Three days I’d been avoiding her, so I could avoid my attraction.
Three days, and I had every intention of making today the fourth. I just needed to get to the office.
Summer classes wrapped up, but I figured picking up some papers would be the perfect excuse to hide away from her again before the weekend.
I just made it to the stairs when a stranger’s voice came from the crack in her door.
“Hang in there, Bella. School will start, and you’ll have so many friends, you’ll be too busy for measly little me back home.”
“Oh, shut up,” Arabella said, laughing. “And I know. I just miss you and running to get coffee to chat. I see people at work, but it’s not quite the same.”
“Go talk to hot Uncle Willem.”
I pinched my lips, hiding my laugh at the way her friend said my name in a breathy, seductive voice.
“Shut up. He’s not my uncle.”
“Your hot uncle.”
“Fine, I’ll admit to that and nothing else. He’s kind of hot.”
“Yesssss.”
“Besides, he’s been MIA.”
“Sorry, boo.”
“It’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”
“You always do. But I have to go, Bella. Call me anytime.”
“Thank you. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Bye.”
Guilt had me frozen. Right then, I didn’t know what the right thing was. Did I leave to avoid thinking dirty thoughts about my stepbrother’s daughter? Or did I stay to help the obviously lonely girl? My shoulders dropped, and I ran a hand over my face. The obvious right thing to do would be to not have any illicit thoughts in the first place, but it felt like a useless battle. I could fight all I wanted; they’d just come to me in my dreams anyway.
Making a decision, I knocked on her door and waited.
“Yeah?”
“Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
I pushed the door open to find her sprawled on her bed with her computer in front of her. She wore what looked like a man’s flannel shirt that barely allowed the short, frayed hem of her jean shorts to peek out. She closed the laptop, giving me a perfect view of the gaping vee of her shirt, hinting at her cleavage.
“Are you doing anything today?” I asked.
“Ummm…” she hesitated and looked skeptical like I was trying to trick her into something. “No. I just have to work tonight. It’s my first Friday,” she explained, relaxing her furrowed brows and giving me that devious smirk I’ve come to know so well. “I’m the beer girl.”
“Exciting.”
“Hopefully, better tips.”
“Well, I was going to see if you wanted to come to school with me today. Classes ended last week, and I needed to grab some papers. I figured I could show you around campus a bit. Maybe get some supplies.”
“Umm…”
Her teeth sank into her lush lip, and a hint of regret for asking sank through me. I was just setting myself up for trouble. But she answered before I could even consider backtracking.
“Sure. Let me get changed.”
“I’ll be downstairs.”
Her smirk grew. Not a smile, but still something more. I knew this was a bad idea, but I couldn’t regret it too much when she smiled like that.
Surprisingly, conversation was sparse on the way to campus and then on the short walk to my office. She looked around, taking in the tall buildings, her face inscrutable to what she thought of it all.
“So, this is where all the magic happens,” she joked, sliding her hand along my desk.
“I guess you could say that,” I laughed.
She looked at my diplomas and pictures from my travels I’d displayed on my office walls and shelves as I grabbed my papers.
“Did you know they call you the hottie of economics?”
I groaned and looked up to find her staring at me over her shoulder, her dark brow raised high. “Yeah. I’ve heard from one or two people. A few students have been a little forward about it, too.”
This got her full attention. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She strutted over, somehow making her plain white T-shirt and black denim overalls look sexier than any schoolgirl outfit. When she finally reached my desk, she perched on the edge closest to me. “Thank you, Dr. Deander, for seeing me during office hours,” she said in a breathy voice, gently biting on the tip of her finger before running it across her lips. “I’m sure I can earn that A another way now that we have some privacy.”
Thank goodness I’d been sitting, otherwise she would have seen what her little performance was doing to me.
“Even the straight A students offer.”
“Oh, I bet.” She scooted back until her feet dangled above the floor. “The way the girls at work talk about you, they’d take any chance they could with you—for free.”
“Jesus,” I groaned, both at the thought of anyone gossiping about me and also the way she leaned back on her hands, thrusting her chest out.
“So, Dr. Deander. Would you ever take a student up on her offer?”