“Page three-oh-three,” Jeremy whispered.
Embry jumped, unaware that he had noticed her mini mental lapse. “Oh, thanks.”
Jeremy simply inclined his head, a curious look on his face. Embry managed to control her dirty thoughts for the rest of class. She avoided Jeremy’s eyes as she packed up her computer, but she couldn’t ignore the sexy voice calling her from the front of the classroom.
“Miss Jacobs? Can I have a word?”
She glanced up, and those beautiful baby blues were trained on her, filled with mischief she was sure only she could see. “Sure, Professor.” She picked up her bag and turned toward Jeremy. “See you in legal writing?”
He nodded and went back to packing up his books. Students milled around the classroom as Embry walked toward Luke, concentrating on keeping her features neutral. She rested her hands on top of the podium, her fingers dangling over the edge. Luke glanced around before sliding his fingers gently under hers, their hands hidden behind the stand. She thrilled at the contact, her body waking up with that one simple touch.
“You wanted to see me, Professor?” She felt empowered, sexy, brave. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why she’d been so anxious to come to class.
He took her in, eyes ablaze. “Nice sweatshirt.”
She dropped her gaze to the red sweatshirt, Georgia written in black across her chest. She brought her eyes back to meet his. “Oh this? What can I say? I’m in love with a Georgia fan.”
For a split second, he gave her a blinding, mouth-splitting smile before schooling his features back to that of the straight-faced professor. “I’m rescheduling our research.”
“Is that so?” She grazed her thumb across the back of his hand. She managed to keep her expression impassive, professional, while her insides danced.
He nodded. His eyes fell to their entwined fingers. They were practically glowing they were so bright. “Your last class ends at three forty-five?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He turned his hand over under hers and traced a pattern across her palm. It was a heart. “I’ll be over at five.”
Embry nearly melted into the podium but instead gathered all the professionalism she could muster and pulled away. “I’ll see you then, Professor.”
Embry’s last class of the day had come and gone, and she was stuck in the library. She rolled her eyes at Jeremy, but the sentiment wasn’t reciprocated. He gave her a reproachful look and focused his attention back on the blonde to his left.
“Tessa, you need help with that one?” he asked sweetly.
The blonde looked at Jeremy, blue eyes wide and innocent. “I don’t get how we’re supposed to find the answers in these old books. Can’t we just look it up online?”
Embry walked away from their table. If she didn’t, she may have hit the girl over the head with one of their heavy law books. Their legal writing professor had decided that instead of a typical class, they’d work in the library doing traditional research. “Because you never know when you might lose power or Internet and have to research like they did ‘back in the old days.’”
The professor had put groups together by row, and Embry and Jeremy were grouped with Tessa, a bouncy blonde who appeared to be dumber than a post. Embry had seen her hanging around Jeremy recently, but he’d never mentioned her, and he continued with his whorish ways.
Embry stood in the stacks, looking for a secondary source for their research project. She tried to quell her frustration. The assignment was taking forever, and their academically challenged research partner wasn’t helping. How did she even get into law school?
She typed up a quick text to Luke.
Prof M insisted on a library research exercise. Running late.
His response was immediate.
Text me when you’re finished. I’ll pick up dinner. xo
Luke and dinner; that was all she wanted. She found the book she was looking for, walked back to the table, and dropped the heavy tome in front of Tessa.
“Here. You see number ten?” Embry asked, indicating their assignment sheet. “Look through this book and find that. Just use the index and write down the number of the statute when you find it. It’s simple.”
“If it’s so simple, why can’t you do it?” Tessa asked without any hint of sarcasm.
“Because”—Embry tried and failed to keep the agitation from her voice—”I’ve already done the rest of the sheet.”
Tessa looked at the answers on the sheet then back up at Embry. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a Gator?”
“What?” Embry asked, completely befuddled. “What are you talking about?”
“You went to the University of Florida, right? Jeremy mentioned it. But aren’t the Gators supposed to hate the Bulldogs?” She motioned toward Embry’s sweatshirt.
Embry cringed. The girl couldn’t tell the difference between legal research and a Google search, but she’d managed to remember every word that left Jeremy’s mouth. Maybe she was more observant than Embry gave her credit for.
“Yeah,” Jeremy piped in. “Where did you get a Georgia sweatshirt?”
“An old friend. I had it lying around and threw it on in a rush this morning.” She wouldn’t do that again. She had to separate Professor Brody from Luke Brody, or she would find herself in trouble.
“Oh. Okay,” Tessa said with a small shrug and flipped through the text.
Jeremy glared at Embry. “Bree, help me find a book?” He angled his head toward the shelves.
“I just pulled the last one,” she argued.
“Please.”
Embry unfolded herself from her chair and walked toward the stacks. When she was a ways into the aisle, she turned back and bumped right into Jeremy’s chest. “What are you doing, Jer?”
“I could ask you the same. Why are you being so nasty to Tessa?”
Her eyes widened, blush staining her cheeks. Her friend had called her out, and he was right. She looked away, searching for the answer, but it was inexplicable. Tessa had done nothing to garner Embry’s wrath. She was nice enough, but something about her hit Embry right in the gut and made her uncomfortable. Not to mention she was lazy, dense, and a tad annoying. “I’m sorry, Jer. You’re right.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Embry thought of Luke’s arms waiting for her. “I just want to get out of here, that’s all.”
“Why? So you can get back to your precious professor?”
Whoa. Embry fought to keep her composure. Jeremy was probably just referring to the fact that she did so much research with Luke, but he’d hit a little too close to the mark. “Why would you even say that?”
“Isn’t Professor Brody from Georgia?”
“Excuse me? What exactly are you implying?” It was a miracle that she kept her voice from shaking. Her insides trembled, and her stomach fisted into a ball of anxiety.
“Nothing,” he said quietly. “I saw how you looked at him today. Just … don’t be one of those girls.”
Embry felt sick. She swallowed thickly, at a complete loss. “I just …”
“Look, why don’t you head home? I’ll finish the assignment and hand it in. Just try to be nice to Tessa. She’s a pretty cool chick when you get to know her.”
“I didn’t know you had gotten to know her at all,” Embry said, still too stunned to address his comments about Luke.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know, Bree,” Jeremy said, giving her a sad smile and walking away.