Page 5 of Obsession

What was he doing?

Then I saw the course title projected on the wall behind him: Advanced Engineering Applications. My stomach dropped as realization hit.

Of course. How had I not figured it out sooner?

The gorgeous Taori who made my stomach do flips wasn't just a visitor anymore. He wasn’t only the alien I was assisting in improving the security systems. He was my new professor, which now meant he was completely off-limits.

I flopped into a seat near the back.Grekme sideways.

Chapter

Four

Britta

“What do you mean, the Taori is your new teacher?”

I leaned across the long wooden dining table and shushed Jess before she made the entire cadet dining room stare at us. Luckily, the Drexians were too preoccupied with eating vast quantities of the savory— and often spicy—alien food and trading loud war stories from the morning’s classes to hear one human voice over the din.

“Sorry.” Jess glanced around, before bending low over the table to close the distance between us. “Did you know that Zav would be teaching an engineering class?”

“No, I didn’t know.” Even recounting the story of discovering that my crush was now my teacher made my cheeks heat. “It makes sense that he would teach advanced engineering, sincethe Taori have technology that not even the Drexians have discovered, but a warning would have been nice.”

“A warning about what?” Morgan sat on the bench next to me and slid her plate of steaming Drexian stew onto the table, along with a bowl of hot rolls.

I inhaled the rich aroma, and my stomach growled. I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast.

“Guess who her new teacher is?” Jess teased, her eyes sparkling with both amusement and mischief. Before Morgan could hazard a guess, Jess slapped a hand on the table. “It’s Zav, the hot Taori she wants to—”

“Fuck me!” Morgan sat back, her eyes going wide. “He’s teaching here now?”

I cringed, hoping the Drexian cadets were still too caught up with eating to pay attention to our conversation. “Yep. I don’t know how many classes, but at least the advanced class I was in this morning.”

“I can’t believe he’s your teacher.” Morgan shook her head and stirred her stew to release more steam. “How strange was that, to go from being his liaison to the Irons to being his student?”

“Pretty weird.” I plucked one of the rolls that Morgan had brought for the table. “But also, kind of normal, since we’ve been talking about engineering issues and tech since he arrived.”

Jess nodded. “I guess it would be stranger if you’d made a move on him.”

“Or if they were banging,” Morgan said.

I fought the urge to kick them both under the table. “No one is banging anyone.”

A smile curled Jess’s lips. “Speak for yourself.”

I groaned. “But Torq isn’t a teacher. There’s no conflict of interest.”

“True.” Jess snagged a roll and tore it in half. “So, what does this mean for you and Zav?”

“There is no ‘me and Zav.’” I took a bite of the soft Drexian roll and remembered that I could happily make a meal from their bread alone. “I’m still his liaison to the Irons, and I’m working with him on a holochamber simulation for Kann.”

“Kann.” Jess sighed. “Now there’s another one I wouldn’t mind—”

“Fucking hell, Jess.” Morgan shook her head. “Leave some for the rest of us.”

Jess laughed. The brainy brunette had come out of her shell since getting together with Torq. I hadn’t been a fan of the cocky cadet at first, but I loved seeing Jess confident and comfortable in her own skin.

I pointed at Jess and then Morgan. “Do I have to remind you both that Lieutenant Kann is also an instructor?”

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