Page 38 of Heartbreak Kings
“Hmm.” I hated to admit it, but it was a possibility. And Lambert’s tantrum wasn’t something I wanted her to deal with. But still… “Perhaps. However, those who do not heed your warning are going to fail, and badly, and then Lambert will end up in trouble with his dean. Anything he tries to do against you to retaliate will make him look that much worse.”
“Oh. Wow. Well, okay. Then I’m going to take the risk and go for it. I can’t just stand by and let everyone end up failing because the prof screwed up.”
I was smiling too much. I couldn’t help it. “You know, you’re extraordinary.”
“Sorry?” she asked, a bright little laugh in her voice.
“You have every reason to want to stand by and let the men in your astrophysics class fall flat on their faces. I’m certain some of your antagonists are among them.” At her nod, I sighed. “Yes, I thought so. And yet, instead of seeking revenge through simple inaction, you’re trying to help them.”
“This has never been about revenge,” she murmured as she paged through the notes we had worked so hard to correct. “I didn’t set out to pick a fight with anyone. I respond when it happens, because I don’t lie down when someone tries to bully me.”
“Yes, well, something like this will undermine your detractors’ arguments by a great deal.” I stood up as she did and watched her stretch and work the stiffness from her slim shoulders. My groin ached, and I ached with the need to touch her.
“I guess it will. I’m mostly thinking about not letting everyone fail because the teacher’s an idiot at communicating concepts.” She frowned. “He shouldn’t be in teaching if he’s going to do things like this. Is there any chance he’ll correct himself once the dean speaks to him?”
I shook my head, too aware of how close she was. I wanted to run my fingers through her hair. She astonished me. Fascinated me. And it was getting more and more difficult to ignore that in favor of academics.
I took a huge breath. “Do you wish to go on to the next subject, or do you need a break?”
“Let’s plow on. That one was the worst. My calculus class should be a breeze next to it, and by comparison with those two, my English lit class won’t take much work at all.” She paused, gazing up at me, and then swallowed and glanced away as she sat back down and reached for a red-covered notebook.
She was shy when I got close to her. There was something achingly flattering about it.Did she feel the same attraction that I did? Was I that fortunate?
I forced myself back to work, diving into the warmly familiar waters of calculus, at least Professor Ogata knew both her subject and how to spell—and teach. I pored over Sabine’s notes quietly for a while, then peered up. “Well, there are no issues with your notes. Is there any aspect of the covered material that you feel less confident in?”
She gave me a genuine smile then. “Mostly the second half. I grasped the basic concepts, but some of these equations are driving me crazy.”
I did my best to help, teaching her some simple tricks for remembering and practicing the equations in question. “She has laid out the course so that each section builds on the last. Unfortunately, one’s grasp of the basics only helps with the advanced concepts, not in memorizing the equations.”
“Yeah, rote memorization has never been one of my strong points. I’m guessing they don’t allow open-book or open-notes exams much at this school.” She looked just a touch frustrated, and I felt my stomach tighten. I wanted to make it better. But the only way to do that, realistically, was to stay focused and do exactly as I was doing.
“Not in the beginner classes. The professors wish to ensure that you have fully understood the basic concepts before filling up your head with things so complex, one would have difficulty memorizing them at all.” I laid my hand on her shoulder. She blinked at me. I withdrew it. “Sorry,” I murmured. “That was likely presumptuous.”
She scoffed gently. “You’re an interesting guy, Nathaniel. Way different from what I expected. In a good way,” she reassured me. “I would have ended up on Lambert’s list of casualties without you.”
She hadn’t mentioned the hand on her shoulder. I drew a sharp breath, excited by this discovery. If it had bothered her, she would have said something.
“It’s my pleasure to be of help to you,” I murmured, feeling foolish but giving up on hiding my feelings. “I wanted to present a better impression of myself, and of us. You don’t hate us, do you?”
She laughed out loud. “No. I don’t hate you. You’ve been working with me for two solid hours trying to fix things. I’m glad you came,” she admitted, a little more softly, her eyes holding my gaze.
“I’m glad to hear that I have made a better impression today,” I responded. We were both standing again, facing each other. Very close.When had that happened?“You hating me, or thinking I felt anything for you besides admiration and desire…”
“Desire?” she asked softly. Something in her low, husky voice left me hard and aching even worse than before.
“I can’t deny it,” I expressed breathlessly. “Nor do I wish to.”
She swallowed hard with her face tilted up toward mine. When I moved forward, she didn’t draw back or tell me to stop.
I was tasting her lips against mine, feeling their silkiness slide against my own, before I knew what was happening. When I felt her respond, and her hands slide up my chest, I forgot all about self-control.
Chapter 15
Sabine
Something had snapped inside me.It was the only way I could describe it. Daniel flirted with me. I had agreed to a date with Blake, but this was different. Far different.
What had turned me on the most, when I got down to it, had been watching Nathaniel struggle against his obvious desire while he had spent two and a half hours tutoring me. All the while, he had wanted to touch me. I had watched his hands flex at his sides; I had watched him shudder when I got near him; I had watched his eyes dilate and his cock press against the front of his trousers so insistently that all the surreptitious adjusting he’d done when he’d thought I wasn’t paying attention hadn’t done a thing to conceal it.
