Camelia couldn't stop herself from giggling a little hysterically at her train of thoughts, and the concern on Evan's face grew stronger as his eyes widened a little with alarm. "No, ah. Nothing. Seriously. Thank you for the offer, though, as...odd as it is." She cocked her head to the side, mirroring his stance, and she frowned a little as her brain finally pieced together the strangeness of his behavior. "Why are you offering?"
He took another step closer, and Camelia's breath caught as she caught a whiff of his scent, so fucking close and tantalizing. "What do you mean?"
Camelia swallowed and forced herself to meet his gaze even as her body ached to step forward and close the last few inches between them. "I mean that you...when we first met, you were...I don't know. Antagonistic. And now you've been so nice to methe last few weeks whenever we see each other and...it's been throwing me off. I don't know how to explain it."
Evan chuckled a little, and the sound slid down Camelia's spine in a warm caress. "I've been trying to turn over a new leaf. Be a little more cordial. That's all."
Camelia heard a thread of tension in the words, a hint of something not quite truthful, but then his gaze dropped to her mouth and the blue of his eyes darkened as he watched her tongue dart out to wet her dry lips.
And she couldn't fuckingthink.
"Is that...okay?" Evan murmured, his voice lower than before. If Camelia was the cynical type, she would have said that he was being seductive. But he didn't move any further into her space, didn't do anything that might imply that he was pushing for anything to happen between the two of them. He justlookedat her, those blue eyes of his so intense as he watched every tiny shift in her expression, and Camelia waspositivethat he knew what she was thinking. How she was feeling. What had happened between her and James, and how twisted up she was about it, how fuckinghornyshe was...
Camelia's eyes dropped to Evan's mouth, and she forced herself not to whimper. His lips were wide and generous, and they looked so, so soft. They were so close together, it would be easy for her to set the book she was holding aside on one of the shelves, step forward and wrap her hands in his shirt, pull him close so that she could feel their breaths mingle as they continued to look at each other. And then...it would only be another tiny movement needed before their lips were touching...
"Camelia?" The sound of her name on his lips, as low and sexy as his voice was, was enough to disrupt her increasingly dangerous train of thought. Camelia's eyes widened a little, and she cleared her throat as she forced herself to take a tiny step to the side, creating some distance between the two of them.
"Yeah, sorry!" She nodded a little too vigorously, her neck twinging with a little bit of pain as she strained one of the tiny muscles there in her effort to appear nonchalant. "Yep, that's fine with me!" She lifted the book she was holding, waving it around in the air as if that would distract him from the too-intense way that he was still looking at her. "Thank you for getting the book for me. You know how it is when you're short...ah, well. I guess you don't. But thank you anyway. I'll see you around!"
Camelia turned and hightailed it away from Evan before he could get another word in, and she thought that she heard a low, amused chuckle echo down the shelves after her as she made her way back to her desk where her laptop was, as she expected, untouched. She knew that she wouldn't get any sort of studying done, now, though, so she packed up her laptop and the rest of her papers before heading down to the main floor and slapping her new book down in front of the bored-looking co-ed manning the front desk.
"I'd like to check this out, please."
He nodded, picking up the book and barely glancing at the cover as he took her proffered student ID. When he looked again, though, his skin paled a little and he glanced at his computer. "Ah, hold on," he said. He typed a little, and Camelia raised an eyebrow at him as he looked down at the book, then up at her with a pensive expression on his face.
"Is there a problem?" she ventured, speaking a little lower. She couldn't help the sensation of being watched, but she refused to glance over her shoulder to see if there was anyone standing behind her. She was in the damn library; there was probably a line of other students waiting to check out their books. She didn't need to look.
The student shook his head, a little earring swinging from his ear. "This book was just meant to be taken out of the rotation,that's all. I don't think that I can loan it out to you." He flushed a little. "I think it was meant to be destroyed, honestly."
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place in Camelia's head, and she frowned as she looked down at the book. "Is there any reason listed as to why? It just seems like a book to me. I was hoping to use it for a dissertation reference." She offered him her best pleading eyes; the last part was a lie, of course, but she hoped that she was appealing to this kid's sense of companionship, at least a little bit.
He pressed his lips together, glancing down at the book and then over his shoulder, as if making sure that nobody was watching him. Then he picked up the book and shoved it back towards Camelia, letting go the moment her hands closed around the book. "Here, just take it. I don't want to have to deal with the headache from the library manager that it was missed in a sweep, and if you'll use it, it seems like a waste to let it be destroyed."
Camelia pulled the book tight against her chest, her heart thudding a little harder as she nodded once. "Thanks, I really appreciate it. I won't tell anyone, don't worry."
She turned on her heel and walked swiftly out of the library before he could respond, and she ignored the fact that there was nobody standing behind her, but she still felt like she was being watched at every turn.
Chapter fifteen
James
The shrill ringing of his phone interrupted James’ thinking – or brooding, if he was being perfectly honest with himself – and he glanced at the readout before answering, gritting his teeth together. "Dad."
For a moment, it was silence on the other end of the line. The quiet moment dragged on so long that James looked at the screen to make sure that it hadn't been accidentally disconnected, but then his father's low voice said, "Son," sharply enough that James could hear the click of teeth even across continents.
Drake was silent for another long moment, long enough that James huffed out an impatient sigh, and then he said, "How are things?"
The question was so unexpected that James almost laughed. He reigned in the inappropriately timed response just time not to embarrass himself – or to piss his father off – and he frownedas he stared a speck on the wall that needed to be cleaned. "Things are fine. Did you seriously call me to see how I am?"
Drake made a soft sound that immediately raised James' hackles. "Can't a father want to speak to his son without there being an ulterior motive?"
James pressed his lips together before he bit out the words that would put him in a world of trouble. Instead he said, through gritted teeth, "Sure, I guess."
"So how is school going? I noticed that you had several assignments in your programming class that got less than adequate marks." Drake's voice was casual, so fucking casual, and James winced even as irritation swelled in his stomach.
"Most people would consider 9/10 perfectly adequate marks, Dad," he said, suddenly so exhausted. "And I'm only taking that class because you insisted on it."
"Programming is an important skill, son," Drake said, his voice bored. "We don't know where your skills will be needed once you graduate. Best for you to be as well rounded as possible so that you can be the best asset possible, yes?"
