Page 14 of Ice Cold, Red Hot
I was a psych grad student, for hell’s sake. I should have been able to put my finger on what exactly it was abouthim. What made my skin burn when he looked at me. What made my awareness prick when he was within two hundred feet of me.
But I didn’t know. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced.
I wanted him.
But it was impossible, and not just because he was busy pretending he didn’t know me. I was his TA. It was beyond unethical to even think about it.
The next week I needed to find a quiet place to finish working on a paper. Natalie and her new boyfriend Evan spent a lot of time at our place. In her room. Loudly.
If I hadn’t already been thinking about sex all the time, thanks to Shepherd’s constant presence, Nat and Evan would have forced me into it anyway.
Luckily, there was a common lounge in the center of our floor. I headed out of the apartment and settled at a table there, my headphones on and my laptop in front of me. It was late enough that I hoped no one else would wander in. I should have the place to myself for as long as I needed.
Of course, that’s not at all what happened. I’d been working hard for an hour when I took a quick break, stretching my arms over my head and looking up from my screen just as the door swung open.
Shepherd.
Of course.
He looked like he’d just taken a shower, his dark hairslicked away from his face, his laser blue eyes scanning the room. Until they found mine and locked on.
For a second, he just stared at me, his expression stony. Then his gaze slid away, as if he hadn’t even seen me here.
It was one thing to pretend he didn’t know me. It was entirely another to just pretend I didn’t exist at all.
I’d had it.
“Seriously, what the fuck is your problem?” The words exploded out of me. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Shepherd didn’t answer, but he stepped closer, watching me.
“You act like you don’t know me, but then you’re constantly around. Everywhere I go, you’re there, staring, stalking around…”
He walked to the table where I sat, and I jumped to my feet. I didn’t want him staring down at me, thinking he somehow had the upper hand. Every cell in my body was vibrating as he stopped at the edge of my table, his eyes never leaving my face.
A slow smirk pulled his sculpted lips up on one side. “Maybe I just like watching you get pissed off,” he said.
I snapped, my hand shooting out before I thought better of it, shoving him hard. It was basically like punching a brick wall.
His hand shot up, his fingers wrapping around my wrist like a vice. He pulled until I was flush against him, my arm caught between us, still in that steely grip. I was pressed against his body, every inch of hard muscle evident as I felt my flesh mold to his, the heat of him seeping into me.
He held me there as my breath stopped, then stuttered, coming faster as his eyes held mine. For a split second I sawhim again—the guy I’d known this summer, the eyes I tumbled into over and over for the nights I’d been his.
“You think I don’t remember?” He whispered, his hot breath on my face. “I remember everything.”
We stared at each other, the air pressing in on us as everything in the world stilled, focused on this moment between us.
“Then why did you leave?” My voice was barely a whisper, but I know he heard me by the way his irises flared, his grip tightening even more.
Then his eyes shuttered, and with a heaving chest, he released me, stepping away like I’d burned him.
Shepherd spun, turned his back on me and left the lounge.
CHAPTER 8
SHEPHERD
Fuck.
