Page 15 of Her Forbidden Teacher

I’m tired after a full day of school, stressing about assignments, but breathe easier the second I step outside to head for the campus greenhouse. All the students have gone home, so it’s empty when I walk in. Theo is nowhere to be found, but he assured me we were still meeting this afternoon.

Just the two of us.

As I wait, I think about fifth hour when Mrs. Petra sent me to the office. They took one look at my skirt and made me changeinto my jeans. To be fair, I lasted a lot longer than I thought I would. But now that school is over, I’ve changed back into it. Especially since Theo seemed to appreciate it this morning.

I deposit all my stuff on my table and then perch on his stool at the front of the classroom. My skirt rides up a bit, but I don’t fix it. It feels dangerous and messed up, especially considering the horrible things I went through with my last teacher, but I can’t seem to stop myself.

Theo is the most enjoyable and interesting thing in my life right now.

God, you’re so pathetic, Addison.

My breath catches, as if I’m caught being bad, when Theo strides into the greenhouse. His attention, though, is on his phone as he texts someone. A girlfriend? Of course, a man like him would have a woman or even a wife. Shame courses through me. What am I even doing?

He comes to a halt just a few feet away from me. His eyes jerk from his phone to my hands clasped around the front of my knees. Then, he meets my gaze.

For several seconds that may as well be an eternity, he stares into the depths of my soul. I wonder what he sees inside me. A lost, unhappy girl who recently lost everything? A slightly desperate young adult who hangs on her teacher’s every word because her friends have all abandoned her?

I bite on my bottom lip, a nervous habit I can’t seem to quit around him.

“You’re in my seat,” he says, a slight smirk on his face.

Without missing a beat, I sass back. “I’m your favorite student.”

A challenge.

He pockets his phone, no longer interested in it, and grins at me. My stomach flutters and I can’t help but smile back at him. Every encounter with him is…charged.

Electric.

Fiery.

Powerful.

Dangerous.

Allowing this attraction I have toward him to continue means I’m willingly playing a game I’ve already lost once at. Am I ready to lose again? Falling for your teacher isn’t really a winning game.

Someone always fails in the end.

“Right now,” he murmurs, voice playful, “you’re my only student.”

I lean a little closer to him, loving how his attention falls to my mouth again. “Still your favorite.”

His phone rings and it disrupts what’s most definitely a highly inappropriate moment. Disappointment churns in my gut as he steps away to pluck it back out of his pocket. He frowns, shakes his head, and then tosses it on his desk.

“Problems at home?” I ask, needing to know if he has a sweet wife waiting at home for him. I don’t see a ring, but that doesn’t mean anything. Men can be dogs.

But Theo?

He seems so…gentle. Sweet.

He snorts out a laugh and shakes his head. “No. Recently divorced.”

I hop off the stool and walk over to where he’s now pulling things out of a cupboard. As he sets them on the counter, I start collecting them.

“But,” he says once he also has an armful of supplies and nods toward a work table, “you hit the nail on the head. My ex-wife is…”

“Harassing you?” I supply.