Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men, #1)(65)

Thus far, I had gone with the whole “I’m trying to ignore you” plan. But unfortunately, he wasn’t catching the hint.

Across from us, Ethan Riker hovered over his own textbook as he squinted through thick-rimmed glasses and worked out what appeared to be a particularly difficult problem. I frowned as I glanced over and noticed he was three questions ahead of me.

Gasp! Not acceptable.

Clenching my teeth in competitive irritation, I once again focused on my worksheet and suddenly wished Mason were a Virology major. He had never tried to play footsie with me when we’d studied together—though with him, it would have been welcomed—and I had always worked faster than him.

But no, Mason was working toward an electrical engineering major. The buzzkill.

Besides, I was still avoiding him. Kind of. Okay, not at all. But I hadn’t seen him since Sunday evening at Sarah’s party because he was back to keeping his distance from me.

I nearly jumped out of my chair when I felt a very bare toe creep over my calf. Eww! If Bradley was rubbing some nasty foot fungus onto me, he was so dead.

As I scooted my chair a couple of inches away from him, he didn’t get the hint.

“Hey, Reese?” he whispered.

Not daring to give him any more incentive to harass me, I didn’t even glance up as I murmured, “Hmm?” in the utmost distracted tone I could fake.

“Can you help me find which animal the prion disease, scrapie, affects?”

I almost groaned. That was part of the first question on the worksheet. Good God Almighty. Bradley needed to get a move on it if he was going to finish the handout tonight. And he really needed to get his grubby feet off me before I kicked him.

Seriously.

Seeming to have mercy on me, Ethan looked up. “It’s sheep. Says right here in the textbook on page thirteen.”

“Oh,” Bradley mumbled unenthusiastically. “Thanks,” He sent a not-so-grateful look Ethan’s way. As he jotted down the answer, I glanced across the table. I wanted to send Ethan a discreet “Thank you for getting him off my leg” smile, but he already had his nose buried back in the worksheet.

And, damn it, now he was four questions ahead of me. Bradley lifted his face, turned toward me and opened his mouth as if he was going to ask for help on the second question. My teeth grated. On the edge of losing my cool completely, I seared him with an evil, don’t-you-dare glare.

Before Bradley could speak—or even attempt to—and I could blow up and tell him to keep his toes off me, a voice broke over the intercom. “The library will be closing in twenty minutes.”

Ah…saved by the closing library.

Next to Ethan, Debby slapped her book shut. “Thank God. I’m so out of here. I can’t answer another question on this stupid assignment tonight.”

Chase, who was sitting between Debby and Bradley, followed suit. “Who the hell cares about virus classifications anyway?”

Bradley watched with wide eyes as both Debby and Chase began to pack their things. It was a little too obvious he didn’t want to stick around the last twenty minutes either. And since I hadn’t fallen under the spell of his icky leg-massaging efforts, he no doubt wanted to flee with the others.

“Well, I should get ready for work,” he said.

As the three deserters stood simultaneously, I lifted my gaze toward Ethan, who was glancing expectantly back at me.

“You going to leave now too?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nope. I can’t. This is the only night I have time to study. And I need to get this stuff done.”

I let out a relieved breath. “Good.” Great, actually. Ethan was the only group member I liked to study with…even if he did work faster than me. “It’s the only free night I have, too.”

He studied me with a slight smile before shaking his head and looking at his homework. “Uh…did you find the answer to number eight? I had to skip it because I couldn’t find anything.”

Tickled he actually needed my help, I checked my work. “Oh, that one was in the worksheet Professor Chin passed out in class last Thursday.”

Ethan muttered something irritable under his breath. Propping his arm on the table, he buried his face in the crook of his elbow with a defeated groan. “I knew I should’ve gone to class that morning, but I was so tired after working late I couldn’t even drudge up the energy to turn off the alarm clock.”

I grabbed my copy of the worksheet and passed it across the table to him. “You can use mine.”

There was a pause before he lifted his face, sent me a mystified stare, and then slowly slid the sheet from my hand. “Thanks.” A second later, he asked, “Mind if I make a copy of this?”

“Hmm?” I glanced up and wow, he looked so studious and…yummy, sitting there, looking at me.

Ethan had sandy brown hair with natural blond highlights. He must not have been a big supporter of his barber, because his locks usually looked pretty shaggy. And his glasses gave him that sexy, young professor look.

I blinked, taken aback. Wow. Ethan wasn’t bad looking. How strange. I used to know whenever a guy was attractive the second I met him. But ever since Mason Lowe had entered my sphere, my hot-guy meter had bleeped out. It was as if no other male existed.

“Umm…” Brain, Reese. Use it. “Uh…yeah,” I mumbled, furrowing my brow as if to let on that he’d broken my homework concentration. I ducked my face and pretended to read a passage from one of the two huge volumes in front of me.