Page 6 of Lunar Crest University

My eyes hesitantly lift to meet his dark ones. They widen for a fraction of a second before he clears his throat, tearing his gaze away as he sits his things down on the desk in the center of the room. I can feel a dozen eyes on me as I recover from my coughing fit, and my face feels like it’s quite literally on fire.

“Jeez, Finn. Are you okay?” Levi whispers to me under his breath.

I nod a little too quickly.

“What’s your name?”heasks from the front of the room, staring down at his papers for a few seconds before he lifts his head to look at me expectantly.

“Finley,” I rasp.

“Finley…”

I want to palm my forehead as hard as possible as I realize he’s waiting for me to tell him my last name.

“Dunaway.”

“Ms. Dunaway,” he says coolly, and I want to melt at the sound of my name leaving his lips. “Next time, leave the coffee at home. No drinks in class.”

“Yes, sir.”

Completely mortified, I sink further into my chair, letting my face fall into my palms as I groan internally. A few snickers sound around the classroom as I push my coffee to the edge of my desk, as far away from my view as possible. Meekly pulling out a notebook and pencil, I chew at the inside of my pursed lips.

Racking my brain, I wonder what I’ve done to receive a fate like this. How could it be possible that the same guy who left his DNA all over my carpet is also my British Lit professor? The guy I’ve seen half-naked. Okay, nothalf-naked, just shirtless—but still.

He doesn’t even look like he’d been sliced up the other night. His walk is normal, at least from what I can tell.

Chalk tapping against the chalkboard captures my attention, and my eyes flicker to him, watching him intently as he writes his name.

Professor Serrano.

I feel like I’m being strangled as he turns around, glasses perched on top of his large nose. His hair sits in messy waves on his head, his five o’clock shadow gone, his mustache thick above his full lips. Picture perfect, as if nothing ever happened to him. He dons a tightly fitted suit that doesn’t leave much room for imagination, and I try not to focus on how muscular he is. Not only do I have these inappropriate thoughts about a stranger, but that stranger is now my college professor.

Get it together.

“As you all know,” he states, his voice carrying around the room as he places the chalk down. “Professor Kline won’t beable to teach this year, so you’re stuck with me. I’m Professor Serrano.”

It’s truly pitiful how distracted I am for the remainder of class. Although he only talks about the syllabus, rules, and expectations, I feel like a failure for getting so caught up in him, I couldn’t even pay attention. This has to be detrimental to my health. I can’t breathe properly.

I’m not like this. Why am I reacting this way?

His voice is captivating, rich and deep. Hislooksare captivating. Even the way he walks back and forth in front of his desk, stopping to perch on it as he speaks…captivating.

Something is wrong with me. I’m broken. A piece of my brain has stopped working; it had to. That’s the only reasonable explanation.

His presence in this classroom only riddles me with more unanswered questions. What is a guy like him doing here? As a professor at a prestigious college?

Levi’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, which I’m thankful for in an annoyed kind of way.

“Look at Genevieve. She’s smitten by the guy. Why can’t I get her to look at me like that?”

Levi has been vying for the platinum blonde’s attention for the past three years—failing miserably every time. It had been sad watching him follow her around like a lost puppy, only to come back each time with his tail between his legs. Genevieve Pierce is known to go for the sports guys—star of the football team, captain of the hockey team, you name it. Unfortunately, Levi is the polar opposite: the guy who writes poetry, drinks coffee all day while typing away, and has a soft spot forWuthering Heights.

“Go join the football team,” I offer. “Or the lacrosse team.”

Levi narrows his eyes. “I’m being serious, Finn.”

“Ms. Dunaway. How many times do you plan on interrupting my class today?”

I freeze as I peek up at Professor Serrano leaning up against his desk again, large hands gripping the wood on either side of him as he raises his eyebrows petulantly. His tongue flicks out to lick his lips as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

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