Several of the other students turned back to look at him, some with raised brows and some with sneers on their faces, but it was the girls in the class who stared at him with intrigued eyes that had my own eyes rolling. All they saw was the new guy in school, the one wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans. They wanted the danger he emanated, nothing more, and nothing less. And I was under no illusion he’d be more than happy to give it to them.
The classroom emptied of students, but I didn’t move from my spot near the desk. Carter still hadn’t looked up, his attention focused on his cell, so I stepped toward him. My heels clicked on the hard floor, each one getting closer and closer to him until, finally, I was in front of his desk.
“Carter?” He didn’t make a move to say he’d heard me, only his thumbs were moving as he typed out a message. I placed my hand on his and reached forward with my other one then plucked it out of his hand. It vibrated against my palm, but I didn’t look down at the screen, I kept my attention focused on Carter’s face as he slowly moved his gaze to mine.
“What you doin', teach?” His voice was rough, and somehow deeper than it had been that morning.
“I’m trying to get your attention.”
His tongue trailed over his bottom lip, his gaze not straying from mine. “That right?”
“Yes, Carter, that is right.” I shook my head. “You can’t sit at the back of my class and not pay attention. I told you the rules.”
“I’ve already read the book,” he said with a shrug and leaned forward.
“You have?” I asked, my breath hitching. If he’d already read the book then… “Tell me what it’s about?”
His nostrils flared, but it was the twitch of his long fingers on the desk that had my attention. “It’s a story about forbidden love.” I glanced back at his face and watched his eyes spark. “It’s a story about how a woman wants what she can’t have, and goes to any lengths to get it.” I couldn’t look away from him, fascinated with the way his tongue rolled over the words he was saying. “She gets what she wants, but it’s at a cost. It’s always at a cost.”
I felt his fingertips against the side of my knee and tried to hold in my gasp. My skin was on fire from his touch, and I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from it as he trailed his fingers higher.
“What else?” I whispered.
“People think the sex and illicit affair is what it’s about, but they’re wrong.” His fingers met with my inner thigh, and I squirmed. “It’s about how society views the world. Who gets to decide what is right and wrong? Who gets to tell people what they can and can’t have?”
I swallowed at the intensity of his gaze and felt myself shuffling forward. His hand was so close to my core, and I knew my panties were wet from the way he was touching me, but it wasn’t just that. It was the way he’d talked, the way he’d been able to tell me about the story in a way no one else ever had before.
“Miss Bernard?” I jumped away from Carter and spun around, just in time to see Jarod—one of my top students—knock on the classroom door and enter. “Oh, sorry, Miss Bernard. I didn’t realize you were busy.”
“I’m not!” I shouted, and winced at my own voice carrying over the mostly empty room. “Sorry, Jarod.” I shook my head and placed Carter’s cell on the desk in front of him. I kept my gaze focused on Jarod as I stepped toward him. “This is my nephew, Carter.” I heard the creek of a chair behind me, and I had no doubt Carter had stood.
Jarod’s eyes widened and he pulled at the collar of his T-shirt. “Hi,” he squeaked out.
“’Sup,” Carter replied, moving past me and toward my desk. “You were in my chemistry class, right?”
“I…I was,” Jarod stammered, and all I wanted to do was tell him it was okay. He got so nervous around people and liked to live inside a world of books and studying that he was forgetting about the real world around him. “Mr. Pal was an…”
“Asshole?” Carter finished for him, and I couldn't even bring myself to correct him. From what Guy had said, he wasn’t wrong.
“What can I do for you, Jarod?” I asked, steering the conversation away from the man who I was meant to be dating.
“Oh, I...I just wanted to know if I could get any extra credit this semester? It’d look good on my college applications.”
I smiled at him as he looked down at the floor, his too long hair flopping forward with the move. “You have more extra credit than you know what to do with,” I said. “But yes, I’m sure I can find something for you to do.”
“Yeah?” Jarod’s head lifted, his gaze veering from Carter to me and back again. “Thanks, Miss Bernard.” He grinned and spun around, leaving the classroom without another word.
“Damn, Miss Bernard has someone pining over her.”
I spun around and pointed at Carter. “I do not. Stop it right now.” His eyes widened, but it didn’t take long for his lips to quirk into a grin. “Oh stop with that grin and grab my bag. I want to go home.”
“Already?” Carter asked, following me out of my classroom. “Don’t teachers have to stay late and do shit?”
“No,” I started. “We don’t have to stay late and...do shit. I can do my paperwork at home with a tub of ice-cream next to me.”
“Wow.” Carter walked ahead of me and used his back to open up the doors. “That’s the high life right there, Aunt Skylar.”
“Don’t call me that,” I ground out, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I was pretending I hadn’t felt his hand against my thigh and forgetting about the wetness he’d caused. It was just a gut reaction because I hadn’t slept with anyone in so long. How long had it been now? Six months? Nine? Twelve? Damn. No wonder I was getting all hot and bothered. I needed to get laid. STAT.