Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(69)

"You had me in your phone as Professor Hunter?" He looked incredulous.

"I'm sorry." I wanted to cry again. "I don't think he'll tell anyone."

Professor Hunter pulled me into his chest. I could hear his heart beating, slow and steady. Now he knew about Tyler. It was time for him to leave my dorm thinking I was an awful person too.

"Can I walk you out?" I asked.

He pushed my shoulders back slightly and looked down at me. "You want me to leave?" There was so much pain on his face.

"No."

"Then I don't want to go."

"But I broke your trust. I had told you Tyler and I were just friends."

"And you were just friends when you told me that. I broke your trust by not telling you about my marriage. Even though I never said I wasn't married."

"So neither of us lied, but we both hurt each other."

Professor Hunter nodded his head.

"Then I guess we're even?"

A sly smile crept across Professor Hunter's face. "Penny, you're hard to control. And I'm used to being in control."

I gulped. I knew he was. The way he touched me, the way he could make my body react to him; he was always in complete control. His hands were still on my shoulders. I didn't understand why he was still here, but I was glad that he was. Even though I had been angry with him, I still loved him.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. It felt like we were in a stalemate. We had both hurt each other and neither one of us knew if we could trust the other.

"Penny, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know."

"You're the one that needs to make a decision. I still want you. I don't care about what happened between you and Tyler. All I care about is what we have."

"I've never felt the way I feel about you with anyone before. You make me feel like I'm living for the first time. But I'm sick of secrets. I don't want to hide that I'm dating you anymore. All the secrets make everything so much harder."

"Who do you feel like you're keeping secrets from?"

"Melissa."

"So tell Melissa that I'm your boyfriend."

I gulped. Boyfriend? My heart was beating fast. I had never heard anything more glorious in my life. "Is that really what you want?"

"Yes, I want you to be my girlfriend, Penny. I told you before that I didn't relish the idea of sharing you. I don't want you to be with anyone else ever again. Just me." He leaned down and kissed me hard. When he pulled away, he looked around my room.

"So this is where you live?" Professor Hunter pulled off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of my desk chair. He had a mystified look on his face.

"It's a dorm room. What did you expect?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't been in one for a while. It's a lot smaller than mine was." He turned to the montage of pictures on my bulletin board. "You're quite popular." He smiled at me.

I laughed. "No, not really."

"Why do you always put yourself down like that?" He reached for my hand. "Don't you see how wonderful you are?"

"No one else sees me the way that you do."

"All I see is you."

I gulped.

He looked over my shoulder. "Do you always make a habit of sleeping with clothing that you've stolen from people?" He pulled his sweater out from underneath my comforter.

My face flushed. "Just you."

"Just me." He traced his finger along my jaw line.

I wanted him to kiss me.

"This past week has been exhausting," he said.

"Then maybe we should take a nap."

Professor Hunter's lips curled into a smile. "As you wish." He slowly pulled his tie loose and unbuttoned his dress shirt. He laid both on top of his suit jacket. I would never stop admiring his sculpted torso. He unhinged his belt and pulled it free. He sat down in my chair and leaned over, unlacing his dress shoes.

I bit my lip as I watched him. Unlacing shoelaces shouldn't have been sexy, but everything he did somehow seemed sexual. He kicked off his shoes and socks and stepped out of his dress pants. Professor Hunter was standing in my dorm room in just his boxers. He folded his pants and draped them on the back of my chair.

"Are you going to join me?" he asked with a smile.

I had been staring. I unzipped and unbuttoned my pants, slid them down my legs, and pulled off my black t-shirt. I was left in just my panties and bra.

He picked up the pint of ice cream from my desk and took a spoonful as his eyes gazed over my body. "Delicious," he said seductively.

I wasn't sure if he was talking about the ice cream or me.

"Get in bed." He put the lid on the ice cream and put it back into the fridge.

I pulled the sheets back, hopped into my bed, and slid all the way over so that he could join me. He climbed in beside me. The twin bed was barely long enough for him and definitely too small for both of us together. He put his head down on the pillow beside me and looked into my eyes.

We stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. Him lying beside me felt so normal and so comforting. The pain in my chest had completely subsided.

"What are you thinking?" he whispered.