Page 20 of Overeager
Noah coming over all alone, late at night. Noah sliding into Eli’s pool completely nude, his big alpha frame lit only by the pool light. Noah fucking Eli up over the edge of it, his arms strong and sure around him, his breath hot in Eli’s ear.
Eli took a huge gulp of coffee, yelping as he burned the roof of his mouth.
Fuck.
Bad thoughts,he chastised. Bad, bad thoughts. We’re leaving the poor guy alone, not inviting him over for late-night booty calls.
But Eli was keeping the house; that was certain. He’d already known he was keeping it—his brain had just been looking for something to fret over. Which apparently it needed to do to not descend into pervy fantasies about Noah at any given time.
Eli headed back inside and had his breakfast before getting dressed, not allowing himself to acknowledge the piece of paper he slipped into his pants pocket. He grabbed his work bag, kissed Deadly on the head, and drove the short distance over to campus.
He busied himself with work for the next hour before class. There was nothing to grade, not yet, but he had emails from the various committees he was part of that he needed to answer.
The important thing to remember was that he was content. He wasnotlonely. Because it would be pathetic to be lonely after being single for only a year, after a decade in a marriage he’d wanted out of for at least half that.
Be honest, Eli, you were for all intents and purposes single for a lot longer than that.
Eli scowled at his laptop. He was beginning to think the vacation he really needed was from his own brain.
By the time he arrived in the classroom, however, he was feeling mostly normal. One of his TAs had set up the PowerPointfor the lecture, and Eli had been able to show up late—or his version of late, which was exactly on time.
He stood at the podium, waiting for the class to quiet down before he spoke. “Hello, everyone. I’m Professor Miller. I’ll be teaching you Omega Studies this semester.”
He took a deep breath, ready to dive into the class logistics, only to falter, choking on air.
That scent.
Eli knew that scent. Salty and fresh, like ocean air.
His gaze slid unerringly to the third row, drawn like a magnet to a familiar head of loose blond curls. Noah.
Noah was here.
How did he find me?Eli thought dazedly before realizing by the shocked look on Noah’s face—he hadn’t come here for Eli. He was here for the lecture.
Noah was a student. An undergraduate student.
Eli’sstudent.
There was a rustling from over in the corner where Eli’s TAs sat, and Eli realized he’d stopped talking and was staring into his crowd of students like he had more than one screw loose. He forced a smile on his face. “Sorry about that.” He shrugged with a little grimace. “Mondays.”
The class was gracious enough to let out a few scattered laughs, and Eli pressed on, letting his gaze fall anywhere but the third row. “I’m so pleased you’ve all chosen to take this course, whatever your reasons may be. There’s a lot to cover, so the lectures will go quickly, but you’ll have your discussion sections to really get into the nitty-gritty. My office hours are—”
He got through the lecture somehow.
It helped that the first class covered mostly logistics. And that he’d been teaching this exact course for a few years now. It probably wasn’t his most engaging lecture of all time—and undoubtedly he was leaving a bad impression for the rest of thesemester—but he supposed that was what he got forfucking his goddamn student.
He couldn’t think about it. Not in the lecture hall. Every time he did, his skin grew hot and his belly swooped with nerves.
He would have liked to run right out of there afterward, but it wasn’t an option. Eli always left time for students to come up to him after a lecture, either to say hello or to ask questions. A few did this time, and he interacted with them in some sort of fugue state.
But eventually, the rest of the lecture hall emptied out, and there was Noah, approaching the podium. Another student stood behind him, a generically handsome kid in a backward baseball cap with a confused look on his face, but he headed out after a glance from Noah.
And then there was just Noah and Eli.
“Professor Miller?” Noah asked softly, like Eli was a horse he was afraid of spooking. “May I have a moment?”
Well, fuck.
