Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Carter
Holy fuck.
One minute I’m trying to find my hastily-scribbled notes about how the class will be graded. Then I look up into those unmistakable blue-green eyes.
Eve.
Eve is staring right back at me, her cheeks flushed, her honey blonde hair falling in her face. She looks disbelieving.
She looks how I feel.
I lose my train of thought for the barest second, just enough to let her know that I am thrown for a loop.
Then I drag my gaze away from her, clearing my throat. Everyone is staring at me, leaning forward just a hair. Expectant. It’s not like the rest of the world will stand still while I adjust.
I don’t have time for my mind to be a total wreck. I can’t afford to stumble like this, right out of the gate like a green racehorse. I need to project a calm, composed person on top of the real me. Which is, of course, thinking of how I know way too much about Eve.
Her laugh, throaty and raw and real. Her smell, orange blossom with a hint of vanilla. How her eyes light up when she’s challenged. Her lips, full and luscious and appealing.
Damn . Definitely too many details taking up too much space in my head.
I continue on with what I’m saying, avoiding making eye contact with her for the rest of the class. The most successful professors are borderline boring in class.
That’s where I want to be. Right at the place where informative and extremely dull meet.
The first class seems to stretch for an entire morning, although it’s just an hour and a half. When I finally let the class out, Eve starts packing frantically, as if she can escape me and run away forever. As much as I wish that she wasn’t in my very first med school class, there’s no point in not having the conversation that we are about to have.
“Ms. Moreland?” I call.
She freezes and then looks up guiltily. Her eyes are pleading with me not to single her out, but it’s too late. I’m not sure what she’s afraid I will say. I don’t exactly want anyone to know that I’ve fantasized a dozen times about fucking her either.
“Come see me before you leave,” I say, trying to keep my tone light.
She makes a face like I just asked her to kick a dog, but she nods. I see her exchange a few words with a brunette as the rest of the class files out of the room, their minds already on their next tasks. When at last it is just the two of us, Eve shoulders her bulging tote bag and slinks down the steps toward me.
She sucks in a breath and scans the empty classroom. I stack the couple of textbooks I’m taking with me, narrowing my eyes on her face. She hugs her tote closer and scrunches up her face.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be here?” she blurts out.
My eyebrows rise. “I told you I was teaching here!”
“No, you didn’t. I’d have remembered that!” Eve insists.
“I didn’t know until recently that I was even going to be working here. Why didn’t you ever tell me you were going to med school here?”
She frowns. “I guess it never came up. But… I mean, I did rent a house that is facing the med school, specifically. It seems kind of obvious that I’m going here.”
I cross my arms. “That’s a poor indication, actually. I had no idea. But, I rent in the same neighborhood, so I feel like the same could be said of me.”
Silence lapses between us, more awkward the longer it grows. She looks away, fidgeting. Her cheeks redden. “Look, Carter. This is easy, right? We’ll keep things professional. We can’t have sex, obviously. Student professor relationships are forbidden, I am sure. Which is fine, because Aiden would kill us both if he found out we had gotten physical.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “You don’t have to tell me, Eve. The professor I’m replacing was fired for having inappropriate relations with a student. Or students, as the case may be.”
Her tongue darts out to wet her lower lip. “Oh. Shit.”
I continue as if she hadn’t even spoken. “So, whatever it is you had planned?—“
Her shock is obvious. “Excuse me? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“What?” I ask, frowning. “I mean, you had something planned. Right?”
I can’t believe she’s forcing me to remind her.
“Stop it!” she says, shaking her head. She’s blushing and I hate to admit it, but it’s charming as hell. She’s so damned cute, all flustered and awkward, shifting her stance from foot to foot, like a nervous horse. “Whatever. Let’s just… like… forget that we… uh… even met.”
My lips turn up at the corners. “Are you suggesting that we pretend that we don’t know each other?”
Her eyes find me again. “Do you have a problem with that, professor ?”
Her rebellious side is showing. I wish it wasn’t quite so attractive to me. I frown. “No, Ms. Moreland . As long as it is understood that you aren’t going to receive any special favors from me.”
She folds her arms across her chest. “I wasn’t asking for any or expecting any. I’m sure I’ll do just fine in this class on my own merits.”
My eyes narrow. “Fine.”
She leans closer. “ Fine .”
I pick up my books, feeling surly. “Dismissed.”
Eve gives me a pointed look that would send a lesser man to his knees and shakes her head. Tossing her hair, she turns and sprints up the steps, disappearing out of the classroom.
I blow out a breath. I can’t believe this is happening. When I told my boss I could handle this situation, I never expected in a million years it would be Eve I would have to resist.
I sit for a moment, contemplating what I was facing here. Eve could be a problem this semester, but that’s only if I let her. I won’t. Dr. Mooney flashes in my head, warning me about the students who throw themselves at the professor. Is that idea very appealing when it comes to Eve?
Yes. Unequivocally yes.
Will I let Eve get in my way, though?
No fucking way.
Heading out of my classroom, I make a pit stop at my office to scoop up a few more books. I have to get serious about teaching what is listed on the syllabus and that means a fuck ton of research.
After that, I slowly meander back to my little house. As I’m walking back, I get a text from Aiden, my recently discovered half-brother. That part of my life was hard enough, but now I have to deal with his adopted half-sister.
Yeah, our family is a little complicated, to say the least. How I’m supposed to pretend I don’t even know Eve is beyond me.
I check my phone. A text from Aiden waits for me.
I’m going to be in town for the next few days to get Eve settled in. Feel like going for a beer?
