? We’re all about to leave to go to the Alpha Chi Omega house! They just had the kegs delivered!”
“I’m going to stay in and study tonight.”
Her face contorted with a huge, exaggerated frown. “Don’t be lame, Whitney. Come on, it’ll be fun!”
I really didn’t want to go. I looked back at the group of women who’d been talking about Professor Ellis. They were right. He was truly the talk of campus right now, and even I found it hard to not think about him. Handsome, witty, with that devilishly charming smile...
“Ugh!” I shook my head and flipped the off switch, stepping down. “Is one of those for me?”
Nicole grinned and handed me a margarita. I drank deeply, letting the tequila coil its way through my veins and prayed it would wipe Professor Ellis clear away from my mind, at least until I saw him again.
“Fine, let’s go. But I’m only having one drink tonight.”
Chapter 4
