“We pretend it never happened,” I suggest, feeling my head go cloudy when he finally—finally—skims his lips across mine before immediately drawing away. “We pretend that—”
“Do you think you’ll come in here three days a week and not want to do it again? Or that you won’t want more?” At my silence, he shakes his head. “Because you will. We both will. And if my boss, as you call her, finds out what we’re doing...”
I lean away from him as what he just said has a chance to drown into my brain. Crap. Here I am coming on to him and I never stopped to think that it might impossible for him to act on anything because of Professor Cameron. Turning away from him, I nod my head fiercely, wanting the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
“I won’t lose my job if that’s what you’re thinking,” he says quietly, “but it’s still unprofessional.”
“Oh.”
“Come here,” he orders, pulling me against his hard body. My chest hits his, and he feathers his fingers across my skin to touch my cheek and tilt my face up to his. “I want to touch you. Want to kiss you.” When I nod, his tongue flicks out and drags across the center of my lips. “Jesus, I’ve been trying not to do this.” I don’t have time to breathe before he covers my mouth with his.
As his lips learn mine, I mold against him. I open my mouth just slightly, giving him a chance to slip his tongue inside. Our lips and tongues crush against each other, tasting and exploring. My hands grip his black hair, and I pull him deeper into me. He taste good, smells even better, and ripples of pain and pleasure shoot through me as I feel his hands all over me.
“You feel so good, so right, Evelyn,” he groans against my lips. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a very long time.”
Suddenly, that wary part of me—the one that was reluctant to even be around him in the first place—snaps awake. And I can’t help but wonder if he would be kissing me now if he knew everything there was to know about me? Breaking away from him, I stumble backwards. We’re both breathing heavily, our skin flushed and our lips swollen, and we stare at each other for several seconds.
“Fuck, Evelyn—” he begins, but I shake my head.
“I’m sorry,” I gasp, shoving past him. I grab my bag from the chair and burst out the room, struggling to breathe as I run down the steps and leave the building. He doesn’t follow me, but I also don’t stop moving until I’m in the freshman parking lot. I sit in the front seat of my car with my stereo volume cranked to the max and Skylar Grey serenading me about slowly freaking out.
The song is ironically accurate for my current situation.
“Shit. Shit!” I yell at myself, gripping the leather steering wheel. He had given me exactly what I asked for, and more, and the second it was over, I bolted like a fool. Catching my reflection in the rearview mirror, I make a face at myself. “Get a grip!”
As if agreeing with me, my purse starts to vibrate and when I pull my phone out, I see that it’s Kendra. Jabbing my radio’s power button, I answer. “You sound like you just finished running a marathon,” she says, her voice full of curiosity. “Alright, you’re upset. What’s up?”
I run my hands over my face. “I ... I just kissed my voice instructor.”
“The fifty-year-old woman who scares the hell out of you?” I can clearly picture her eyebrow lifting into a perfect arch.
“No.” When I finish answering her, I feel my frustration with myself spike with every word. “Her twenty-something assistant who I shouldn’t want to be around in the first place.”
“Ohhhh.” I hear a rustling noise and then she says in a soft voice, “I thought you pulled out of lessons with him. At least, that’s what you said you were doing last month.”
I roll my gaze up to the tan-colored ceiling of my car and hunch down in my seat. “I caved.”
“And then you kissed him. And since you’re breathing like that, I’m assuming you ran.” When I don’t answer because I’m close to tears, she releases an understanding sigh. “Why did you run?”
“I never said anything to him about meeting before,” I say, and before Kendra can give me one of her speeches on telling the truth, I defensively add, “I figured all it would do is make things awkward between us.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
I don’t know, which scares the ever-living crap out of me. It’s taken all my willpower not to act hastily because whenever that happens—well, that’s when everything goes to hell for me. Closing my eyes, I rest my head forward against the steering wheel’s smooth leather. Almost instantly, thoughts of how Rhys’ forehead felt pressed against mine hits me hard. I blow out a harsh breath and shake my head in hopes it’ll help knock the images from my mind, but of course it doesn’t. The memory is firmly cemented there now—a brand new addition to both the vault of What-the-hell-was-Evie-thinking? and Why-the-fuck-doesn’t-Evie-ever-follow-through?
“You’re letting me be selfish again,” I suddenly tell Kendra. Plus, I’m more than ready to steer this conversation to something else. “What’s going on in your life?”
She sounds reluctant to change the subject but after a little coaxing from me, she asks me what my plans are for Founders’ Oktoberfest, which is coming up in two weeks, before giving me the best news I’ve heard all day. “Save me a spot on your floor. I’m hitching a ride with a guy from my Spanish class, and I’ll be there all weekend long.”
“Are you kidding?” I don’t even try to hide my excitement because this is something I absolutely need. When she assures me that she’s definitely coming, I realize I’m grinning. “And now the next two weeks will officially be the longest of this entire year.”
“I know. As soon as he told me he’d be coming up to Founders for the weekend, I practically stalked the poor guy. He thinks I’m certifiably insane.” For the next few minutes, the focus of our phone call is strictly Oktoberfest until she has to go to head to an evening class. Before she hangs up, she offers me one last bit of serious advice.
“Talk to the guy. You’ll feel so much better if you do.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kendra’s wise words are still weighing heavy on me an hour and a half later when I go to dinner at a tiny sandwich shop right off campus with Nathan, his roommate from last year Harrison, and Corinne. But while Kendra’s words play in my mind, so does vivid images of Rhys himself.
Every time I close my eyes, I can picture him right in front of me, his off-black hair messy and just screaming for me to run my fingers through it as his own hands entwine in my hair. His soft lips demand everything from mine. It’s both distracting and unnerving, and it takes so much more effort to relax enough to carry on a normal conversation. Even then, my roommate is quick to point out how preoccupied I seem.
Raking my mind for something that will firmly shove my ass into the dinner table conversation and appease Corinne’s nosiness, I finally say, “Tell me about Oktoberfest.” I move my gaze from Nathan to Harrison and note the massive shit-eating grin that springs onto the former’s face. The corner of my mouth twists up. “Okay, you look way too happy about this.”
“Best weekend of the year,” Harrison promises me. “Best parties, best looking girls, best—”
“He’s been coming for Oktoberfest since he was in high school and his brother went here,” Nathan interrupts, “So it’s like Christmas for him. It was good last year—well, the parts I remember at least. Michaela’s coming in from Vegas for the weekend.”
“Nice. I can’t wait to meet her.” I take a bite of my meatball sub and wash it down with a sip of my Coke. “My friend Kendra is coming too.”
Nathan widens his blue eyes in mock surprise, and I can already guess what he’s about to say. “What’s this?” He gazes around the table in shock before leaning forward to get closer to me, and I give him an unimpressed look. “The elusive Evie Miller will be letting us meet one of her friends? I’ve got to admit, I’m kind of scared.”