I feel like I need something a little stiffer than a beer, but a drink does sound good. My relationship with Aiden is still new and fragile, so him reaching out to me for something like this is actually pretty meaningful. I want to foster a relationship with him, and adding my feelings for Eve into the mix will not do much to benefit the already fragile situation.
Sure, I reply. I just need to drop some stuff off at my house. Come meet me and we’ll walk somewhere.
I text him my address and just get a thumbs up emoji. So I hurry back to my house and put my books down. I barely have enough time to do that before Aiden is knocking on my front door.
Swinging the door wide open, I grin at him. He’s like looking in a mirror, one that shows me if I were a little bit different. He’s lighter skinned than I am, lacking the deep mocha skin that my mom gave me. His hair is trimmed short and his face shaved smooth. But his jeans, dark t-shirt, and blue fleece are way more relaxed than my usual button up and dark slacks.
Other than that, though, we look the same. Our dad gave us the same barrel chested Viking bearing, and we even walk with the same swagger. The same shape eyes, though mine are brown-black where his are blue. And we have the same cocky grin.
“Hey man,” he greets me. He looks back behind him at the neighborhood. “Eve just rented a place a few blocks from here.”
I have a split second to decide whether I’m going to tell Aiden the truth or not. I can’t help but wonder if he’d be weird about Eve and I being attracted to each other. He looks back at me and I smile.
“I actually ran into her this morning,” I admit. “She locked herself out of the house without a coat. I was out on a jog and ran past her place.”
He cocks a brow. “Yeah?”
“Yep. I figured you would be upset if she melted into a lake of Eve soup, so I helped her out.” It’s a little white lie, told mainly to make things less awkward between us.
A slow smile spreads across his face. “Thanks for not letting her die of embarrassment, I guess.”
I hesitate, then figure I’d better tell him everything.
“That’s not all. I walked into the classroom today and there she was, looking at me like she wished a hole would open up in the earth and swallow her whole. It was really something.”
He makes a puzzled face. “Wait, you’re working at the University of Washington’s med school?”
“Yep. The position was sort of sprung upon me on Friday,” I say with a shrug. Grabbing a windbreaker, I point toward the door. “We can talk about it on the way to get some food. Come on. I want to make it over to the pizza place a few blocks away while they’re still serving lunch. I’m starving.”
“Huh.” Aiden trails behind me as I head through the yard. “So… this basically means that you can’t touch Eve. Right? I mean, aside from the fact that I clearly do not want you to fuck with her head.”
I glance back to see him grinning and scowl.
“What makes you think I’d be touching Eve?”
“I saw the way you looked at her when we were last at the Morgan estate,” he laughs. “It’s pretty gross. You two are almost siblings.”
Eve and I definitely do not have a sibling relationship. Besides which, I have a list in my head of the reasons I’m not related to her.
I met Aiden as an adult, not as a child. I didn’t ever know Eve. And she was adopted into Aiden’s nuclear family… it’s a little weird to be attracted to her, maybe. But not gross.
Eve is a knockout. Anyone who says she’s not is either lying or crazy.
Instead of explaining my list to Aiden, I opt for a little redirection.
“You know, I would think that you of all people would not give me shit about something that isn’t even happening . After what you went through with dating Olivia secretly because you were afraid of her big brother…”
He certainly doesn’t need to know about the way I can’t keep my eyes off her ass every time she walks away.
“I wouldn’t say afraid ,” he grumbles. “It was way more complicated than that.”
“It always is.” I shrug lightly. “I don’t even have any prospects for dating yet because I have so much to do at work. It’s going to be a while before I feel like I am not being squeezed to death by my new job.” That wasn’t a lie.
“I probably have some phone numbers of hot girls that live in the area. It’s not as if I’m using them anymore.”
I wrinkle my face, even though I can tell Aiden is kidding. “Dude. That is so gross.”
He grins. “I just feel like it should be more widely known that I used to be a man slut.”
I shake my head slowly. “I can’t believe you’re a father now.”
His expression turns dreamy. “Yeah. It’s pretty great. When I look at Maggie, my heart gets ten times bigger. I didn’t even know that I would feel so lucky. I wonder if this is what people from good families feel like their whole lives?”
I honestly would not know. It’s not as if I’m from a particularly loving family or anything. My mom is bitter. My dad was gone on various business trips most of my life up until he died. But I hold my tongue, because from what I’ve heard, Aiden’s childhood makes mine seem like a fucking walk in the park.
We turn around a corner and I see the pizza place at the end of the block. My pace slows, though. Aiden hasn’t really talked to me a lot about his and Eve’s family experience other than to say that it was dysfunctional. It makes my mostly fatherless childhood seem normal.
“Well… you have a bigger family now,” I say, with a shrug. “Eve, Olivia, your baby… me, the rest of the Morgans... For whatever we’re worth.”
As we walk into the pizza place, he rubs his hand over the nape of his neck. “Thanks, man.” He waits a beat before he changes the subject. “It smells good as fuck in here.”
For a split second, I’m talking to my dad. Just looking away, his face half hidden by shadow, he’s the spitting image of the man. Thomas Morgan might as well take the seat across from me, though Aiden never met him. I smile. “Yeah. I think I need an IPA and a slice of their meatiest meat pizza.”
Aiden nods and looks around. “That’s a good idea. Let me see if I can flag someone down…”
I breathe out slowly, trying to tell myself to relax and just enjoy some pizza with my brother. I’m the only one making this awkward and complicated, and it’s all in my head.