Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(11)

I took a deep breath, completely flustered. What did he dream of doing to me? "I don't trust you," I texted. Geez why did I say that? That was a conversation ender, if anything is.

"Miss Taylor, are you in need of someone to walk you home?"

I sighed. He was angry. I didn't want to make him angry. I wanted him to think I was sexy and alluring. "I wish that I was, Professor Hunter," I responded.

I stared at my phone for ten minutes. No reply. I sighed and rolled over, away from my Stat work. Next time I wouldn't play with his temper.





Chapter 9


Tuesday

The following night I tossed and turned again as I tried to fall asleep. I had shoved Professor Hunter's sweater into my backpack that afternoon and marched over to his office hours. But there were three girls waiting in line to talk to him. I had rolled my eyes and stormed back to my dorm. I was kidding myself. He probably did get kicked out of the last college he worked at. He probably slept with every girl that batted her eyelashes at him. He was a tool.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the image of him out of my mind. Whenever I closed my eyes I imagined his hands on me. I wanted to taste his lips. I wanted him in every way. I had never felt this primal before. I truly felt like I needed him.

***

When my alarm went off I slowly rose out of bed. I was exhausted from my fitful sleep. I quickly got ready for class. I pulled on yoga pants and a t-shirt and slowly made my way across campus. When I reached Professor Hunter's classroom, I took a deep breath and walked in the back door. Class had already begun. I passed by all the full desks and plopped down in my usual spot. Tyler was nowhere to be seen.

I stared at Professor Hunter defiantly. He was wearing his glasses again, and he had left his hair alone. He turned to the board and underlined the word "emotion" that he must have written before I had arrived.

"Today we are going to drive this point home. And first we are going to share what emotion we are currently feeling. And say the word in the way that the emotion has affected you. For example, if I was upset, I'd probably frown a little and say it in a rather pouty way."

Most of the class giggled. He stared at me and I kept a straight face. Had I made him upset? He had certainly upset me.

"Very well," he said. He called out the first name and went through the list.

"Tyler Stevens?" Professor Hunter called. "Absent," he said to himself, and made a note on his paper.

"Penny Taylor?"

I stood up quickly. "I feel foolish." I closed my eyes. "And frustrated. Foolish and frustrated." I sat down without looking at him. I kept my eyes on my desk for the rest of class.

When Professor Hunter dismissed us, I hastily grabbed all my things and went out the back door so that I wouldn't have to walk by him.

***

After my final class of the day I made my way back to my dorm. I just wanted to lay down in my bed and disappear. When I opened my door I almost ran to my bed. I collapsed on top of it and buried my face in my pillow. I had completely ruined it with Professor Hunter. But I still wanted him. I wanted him so badly.

This was ridiculous. He was completely off limits anyway. I sat up and leaned off my bed to grab the piece of paper from Melissa's nightstand. It was a new number. Austin hadn't been lying. He still could have tried to email me or send me a message on Facebook or something though.

I grabbed my phone and slid my finger across the screen. Professor Hunter's name popped up. I clicked on the message. "Now I know how it feels to be stood up. Lesson learned." The text was time-stamped at 10 minutes after Comm had ended. That was over eight hours ago.

"Is that an apology?" I typed out. But I deleted it before I sent it. I put the slip of paper with Austin's number back on Melissa's nightstand. I knew what I had to do if I wanted Professor Hunter to want me as much as I wanted him. I was going to play hard to get. And that started with me ignoring him.

Melissa entered the room just as I was turning off my cell.

"Did you want to go get dinner?" she asked , putting her backpack down.

"Yeah, I'm starving." I jumped out of bed and grabbed my clutch.

We walked over to the dining hall. After waiting in line for pizza, I sat down across from her. I could have eaten pizza for every meal. Melissa was eating a salad.

"So..." Melissa said.

"So, what?"

"So...did you call him?"

"Did I call who?" My heart was beating fast. Did she know about Professor Hunter? Was it that obvious?

"Austin? Who else? Oh wait! Are you dating Tyler now? Penny that's so exciting! I saw him at the party, you two were really cute together."

"No. No, I didn't call either one of them."

"Penny, come on. I heard Sigma Pi is having another party this Thursday that we have to go to. Tyler likes you!"

"I know he does," I sighed. "I just don't know if I like him."

"Well you have a few days to decide between the two. Because we're going out this weekend no matter what. And you're going to want a date because Josh asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Who's Josh?"

"What do you mean? Josh, Josh. The one I met at the party last Thursday. You met him too, he was the one who came up and talked to us right away."