"I'm glad you approve," I say. "Now, let me help you, please. It'll make me feel useful."
"I have a graduate assistant. Don't need another helper."
"Where is the lovely Lana? I hope I didn't scare her off."
Dr. Griffin snorts like she's trying not to laugh. "Scare her? I think every coed on campus is lusting after you."
Her eyes go wide, but only for a second. Then she clears her throat and starts rearranging the papers on her desk.
She's embarrassed. But why? She said the coeds, meaning female students, lust after me. But she must feel the same way, or else she wouldn't be embarrassed by what she told me.
Perfect. I want her to think of me that way.
"I appreciate the offer," she says, still focused on her papers, "but I don't need any more help. Have a good day, Mr. Hunter."
She's dismissing me.
Oh no, I'm not that easy to get rid of.
I leap out of my chair and lean over her desk with my hands planted on it.
Her head jerks up, and she stares at me without blinking.
"What's your first name?" I ask.
"None of your business."
"Come on, we're both adults. And I spoke to a couple of students—men, not coeds—who told me most of the professors here prefer to be more casual. They ask students to use their first names."
She swallows hard enough I can see the movement in her throat. "I don't—That's—"
"I won't tell anyone, and I'll call you Dr. Griffin when other people are around. Your name can be a secret between us."
"Well…" She glances around as if she's expecting to see a crowd of students hovering outside the doorway, listening to our conversation. Then she blows out a breath. "Siobhan."
"That's a beautiful name. Why don't you want anyone to call you that?"
She twists her mouth into an adorably exasperated expression. "If I pronounce my name, people don't know how to spell it. If I write it down for them, they don't know how to pronounce it."
"Don't worry, I can do both. S-I-O-B-H-A-N. That's how it's spelled."
I've always loved that name. It looks complicated to pronounce, but it's actually quite simple. Shi-vawn. What's so bloody hard about that?
"Thank you for trusting me with your name, Siobhan."
"Sure, whatever."
"Now, getting back to those randy coeds…" I lower my voice and slant in even closer. "Tell me, Siobhan, are you lusting for me too?"
Chapter Four
Siobhan
Nick Hunter has leaned in so close I feel his breaths on my lips and smell his aftershave. God, he smells good. His blue eyes hover inches away. He has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, but it's the nearness of his lips that makes me heat up from my skin down to my sex. I've never craved a man the way I'm craving him right now. I know it's insane, and I'm probably having some kind of psychotic episode that's triggering my lust for Nick Hunter, but I can't squelch it.
"Well?" he says, his voice soft and sensual. "Are you lusting for me, Siobhan? I'm lusting for you."
No man has ever told me that. They might say they want me or they think I'm hot, but nobody has ever mentioned lust. I can't remember any man ever gazing at me with so much desire either. Nick isn't devouring me with his gaze, and though his interest is unmistakable, it's also somehow…relaxed.