The Professor

Chapter 14

NOAH

Fuck. That was all I could say to myself as I stared at Dalia.

The sound of her tapping her foot against the floor seemed to reverberate through the office while her head bobbed to the music playing through her earbuds. She was currently sitting on the couch next to the bookshelf, proofreading my lecture slides, and I was grateful for the distance between us because I had become a dumbass who was willing to risk everything to touch her in a way I shouldn’t.

It had been over a week since she first lent me a novel – she had lent me another after I returned the first – and with each day that passed, my attraction to her only kept escalating. It was difficult to deal with and I didn’t even know how she’d react if I expressed this desire. I didn’t even know if I should. I mean, I knew I shouldn’t but I– Gah!

I hated the fact that she was my student.

Dalia’s attention moved from my iPad to her phone which was on the table in front of the couch and as she picked it up, she frowned. The gesture brought my attention to her lips and when her tongue darted out to wet them, heat trickled down my spine as I imagined those lips doing something else.

Fuck. I pulled at the tie I was wearing to relieve some of the tension in my neck before her eyes snapped to mine, making me pause. This wasn’t the first time she’d caught me staring at her – she had been understandably surprised when she caught me the first time and the other times she caught me after that, I looked away before I could see her reaction – but unlike the first time, her face lit with a smile. Oh.

She took out her earbuds as she got to her feet and walked over to my desk, still smiling. She then leaned over and placed the iPad in front of me. “I’m done with them,” she said, referring to the lecture slides, before giving me a questioning look and I grinned.

“Arthur.”

She raised a brow. “That’s the boring answer. I didn’t give you the fifteen minutes I used to go through your lecture slides, which is perfect as always by the way, for you to give me the boring answer.”

“What do you want from me?” I asked with a laugh before she stood upright, folding her arms, and my gaze dropped to her chest for a moment.

“Give me an answer that’s not boring.”

“You’re so bossy,” I muttered but I actually liked it. I also liked the fact that we’d been talking a lot more recently.

Right now, she wanted to know who my favorite character in Merlin was because minutes ago, she found out my middle name was Arthur and that my mother named me that after the legendary King of Britain.

“Is it the answer or the character that’s boring?”

“Uh, both.”

I gaped at her. “Wow. So I’m boring?” I asked incredulously and a line appeared between her brows. “You said I was just like him.”

She erupted in laughter. “I said in some ways. You’re totally not boring,” she said and a quiet contentment spread through me. It was really nice to hear her say that.

“What about you? Who’s your favorite character?”

“Gwaine,” she replied with a grin and I arched my brow because that was the favorite character of almost all the women I knew. Taylor wouldn’t shut up about how he was her type for months after we watched it.

Without thinking, I asked, “Is he your type too?”

“My type?” She tilted her head to the side as she hmmed, thinking of an answer, before glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “I’d say I’m more of an Arthur girl,” she said and I blinked at her.

Does that mean… What does that mean? Which Arthur? Questions raced through my mind as I stared at her and moments later, I finally responded with an “Oh.”

A faint smile played across her lips and by the time I blinked, it was gone. She then picked up the paper I’d told her I needed copies of earlier from the desk. “I’ll be right back.” And with that she was gone.

I let out a harsh breath, my gaze lingering on the door, before trying to return my attention to my work but I also couldn’t stop trying to figure out which Arthur she had been talking about. Of course, I knew I was being ridiculous. She had just answered a question I asked her – a question I shouldn’t have asked in the first place… but she did glance at me before answering. And she did smile at me after answering. She also did say I was like him in some ways so…

God, I was pathetic.

Minutes later, she came back to the office while I was trying to find a textbook in my bookshelf and when she began to gather her things after dropping the copies she’d made on my desk, I drew my brows together slightly.

“You’re leaving?” I asked while she drank from the bottle of yogurt she pulled out of her bag and she nodded. When she pulled the bottle away from her lips, I saw that the yogurt had given her a little mustache and again, an image of her lips wrapped around something extremely inappropriate flickered through my mind.

Madman. I cleared my throat and shoved a hand in my pocket, hoping nothing alarming was noticeable.

“I’ve done everything I need to.”

“What about the year two assignments?” I gestured at the stack of assignments at the edge of my desk and when her eyes darted to them, her face fell.

“Oh.”

She looked like someone had squashed her dreams and I couldn’t handle being that person. I didn’t want to be that person. I was more interested in making her smile.

“You can take them home,” I said in a rush and she raised her brows as her eyes lit up a bit. “Or just grade them tomorrow. Whatever, really. Whatever works for you.”

A smile swept across her face.

“I’ll take them.” She quickly moved over to my desk again and I followed her so I could give her the marking keys for the assignment. “Thank you,” she added as I gave it to her and when she smiled at me again, I reached out - without considering how intimate the gesture would be - to wipe the yogurt off her upper lip.

Dalia froze.

I swallowed.

Her perfume wrapped around me like an aphrodisiac as we stared at each other, energy crackling between us, and though I had already wiped the yogurt off, my thumb was still pressed to the corner of her mouth. She’s so close.

My eyes dropped to her lips and as I swallowed again, I slid my thumb across her lips. My skin buzzed at the contact while she inhaled sharply, her lips parting, before I traced their inner wet curve.

“Noah…” Her voice was barely a whisper but having my name on those lips made a burn spread through my body, starting at my neck before spreading to my c**k.

