I had butterflies in my stomach as I waited my turn on the stairs leading little by little downward toward the lecture platform in front of me but hidden by the rows of students. I was unsure if my uneasiness was due to being afraid of the grade I’d earned, or if it was because I was getting in closer in proximity of Dr. Michaels. I was disappointed in the way he’d treated Brandy. Maybe he’d just fallen off of his pedestal a bit, and maybe that was okay. I needed to get my head in the game and get Jaxon Michaels out of my fantasies.
“Here we go,” Michelle said breathlessly.
“Yes,” I agreed. I hadn’t even told her how nervous I was, or how much this man’s opinion mattered to me. Maybe I didn’t want her to feel worse for me in case I’d tanked the assignment, and she would if she knew how worried I was.
“I wish I could crawl in a hole right now,” Brandy added. “I’m so humiliated.”
“It’ll be okay, Brandy,” Cheryl comforted.
I felt sorry for the other woman. She’d taken this class solely to meet this man, and then I’d egged her on to ask the question. I felt like the biggest ass. “I thought he acted like a dick,” I said to ease her discomfort.
“The best I can hope for is that his TA has my paper. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I pray to God that Dr. Panty-Melter has the end of the alphabet.”
If Dr. Michaels did have the last letters it would mean I’d be face-to-face with the sexy professor within minutes. I felt my heart begin to thrum; I could almost feel it beating in my wrists and throat. There were too many students between my place in line and the desk to allow me to see which side the professor was seated on. To ease my nerves, I tried to make small talk with Michelle and my two new friends, laughing absently when Michelle told the others about the guy yanking on his jock during the lecture.
When we got to the place where the line split, the three of them went right while I went left. It was then I could see that the professor was in my immediate future. I cleared my throat and clung to my book bag, holding it in front of my body as a sort of shield; from what, I had no clue.
Four students in front of me, then three, then two… I could now hear his voice asking their names and it made a shiver run over my skin. My breathing got uncomfortably shallow, and then, an instant later his intense and brilliant blue gaze landed on me.
His eyes locked with mine.
“Miss Tomms,” he said my name without asking who I was. A shiver ran through me that he remembered; like it foreshadowed some earth-shattering scene about to come. Those intense eyes framed by incredibly dark lashes. The strong jaw. The broad, muscular shoulders. God, that face. That fucking sex hair. Up close it was criminal how incredibly sexy he was. He was utterly stunning.
My breath left me in a soft rush, and I sucked in another so I could speak. “Dr. Michaels,” I acknowledged with a small nod.
He had a file box in front of him that held the graded papers separated alphabetically by dividers. He reached in and slowly pulled mine out. Maybe this weird tradition he had of insisting the first assignment was printed out was his way to bring his students face-to face in order to press upon us just how intimidating he actually was. And, he was.
There was admiration in his eyes as they roamed over my face and hair, lingering on my mouth. I couldn’t help looking at his. His lips were as perfect as the rest of him, the lower one full and begging to be bitten. I cleared my throat. I felt like helpless prey; paralyzed by a mixture of fear and adulation; the venom of his incredible eyes and his scent. Whether it was his will to eat me alive or seduce me, it was certain that I would succumb to either in that moment. My heart thrummed inside my chest, blood rushing in my ears, wetness pooling between my legs. Oh, God, my legs went weak and I struggled to stand without wobbling.
His long fingers bent the stack of stapled paper so that the grade was hidden from view when he held it out to me. I held the book bag to me with one arm and reached for the document with the other hand.
He pulled it back for a second, denying it to me, his brilliant eyes still burning, but now teasing into mine. I cocked one eyebrow in question and a hint of a smile graced his luscious mouth. “I’d like to see you in my office, tomorrow. I have office hours from nine to eleven. Does that work?”
My mind was racing; wondering at the reason behind his request at the same time as my heart fell into the pit of my stomach. Did I totally screw up the assignment? I felt like I was about to throw up and wished the earth would open up and swallow me.
He cleared his throat. “Miss Tomms? Does that work for you?”
“Ummm," I stammered. "Yes, Professor. See you then.”
“Excellent.” He handed me the paper then; his eyes still not breaking contact. I felt like I was falling into the deepest end of the ocean, drowning, and only he could save me. I was in serious trouble.
“Yes, sir.”
My heart felt as if it would fly from my aching chest as I took the paper and turned, concentrating on walking, without rushing, to the far left of the room, taking the side stairs up to the marble lobby and then walking out of the building. I wanted to look at the grade as I clutched the still folded assignment in my hand, but something inside me hesitated. My heart felt like it would explode as I opened the folded pages and then, in astonishment flipped through the rest. There was no grade. No editorial mark-ups. Nothing.
"What the fuck?" I exclaimed incredulously, before walking outside to find my friend. I gathered myself in the few seconds it took to find her.
Michelle was sucking on a lollipop as if she hadn’t a care in the world while she waited for me under the big oak in the courtyard directly in front of the building. She pulled it out of her mouth with a “pop” as I approached. “Well? What’d ya get? I got a C minus,” she pouted with a shrug. “But, I’m no writer, so I guess I can live with that.”
“I don’t know, yet” I said, unceremoniously dumping my book bag on the ground at my feet and frantically shoving the paper inside. “I haven’t looked.” I didn’t know how to interpret the handsome professor’s message of nada and I was reeling from how he made me feel from just standing in front of him. I wasn’t sure I could tell her without a rant.
“What? Why not?” she asked, then promptly returned the sucker to her mouth.
I changed my mind and pulled the assignment back out of the bag, hoping she’d be able to offer some help sorting it out.
I began flipping through the pages, searching for any mark-up, or notations just in case I’d missed any before. There were none.
“It doesn’t say one damn thing. No notes, no grade; nothing!” I looked at her and then unzipped my bag and unceremoniously shoved the failed assignment inside. “I guess I failed.”
“Why do you say that?” Michelle asked perplexed, as we started to walk across campus.
“I just have a funny feeling,” I said casually, not sure what to say. The man had an effect on me that I’d never felt before. He didn’t touch me, he hadn’t said or done anything improper, but I’d felt like he had.
Michelle giggled. “Honey, I think we all got that funny feeling from the man,” she teased. “My ovaries explode every time he walks into the lecture hall.”