Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(54)

***

I woke up panting. Professor Hunter could even arouse me in my dreams. My heart was racing. He had warned me. Kind of. He had wanted it to be a one-time thing. He had told me he thought if he gave in to temptation he could forget about me. He didn't just want to forget about me, he needed to. I pictured the suitcase in his office. He was probably traveling back and forth to visit his wife. Shit. And he had told me he didn't want me to know what kind of man he was. There were so many signs. And I had thrown myself at him without thinking twice about any of them. I had acted like a slut. I pulled my phone off my desk and opened up the message I had ignored last night.

"Penny, I had a wonderful day with you. And a wonderful night. If there's something that I've done to upset you, I'll fix it. Just tell me what it is."

I typed out, "I'll talk to you after class," and pressed send. Melissa was right, we needed to talk. Mostly I needed to apologize for tempting him to cheat on his wife. He shouldn't have done it, but I was to blame too. I needed to tell him it was over before it got any worse. I rolled out of bed and began getting ready.

As I pulled the textbooks out of my bag, my fingers brushed against soft petals. Tyler. I picked up the flattened rose from the bottom of my backpack. Maybe Professor Hunter was right. There wasn't such a thing as a friendship rose. I opened up my closet and looked at the beautiful roses that Professor Hunter had sent me. The one in my hand was wilted and sad looking in comparison. I closed the door, poured some water in a cup, and put Tyler's rose in it on my desk. Despite its appearance, that rose was without a question the sweetest. Once I ended things with Professor Hunter, maybe I could finally give Tyler a fair chance.

But this was going to be hard. I put on waterproof mascara just in case. Even though I was mad at Professor Hunter, I still loved him. It was going to be a while before I could shake those feelings. I had thought that Austin had broken my heart. But that didn't even compare to this. I actually felt a pain in my chest. And my stomach hurt. My Chinese food fix hadn't helped at all.

I pulled my backpack over my shoulder and left my dorm room. The air was chilly again today. A few leaves were even turning yellow and red. It was time for a fresh start. This whole time I had thought Professor Hunter was just a dream. Now he needed to become one. I strolled into Smith and up the stairs to Professor Hunter's classroom. No, the Comm classroom. I needed to change my way of thinking about things.

I made my way to my usual seat. My heart was already pounding. I smiled as Tyler walked in. He came over to me and sat down.

"Want to grab lunch with me today?" he asked.

"Definitely."

"How about Grottos again? That was delicious."

"That sounds perfect."

"I actually have some news to share with you."

"Yeah? What's up?"

Professor Hunter walked into the room and I stopped breathing.

"I'll tell you at lunch," Tyler said.

Professor Hunter's hair was unruly and he was wearing his glasses. It didn't look like he had slept at all. He looked at me and I could see the pain he was feeling. I felt the same way he did. Not talking to him had been impossibly hard. For a second all I wanted to do was kiss him. I broke eye contact and looked down at my desk. I needed to be stronger than that.

Professor Hunter cleared his throat. "Passion," he said. "Passion is what drives a good speech. Passion drives everything. And it's probably one of the reasons why you chose your majors."

I heard the squeak of the chalk on the board and looked up. I had to will myself to not undress him with my eyes.

"Without passion, there really is no meaning in life." He turned around and locked eyes with me again.

Is he trying to justify his actions? I had lived this long without passion and I was fine. I took a deep breath. But was I really? The way I felt around Professor Hunter was so different. It was like I was alive for the first time.

"Today I'd like us all to talk about something that we're passionate about. Ray, kick us off."

Ray stood up. "I'm passionate about any good booty." The class laughed and he began to sit down.

"Ray, don't you dare sit down." I had never heard Professor Hunter sound so angry before. Except for when he talked that way to me in private.

Ray laughed awkwardly and continued to stand there.

"Passion is not humorous. Unless your passion is humor. Don't make a joke of my assignments, Raymond."

"I'm not, man."

"That's Professor Hunter to you. Get the hell out of my class," he growled.

Ray leaned down and grabbed his backpack. He left the room without turning around. The whole class was silent.

Professor Hunter cleared his throat. "I am passionate about teaching. That would be an acceptable answer." He called the next name and the girl rose to her feet. It looked like she was shaking.

I tuned out her answer. What the hell was happening? Had Professor Hunter completely lost his mind? I had never seen a professor freak out on a student like that before. He had a hot temper. I remembered what Melissa had said about how he got fired from his last teaching job. It probably was true.

"Penny Taylor," Professor Hunter said. The way my name rolled off his tongue made all my muscles clench.

I rose to my feet and locked eyes with him. "I'm passionate about honesty." I quickly sat back down. That's right, Professor Hunter, I know your secret!