Fuck.

I leaned forward, my heart pounding in my chest, but before my lips could graze hers, she jerked away from me, knocking the pen holder off my desk. The sound of pens hitting the ground filled the office.

What–

“Noah.”

I turned to see someone opening the door and a moment later, Avery came into view with a smile on her face that disappeared when she saw Dalia. Why is she here? I frowned while she began to walk towards me before returning my attention to Dalia who was now on her knees, scrambling to gather the pens. She was panicking and it was clear that it was what I had done – what I had tried to do – that caused it. Crap.

“Dalia,” I called and she paused, looking up at me with wide eyes, as Avery came to a stop next to me. “Leave them.”

Her eyes darted from me to Avery and back to me before she bobbed her head while getting to her feet. She then quickly grabbed the assignments and her bag and after muttering a quick ‘goodbye’, she rushed out of the office.

“Are you sure you want to keep her as your TA? She seems clumsy,” Avery said as Dalia shut the door and I gritted my teeth, annoyed with myself and with Avery for showing up when she did.

“What do you want?” The fact that I was irritated was evident in my tone and she didn’t miss it.

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine. What do you want?”

“Are you sure?” she asked and when I didn’t respond, she pursed her lips. “Well, I was thinking we could have that dinner together tomorrow night.”

I furrowed my brows. What dinner?

“The one you promised we’d have? Did you forget?” she added and it took me a while to remember that I had absent-mindedly agreed to take her to dinner two weeks ago. I had forgotten to retract that agreement.

Shit.

“I’m busy tomorrow night.”

“What about the day after?”

“I have dinner with my parents.”

“And the day after that?” she asked, leaning closer, and I moved away from her. Of course the reasons I’d given her were lies and I could keep giving her more but she’d just keep asking about the day after.

“Look…” I started and she raised her brows, a hopeful smile on her face as she waited to continue.

To be honest, Avery was pretty. Anyone could see that she was and she was also quite nice. I might not have hesitated this much to say yes to the dinner date if I didn’t have Dalia on my mind.

Dalia’s reaction to me trying to kiss her was beginning to make me think I shouldn’t have her on my mind the way I did though. If she hadn’t jerked away, Avery would have caught us smack-dab in the middle of kissing and that would have been horrible but I still couldn’t consider that reaction a good thing.

Perhaps I came on too strong, too fast.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have come on to her at all. Getting into a relationship with her would be a formula for disaster anyway… I should just force her out of my mind.

“Sure. Let’s do Thursday.”

****

DALIA

“Why the long face?” Weston asked, throwing his arm around my shoulder, after coming up to me and I heaved a sigh as we began to walk towards the parking lot.

“Where were you? I called.”

“I was at Nathan’s frat house. My phone died, sorry.”

“Oh.”

“Why do you look sad?” he asked and when I heaved a sigh again, he raised a brow. “Sweetie, you know a phone call works both ways, right?”

“Shut up, Weston,” I muttered but he was right though.

I had been waiting for Noah to call or text me since yesterday but he hadn’t. Well, he had texted this morning to let me know that he wouldn’t be coming to the uni today but that was it. He didn’t say anything about what had almost happened in his office yesterday and that was the reason for my current solemn mood.

I had been so excited after I left his office yesterday – seriously, I had kicked my feet in the air while giggling multiple times – but the excitement had gradually dissipated when he didn’t reach out to me as time passed. It felt like he was going to shut me out again.

“If you’re not going to say anything helpful, shut up.”

“Yeah, shut up Weston,” Norma added, falling in step next to him, and when her eyes met mine, they widened a bit. “Oh my God, Dalia. Why didn’t you tell me Noah was the son of Nord’s CEO?”

I furrowed my brows. I knew that Nord was the company she planned to intern at during the summer but Noah being the son of its CEO was news to me.

“He is?”

“You didn’t know?” she and Weston asked in unison and I returned my attention to him.

“You knew?”

“Yeah. Dad and his dad did business together last year. He and his dad were at the company’s end of the year party.”

“Really?”

He nodded. Huh.

“I just found out from Professor Dunhall,” Norma said and I tilted my head.

“You were talking to her?” I asked.

“God no. She was talking to Dr Hale. Well, more like bragging because he asked her out.”

…What? I came to a stop, making Weston stop too, but Norma kept walking for a couple of seconds more before realizing that we’d stopped.

He asked her out. He who? He Noah?!

Norma gave us a confused look, probably wondering why we’d stopped, but she seemed to realize why the next moment because realization dawned on her face. “Oh–”

“Anderson asked Dunhall out?” Weston asked and her eyes darted from him to me before she walked back to us.

“She said he’s taking her on a date tomorrow.”

Tomorrow… Sadness stirred within me at her response and I swallowed but then I remembered what happened yesterday and anger shot through me. What the hell? So he asked Avery out after he tried to kiss me in his office? Or even worse, he had asked her before that?

I scowled. What the hell?!

“Dalia?” Weston called and I turned to face him while Norma patted my arm. I hadn’t told her that he tried to kiss me yesterday so she probably just thought I was angry because the guy I liked was going on a date with someone else.

“You know how Avery is. She’s probably lying,” she said to placate me but it didn’t and I gritted my teeth. In the end, I didn’t have a right to be upset with anyone but myself.

“I don’t care,” I muttered before I resumed walking. “Let’s go, Weston. We need to go pick Chloe and Zoe up.”