Page 10 of Forbidden Hearts

Even though he is muscular with broad shoulders, his overall physique is thin, especially at his waist. My eyes keep visiting his upper chest, traveling down the length of his tatted muscular arms and big hands. Heat pools between my legs, and my fingertips begin to sweat.

My eyes continue their path along his body. They land on his chest again, then travel up to his neck, past his strong jawline, and finally land on his dark eyes.

I swallow hard.

His face is turned to his desk, showing only the left side of his face. He looks straight ahead, which gives me the guts to stare at his handsome face for longer than I would have if he were facing me. The more I take him in, the warmer my body feels. It feels like somebody turned off the AC, and the Texas heat is flooding the room.

I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand. It’s dry. No sweat.

Am I imagining things?

As I linger on his face, his eyes suddenly fall onto mine. With a startle, I jump back and trip over my backpack on the floor. A grunt escapes my lips when I land on my ass.

Alonzo jumps out of his seat and rushes to my side. “Are you okay?” He leans down and wraps his arms around me. “Let me help you up.”

“Yes, sorry, I’m fine,” I say as he pulls me up. I’m taken aback when our eyes meet. There’s concern behind his eyes. For a brief moment, I wonder if I’m wrong about him. Are those the eyes of a killer?

If none of the students were looking at me before, they sure are looking at me now.

When I’m back on my feet, Alonzo turns to look at my drawing of him. His lips curl up into a grin.

“It’s not done yet,” I blurt out. For some strange reason, I don’t want him to hate my drawing.

“I sure hope not,” he says. “I’m more than just muscular arms and a face.”

I glance at my drawing again. Yup, that’s all I have drawn so far. The rest of his body is nonexistent.

“Right,” I manage to say.

“What’s your name again?”

“Alexandra. Um, Alex,” I clear my throat. “Alex Walker.”

“Be more careful next time, Ms. Walker,” he says before returning to his former pose in front of the class. He turns his face to the side again, but instead of looking at the desk, he keeps his eyes on mine for what feels like forever.

I take a deep breath and continue the drawing, trying to capture the rest of his body. But no matter how hard I try, my body keeps tensing under his stare.

Why is he looking at me like that? Is he wondering why somebody with the art skills of a four-year-old is in his class?

Or is he eyeing his next plaything of the semester?

Chapter 6

Alonzo

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

The timer on my phone announces the end of the twenty minutes, but I miss it because I’m looking at the student with the large dovey eyes.

Alex.

She seems lost and confused, like she just stepped into a parallel universe where the laws of nature are the exact opposite of her own.

She looks confused, clumsy, and insufferably cute.

When I picked her up from the floor, her shirt lifted by a few inches, and the back of my hand graced her skin. It was warm and soft, but it wasn’t until I looked into her eyes that she stole my breath. I saw a stare I hadn’t seen in a long time.

College girls have been throwing themselves at me since I started working here two years ago. To them, sleeping with the hot new professor is like a rite of passage, a trophy they can show off to their group of friends.

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