Page 28 of Forbidden Professor

He hesitates.

“Oh? It’s taken?”

“What?” I asked, confused, until I realize that I’m just an idiot. “No, sorry. It’s not taken.”

He nods politely, pulls out the chair and sits down and gestures to the bartender.

While he’s ordering, I take the opportunity to keep drinking him in. He’s young, fit, athletic. Perfectly tanned skin stretched across rippling muscles. His bright blue eyes are trained on the bartender — another beautiful person in a sea of other beautiful people — wearing almost too short jean shorts and a bikini top that I half expect her to spill out of each time she bends over. I watch as she turns away and the man’s eyes rake over her frame, landing squarely on her very shapely ass. When she turns back, his eyes snap back up when she hands him his beer.

When she’s gone, he turns his eyes my way.

He’s gorgeous, in a pretty way. He could get the attention of any woman in this place. In fact, he has already snagged the attention of several. I spot a group of girls in the corner behind him pointing and whispering. But he’s not paying any attention to them.

“I’m Halston,” he says, holding out his hand and offering it. I shake it and smile, trying not to laugh at his pretentious name.

“Eve.”

“Eve, I like that name,” he says, taking a sip of his beer.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Do you like apples?”

“What?” I ask. Then I see the look on his face and roll my eyes. “Oh, right. My name. Haha.”

The joke is common and falls flat every time.

“Are you a student?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

“Me? Oh, god no. I’m just passing through. Are you?”

“Yeah, pre-med,” I admit.

He nods slowly. “Impressive. I don’t have the patience for school.”

“What do you do then?”

As I wait for him to answer, I can’t help but glance over his shoulder. Carter is still seated in his booth, looking my way, his brows furrowed disapprovingly.

I don’t know what possesses me — but I seem to be suddenly inhabited by Vi’s personality. I smile, flip my hair over my shoulder and to my own silent horror, I bat my eyelashes.

Halston smiles back and lifts his glass to me.

“I just sort of drift from city to city,” he says. “I’m in tech.”

I indulge in a quick glance back to Carter and see that the lines in his forehead have deepened, and he is watching us even more intently now.

Good, I think, let him watch. How could he have kissed me and then just…walked out on me like that?

Maybe it’s wrong, but I relish in the opportunity to inflict a little pain, a little payback.

“So what do you do in these cities?” I ask Handsome Halston. I’m expecting an interesting answer. Like, maybe he’s studying the environment in different regions. Maybe he’s a traveling artist. Maybe he’s a pilot or a spy…

“Party and code.”

His answer trips me up. I look at him and see pride in his eyes.

And not much else, to be honest.

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