Page 8 of Professor's Forbidden Temptation

“Dr. Lindsey?”

“He teaches in the psychology department,” I say easily. I neglect to tell her that he teaches at the psychology department at my alma mater. It’s a slip that I’ll blame on my fuzzy head. I can only hope she doesn’t poke around and find that I’m lying to her. “I just wanted to borrow a book from him.”

“Oh…” she says, her brows knitting together in thought. “I figured you’d be teaching right now.”

“I already wrapped up my last class of the day,” I tell her. That’s the truth, at least.

“I see,” she murmurs, shaking her head. “Weird that we keep running into each other.”

I step in close and lower my voice so only she can hear me. “I guess the universe is pushing us together.”

“Right,” she says, giving me a reassuring smile. It doesn’t land the way I think she wants it to, though. “I’ve got to get going.”

“Have a good evening,” I say, trying to keep my cool. “I’ll see you in office hours tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she replies, her words sounding genuine. It seems like I haven’t scared her off yet. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As she walks away, I curse myself for not being more careful. I’m on thin ice now. I’ll have to take a step back from my tracking for a little bit. There’s no way I can have her if she’s afraid of me.

Chapter 6

Emily

When I saw Cooper at the coffee shop yesterday, I thought it was just a happy coincidence. In fact, I took it as some kind of divine sign. I thought it was the stars pushing us together and putting us in the same place. After running into him at the end of the day, I’m not so sure it was a coincidence.

On the walk home, I run through every other instance of him showing up unexpectedly. Maybe all those times he sat in on my classes weren’t because he cared about the content of the lecture. What if he was there because he wanted to keep an eye on me?

I do my best to push that thought out of my head. It’s not like I have any evidence other than seeing him outside of my class. Campus is pretty small, so running into the same person multiple times a day isn’t unheard of.

Later, in bed, I can’t help but question his teaching schedule. Something nags at me, telling me that he was lying. He was almost squirrelly when I questioned him earlier. Plus, I’ve never heard of Dr. Lindsey. His story doesn’t add up.

When I wake up the next morning, the feeling that he’s lying is still nagging at me. So, before I go to campus, I open my laptop and go to the school’s directory. The first thing I do is check the staff in the creative writing department. My suspicion grows when I can’t find a Dr. Lindsey listed anywhere, but for all I know, this webpage hasn’t been updated in a while.

With a sigh, I navigate away. It takes a little bit of digging, but I eventually find the course registry. I scroll through Cooper’s classes. Much to my surprise, I learn that he should have been teaching when I nearly ran into him yesterday.

I’m not sure what to make of my findings. There isn’t an explanation I like for why he was there. The most likely, and most troubling, is that he’s been following me, stalking me. Even more troubling, I kind of like that idea.

Still, it’s not okay if that’s actually what he’s doing. It doesn’t matter if my pussy pulses at the idea of him watching me without my knowledge. I don’t know his intentions. I’ve heard stories of things like this ending badly. I should be afraid.

But somehow, I’m not. Even after this, I still Cooper completely. Somehow, the thought of him watching me, even blowing off his classes to follow me, makes me feel... special. Protected. Desired.

And so turned on that it makes my knees weak.

While I’m on campus, I consider blowing off his office hours. Facing him so soon after my discoveries makes me nervous. I feel like I need answers, though. I have to go. I need to confront him and ask what he’s thinking. Maybe my assumptions are wrong. Maybe everything is just a strange coincidence.

“Emily,” he says, the corners of his mouth tugging upward when I walk into his office. “Right on time.”

I shut the door behind me and cross my arms. “I need to talk to you about something.”

Confusion flashes over his features, but he doesn’t say anything. His expression is mostly unreadable. There’s something going on under the surface, though.

“I know you were lying yesterday,” I say, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “You should have been teaching when I ran into you. And when I saw you at the coffee shop.”

I’m expecting Cooper to deny the accusation, but instead, he sighs and steeples his hands under his chin. “I canceled most of my classes yesterday.”

“Why?” I ask, taken aback by his immediate honesty.

“Please, sit,” he requests, waiting until I settle into the chair across from him before continuing. “Truthfully, I wanted to see how you spend your days. You’re constantly on my mind, and you have been since that very first day I saw you.”

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