Page 3 of Burned

He seemed to take his precious time releasing her. “Please don’t run off. I wanted to ask you something.”

With a sigh, Sadie turned to face him, eyes downcast. She wouldn’t fall under the spell of his hypnotic stare if she could help it. What could he possibly want from her anyway? “Yes?”

“I recognize you from one of my classes but you only showed up that first day and I haven’t seen you since. I’m assuming you dropped the class because I’ve pretty much matched the names to the faces of all my current students.”

She pushed away a stray braid from her face feeling hot all of a sudden. Wasn’t it enough that he was sexy? Did his accent have to make her want to throw herself at him too? “Actually I wasn’t supposed to be in your class. I went into the wrong room.” Sadie made the mistake of looking him directly in the eyes and she could have just melted.

He smiled. “It happens. Look, I’m glad I caught up with you because I have something that belongs to you. You were in such a haste to leave my class, you left this behind.” Professor Delicious reached into his briefcase and pulled out a black and white notebook.

Her book of poems! Reaching out with trembling fingers she took them from him. “Thank you. I thought I lost this.”

“It’s a good thing I noticed you’d left it. I hope you don’t mind that I read a few of your poems. They were quite lovely.”

There were only a few people she’d shared her poems with and knowing this man had been intimately acquainted with some of her innermost feelings made her even more uncomfortable than ever. “Thanks.”

“Are you an English major?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m only taking a class here and there. The University only allows staff to take one free class a semester. Maybe when I save up I’ll take more classes.”

He raised one devilishly sexy brow. “You’re a staff member? Where do you work?”

Sadie took a step back. If she didn’t know better this guy seemed seriously interested in her. And if that were the case, why her? “I’m a registrar for the Computer Science Department. Look, Professor—”

“Rhys. And you are?”

“Sadie. Sadie Flowers.” She could have kicked herself for giving him her full name and more information than he had the right to know. “Okay now, I really have to go. Thanks for returning my notebook.” This time when she turned to go he thankfully didn’t stop her. When she got home after class she’d definitely need to change her panties.

* * *

Rhys couldn’t tear his gaze away from her Sadie’s luscious backside. Damn. Sadie Flowers gave him another reason why he loved America. They didn’t have asses like that in Wales. He’d noticed her the moment she sat down in class, well actually he’d noticed her knees. The skirt she wore had ridden up when she sat down revealing the cutest dimpled knees he’d ever seen. Yes, it was weird to be fixated on such an ordinary part of the body, but hers were particularly appealing, not to mention she was pretty cute with rich dark brown tinted skin that looked as smooth as silk.

She seemed to be a bit older than the average student in his class, not that he didn’t get a few of those onoccasion. It was just that none had ever caught his interest the way she had. During his lecture, his gaze would stray to where she’d sat and he noticed the way she chewed her bottom lip and twirled one of her chunky braids as she wrote in her notebook. She was so damn adorable. But she was his student and any thoughts he may have had in the direction of approaching her as anything other than a professor would have been unethical, but hell if he wasn’t attracted to her.

He hadn’t been so interested in a woman like this since his ex-wife. He’d dated around and had even considered committing to a couple of them but he’d eventually lost interest. With this woman, he knew that wouldn’t happen. He couldn’t put his finger on why. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, but she was quite pretty. There was something about her, an inner glow that attracted him. Whatever it was, Rhys had intended to wait for the end of the semester to get to know her better.

She’d been in such a hurry to get out of his class that she’d left behind her notebook. Wanting to find clues about his mystery lady, he’d kept the book instead of returning it to lost and found. Unfortunately, he didn’t learn her identity but he did get a peek into her personality through her poetry. She’d known pain—been burned by love. Someone had hurt her and strangely it hurt him knowing that she’d suffered.

He’d held on to that notebook holding on to the hope he’d see her again when she didn’t return to class. Luck was with him to see her sitting outside the English building on his way to his car.

“Sadie.” He liked the sound of the name on his tongue. Now that he knew she worked for the University, he’d find her again. And the next time he wouldn’t allow her to run away so easily.

Chapter Two

Sadie glanced at her watch for the fifth time. It was so like Lily to be late. The family joked that Lily’s internal clock was permanently set fifteen minutes late. On the verge of pulling out her cell phone, she caught sight of her errant sister striding toward the table looking elegant as usual in a pair of black slacks and matching silk top. Her hair which was usually worn around her shoulders was pulled back in a relaxed bun. It suited her.

Sadie couldn’t remember a time when her sister didn’t look anything less than immaculate. Lily dropped a kiss on Sadie’s cheek before taking her seat. “Hey, little sis, sorry I’m late, but I was at work later than I anticipated. Everyone is running around the office like headless chickens because the new boss is coming to town next week.”

“No worries. I’ve already ordered you a glass of wine and a shrimp cocktail for starters.”

“Thanks, hon. I’m absolutely famished.” Lily lifted the menu and casually perused the items.

“You seem pretty calm about the merger. Are you worried about your job? There’ve been so many layoffs lately.”

Lily shrugged. “If I lose my job, there’s really nothing I can do about it. Thankfully my savings will last a while if I’m in need of another one.” She placed the menu down and smiled revealing deep dimples. “But enough about work; I want to know what’s going on with you. We haven’t seen each other in nearly two months. How is it that now we live closer to each other, I see less of you?”

“We’ve both been busy lately, you with handling the major changes at your job and me getting over the busy registration season. Plus I’m taking a class—creative writing. I like it a lot.”

“And how’s that going?”

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