“You ok?” He was a baritone. A nice deep voice that resonated within his chest.
He helped me back up, and I finally got my feet underneath me when the world spun. He was absolutely fucking gorgeous, and my mouth went completely dry as I stared at him with a dumb awestruck look on my face. Dark brown eyes with the thickest eyelashes in the world stared back at me as if he were worried I might stroke out at any moment.
I was making a great impression. I wanted to say something, but my throat had closed, and I felt like I needed to gasp for air. Jesus! That curly blonde hair was fucking beautiful. Women across the world were envious of this… Giant muscle-bound he-man with a dark tan. He smirked, and his teeth seemed to bling as the light hit them. Great… I had to stare at this for an hour twice a week?
Maybe I was having a stroke in front of the most beautiful man in the world – and I had to be his teacher… What the actual fuck was happening. I gasped as air finally filled my lungs.
“Do I need to get someone?” He looked worried.
I held up my hand. “No… Sorry, I’m fine… I… uh… Just embarrassed, is all.” I completely lied. I wasn’t embarrassed – I was mortified and wanted to crawl underneath my desk and hide from this soccer stud who probably had a million followers on Instagram.
“No need to be embarrassed. I play soccer and fall down all the time. I’m your…”
“Darren. I mean, not my Darren… uh… but my new student, Darren. Yes.”
“And you are?” He grinned slyly. He had to know the kind of power he had over people. He had to know how hot he was, and I tried to get my jaw to move so I could speak. I glanced away.
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat and looked back at him. He was blurry. Maybe I… Oh! Glasses.
I bent forward to pick them up and collided once again with him. Our foreheads slammed together, and I winced as I stood back up.
“Sorry.” He grinned and held out my glasses to me. “I have a hard head. Sorry.”
I rubbed my temple as I took the glasses from his hand. “Looks like you have a hard everything.” I frowned and wished I could take the words back.
His grin lit up his face.
“I mean, you’re very muscular, not that… Wow!” I frowned. “I guess I’ve made the best first impression I’ve ever had.”
“Maybe the most memorable.” His brown eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “Maybe we should start again?”
He chuckled as he turned and walked out my door, and closed it behind him. My stomach swirled as if someone had put a hook in me and was pulling hard. If I puked in front of him, I would have to quit teaching forever. He knocked, and I had to stop myself from grinning. He was being very cute and had handled my… incident with grace and kindness. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
“Come in.”
He opened the door with the widest and prettiest smile I had ever seen and stuck out his hand. “Hi. I’m your new student Darren Petersen.”
I took his large hand in my own, much smaller one, and looked up at him. How had I not noticed that he was so tall? “I’m Thomas Elder and prefer to be called Thomas instead of professor Elder, and I’m… uh… happy? To… uh… have you in my studio. Have a seat, and let’s get started.”
I tried to turn and walk away, but I hadn’t let go of his hand yet and almost stumbled. I quickly let go, but he did not. “Steady there, Thomas.” That damn deep rumble of a laugh came from him again, and it made my head spin. Maybe I needed to eat? Had I forgotten breakfast? Was my sugar low?
He let go of my hand, and I slowly walked around my desk, making sure my hand stayed on it in case I got dizzy again. By the time I got to my seat and slowly sat down – he was already leaning forward in his own chair.
Looking at him was like staring into the sun. He was so breathtakingly beautiful. It was painful. How was I going to manage to work with him twice a week? Putting my hands on his… broad, muscular chest and probably ripped stomach as I helped him with his breathing felt wrong. I had never had the hots for a student before, but I had also never had to teach a Greek god.
God hated me. This was punishment for something I did when I was younger. It had to be.
“So, you’re considering being a music major?” I tried to sound professor-ish. But I also wanted to be cool. I was not cool. I was so far from cool that it wasn’t even funny.
“Well, not really.” He shrugged. “I mean, I know I want to be a music major, but… parental complications – if you know what I mean?” He sat up straight and crossed his arms. Holy shit! His biceps were… thick.
I opened his folder, so I had something else to stare at besides him. “This is your seventh semester?”
“Yeah. I’m a second-year junior because I’ve only taken required courses up until now. Soccer is a big commitment, and I have been the team captain for the last two years. It’s hard to take more than the minimum 12 hours to stay full-time.” He crossed his legs, and I glanced back down at his paperwork. Keep your eyes on the folder – I reminded myself.
“Have you ever taken music classes? High school, maybe marching band or choir when you were younger?”
“No. I played soccer and baseball through high school, so I never… It would have been weird if I had been in choir.”
