Taylor studied her for a second, his green eyes taking her in head to toe, a look of amusement on his face, and she felt her cheeks beginning to fill with color. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You don’t believe a man can cook? That’s a little sexist, isn’t it?”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, giving him a dirty look. “I just…”
“Oh, then it must just be me,” he said, a little smirk on his face. “You think I’m not capable of cooking, is that it?”
“Stop putting thoughts in my head, that’s not what I meant and you know it,” she said with an annoyed huff that only made him smile even bigger. “I just didn’t think frat boys sat down to dinner together, that’s all.”
“Oh, now I see, it’s the fraternity that you have a problem with,” he said, a thoughtful look on his face. “We’re not animals, Emily, we eat dinner together, split up the chores around the house, and help each other out when we can.”
Hearing him say her name did something funny to her deep inside and it took a second to recover from the wave of warmth that followed. “Look, we can stand out here fighting all night or we can go inside and get some work done,” she said, taking a step away from him. “Just try to be on time from now on. I have other things to do besides standing around waiting for you.”
“My apologies, your highness, anything you say, I’ll put everything else in my life on hold for you,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he followed her up the stairs. “Will that work for you?”
She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. “Very funny, now you’re a comedian,” she said. “Let’s just focus on the project and save the humor for another time.”
“That’s going to be awfully boring, but you’re the boss,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Just don’t blame me if I fall asleep, libraries have that effect on me.”
The sparkle of amusement in his eyes made her stomach do a somersault, a tingle of desire made her shiver, and she quickly turned away, afraid of what would happen if she didn’t. Hoping her cheeks weren’t pink, horrified with the possibility that he knew what he was doing to her, sheconcentrated on her breathing as they walked through the library toward the study tables in the back. She let him choose a seat first, then sat down across the table from him, needing as much space as she could get, then unloaded her backpack onto the shiny surface between them, hoping it would serve as another barrier.
CHAPTER 6
***TAYLOR***
Taylor watched Emily unpacking her supplies and lining them up just right on the table in front of her, a smile still on his face, his entire body filled with warmth. He’d never felt anything like it before and wasn’t sure when he’d given in, only that he was enjoying himself too much to stop, but then it hit him, he was doing exactly what he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He was flirting with Emily, teasing her until he got a rise out of her just so he could see her eyes sparkle and her cheeks turn pink, and baiting her just to throw her off balance.
It was embarrassing as well as frustrating. He’d let his attraction to her take over, lost control over that part of himself, something he’d never done before. He wanted to blame Emily, but deep inside he knew that she was innocent, it was his shortcomings causing his brain to short-circuit. She wasn’t exactly coming onto him, in fact, he would guess that she hated him, or at least strongly disliked him, and she probably had good reason. That was the feeling he should be nurturing, hate was so much safer than love, he thought, then wondered how love had popped into his mind.
Deciding that he’d really lost it, he grabbed his backpack, unloaded what he’d need to study, promising himself that he wouldn’t lose control again. Emily was just a woman, no different than the hundreds of women he came in contact with every day. There was nothing special about her; she had just gotten under his skin. Time would dull the attraction; until then, he just had to be. careful, keep his distance, and guard against making a mistake he might not be able to recover from.
“I came in earlier and reserved some of the reference materials I thought we’d need,” Emily said, getting to her feet. “I’ll just go grab them, and then we can get started.”
“You didn’t have to do that, I’m perfectly capable of finding what I need on my own,” he said, deciding being a jerk was his best defense. “I don’t need you to take care of me, I’ll pull my weight like I’m supposed to.”
Emily froze, then gave him a dirty look. “I wasn’t taking care of you, I wasn’t even thinking about you when I did it. I’ve got news for you, Mr. Gordon, the world doesn’t revolve around you,” she said. “I reserved the materials because I was afraid Kimberly and Jonathan might show up and want them too.”
“Huh, how about that, you are good for something after all,” he said, then waved his hand in the air. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go get the stuff, we don’t have all night.”
Emily’s mouth opened and closed several times, her face turned a bright shade of red, then she turned and stomped off with a huff that had people looking in their direction. She came back a few minutes later, carefully set a stack of books and bound articles down on the table, then sat back down in her chair. Sensing that he’d pushed her as far as he should, he silently watched as she lined up a notebook, several brightly colored pens, then pulled a list out of the notebook and set it on the table.
She gave him a dirty look when she finally lifted her eyes to choose a book from the stack between them, but she didn’t say a word, just consulted her list, then opened the thick volume to the right page and began to read. A few minutes later, she chose one of the colored pens and began to take notes, her hand flying across the page as she filled it with cramped writing he couldn’t read.
Deciding he could handle the silent treatment, he got to work himself, not about to let Emily think he wasn’t going to pull his weight and feeling better since the attraction had faded away. Grabbing the next book on the stack, he opened the index and let his eyes roam over the entries until he found one of the cases they’d be assigned. Proud of himself, he turned to the right page and sat back to read, glad that with his memory, he didn’t have to take notes.
He’d just started reading when Emily shifted in her chair, raised her arms above her head, and stretched, sending a wave of her scent over to him. His body responded instantly, stirring to life; his attraction to her surged back with full force before he could regain control. Shifting in his seat, he looked back down at the page and began reading, determined to ignore his feelings, but a few minutes later he realized he couldn’t concentrate; he’d read three pages and remembered not a single thing.
Frustrated, he looked up at Emily, who seemed completely unaware of what she was doing to him. He was thankful for this, but it didn’t fix his problem. He watched her writing furiously in her notebook again, this time in a different color, and the sound began to grate on his nerves. Looking around the deserted room, he decided that was his problem. It was too quiet. He needed more background noise, more distractions.
“It’s too quiet in here,” he said, putting the book down on the table with a little thud. “I can’t concentrate, especiallywith you scratching away over there. Is there someplace else we could study?”
“I’m sorry my scratching away is bothering you, but some of us have to take notes,” she said, then sighed. “But we could move over to the student center if you want, it’s not as quiet there.”
He was a bit surprised that Emily gave in as easily as she did, but he needed some fresh air, some more space between them, if only for a few minutes. “Great,” he said, jumping to his feet. “Do we have to take all these back to the desk, or will someone come get them?”
“I want to check out a few of them to study later,” she said, sorting through the stack and pulling out what she wanted. “We’ll take the rest back, the librarians have enough to do already.”
“Okay, I’ll take these back and meet you out front,” he said, grabbing the rest of the stack. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
Her gasp of shock was just what he wanted, and without another word, he turned and walked away, assuring himself that he was doing the right thing by pushing Emily away.
