Chapter 2 #2
“Rowan’s email is on the syllabus,” Teagan said. “When will you be holding the study sessions?” she asked him.
He rubbed a hand over his face before answering. “Wednesdays.” It sounded as if he spoke to me and no one else. The soft timbre of his rough voice sent a thrilling chill through me. I shivered. “Eight PM in the library. Room 214.”
I jotted that down on the syllabus. At least I would only have to see him if I went to his study sessions.
Otherwise, his involvement in this class should be minimal.
My hand was shaking. I’d never met anyone who affected me like this before.
My crush was reaching epic proportions and needed to be reined in.
“The rugby team has a game tonight, and Rowan needs to be going,” Teagan said. “Let’s take a ten-minute break, then we’ll start our first lab.”
I hurried out of the class and went straight to the bathroom. Leaning over the sink, I splashed water on my face, cooling myself off. My reaction to Rowan was ridiculous. I needed to get myself under control and stop acting like some animal in heat.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes seemed brighter than usual, my skin flushed.
I took a deep breath. I could do this. When I went back into the lab, Rowan would be gone.
Everything would be back to normal. I would go on as if I hadn’t encountered him.
Satisfied with this plan, I exited the bathroom.
Rowan stood leaning against the wall directly across from me in the hallway, his arms folded.
I froze, unable to tear my gaze away from his. I licked my lips, trying to force myself to walk away, only my legs wouldn’t move.
“Who are you?” Rowan asked, his voice low and rumbly, sending a shiver of pleasure through me.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to be pulled into his spell, but the connection between us strengthened. I wanted nothing more than to step into him, wrapping my arms around his neck, pressing my lips against his.
I took a step toward him.
“Fuck,” he growled.
Startled, I opened my eyes, realizing what I’d unintentionally done. This was crazy. I was a grown woman and should be able to control myself, regardless of how alluring the man standing in front of me was.
Rowan’s head fell back against the wall. “Who are you?” he asked again, not looking at me, his attention on the ceiling above him. The veins in his neck bulged, as if straining against something.
“I’m Laney.” I’d intended to make my voice sound confident but it came out breathless instead. The opposite of what I wanted.
“Yes, I know,” he ground out. “Laney Lake.”
If he knew my name, then he didn’t need to ask.
He ran a hand over his face and looked into my eyes. “Why are you here?” His nostrils flared, as if smelling me.
“I went to the bathroom.” I pointed to the door behind me, as if it wasn’t obvious.
“No,” he said. “Why are you here at SU?”
Maybe he wasn’t as smart as the TA had indicated. “I’m going to school here. You know, to get a degree.” If he was dumb, then that should douse my attraction to him.
His arms dropped to his sides, his fingers curling into fists. “Who’s responsible for you?”
I put my hands on my hips. “Me.” What a strange question for him to ask. He may be gorgeous, but I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with him.
“Where are you from?”
“Connecticut.” I had no idea why he kept asking me questions and why I kept responding. The answers just popped out, as if I’d been compelled to answer him.
“What are you?” He tilted his head to the side, examining me.
“Like what nationality? I’m a mix. My mom is part—”
“No,” he said as he stood there staring at me. “Never mind.” Suddenly, he pushed off the wall and walked away, shaking his head, as if confused by my presence.
I blinked, wondering what in the hell had just happened.
Rowan had only gone a few steps when he abruptly stopped and turned to face me. “You feel it, don’t you?”
His words surprised me. The only way he could be referring to the strange pull I felt toward him was if he felt it too. But that was impossible. The likelihood of two strangers meeting and feeling an intense physical attraction was slim.
“You do, don’t you?” he said, his voice lower, softer, as he took a step toward me.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I forced myself to say. My body warmed, a soft purr building in my chest as he moved closer. I hated how easily he affected me. I didn’t know him. Didn’t trust him. And I wasn’t about to be another girl who fell for it.
His eyes darkened as his lips pulled into a seductive smile. “You sure about that?” He lifted a single eyebrow.
Holy shit. He was beautiful. And sexy. I wanted his hands on me. Heat flooded into me, and I stifled what would have been a low moan. I had to get it together before I embarrassed myself.
He chuckled, taking another step toward me.
