“No, I—”
“Good Lord. Yes, I want this program to work so badly, it keeps me up at night. I’d sacrifice a lot to make it happen. I have sacrificed a lot. But I do have my limits.” She gave him an exasperated look. “This is not about the program. What I’m saying to you is that maybe there’s a way we can both get what we want.”
The words washed over him with heat. What he wanted? What he wanted was her lips on him again. What he wanted was her calling his name and begging for him to taste her, touch her, be inside her. He pushed past the lump in his throat. “And what is it that I want, professor?”
“Besides depraved things?” she teased. “A clean slate.”
“A clean slate,” he said, voice flat.
“Yes. Maybe not from the world yet. But from me. What your brother did was…what your brother did,” she said, the words hitching a little. “I’m not going to pin my feelings about that on you. That’s not fair. And I know you have Rivers, but maybe…you could use someone else you can be yourself with. A friend. Maybe a friend you kiss.”
He watched her lips move, processed the words, but couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Surely, he was dozing in his office and this was some twisted dream. “Friends who kiss.”
She adjusted her crooked glasses and wet her lips, distracting the hell out of him. “Yes. And maybe more than kiss, if that’s where things go. Let’s be real. We have a linked history we can’t change. It’s ugly and horrible, and I hate that it’s there. But I like you, and I think you like me. Plus, physical chemistry is a re
al thing. A scientific thing, by the way.”
He couldn’t help but smirk. She probably had charts about hormones and pheromones she could bust out to show him. He’d never found science sexy, but he bet she could sway his opinion.
“Based on my previous experiences, such an intense attraction is not something that’s all that common,” she continued. “At least not for me. I don’t normally want to rip some dude’s clothes off the minute I kiss him.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You want to rip my clothes off?”
She gave him a patient look, as if he were a kindergartner who just wasn’t quite getting what two plus two equaled. “Was my memo not clear enough the night in the foam pit? Believe me, you haven’t cornered the market on filthy thoughts.”
“Uh…” His brain had stopped functioning. His libido had wrestled away the reins and was galloping off into the sunset.
“All I’m saying is that yes, our pasts are intertwined, but by no fault of our own,” she said matter-of-factly. “Why should we let what happened take away yet another thing? Thinking about that… Well, it pisses me off.” Her lips pursed. “I’ve been through hell. You’ve been through hell. If we want to kiss each other, why shouldn’t we be able to do that? We’re grown people. We’re attracted to each other. We’re both lonely.”
He frowned. “You’re lonely?”
She let out a resigned sigh. “I have fantastic friends, but my work is my life. I’m busy and am going to get busier. I’m not in a place to go out and find people to date. And when I’ve tried, it’s usually been a disaster. You saw me after one of those disastrous dates the night at the bar. I’m an epically boring date, it seems.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But being with you… I don’t know. It feels easy.”
Easy. He’d never heard that word sound quite so complimentary. No one described him that way. But this woman, this woman who had every reason to hate him, was asking to spend more time with him. To be a friend. To be more than that.
“You’re serious about this,” he said carefully.
“I am.”
He couldn’t stop himself. He reached out and cupped her chin with his hand, examining her expression, trying to read her. “You’re telling me all this even when I said no, that I wouldn’t help you?”
Her lips kicked up at the corners. “Oh, I’m not worried. You’re going to change your mind about that whether we kiss or not.”
He cocked his head, amused at her confidence. “Oh, is that right, professor?”
She stepped close enough that her breasts grazed his chest, which sent a zip of awareness straight downward. “Yes. Because you watched a boring school-board video, which means you care about what happens to this program.”
He traced his thumb along her cheekbone, marveling at the fact that he was allowed to touch her again. “Maybe I just cared about what happened to you.”
She leaned into his hand, a warm look crossing her face. “That works, too.”
He stared down at her, his heart beating in his throat and much lower. Damn. This woman. How could he ever say no to her? He let out a breath, a white flag zooming up the flagpole. He closed his eyes briefly. “No one can know who I am. I can’t be on camera or present for any press. And I won’t be here for the day of the event.”
When he opened his eyes again, her lips were curved into a sexy, triumphant smile, one that made her whole face glow, and she looped her arms around his neck. “You’ve got my word. Thank you.”