Page 23 of Her Indecent Tutor
“No,” I said. “I liked it.”
His expression changed into something I’d never seen on him before. A mix of something hot and sweet, but with a touch of fear. And then he leaned forward, lips parted.
Oh god. He was about to kiss me.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I panicked.
My heart was pounding in my chest, I could hear the blood rushing in my ears, and I swerved him. The following minute was the longest sixty seconds of my life. No one said anything.
Eventually, I risked glancing up at him. “Um,” I began.
“Don’t tell me you’re a kiss virgin too?” His tone tried to be lighthearted, but his eyes had shuttered.
“No,” I said. “No, I’ve kissed boys before.”
“Right.”
“Sorry,” I began, trying to explain. “It’s just…I don’t think I can kiss you, Ryan —”
“Got it,” he snapped.
I blinked at him. How could he get it if I didn’t finish my sentence?I don’t think I can kiss you, without it just confusing me even more.
“It’s just that —”
“It’s okay, Tessa,” he interrupted. After a second, he softened a fraction. “You don’t have to apologize. I shouldn’t have…” he glanced away. “I just got caught up in the moment. Forget anything happened.”
“Okay,” I said, my gut twinging with disappointment.
We sat there for a moment longer, and I shivered, suddenly remembering we were naked. Before, it had been fine, but suddenly I felt way too exposed. I got up and started searching for my clothes.
“Are you going?” Ryan asked, watching me from the bed.
I froze. I had just been trying to find my clothes, but was that a hint?
“I can,” I said, then added, “I will. I need to take a shower and…do some other stuff.”
Ryan was already getting up. “Cool. I need to do stuff too, so…”
And that was how we ended up getting dressed in silence. Ryan walked me to his front door, not saying anything. I lifted a hand in a wave, and then got out of there, feeling empty inside.
How had the night, which had felt so magical at the beginning, turned out like this?
If there was one good thing about the rest of the week, it was that it was packed, which meant I didn’t have much time to dwell on the Ryan disaster. Due dates piled up, and on Wednesday after class, I hauled my ass to the math faculty, where I met up with Professor Rodrigo, sat in a room with six other students who had also failed, and took my redemption exam.
I was a little bit nervous because if I failed again, I was screwed. But as I worked through the questions, my anxiety abated. Sure, there were some tricky questions, but for the most part, I knew how to answer everything. I even had time to check over my responses at the end, and I caught a few arithmetic errors.
The weekend was busy, with a friend’s birthday, a party, and a shopping trip in the city. I slept in on Sunday. After getting up around noon, I headed to Willow’s dorm to see if she wanted to get brunch, but when I knocked on her door, a stranger answered. He was huge, jaw covered in stubble, with dark brown hair. It took me a moment to realize who he was: Logan Carrington. He looked nothing like Tim. In fact, helooked younger than his age of forty-two and was undeniably handsome. I instantly understood why Willow was into him.
Willow appeared next to him and introduced her boyfriend. Logan said they were about to go out for a meal and that I was welcome to join. It was nice of him to ask, but I politely declined, letting them spend their limited time together.
The following Monday, I was studying in the library with Phoebe and Grace when my redemption exam result was posted. Anxiety surged as I clicked on the link.
“I passed!” I shrieked a second later, then immediately slapped a hand over my mouth, remembering where I was. I shot apologetic looks to the students sitting nearby.
“Passed what?” Phoebe asked, looking at my laptop over my shoulder.