I shook my head, trying to snap myself out of this strange lust-filled haze I was trapped in. Maybe I needed a boyfriend to fool around with so I didn’t react this way with a complete stranger. “I should get back to class,” I said, needing to end this odd encounter between us.
“I’m not keeping you here.” He gestured toward the hallway behind me.
All I had to do was walk away from him. But I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t move.
“Are you going to leave?” he asked, his voice husky.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to turn my back to him, but I couldn’t make myself walk away. There was some strange connection tying us together. It didn’t make any sense, but I knew it was true.
“You sure you don’t feel it?” Rowan asked, taking a step closer to me, his voice a whisper in my ear as his hands hovered next to my upper arms.
“Feel what?” I asked.
His hands closed around my arms and heat exploded through me. I cried out.
He let go.
I turned to face him. “What the hell was that?” I whispered, my legs and arms feeling shaky.
His brows were drawn together as he examined his hands, confusion filling his face. “It can’t be,” he mumbled. “What the actual fuck?” He took a step back, away from me, almost stumbling as he did so.
Before he had a chance to touch me again, I ran away from him, thankful my legs worked this time. I had no idea what just happened between Rowan and me, but I couldn’t let it happen again. I would avoid him from here on out. Any man who made me lose my head like that was dangerous.
When I returned to the lab, I found Adan on the stool next to mine.
“Someone else was sitting there,” I said as I slid onto my stool, trying not to make eye contact with him for fear he’d sense my attraction to Rowan and what had just happened in the hallway. My hands still shook from my encounter with him.
“The person who was here asked me to switch,” Adan explained. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yes.” I wished people would stop asking me that. Rubbing my forehead, I tried to calm myself down, which was far easier now that I was away from Rowan. “Didn’t you say you play rugby?” I asked.
“I do.”
“Don’t you have a game tonight?” Teagan had said that was why Rowan needed to leave. If he had to go, surely Adan did as well.
“Our game isn’t until six. This class is over at four. Why? Are you coming to the game?” His voice sounded hopeful.
I cringed, realizing belatedly that I shouldn’t have brought up the game. “Maybe.” There was no way I could go since I needed to stay far away from Rowan. In fact, I should find out his schedule and make sure to avoid him at all costs.
Teagan entered the room and immediately began explaining our first lab.
Since the tables each sat two people, whomever we were seated next to was our lab partner for the semester.
Fan-freaking-tastic. Although it didn’t make sense, I had the feeling Adan hadn’t been asked to switch seats but rather, he’d been the one to suggest it.
Peering over at him, he sat there taking notes, paying attention to Teagan.
He didn’t give off stalker vibes. He genuinely seemed like he wanted to be friends and nothing more.
If that was the case, great. As long as he understood that I wasn’t interested in him.
Friends I could handle, but that was all.
“All right,” Teagan said. “You may begin. This is due at the end of class today. It is merely the first step toward the genealogy project you’ll be working on all month. It’s something easy to get you all warmed up.”
I turned to face Adan.
He opened his laptop. “While I pull up the lab, can you grab the materials?”
Several students were going to the back of the room and getting a box, so I did the same. I brought it back to our lab table and unpacked it, finding cheek swabs, tubes with pre-filled liquid, gloves, and barcodes with labels.
“Have you ever done one of those genealogy tests?” Adan asked.
“Nope. You?”
“No. This should be cool, although we’re only looking at our DNA today.”
We each put on a pair of gloves and then took a swab. I stuck the swab in my mouth against the inside of my cheek. Once I was certain it had enough DNA, I placed it in the tube and labeled it with my ID number.
Adan put his swab in the second tube and closed it. After he put the label on, he inverted it gently. “The solution is supposed to break open the cells and release the DNA.”
Adan and I slid our tubes into the rack on our table. The liquid inside looked like plain, clear water.
After the specified allotted time, Adan said, “Now we remove the swabs and discard them.”
We tossed our swabs, then I reached into the box and pulled out the PCR tubes, which already contained the human-specific primers, making our job easy. I poured a small amount of my clear DNA liquid into the PCR tube and closed it, writing my ID number on the side.
“Now we put them into the machine,” Adan said. He took both our PCR tubes and placed them inside, closing the lid of the machine.
While we waited, we filled out the necessary information for the lab on Adan’s computer.