Cocky asshole.
I hate that he’s right. He really does have a way with women, one I can’t deny. Every girl on campus stops to notice Tucker and his twin brother. It’s hard not to with their chiseled good looks and muscular bodies. One Kane is enough, but two of them…
He analyzes every feature of my face as if I’m a specimen under a microscope. I study him with equal curiosity. Heat rolls over my skin in waves. He ignites a fire inside my body that only he can extinguish. As Tucker runs his thumb along his jaw, I’m speechless, unable to move or breathe.
I still haven’t answered his question, mostly because it doesn’t deserve an answer. Yes, I was thinking about him, but he doesn’t need to know. That would only feed his overinflated ego.
He winks, making a point that he already knows my answer. My silence has told him everything he needs to know. His gaze causes my lip to tremble along with my body.
He pulls a chair out from the table and sits across from me still burning a hole through me. My brain stops functioning, and I’m now wondering how I can go through with our lesson. I won’t make it long before I break my own rules. Tucker will make sure I break them sooner.
“I hope you’re ready to learn.” My voice is firm. “We have one hour before I have to get to my other job.”
I have to relieve Eden of her shift at Broad Street Beans. She has a meeting with the editor of the Strickland Gazette about her next assignment, and I can’t be late.
Tucker nods. “Then, let’s get to it.” His grin widens. “Teach away.”
He has a boyish look about him with his spiky blond hair and cute dimple nestled into his cheek. A boy that’s definitely a man in every way that counts. Ugh, I have to stop thinking about him, in any way. He’s my student. I have to act like the teacher, or in this case, the teaching assistant. Boundaries must be drawn to keep Tucker from crossing them.
Lead by example, one of my professors used to tell me.
Getting comfortable in the chair, I lean back against the wood and scan my notes. “Take out your textbook and flip to page fifty-six. The assignment is at the end of the chapter.”
He does as I say, and then peeks up at me, confusion scrolling across his handsome face. “You want me to read?”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Yes, Tucker, I want you to read. How do you expect to learn?”
He scratches the little bit of stubble on the corner of his jaw. “Well, I kinda thought you were going to help me.”
I tilt my head back and laugh, this time too loudly for this section of the library. Now realizing my error, I quiet down and lower my voice. “I’m not your nanny or your mommy. I’m not going to read to you as if the material is your bedtime story. We can’t have a rational discussion if you don’t read the chapter first.”
He sinks back against the hard, wooden chair and sighs.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on the table. “Are you willing to put in the time and effort to pass this class?”
Tucker glares at me. The lust that was once in his eyes is now gone. He looks as though he despises me for making him work for a change. I must be the only person who’s ever made him earn a grade. From the start, he’s acted as if I should hand him the answers just because he’s good-looking and rich.
Spoiled brat.
He won’t get over on me. Nope, not going to happen. By the time the semester is over, he’ll either give up or learn what it takes to make it in the real world where he clearly doesn’t live.
Instead of responding, he grips the edges of his textbook and pulls it closer to him. His long legs graze mine as he settles into his seat to read the material. A simple touch sends a tremor up my thigh. This needs to stop happening. Tucker cannot have this effect on me. But he does.
He smells is so good, I take in the scent of his spicy aftershave which fills my nostrils every time we’re together. I commit his perfectly sculpted features to memory starting with his spiky hair I’d love to see messy enough to run my fingers through. His thick arms flex beneath a fitted Strick U hockey tee.
He has no idea he has this effect on me. Or does he? Every irrational part of me wants to jump across this table and pounce like a cat in heat. I want to finish what we’d started the other day in the hallway.
Tucker must feel my intense gaze because he lifts his eyes from the book for a second to stare at me. There’s an animalistic look in his eyes as if he’s ready to attack. And I wish he would. He licks his lips, and I can’t stop myself from staring at his mouth, hoping he would lick every inch of my body with his skilled tongue.