I shake my head, refusing to back down from something just because it’s challenging. “I can do it… or are you trying to get me out of your class?”
The idea dawns on me and won’t let go. As awkward as I feel, maybe he is equally uncomfortable. Because he enjoyed having dinner with me, too?
Meeting his gaze, I wait for his reply.
***
Shane
I know Iwas an ass, first ignoring her wave, then calling on her when I knew she was as thrown as I was by finding out I’m the professor of her class. The look of shock on her face said it all. In my attempt to convince myself I could handle having her as a student, I was harder on her than I normally would be on day one.
“No, I’m not trying to get rid of you,” I semi-lie. No doubt it will be easier for me if I don’t have to look into those pretty blue eyes every day or hide my obvious attraction to her behind the podium. “I just thought maybe, given everything going on in your life at the moment, postponing a difficult class might be in your best interest.”
She straightens her shoulders, and my gaze is drawn to the swell of her breasts beneath her colorful top.
“No. I made a mistake but it won’t happen again.”
“Okay,” I say, admiring her determination. “We’ll see if you can handle the work.”
She tips her head to the side, taking a step closer to me. So close I inhale her citrusy scent and my cock grows hard.
“Just like we’ll see if you can handle having me in your class.” She pins me with a knowing gaze, clearly having decided she has me off-kilter.
She is right.
I blow out a long breath. If I have second thoughts about not getting her phone number, those ended the minute I laid eyes on her in my classroom. Ironically, I now have access to her phone via my students’ information list.
“I just thought we could get a slice of pizza or something. Get to know each other better.” Those blue eyes study me with definite interest.
Interest I reciprocate, and I swallow hard, tempted beyond belief to take her up on her offer. But the past, propriety, and common sense prevent me from acting on what I want. No way will I have a relationship with a student. Not even one obviously close to my own age.
“This can’t happen, Miss Davis,” I tell her, my tone firm, using her last name to put much-needed distance between us.
She stares at me as if trying to decipher what was going on inside my head, pursing her delectable lips in thought.
“I don’t think I’m imagining the chemistry between us,” she says. “But thatMiss Daviscomment explains everything. Student-teacher. Forbidden. Got it.” She lifts her backpack higher on her back. “I’ll see you on Wednesday, Professor.”
She turns away and walks out of the room, my gaze on her ass as she leaves.
Biting back a curse, I head back to the front to gather my things, hating how I was forced to go against every gut instinct I possess by ignoring our attraction. I want to get to know her better. I am curious about how she came to be a mother so young, wonder what happened to her baby’s father, if he is still in her life, and why she decided to go back to school now.
Basically I want to discover everything about her, and that includes learning the curves of her body that she tries so hard to hide with her flowing clothing. My hands itch to slide beneath her colorful top and run along her bare skin. I am dying to close the space between us when we are alone and seal my lips over hers and find out if she tastes as delicious as I think she will.
For a man who never wanted more from a woman than a good time, who never got serious about anyone he dated, the desire I feel for all things about Amber shocks me.
Why the hell does it have to be the one woman I can’t have in any manner, shape, or form?
CHAPTER THREE
Amber
Over the nextcouple of weeks, determined to conquer my economics class, I pull myself together and work hard on every assignment, quiz, test, and question posed byProfessor Warden. I do my best to put the idea of dating him out of my mind and focus on my studies. Neither one is going the way I hoped.
I can’t stop thinking of him as Shane, the sexy man with whom I shared dinner… and the guy I want to kiss. I even gathered my courage and put myself out there with him, only to be shot down. Surprisingly, I wasn’t hurt by the rejection, because I really do believe his being my teacher is behind his unwillingness to date me. I still give myself credit for making the overture.
Levi was the last man I truly was interested in sexually as well as emotionally. When I was a young woman, he was the love of my life. It was only as I grew up that I realized we hadn’t shared enough for that to be true. I didn’t know him as well as I wish I could have if he was given more time in this world. I was young, and sex had been new and exciting, but I was hardly experienced.
And the men who came after? The select few I went to bed with before they discovered I come with child baggage and run for the hills? Those men didn’t exactly let me explore my sexuality all that much. The attraction I felt for my past flings wasn’t the kind of instant, sizzling, all-consuming desire I feel for Shane Warden.
