4. Lily #2
“So … you need help in Human Personality.”
“Excuse me?” He sounded affronted.
I blinked, wondering what the hell I’d said wrong this time. “Human Personality. The course you’d like tutoring in.”
Sebastian let out a huff of laughter and rubbed his nape almost … self-consciously. “Right. Right, of course.”
Pulling on my professionalism, I gestured to my books. “Which part of the course is giving you bother?”
Those beautiful blue-green eyes of his washed over my face. As if searching for something. “Quite a bit, really.”
I frowned because I didn’t think the course was difficult to grasp. At all. Disappointment withered my attraction. Sebastian was apparently all beauty and no brains. As a sapiosexual, this was a big turnoff for me.
My disappointment turned to relief. I could relax now around him. “Okay. Is it the personality typing, theories, applications, data analysis …?”
“I … I had some personal stuff happen this year and I’ve missed nearly all the course. So, I thought you might be able to bring me up to speed since it doesn’t seem terribly taxing.”
Terribly taxing.
He smiled coaxingly, and the way his mouth curled more on one side made the butterflies in my belly go wild.
Speak, Lily!
I cleared my throat, dragging my attention off him since his face seemed to render me speechless.
“It’s not … terribly taxing. But that’s a lot to catch up on.
Nearly a whole year. That’s not really what I do with the tutoring sessions.
” In fact, I was surprised the university was letting him continue the course rather than redo the year over.
The curious, sympathetic part of me wondered what personal stuff had happened to him.
“Please.” Sebastian covered my hand with his and I blinked rapidly as goose bumps rose on my arm at the touch. His hand was huge over mine. Long fingered. Big knuckled. The kind of hands an artist might want to draw. Masculine but beautiful.
Every inch of him was.
“Please don’t let me be the first Homo sapiens to fail Human Personality. It would be rather embarrassing for me.”
Charmed, I couldn’t help my grin.
His eyes widened ever so slightly. “You have dimples,” he announced, as if it was some kind of miracle to have indents in your cheeks.
“I do.”
“They are very disarming.”
Was he flirting with me?
No.
He couldn’t be.
Right?
I cleared my throat, my palms sweating as I flipped open the textbook. “Okay. Let’s start at the beginning, then. Personality types.”
“What personality type are you?”
His eyes roamed my face again, like he found me truly fascinating. His intensity up close was discombobulating. If I was going to make it through this session, I needed to get his focus off me. “The type that has another tutoring session in an hour, so I need you to pay attention.”
Sebastian’s lips twitched. He saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”
My own trembled with laughter. “Is that paying attention?”
“It’s very difficult when you’re this adorable.”
My cheeks caught fire. I was so glad he couldn’t tell. “Pay attention,” I insisted, even though I was squirming inside with delight.
“Okay.” He nodded, leaning into me to see the book. “I’m all ears.” His deep voice rumbled in mine. “My thalamus is yours to stimulate.”
He was not stupid. Not stupid at all. The laughter huffed out of me before I could stifle it, even as my heart raced at his proximity. It took every ounce of professionalism to ignore my attraction to his face and brain. “Are you going to make everything sound dirty?”
Sebastian grinned, like he was surprised by my response. “It only sounds dirty if you’re receptive to it sounding dirty.”
“I am not,” I lied, tapping the iPad he’d placed on the table. “Now, start taking notes or fail Human Personality.”
“I think we can both agree that I shall not fail.” He winked at me.
Bloody hell. “Are you incapable of concentrating?”
“I am very capable of concentrating.” He opened the note’s app on his tablet. “I’m going to prove it by staring at your mouth for this entire session as you talk.”
Deciding the most prudent way to move things forward was to ignore his flirting, I also ignored the way every part of me was hyperaware of every part of him. “Okay, so let’s start with understanding what the mission of personality science is …”
To my surprise, Sebastian not only listened but he took notes and asked questions. I was a little taken aback by some of his questions because they were things he should have covered in second year of psychology. Something occurred to me as we finished up.
“Why have I never seen you in any of my courses?” I would have remembered him.
He looked down, not meeting my eyes as we rose from the table. “I usually sit at the back of the lecture hall. I like to get out of there before everyone else.”
Oh. Well, I usually sat nearer to the front, so I guess I wouldn’t have noticed. “It’s funny we’ve never had any tutorial classes together.”
“Pity that.” He finally looked at me as he opened the door to the study room. “Are you available for another session?”
Another session of feeling nuclear attraction to this guy?
Sebastian bowed his head toward me, searching my face. “I’d really like another session, Lily.”
The way he said it … like … maybe it was more than a tutoring session for him. Could he … might he … Did he find me attractive in return?
“Okay,” I replied softly. “You know where to sign up.”
He grinned. “Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Great—wait.” Tomorrow? I didn’t have a session open tomorrow. “Tomorrow I’m?—”
“Same time, same place. See you then.” He was gone before I could say no.
A smile prodded my lips as I locked up the study room and headed toward my mum’s office. I guess I needed to let her know I required the study room tomorrow too.