Page 6 of Avoiding Temptation
My mouth waters, and I swallow as I fight to remove the inappropriate images playing out in my head.
When his eyes drop from holding mine captive to my cleavage, I almost stand, horrified that I’ve put myself on show like that in front of a student. But he’s not just a student. He’s the kind of guy I’ve been dreaming about since I discovered them. He’s the bad boy I’ve imagined running away with a million times, and, with the way he’s biting down on his lip right now, I’d say his thoughts aren’t too opposite to my own. A bolt of excitement races through me about how wrong this is. Anyone could walk through the door any moment and find me giving my student an eyefull.
My temperature spikes, and my breasts swell under his gaze. Thank fuck for padded bras.
Bending down, I bring myself so we’re at the same height and force his eyes back to mine.
The bright blue that has been staring back at me for the past two hours is significantly darker, almost black.
Clearing my throat, I start to explain what it was he missed when he decided to turn up almost twenty minutes late. “So, as you’ve probably now figured out, we’re going to be studying ‘Romeo and—'”
“Quinn, are you ready?” Eddie calls from the doorway. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realise you were running a late session.” His eyes bounce between the two of us, deep lines forming across his forehead.
“I’m not. I’m just catching Joe up on what he missed as he was a little la—”
“Lateness will not be tolerated around here,” Eddie barks, his angry stare homing in on Joe. “If it happens again, I will be forced to reevaluate your position on this course.”
“Fantastic,” Joe mutters under his breath, making me chuckle to myself. Why am I not surprised that this man isn’t even a little concerned that someone of authority is giving him a dressing down?
He slips his feet from the desk, collects his stuff and shoves it all into his bag. My fingers twitch to reach out and arrange it inside properly, but that’s none of my business, even if the pages of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are now getting dog-eared. I shudder at the thought and rise to full height.
“We’ve got reservations. Are you ready?” Eddie eventually says, turning his heated stare from Joe to me.
“Y-yes. Let me grab my bag.”
I quickly swipe a Post-it Note from my desk and scribble my email address down.
“Mr. Kingsman, any questions, just shoot me an email. I’ll see you next week.”
He shrugs on a leather jacket before throwing his bag across his body, nods in my direction, and takes a step to leave. His eyes stay locked on mine the entire time, ensuring that the tingles he initiated earlier continue to simmer just under the surface. I sense Eddie looking between us, and eventually I manage to pull my eyes away.
Pulling my own bag over my shoulder, I walk over to Eddie. “Be careful, Quinn. That one’s got trouble written all over him.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve handled worse.”
“I know. I’ve met them,” he says sadly. Unfortunately, he’s right, and I know he’s not necessarily talking about my past students.
He takes me to a Chinese place not far from my flat. Thankfully, after my little speech in the taxi last week, he seems to have backed off a little.
“So what’s that guy’s story then?” he asks once we’ve ordered.
My heart starts to race at just the mention of him. “No idea. You probably know more about him than me, seeing as you’d have processed his application, right?” Eddie is head of department at the college, so I’m assuming part of his job is vetting applicants.
“I guess I did. Sadly, they aren’t required to supply a selfie.”
Anger twists my stomach that he’s once again judging him based on his tattoos and style.
“He might be the brightest student in that class. How he looks has nothing to do with it.”
“But what kind of job will he ever get, looking like that?”
“Plenty. Tattoos can be covered, Eddie. Bad attitudes are harder to hide,” I mutter to myself, but, by the narrowing of his eyes, I know he heard me.
We have a nice enough night, but at no point can I forget about the judgmental side of him that he’s too quick to show. Maybe it’s always been there, but because previously we were surrounded by people who were much, much worse, it wasn’t so obvious. But now I’ve removed myself from that life, I want all of it gone, and I’m afraid that Eddie is going to be part of that unless he fixes his attitude.
It’s not until I’ve securely locked myself inside my flat later that night that I pull my phone from my bag.
It’s nothing special, just the cheapest smartphone I could find when I first arrived, but it does the job.
