Page 34 of When Hearts Collide
His last words are wistful, as though he can never live to see his dream come true. It makes no sense.
“Are you going for tenure?” I want to ask him more, but he distracts me by lightly caressing my lip once more.
“No, sometimes, dreams remain what they are…dreams. They’ll never be reality. And I’m needed elsewhere.” He scoffs, a low, rumbly sound drawing me closer. “These dreams are not for someone like me.”
“Why?” I whisper.
His thumb is still on my lip and his gaze darkens as he drags his eyes up to meet mine. “Because my actions affect others. Because I can’t be so selfish.”
“It’s not selfish to want something for yourself.” I swallow. “You owe it to yourself to live for you. After all, we both know how short and unpredictable life can be.”
His nostrils flare, and his thumb resumes the seductive motions against my lips. Teasing. Grazing. Dipping slightly, just the tip, into my mouth.
A bolt of heat travels to my core. A faint voice in the back of my mind says, this is wrong. But everything feels decidedly right.
The thick tension in the room changes nature and turns sultry, heady…or perhaps, the elements were there all along, simmering in the background and today is a match to the gasoline.
Tentatively, I close my lips around his thick digit and press a soft kiss on his thumb. The room swirls around me, this invisible dance of seduction making me drunk. My heart pounds against my rib cage.
“You’re a fighter too, and I see you.” My quiet words are uttered on an exhale, but they come straight from the burgeoning flames inside my chest.
His eyes dart to my lips, which are still parted, to the way his thumb is swiping the lower lip like it’s the answer to his problems, the problems no one has ever seen.
Until now.
Kindred spirits. Kismet. Fate.
Our breaths mingle and seduce, and he leans in ever so slightly. His hand travels to the back of my neck, his fingers digging into the nape. My eyes flutter close.
Riiiing.
We jolt apart, the pulsing in my chest an earthquake within me. He pants heavily, his eyes fevered, darting around the office, shock making a late appearance. I clasp my hand over my heart. Everything feels so hot, so sensitive, so everything. I want more.
He strides back to the desk and picks up the phone. My body feels bereft without his heat and touch.
“Anderson here. Yes, I’ll be at the meeting in half an hour.” Professor Anderson stares at me as he speaks on the phone, his voice even and calm, completely at odds with the sharp intensity on his face.
Letting out a breath, I quickly pick up my things, my fingers trembling from the residual jittery energy. A sudden crash of pens on the wooden desk forces me to look at him again. He empties the mug he has been using as a penholder.
“If he has a problem, he can come to me himself,” he replies while he walks around the desk and slowly kneels before me, his strong back muscles straining against his shirt and vest as he bends down to the floor.
I frown. What is he doing?
“I stand by my decision. There’s no room for cheaters in my class.” He deftly picks up the daffodils scattered across the floor and puts them in the mug, then he scoops up the larger chunks of potting soil and arranges them in the cup as well.
He’s restoring my flowers for me. Fixing all the broken pieces. The thumping in my heart intensifies, no longer satisfied with running sprints, and is full on free-falling off the cliff.
He hands me the flowers and returns to his seat. I quickly make my escape, eager to leave this room, my insides churning with many tumultuous emotions and inappropriate feelings.
My body feels feverish. Scorching. Completely opposite from the chilled state I was in when I walked in here fifteen minutes ago.
I twist the doorknob, desperate to take a deep breath of fresh air, to make sense of the riot of sensations inside me right now.
“I’ll write you a recommendation.”
I turn around, finding him staring at me, his eyes dark and stern, still glittering with unsaid sentiments. His hand covers the receiver on his phone. He swallows, the Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.
Wordlessly, I nod and offer a small smile.
