Page 14 of The Professor's Possession (Crystal River Billionaire Brothers)

I could honestly listen to his deep smoothing voice all day.

As he speaks, he takes his time to focus on individual students. His eyes quickly pass me, and I feel a jolt of despondency. Like I want to be noticed by this man.

Those eyes... they can’t help but entice you in... two deep pools of blue intelligence...

He speaks with a sexy enthusiasm for literature, and I can’t help but be swept up in his passion.

He is, simply,captivating, in every sense of the word: from his striking, beautiful physical appearance to the deep, intriguing sonority of his mind.

He finishes his opening monologue with a final statement.

“The best works of literature are those where it’s like the author is stretching through time – maybe even hundreds of years that separate your life from theirs – and they’re telling you with the words on the page thatyou are not alone.”

And with those last four words, Professor Penmayne’s blue eyes finally rest on mine.

And they linger for just a moment too long...

Before he’s turning back to his desk.

My heart beats fast.

Did he see me? There’s no way he couldn’t have. He wasstaringat me.

Maybe there was a flicker of recognition that crossed the man’s face, or maybe I’m simply reading way too much into him. I mean, come on, it’smewe’re talking about here. No man, especially a handsome, clearly very intelligent, educated man ten years older in his early thirties, would ever even consider me for a heartbeat.

What has come over me? Am I a giggling schoolgirl with a crush?

So much for not fawning over an older man. That resolution lasted for just about fifteen minutes on my first day at college.

I take a long sigh and settle in my seat.

I watch the man I ran into last night launch into my first English Lit class and the one thing on my mind is...

Do I have the hots for my university professor?

6

OLIVIA

After class,I walk to CRU’s library across the campus, taking my time to ponder over what the hell’s just happened in that lecture hall.

After discovering that my professor is not only the mysterious man I ran into last night but isalsoincredibly good-looking and smart and eloquent and so self-assured in front of a room full of university students, I think it’s fair to say that English Lit is going to be averyinteresting class indeed.

I shake my head and tut at myself. I need to stop having my thoughts up high in the sky and bring them back down to earth.

Studying, Olivia. Coursework. Not boys. And certainly not your professor, okay?

I’m walking through the central quad of the campus. Crystal River University, as a physical place, is a blend of the old and new. There are the classic red-brick buildings I had expected before I moved here – the kind of ones you’d identify immediately as the college stereotype when you spot them on TV – but there are also brand-spanking-new glass modern buildings that ring the old campus. The central quad is decorated with timeworn oak trees and manicured shrubs. Being the little nerd that I am, I researched all about this place before I came. There are only a few thousand students here, if that. Even though it’s tiny, the university has been around since the very founding of Crystal River, so it comes with its own rich history, which is something that I wanted from my university experience.

I like it here. Ireallylike it here.

As I reach the main doors of the library, I pull out my phone and dial home. My parents still keep a landline, which is cute in an archaic kind of way. I messaged Mom on her own mobile last night saying I’m here all safe, but I bet with all the pitiful savings I have that she’ll still want to hear my voice.

And to be honest, I really want to hear hers.

It’s pretty apparent how excited she is for me to call when she picks up and greets me with a warm, urgent cheer.

“Olivia! Finally, you call. I thought you had disappeared off the face of the planet in your new fancy pants college and forgotten all about us mortals back here on planet Earth.”

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