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“Yes, really. I’m focused on Mr. Halifax. But I don’t hate that idea...” I bit my lip as I thought of something saucy to text him.

“Because it worked,” he said.

“What worked?”

“Mystery man’s mystery worked on you. He got under your skin.”

“Would you stop saying that?” I shook my head. “He’s not under my skin or on my skin.” I swallowed hard, remembering how his fingers felt on my skin. But I’d been picturing Mr. Halifax dancing with me. This had nothing to do with my mystery man. “He’s a possessive creep. And I’m done talking to him.”

It looked like Scarlett really wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. Just like she’d promised she’d do on Saturday. But I had a feeling I knew what she wanted to say. Because she knew I liked possessive guys. She knew I wanted Mr. Halifax to be as obsessed with me as I was obsessed with him.

“Did you delete the app?” RJ asked.

“Oh. I forgot. But I’ll do it later.”

“If you don’t like him, why don’t you just do it now?”

Liam hit his arm to make him stop talking.

I was pretty sure Liam was the only one that actually wanted me to keep talking to my mystery man. Because he liked his class with Mr. Halifax. But this was so much bigger than a class. This was my whole future.

“I’ll delete the app right after school.” I quickly grabbed my calc book. “I don’t want to be late.” I hurried off to class before they couldn’t pester me. I didn’t need to delete the app because I had self-control. I didn’t need to see what my mystery man had messaged next, if anything.

Okay, fine. Maybe I’d thought about looking. But only because I’d slipped up on Saturday night. My mystery man knew I had a crush on my teacher. He technically could use this in some kind of blackmail extortion thing. He said my secret was safe with him, but I didn’t trust the guy.

It made sense to check the app every now and then just to make sure he wasn’t threatening me. But that seemed like a once a week kind of thing. Not an every day thing.

And any thoughts of my mystery man disappeared as soon as I stepped into Mr. Halifax’s classroom.

He was standing at the board writing out a few equations he was going to ask us to solve.

While his attention was directed at the board, I let my eyes scan down his body. The sleeves of his blue sweater were pushed up to show off his muscular forearms. And the fabric stretched across his strong back. I pictured slipping my fingers beneath his sweater and exploring every inch of...

“I really don’t get the appeal,” Scarlett whispered as she walked into the room. “He dresses like my dad.”

“Ew. Don’t mess with my fantasy.”

“But he does.”

I shook my head. “Uncle James does not wear his sweaters like that.”

“With the sleeves rolled up? Soph, he’s literally wearing almost that exact same sweater in gray today.”

I hit her arm. “It’s different.”

“I wish the rest of the girls at this school agreed with you.” She sighed and went to her seat.

I understood her pain. It was kind of mortifying the things I heard whispered in the hallways about what girls wanted to do to my uncle. But as long as they were focused on him, I could be focused on the actual hottest teacher at Empire High. Mr. Halifax was all mine.

And soon I’d be able to say that for real for real.

I sat down and pulled my phone out.

“Did you do another photoshoot?” Scarlett asked.

“Nope. I’m not trying to get my phone confiscated today.” I was going to be sneaky about it. I added Mr. Halifax’s number to my phone, put it under my desk and started typing out the perfect text.

“Are you texting him right now?” she hissed.