another direction. He mumbled something that was probably an apology, but with her mind screaming a few dozen curse words, she didn’t hear him. He caught her shoulder in one of his huge hands and pulled. “Come inside. You can wear my jacket. You must be cold.”
She could guess where he got that idea from! “Thanks. I’m freezing. Wouldn’t you know it? Out of nowhere it just started pouring. I hate this time of year.” She stepped into the classroom but hung back by the door, letting him go past her. He pulled a tweed jacket off the back of his chair and handed it to her.
Her heart sank. That wasn’t the kind of jacket she was hoping for. That jacket looked like the kind that would get ruined easily. But it did look cozy. “Oh, I don’t know. This looks like an expensive jacket. I’ll get it all wet—”
“I’m not worried about it. Please.” He held the jacket by the shoulders and rounded Sophie. “You look like you’re freezing.”
“Okay. Thanks.” She stuffed her right arm through one sleeve, then twisted slightly to find the other one with her left hand. Her shoulder brushed against Ric as she slid her hand into the opening. She found herself short of breath all over again. This guy had a real talent for stopping all normal biological processes in a girl. She voluntarily sucked in a deep breath and turned, whispering, “Thanks” when she was facing him full front.
His chin tipped down as he regarded her with eyes that seemed more gold than brown, unlike earlier. His fingers skimmed the length of her arms, then caught the collar. “My pleasure.” He straightened the collar—must’ve been lopsided. When he blinked, his eyes shone even more gold, like the color of a cat’s eyes.
That warm, velvet sensation fluttered through her head again, setting her heart rate into triple time. She tried to think of something funny and clever to say, something to break the spell that seemed to be tangling itself around her, snarling the impulses charging through her brain. “I…I…”
His head tipped to the side. His eyelids fell to half-mast, partly obscuring those bizarre gold eyes. His tongue darted out to moisten his lips.
Oh my God, he’s going to kiss me!
She closed her eyes, dragged in a deep breath, and waited, knowing it would be the kiss of a lifetime, like none she’d ever experienced.
Unfortunately, no sooner did his warm, moist lips make contact with hers than a voice called from somewhere behind them, “Professor Vogel?”
Interrupted again! Dammit.
That young person’s voice acted like a bucket of ice water falling from the sky, completely quenching the spark that brief kiss had just begun to ignite. She twisted her neck to look one way. Ric looked the other. The result was impact between her forehead and his nose.
He yelped in surprise. Both his hands flew to his face. “Yes, yes. Matt?”
“Sorry, Professor Vogel. I came back here to ask you a question about Monday night’s assignment.” The young man’s nervous gaze hip-hopped from Ric to Sophie, then back to Ric again. “I can call your office Monday morning if that would be better.”
Apparently checking his nose for a fracture, Ric said, “No, that’s okay. What’s your question?”
“I was just wondering if we had to answer the questions on the section on sexual reproduction or just asexual?”
Sophie snorted through her nose.
Ric gave her a one-eyebrow-lifted, teary-eyed glance, then turned to Matt and said, “You need to read the entire chapter and answer all the questions at the end of each section.”
“Okay. Sorry for, er, interrupting. I didn’t think you’d have company.”
“We’re doing some…research,” Ric said, motioning toward Sophie.
“Yeah. Sure. If that’s what you want to call it.” He chuckled, then called over his shoulder as he walked back to the door, “I think I’ll put in my application for department student research assistant if this is the kind of research the bio department is doing.” He shut the door behind him.
Sophie laughed. “Smart kid. Is it broken?” She pointed at Ric’s nose.
“No. Just sore. Maybe we should take this back to my office. It’s a little more private. We won’t have any more interruptions.”
That last word sent a shudder of expectation down her spine. She’d never done it in a university professor’s office before. Sounded like fun. “Sure. Okay. Say, what’s this about sexual reproduction? I thought you were a biology teacher, not sex ed.”
He gave her a martyred look tempered with just the slightest smile. “We don’t teach sex ed in college. The chapter’s on cellular reproduction, not human reproduction.” He gathered some things from his desk, including the book from the library, then opened the door for her. “Some people’s minds.”
“What can I say? I hear the word sex, I tend to think in human terms. I’d say that’s pretty ordinary,” she teased as she fell into step beside him.
Moments later Sophie and Ric made themselves comfortable in his closet-sized office—the size of which was fine by her. The closer she was to the hunky professor the better. She asked, “Can I ask you a stupid question?”
“Fire away.” He stretched his arms overhead. What a view! Thanks to the well-fitting, short-sleeved shirt he wore, she could see all the yummy planes and ridges of his sculpted chest and arms. Sure she was about to melt, she fanned herself with the nearest scrap of paper she could get in her hands.
“Are you warm?”
“Just a little.”
“You could take off the jacket.” His gaze dropped to her chest; then he said, “On second thought, I could open the door.” He pressed his palms to the desktop as he started to rise from his chair.
“Oh no!” she said, halting him. “I’m fine. Really. I’ll take privacy over creature comforts any day.”
“Okay. But you’ll let me know if it gets too hot?”
“You betcha.”
He settled back into his chair again. She drank in the sight of him, so yummy in so many ways. Perfect hair, perfect face, weirdly wonderful eyes that again looked like molten chocolate. Shoulders, chest, narrow waist and hips. She could hardly believe she was in this room with this man. And even more, she could hardly believe he seemed to be flirting with her! No one who looked like he did ever gave her a second look, let alone a come-hither one.
“You wanted to ask me a question?” he said a few moments later, probably feeling weird being ogled again. She was definitely stuck in ogle mode.
“Oh, yeah. Um. Well, why is a professor of natural science doing research on religious relics? I’d expect that to be appropriate research material for a professor of religious studies or even history. But biology? What would an old spear and shield have to do with cellular reproduction?”
“More than you might think.”
She leaned forward, intrigued. When he didn’t elaborate, she said, “That’s all you’re
