Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(19)

Raymond walked confidently to the podium. He placed both hands on either side of the top of it and leaned in a bit. It looked like he had done this hundreds of times. Was I unaware of a prerequisite to this class? I was getting nervous and I wasn't even presenting until Friday.

Raymond gave a funny presentation about his grandfather who was "clearly better than any of Professor Hunter's grandparents" and deserved a proper shout-out.

Tyler leaned over a little to me. "Crap, he stole my idea."

I laughed quietly. It looked like Professor Hunter's back stiffened.

Without commenting on Raymond's speech, Professor Hunter called out the next name. He never spoke after any of the speeches, just finished writing his notes and called the next name on his list. I heard a wide array of stories about friends, siblings, parents, and significant others. They started to all blur together.

At the end of the last speech, Professor Hunter said, "Great job today. Class dismissed." He was still scribbling notes.

"I'll see you at lunch, Penny," Tyler said and stood up.

Crap. Now Professor Hunter knew I had a sort of date.

Professor Hunter looked down at his paper and tilted his head a little to the left. He wanted to hear what I had to say. It was the first time all day he had acknowledged my existence.

"Don't be late, I have a class at two," I said.

"I wouldn't dare." Tyler laughed and walked out of the back door of the classroom.

I stayed seated. My heart rate was accelerating. When the class had emptied, Professor Hunter turned and put his papers into his satchel.

"I'm sorry about the other night, Miss Taylor. I was out of line." He still wasn't looking at me, just fumbling with his notes.

"I'm not sorry."

He shook his head back and forth. "You don't need to be, it was my mistake."

"I mean that I'm not sorry that it happened."

Sitting in that desk made him look just like a student. Why couldn't he have just been a student? He finally turned his head to look at me. He looked angry. For some reason I could tell he wasn't mad at me though. He was angry at himself.

"Enjoy your lunch date, Miss Taylor. I will see you in class on Friday." He abruptly stood up and walked away.

I wanted to get up and walk with him, but something kept me in my chair. I gulped. There was something about that anger in his eyes. I suddenly felt extremely cold. The realization hit me hard. This wasn't a game. Flirting with him wasn't the same as it was with guys my own age. Professor Hunter had an air of danger around him. He was intriguing because he terrified me.





Chapter 17


Wednesday

Tyler and I met outside Russell Dining hall at 12:30, which was a horrible mistake on cheese steak day. The line was already ridiculously long.

"Hey."He gave me a big hug.

"We better get in line," I said and pulled away.

We went into the dining hall and stepped into the back of the line.

Tyler turned to me. "Wanna play 21 questions?"

"Yeah, sure. You can go first."

"Okay. Why did you agree to have lunch with me?"

I laughed. "Because your persistence is charming. Why did you want to have lunch with me?"

"Well isn't that obvious? Because I like you. You're cute and funny, and you can be pretty assertive when you need to be."

I cringed. "I'm sorry about kneeing you in the crotch."

"Ha, I deserved it. Please. Next question. How many boyfriends have you had?"

"One. No. Well, yes. But not really..."

He laughed. "Simple question."

Why did I agree to play this game?! "It's a complicated answer."

"Fair enough. Your turn."

"How many girlfriends have you had?"

"Three. What's your major?"

"Marketing. What's your major?"

"Penny you're cheating. You're not supposed to just repeat every question I ask."

"Oh. Okay. Well, then. What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?"

"I don't get embarrassed easily."

"Well you're the exact opposite of me then. But if you had to just choose one thing that a normal person would probably find embarrassing?"

He laughed. "Well, one time at camp I wet my pants while I was sleeping. And my sleeping bag got completely soaked. So after everyone woke up I switched it with my bunkmates so that everyone would think he did it."

"Tyler! That's not embarrassing for you. That's embarrassing for the boy you played the prank on."

"I don't know...I mean, I just told you I used to wet my bed."

I laughed. "Okay, fair enough. Next question."

"What's the most scandalous thing you've ever done?"

I thought about my back against the car and Professor Hunter pressing against me. "Pass!" I almost yelled. I knew my face was turning red.

"Ooohh," Tyler laughed. "Jackpot. Penny you have to tell me, it's part of the game."

I was bad at thinking on my toes and even worse at lying. "Errr...one time I...Oh, please, Tyler..."

"Okay, fine. You don't have to tell me now. But I will get it out of you eventually." He was smiling.