Chapter 3

ADRIAN

I pushed against him again, but he didn’t even let up an inch.

“Mr. Carter…”

“Do you know what I find the most insulting about that night?” he interrupted.

I exhaled sharply. “This is not the appropriate time to…”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small, slightly creased piece of paper.

“This…” He raised the paper higher. “This was what I found the most insulting.”

I frowned as I stared at the paper in his hand. I didn’t remember leaving a note.

But then again, I’d chosen to shelve most of the memories from that day into the back of my mind.

He shook the paper in my face. “I’ve kept this with me since the day you left it. I thought I’d never see you again but I guess the universe chose to be generous.”

“Look, I don’t remember leaving any note. If you’ll just tell me what it says…”

That seemed to annoy him even more.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “You don’t even remember what you wrote?”

“No… not exactly.”

“‘Thanks for the company.’ That was what you wrote. Just ‘Thanks for the company.’ No name. No phone number. Just that.”

Now that he mentioned it, I remembered now.

At the time, it had felt like the nice thing to do.

My eyebrows furrowed. “I fail to see exactly how that is so offensive.”

He snorted. “Seriously? You dared to sneak out without a goodbye and then you left me a thank-you note. What am I? A hooker? The only thing left for you to do was throw money at my face.”

I was sure it wouldn’t please him if I told him that yes, at the time, I had considered it.

It was better to keep quiet.

I almost smiled despite myself. He was so riled up and it was kind of… amusing.

“And here I thought I was being polite.”

His eyebrows shot upward. “Polite?”

“I didn’t think waking you was necessary. It seemed like a kind gesture at the time.”

“A kind gesture?”

“Yes.”

He looked genuinely baffled. “You disappear before sunrise, you leave me an insulting thank-you note like I was a hooker you hired for the night—”

“I was trying to be nice—”

“— And you think that’s kindness?”

I held his gaze. “I only did that to avoid unnecessary complications that neither of us would want.”

Something shifted behind his eyes. “You really believe that.”

“I do.”

He studied me for several long seconds. Far longer than was comfortable.

It was an unnerving habit of his that I’d noticed since that night.

Lucas looked at people as though he expected to unveil every secret they possessed if he stared hard enough.

“I’m starting to think,” he said quietly, “that’s what you’ve grown comfortable doing. Pushing people away. You’ve probably done it too many times that you don’t see the wrong in it anymore.”

I stiffened. The words hit a little too close to home than they should have.

It was another thing Dylan had told me that night. That I never let anyone in. That I was like an impenetrable ice structure.

Anger flooded my veins and I welcomed it.

Just who did Lucas Carter think he was? We spent one night together.

One night.

That wasn’t enough for him to start acting like he’d figured me out.

“You know nothing about me,” I said coldly. “Know your place.”

He couldn’t possibly know.

He knew nothing about me. Nothing about what I’d had to endure.

Nothing about the life I’d built after everything had fallen apart.

Nothing about broken promises. Or heartbreak.

If I thought my frosty tone would push him away, I was wrong.

He leaned in even closer until his lips were at my ear.

My brain screamed at me to push him away but my arms remained stiffly at my sides.

It was like I was frozen. The only thing I could register was him.

Just him.

His magnetic presence. His tall frame. His all too familiar scent that wrapped around me like an intimate hug.

“I’m not like the others. You can try to push me away, but I won’t let you,” he murmured into my ear.

Before I could react, he sucked the lobe of my ear into his mouth.

I was filled with shock for a moment. And then I slowly registered the sweet suction on my ear.

For a brief moment, I thought about pushing him away.

But I didn’t do that.

Instead, I did the most embarrassing thing possible.

I moaned.

That one sound was enough to jar me out of whatever spell he’d put me in.

I shoved him away roughly and this time, it worked and he stumbled backwards.

It created enough space for me to run out of his arms. Out of his shadow. Out of his intimidating presence.

My heart raced as I walked blindly toward the doors.

God, what was wrong with me? How could I have allowed him to pin me against a desk in an open room where anyone could walk in and get the wrong message?

On the first day too?

I’d worked so hard for this and yet…

His voice reached me before I could escape.

“Adrian.”

I stopped.

It was the first time he’d said my name.

Not Professor. Or Mr. Frost. But Adrian.

I didn’t look back.

But that didn’t stop him.

“I don’t regret any of what happened.”

His voice was lighter now. Less playful and teasing.

“I just thought you should know.”

I didn’t trust myself to answer, so I didn’t.

My fingers tightened on my briefcase and then I walked away.

I didn’t stop walking until I was completely out of the humanities building.

Only then did I realize that my hands were shaking. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest.

I stopped in an empty corner and leaned against a pillar, closing my eyes as I tried to get my breathing in check.

This was exactly why I should never have gone to that club.

Exactly why people were safer when they remained strangers.

Lucas Carter was reckless, confident and entirely too perceptive.

And if I wasn’t careful… he was going to wreck everything I’d struggled to build.