“Thanks.” The rhythm of her heartbeat quickened as she clutched her bag. “But what has that got to do with anything? I mean… Wait a minute. I know what this is about.” Her brows shot up, and her stance changed from vulnerable to fierce in a split-second. “You think he’s innocent. You empathize with the man that ruined my life.”
She went on and on with her accusations. In no time, the conversation turned into a women’s right argument and I was, apparently, mansplaining her.
I didn’t interrupt because it seemed to have irritated her earlier…and because I thought the redness crossing her cheeks when she was angered was utterly cute.
“I know your kind, Professor,” she said it as a warning.
“My kind?”
“A charming man like you, staff and students must be swooning over you all the time, practically throwing themselves at you. You think you’re entitled to anything with any woman, and they have no right to open their mouths.”
“These are very serious accusations, Professor Ferro. If I didn’t know you were projecting, I’d be gravely offended.”
She scowled and continued down the hallway until we reached my office. Damn, even her scowl was cute.
We stood at my door, and I rearranged my lies—half-truths. I was a quick and skilled liar, out of necessity and long experience. My expansive studies in Psychology helped as well. “Your assumptions about me are completely wrong, by the way. The reason I didn’t want to spend a lot of time working with you is that your face is too much of a trigger for me.”
“Trigger?”
“You remind me of someone, Professor. A woman who suffered like you. I was supposed to save her, but I couldn’t.” That part was true. Had my heart been still beating, it would have been ripped to shreds just at the memory.
Her big eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, yet her lips parted in the most attractive way. I wished I could have closed the distance between us and crushed my mouth into hers. “Now I feel like an asshole,” she whispered.
“I beg your pardon?”
She did that thing with her thumbnail, a press on top that seemed painful but wasn’t, followed by the run of her hand through her hair, Rena did every time she was embarrassed or nervous. “I did make assumptions way too quickly, and I misjudged you. I can’t apologize enough…” She swore under her breath.
Rena didn’t swear at all, but this one… I found it intriguing. There was a fierce glow to Isabella, a life force that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Something I’d long missed.
“You don’t need to apologize. I deserved it,” I said. “Besides, you think I’m charming.”
Her struggle to hide her smile was adorable. She was adorable. Isabella.
My Isabella.
Her heart strutted. “If I am that much of a trigger, you really shouldn’t be around me.” She played with her hair again. It moved off her neck, and I could see what she’d carefully hidden with makeup.
A surge of fury blazed inside me, and I yearned to tear someone’s flesh, gulp on their blood until they were dry. Wrath was the enemy of any vampire. The only thing that tampered with my control and threatened to expose me.
When did that happen, Isabella? How?
“Are you all right?” she asked, concern lacing her voice.
“Perfectly. As for your question, I’m going to see you here every day anyway. Might as well replace negative memories with positive ones with you.”
This time, she smiled. A full grin with teeth. Hell, I’d missed that beauty so much. “You have a point. Good thing I don’t need saving. Not anymore.”
Oh, you’re so innocent, my sweet Isabella. You have no clue what you’ve gotten yourself into.
But have no fear. I’m here to protect you, and I won’t let anyone take you from me ever again.
CHAPTER 9
BELLE
I audited as Joshua started the first General Psychology lecture of the semester. I could feel thecollegesexual energy swirling around the auditorium. It was packed with students, mostly females, and I wondered if Psychology had become a popular major in the past year I had been forced out of Academia.
Or was it the Psychology teacher that was popular?
