Chapter 6 #2
When his feet landed on the wooden planks of the rear balcony, Hayes walked over to the far left and inserted a key into the lock on the sliding doors.
As he slid them open, Daniel willed his dick to stay under control, because he wanted nothing more than to follow his professor inside that house, and he had a feeling that if he was caught sporting an erection, he’d be denied the access he wanted so badly.
Walking toward Professor Hayes, he tried to decide his best course of action.
Each time he’d alluded to being interested, his professor had laughed, brushed it off, and acted as if he hadn’t been bothered.
However, the look Daniel had seen in his eyes earlier when he’d faltered on the beach? That look had been pure sex.
Hot, sweaty, toe-curling sex. But how to go about getting Hayes to admit it? That was the tricky part.
When Professor Hayes looked over his shoulder and smiled, Daniel wondered if his teacher would feel more comfortable if he put his shirt back on. So, as he followed him into his home, he slipped his shirt over his head. He stopped short, however, when his feet landed on the welcome mat.
“Fucking hell, this house is insane.”
The guy had impeccable, and very expensive, taste.
Professor Hayes picked up a towel that’d been hanging over the back of a pristine white leather recliner and wiped it over his face and hair before slinging it around his neck.
“Yeah, that was my first thought too. Closely followed by I must have it ,” he said as he toed out of his running shoes. “Do you need a towel?”
Daniel shook his head and raised the hem of his shirt to wipe his face. He then followed Hayes’s lead and kicked out of his shoes before making his way over to him. “I’m good. But I…I could definitely go for that bottle of water, if you don’t mind.”
An arrogant light flickered in Professor Hayes’s eyes, and Daniel wondered what had prompted it. Maybe the fact that he was impressed by his house? Because he was more than impressed—he was close to speechless.
“The kitchen’s through here,” Hayes said, passing underneath the arched entryway and disappearing inside.
Daniel took a moment to let his eyes wander around the living space.
Two potted palms in each corner of the room led out onto the deck, and the narrow green leaves looked crisp and clean, with the white curtains as their backdrop.
There was a TV on one wall and a mahogany bar lining another.
All in all, the room was like something out of Architectural Digest .
The hardwood floors so polished that Daniel could see his fucking reflection.
“You coming?” Hayes said from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” Daniel said, and then he followed in the professor’s footsteps.
He expected to find him by the sink or fridge, getting a bottle of water for Daniel so he could kick his ass out and send him on his way. What he didn’t expect was the hand that whipped out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him to the left.
Caught off guard, Daniel was easily maneuvered so that his ass was pressed up against a marble countertop and his professor, oh shit, was boxing him in with a hand on either side of his waist.
Not knowing what to do with his hands, he dropped them by his sides, and the cool wood of the kitchen cabinets against his palms was almost as shocking as Professor Hayes’s fiery expression when he demanded, “What game are you playing?”
Daniel’s gaze dropped to the stern line of the professor’s mouth, and his breath caught in the back of his throat. God, what he wouldn’t do to taste those lips.
“Daniel?”
He blinked and brought his attention back to those green eyes. “Finn.”
“Excuse me?”
“Finn. Call me Finn.”
“I asked you a question, Daniel .” The irritation underlying the words was lessened by the flush on Hayes’s cheekbones.
He might have been annoyed by Daniel’s pursuit of him, but there was no mistaking that he liked it.
In fact, Daniel was almost positive that between the way he’d looked at him outside, the heat in his cheeks now, and the way his eyes were darkening, his professor fucking loved that he was Daniel’s sole focus.
He would’ve also placed bets that he was just as hard as he was.
“I’m not playing a game.”
“No? It sure feels like a game to me.”
“Why? I like men, and you’re fucking hot. There’s no need for games.” Blood rushed around his head, making his ears ring as he dared to put his hands on the waist of the man in front of him. Professor Hayes, however, was quick to brush them away.
“I’m nine years your senior.”
Daniel couldn’t help the way his lips stretched into a grin, because that meant— “You checked to see how old I was?”
Professor Hayes’s mouth pulled into a tight grimace. “It doesn’t matter.”
Feeling braver than ever after having learned that piece of information, Daniel glided one of his hands up his teacher’s shirt and rested it over his ribs. “It kind of does.”
“No, it doesn’t. Whatever you think can happen between us, Daniel, it can’t.”
“Finn,” he gently reminded Hayes, and then he tightened his fingers around the fabric of the shirt under his palm. “Let me kiss you.”
Professor Hayes grabbed his wayward hand, halting Daniel in place as his eyes latched on to his, and Daniel marveled at the dark lashes surrounding them. He really was an extraordinarily attractive man.
“Just once. Let me kiss you, and if you ? —”
“Stop talking,” Hayes said, and brought his other hand up so he could hold Daniel’s chin in place.
Daniel did as he had been told, mainly because he was having trouble breathing with his mouth that close to Professor Hayes.
“You need to stop talking.” Hayes grabbed a bottle of water, held it out to Daniel, and said, “Here’s your water. Now, I think you should go.”
Daniel took the plastic bottle, and, when Hayes stepped back, he straightened and moved away from the counter. He headed back the same way he’d come in, and at the last minute, he looked over his shoulder and asked, “How close were you to giving in?”
Professor Hayes stared him down, and Daniel thought that it was pretty fucking impressive that his eyes never left his, considering they were both hard as hell.
Instead, Hayes inclined his head toward the door and said, “I have a class to get to, and so do you. Have a good day, Mr. Finley.”
Then he exited the kitchen, and Daniel was left standing there staring at Hayes’s perfect ass as he disappeared down the hall.