I was joking, but Carter stopped and got a serious look on his face. “You heard about that?”
“About what?”
“Never mind.” He suddenly got super busy messing with some of his papers.
“No way!” I said. “Dr. Klaxton and a student? When?”
He sighed and looked around, then leaned in toward me surreptitiously. “Last year, with a grad student. One of his research assistants, actually. No one could figure out why he picked her. Her work was horrible, her grades were atrocious.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“He’s not always thinking straight, though. Especially not when he’s had a few.”
Carter mimed someone throwing back a shot.
“Dr. Klaxton drinks?”
“Oh, yeah, he taps them back like nobody’s business. You’ll see at the kick off meeting.”
I laughed. “Wow.” It was crazy imagining this guy who I’d thought of as so intimidating doing normal things like drinking alcohol and doing dumb stuff to sleep with a girl. I was about to ask Carter for more gossip when my phone beeped with a text.
Look up
I looked up. Justin was leaning against the bar on the other side of the room. He was holding a drink in his hand and he held it up and gave me a little salute.
“Um, I’ll be right back,” I said to Carter. “I’m just going to run to the bathroom.”
I weaved my way through the crowd, and as I passed by the bar, I gave Justin a pointed look, letting him know that he should follow me around the corner, out of sight of Carter.
Justin rolled his eyes, then reluctantly set his drink down on the bar.
I walked around the corner, out of sight of Carter.
When I turned around, Justin was right behind me. He grabbed me and pulled me close to him and then his lips were on mine.
I knew I should pull away, but he was holding me tight and besides, I knew it would be useless to resist. Even though Carter was right around the corner, even though there were tons of random people walking by and could see us, I didn’t care. All that mattered was him, right here, with me.
When Justin finally pulled back, I wasn’t ready for the kiss to end. He leaned his forehead against mine. “I missed you,” he breathed. His voice sounded soft and romantic, a tone that I hadn’t ever heard from him before.
Longing rushed through my body. I wanted his hands all over me, his lips on mine. If he’d wanted to, I probably would have let him strip me naked right there and throw me down on the floor.
“I missed you too,” I said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then tried to take a step back from him – I didn’t trust myself to be this close to him and not lose control of myself.
But he slid his fingers down my arms and grabbed my wrists, pulling me back.
“I don’t like seeing you with him,” he growled. His eyes were smoldering, and any trace of softness in his voice was gone. “You’re not going to be alone with him.”
“Justin, he’s my boss,” I said.
“He’s not your boss,” he scoffed. “He’s barely older than you.”
“Yeah, but…” I bit my lip. “I mean, I have to do what he says. I have to make a good impression.”
His eyes burned even brighter, and I saw a flash of intensity that scared me a little bit. It was the same intensity I’d seen the night he’d been in that fight with Uriah. “I don’t like it,” he said. “You’re not going to be alone with him.”
“I have no choice. He’s –“
“I don’t want you alone with him. He has bad intentions.”
I could tell I wasn’t going to win this one, and so I just nodded slowly. I knew it was a promise that would be almost impossible to keep, but I didn’t have a choice.
“Good.” He smiled. “Now, how do you want to do this?”
“Do what?”
“When we get to New York. Should I wait and then sneak up to your room later?” He leaned in close and whispered right into my ear. His chin brushed against my neck, ticking me with the light amount of stubble that was on his skin. I shivered.
“Yes,” I said.
“I don’t know how long I can wait.” He brushed his lips against my collarbone, and I felt dizzy. How was it possible he could make me this turned on when we were just standing here in an airport hardly doing anything? My heart thumped in my chest. “Text me when you’re ready for me to come up to your room.” He kissed me once more, softly, and then he brushed by me, back to the bar.
I watched him go, the confidence in his stride, the way his shoulders were thrown back in an I-don’t-give-a-fuck posture. He was so sexy and in control it almost hurt me to look at him. It was like just knowing he was there, so close to me, and I couldn’t do anything about it was too much for me take.
I smoothed the long-sleeved t-shirt I was wearing and headed back to where I’d left Carter. I had to walk by Justin again, and as I did, his gaze moved up and down my body, lingering on my chest. He gave me a sexy grin and then took a sip of his drink.