Page 27 of The KING Review

She rolls her eyes. “The fact that you even have to ask shows just how overdue it is.”

I chuff a laugh, then decide to play along. “Doctor Hart,” I begin, not missing how she straightens in her chair, thighs pressing together slightly. “I don’t know how to fill this prescription.”

She knows I’m playing with her, just like I know she’s playing with me. It feels like flirting, like foreplay, like mutually assured destruction.

Her eyes narrow, golden yellow in the dim light of my office, and I have the sneaking sense that I’m about to get fucked over.

“What else do you have to do today? After this, I mean.” She gestures between us.

My brain is as slow as cold molasses, so I answer before I can think it through. “I don’t have anything in my schedule after this. No more teaching, anyway.”

I realize I just set myself up when Neve’s mouth ticks, a wolfish smile painting her pretty face.

I should not be thinking about how pretty she is.

“Okay, we’re going to do something,” she declares.

I wait expectantly for her to continue, but she doesn’t. “And what is that?” I ask wearily.

“I’m thinking,” she says. “Don’t rush me.”

I watch her brow furrow, trying not to think about how adorable it makes her look, then I find myself saying almost against my will, “I have an idea.”

Neve’s brows fly up as her eyes cut back to mine. “You do? What is it?”

I stand, tilting my head to the door. Her mouth pops open, stunned, and I try my best not to track the movement as I smile coyly. “It’s a surprise. Let’s go.”

Chapter Ten

Good Art is Supposed to Do That

Neve

Ihave absolutely no clue where we’re going. If it were pretty much any other guy telling me to get in their car because they have a surprise, I almost certainly wouldn’t go.

But this is Grant. I trust him, even as we drive right to the edge of town, almost back over the bridge where my old apartment used to be, until we come to a little community center right on the outskirts.

“Where are we?” I ask as he cuts the engine.

The sun is setting, casting orange across the suspension cables, throwing shadows across the bridge and into the water. When Grant looks at me, his eyes light up in the glow, and the sunset oranges bring out the auburn tones in his hair and his beard.

He’s too attractive, and it’s a little unfair—especially when he smiles like that.

It might be the first unguarded smile he’s given me. I get that he has to be pretty careful, especially when we’re on campus, and I’d never want him to risk his job—but seeing him like this is mesmerizing. I want more of this relaxed, at-ease Grant.

I want him for myself.

The thought straightens my spine, though it’s not surprising at all—to me or probably to him—I think I’ve made my position pretty clear, especially after blurting that I want him the day I gave him my number.

“Have you met Cade’s sister, Liv?” he asks, locking the car.

“Yeah—when Fia and Cade did their seminar thing.” I chuff a laugh. “We’re both pretty clumsy, apparently.”

Grant smirks to himself. “Why doesn’t it surprise me to learn that you’re clumsy?”

I feign affront, slapping a hand to my chest. “You wound me.”

He quirks a dark brow, and it makes him look a little rakish. I want to climb him like a tree.