Pretty When She Kills (Pretty When She Dies #2)(59)

She was trying so hard to be seductive and failing. It was the third time she had managed to spill her drink while trying to be coy. PJ Harvey’s deep voice was singing mournfully over the coffee shop’s sound system and the clank of dishes being washed were the only sounds other than their conversation. The coffee shop was nearly empty, its mismatched chairs and leaning tables devoid of the usual students cramming for their latest exam, or writing a paper.

“We all make mistakes, don’t we?” Professor Sumner said with a charming smile and a wink.

“And sometimes they’re enjoyable.” Flirtatiously, her eyes lingered on his handsome face as she took a sip.

With the Easter break underway, most of the students were out of town visiting with family. Amaliya had just finished doing laundry so she could pack and head home when Professor Sumner had knocked on her dorm door. She had been surprised to open the door and find the tall man with the keen blue eyes and long blond hair standing in the hallway.

“Care for a coffee?” he had asked in his refined English accent.

Amaliya knew she was foolish to go anywhere with one of her professors, but she hadn't thought twice before saying yes. Now sitting across from him, she wondered how long it would take for her to get him into bed. There was something intensely magnetic about the man. He was not her type in any way, but there was something about him that made her want to crawl over the table and ravish him. Though he was dressed simply in black trousers and a blue shirt under a soft leather coat, he exuded raw power and sensuality. She watched his fingers caress the mug filled with steaming black coffee that he’d barely sipped from.

“So why are you taking Psychology?” he asked, picking up the conversation again.

“I guess I want to know why my family is so f*cked up,” Amaliya answered, shrugging.

“Are you thinking about pursuing a career in the field?” He tilted his head as he set his hand on the table a scant inch from her own. His nails were immaculately groomed and a thick antique gold ring glimmered on his ring finger. The blue of the sparkling stone matched his eyes.

Glancing at her fingernails, Amaliya wished she had touched up the polish. “I'm not sure yet. I'm still not sure what I want to do. I thought about maybe going into counseling and helping kids who are grieving, but I don't know.” She rubbed her arm, caressing her tattoo under her thin black sweater. It was her tribute to her mother, long gone, long dead.

“You went through a loss at a young age?” His intense blue eyes never strayed from her face and she felt her cheeks flushing despite the serious topic.

“Yes, my mother. A little later on, my little sister. I lost them both to cancer.” Amaliya sipped her drink, trying to ignore the pain inside of her. It was hard to think of her deceased loved ones and not feel lost and alone in the world. Her family had never recovered from the death of her mother and it had fallen apart completely at the death of her sister.

“Death changes everything, doesn't it?” Professor Sumner said, his fingers lightly stroking her fingertips.

She raised her eyes to see that he was gazing at her contemplatively. “Yes, it does.”

The sound of a cup falling drew Amaliya’s attention across the room. Bianca Leduc was on her hands and knees carefully picking up the shattered remains of her cup. The girl lifted her blue eyes and met Amaliya’s gaze.

Panicky to be spotted with their professor, Amaliya quickly looked away.

Professor Sumner fully took her hand in his and his thumb gently rubbed her palm. “Have you feared death since then?”

Nodding, Amaliya swept her hair over one shoulder to hide her face from Bianca. “It just seemed so cruel for them to die so young.”

“Die young and make a good looking corpse,” Bianca said in a low voice, walking past their table.

Amaliya twisted in her chair to retort, but the professor yanked on her hand, pulling her attention back to him.

“Are you afraid to die young?”

Uncomfortable, Amaliya squirmed in her rickety wooden chair. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Why?”

“It’s morbid,” she said crossly. She didn’t want to think about her mother and sister dying. She didn’t want to think about death. The purpose of this date was to finally get her hot professor into bed.

“Ah, but it’s the inevitable end that we all fight against, but never can escape...not fully.”

Amaliya stared down into her drink, her image reflected in the milky brown surface. “No, no, we can't.”

“You will be so pretty when you die,” Professor Sumner said, his hand stroking her cheek.

Amaliya lifted her head to find herself standing in the shadow of the dorm building. The light of the moon filtering through the treetops illuminated the professor's hair into a halo. His face was in shadow as he loomed over her.

“Your whole life you've been fleeing death even while you courted self-destruction,” his melodic, seductive voice whispered as his long, tall body pinned her to the cool concrete wall.

Amaliya's lips trembled as she tried to find the words to defend herself, but he was speaking the truth. His slender, silky fingers slid over skin as he traced her collarbone.

“Always living dangerously, dating all the wrong men, always taking the unnecessary risks, then running away when you realize you've gone too far. Isn't that the truth of your life?” His voice mesmerized her as he inclined his head toward her.