Temptation (The Hunted, #1)(72)

"Well it makes sense now."

"What?"

"Dating James is against the rules. Tyler was a safe choice, but you wanted a bad boy."

"That's not true." Was it true? I found Professor Hunter irresistible. Was I drawn to him because he wasn't good for me?

"Your boyfriend is a married professor. And you're a student. So, yes, I think you could classify him as a bad boy. Penny, bad boys are exciting, but they are always the wrong choice. Haven't you ever seen a romantic comedy?"

"Melissa, you don't even know him. He makes me so happy. He's wonderful." And sexy and dangerous. Oh my God, I've fallen for a bad boy.

"He makes you miserable, Penny! You've been a mess this whole past week. I've never seen you this upset and crazy before."

"Because I love him! And I was heartbroken when I thought it was over."

"I'm sorry, I am. I don't want to be judging you, but..."

"Then don't. Just be happy for me."

Melissa scrunched her face to the side again. "I'm sorry. I am happy for you. So you really love him, huh?"

"Yes." I smiled.

"I need to meet him."

"Okay, you can definitely meet him now. He almost stayed today but I told him I needed to talk to you first."

"Thanks. I would not have appreciated being blindsided with this. I can't believe you're dating your professor!"

"And you can't tell anyone, Melissa."

"That's going to be hard."

"Trust me, I know how hard it is."

"I can't even tell Josh?"

"Hopefully he doesn't already know. I haven't asked Tyler not to tell anyone yet. But if Josh doesn't know, please don't tell him."

"Wait, Tyler knows that James is Professor Hunter? He doesn't just think you're dating someone?"

"No, he knows."

"You have to text him. Like now. He's probably bad mouthing you to the whole frat."

"I don't think he'd do that."

"Text him, Penny."

I grabbed my phone off my desk and quickly typed out a message to Tyler. "Tyler, I'm really sorry about everything. If you could please not tell anyone about Professor Hunter though, I'd really appreciate it. I'm hoping that we can still be friends." I pressed send. Tyler thought I was no longer with Professor Hunter. If he knew I was with Professor Hunter again, he definitely wouldn't ever speak to me again. I put my phone back down on the desk. I just wanted to be happy about Professor Hunter asking me to be his girlfriend. Dealing with everything else made it hard for me to be excited, though.





Chapter 48


Wednesday

I sat down in my usual seat and took a deep breath. After my meltdown during my speech I knew people would be making fun of me. I was blushing already and no one else was here yet. It had taken every ounce of my willpower to come to class today. The deadline for dropping the class had passed. Besides, now I wanted to stare at Professor Hunter again.

As my classmates started to stroll in, I kept my eyes on my desk. There were a few snickers, but no one actually said anything to me. The chair next to me squeaked against the linoleum. I looked over as Tyler sat down.

"Hi," I said, trying to muster as much cheer to my voice as possible.

"Hey, Penny," he said without looking at me.

"Tyler?"

"Penny, I really don't feel like talking right now."

"Okay," I said softly and looked back down at my desk. "But I am sorry."

"You're sorry?" Tyler scoffed. "Right, I'm sure that you're real sorry that you're fucking our professor."

"Tyler!" I hissed.

"I can't do this." Tyler stood up and moved to the empty seat in front of him. I bit my lip. I had never wanted to hurt him. Our friendship meant so much to me, but he had never wanted to be my friend. There was nothing I could do to fix it.

When Professor Hunter walked into the room, Tyler's back stiffened. I closed my eyes. It was too painful to see Tyler this way. I so badly wanted for him to be happy.

"So, the first day of speeches was interesting," Professor Hunter said.

Several students laughed. Professor Hunter gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'm hoping that today will be a little more toned down. But I guess we shall see. First up, Heather Matthews."

Professor Hunter made his way to the back of the room. Tyler looked in the opposite direction as he walked by. Professor Hunter gave me a smile as he sat down in the seat next to me that was usually occupied by Tyler. I put my left elbow on my desk and rested my chin in my hand. I didn't care what anyone had to say during their speeches, all I wanted to do was stare at Professor Hunter.

He pulled out a stack of papers and began writing as Heather started talking. Professor Hunter folded the sheet of paper he was writing on and slid it onto my desk. He turned his attention back to the speech.

I slowly unfolded it and looked down at the message:

I wish we were alone right now.



I grabbed a pen out of my backpack and quickly wrote a response:

And what would you be doing to me if we were alone?