Page 10 of Wicked Knight

I shut the door behind me with shaky hands. Now that I was here, my anger had subsided, and I couldn’t remember what had possessed me to come and argue with Luca Gallo about my grade. Slowly, I lifted my gaze and wiped my palms on my skirt. I had expected him to be glowering at me as he liked to do. But instead, he was focused on the papers in front of him.

Had I misheard him? Maybe he hadn’t been talking to me when he said the word enter. Fuck, did I just barge in on him in his own office…again? Well, this time it was different. Before, when I was fifteen, I had been determined to hand in my v-card. This time, it was about something way more important. My academic career at Columbia.

“Don’t linger. What do you want?” He asked, without looking up from his reading.

“Um.” I glanced around his big office to calm down.

Guest professors seemed to get the red-carpet treatment. My chemistry professor shared an office with another colleague, and that room wasn’t even as big as this one. There was something old school and manly about the space. Had Luca brought in all the leather furniture and books? He even had a reading nook facing the window, with a hidden courtyard beyond it. This was, for sure, all his stuff, neatly organized and strategically placed.

Did this mean he was planning to stay beyond his temporary assignment? Butterflies flapped wildly in my belly. I still had two more years of undergrad. It would be nice to have him so close by.

I inched closer to peek at whatever had his full attention. Who the hell was Ava Conti? And why did he have a picture of her? For some stupid reason my chest hurt. That voice in my head that always made me do crazy things to get his attention got louder. I clearly saw myself swiping all the papers off his desk and throwing myself at him.

Wait. No, I couldn’t do that. I glanced up and met his angry gaze. How long had I been standing here like an idiot, ogling his office and all his things?

“Um.” He rose to his feet. “It’s not an actual sentence, Ms. Salvatore.”

Oh, so he did remember me. Fuck. Fuck.

“I meant, I came to talk about my grade. There seems to be a mistake.” I stood a little taller.

“A mistake? What kind of mistake?” He prowled around his desk.

He was definitely taller than I remembered. I peeked at him through my eyelashes. Then glanced down. Shit. I already knew that didn’t work on him. To add to my nerves, he reached for my top with those long fingers. I held my breath as he fixed the top two buttons on my blouse. Oh no, I wasn’t trying to seduce him. Did he think that? Well, if he did. This was a clear no. He had no interest in seeing any part of me.

“Try again.” He took in a deep breath as if he was running out of patience.

“You gave me an F.” I jutted out my chin with determination.

“I know I did.” He perched himself on the edge of the desk with his legs extended out in front of him. “Are you here to give me a recount of all the grades I’ve handed out today.”

“No.” I stepped closer to him. “I think your grade is unfair. I answered all the questions correctly. I did my research. And I had a friend proofread it for mistakes.”

“You had someone else do your work for you?” He glowered at me.

“No. Enzo just read for spelling errors and stuff.”

“Enzo.” His jaw clenched. “Of course he’s here too.”

“We’re not here to cause any trouble. I promise.”

I wanted to say I was sorry for before. But he seemed so angry. My instincts told me not to go there at all. Staying in the present was the best thing to do. That F that needed to be at least a B was the only reason I was here, alone with Luca Gallo. The thought of us alone immediately was followed by a bunch of really bad ideas. Like what would it be like if he made love to me right now on his desk. Why didn’t he want to?

“Then why are you here, Ms. Salvatore?”

Why did he have to be so dense? “I told you.” I raised my voice. Playing the innocent, good girl wasn’t working on him. And I was losing my patience too. “I’m here because the grade you gave me is unfair. I deserve at least a B.”

“Is that so?” He rubbed the stubble on his chiseled jaw. “Some things never change.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means.” He stood to his full height. “That you were a spoiled brat back then and you still are. You got the grade you deserve. This is the real world, Ms. Salvatore. You can’t just cry wolf and have the village show up to help you.”

“Oh.”

Fuck.

He was still mad at the whole student-teacher sexual harassment situation I started when he rejected me.

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