Chapter Seven

Alex

Catriona and I part ways in the parking lot at Thensmore, where she heads to the administration building to fill out more paperwork and I veer toward the humanities building. After my first class of the day, I sequester myself in my office to grade papers, work on an article for a journal, and fantasize about Cat.

All right, maybe I spend most of the morning doing the latter.

How am I meant to react to having her in my home? Yes, I arranged it that way. I've gone to a bloody lot of trouble to get her in Moirai House, but now I don't know what to do with her. Shag her, of course. What else? What did I hope to gain with my scheming?

Cat asked me that very question on the day she arrived in Montana.

And I still have no answer for it.

What does it matter why? I've done it, she's here, and I plan to take full advantage of that fact. In what way, I've asked myself a thousand times this morning. Take full advantage of her body, naturally. But there might be something else, a secret even I can't unlock.

Or maybe I'm afraid of what the answer might be.

No, that's not it. Afraid? Me? Never. As I told Serena and Logan nine months ago, nothing frightens me.

Certainly not Catriona MacTaggart.

Ten minutes before noon, I'm relaxing in my chair, the one I bought and hauled into my office on campus so I could have an actually comfortable piece of furniture on which to rest my arse. It's leather, of course. The butter-soft sort. Expensive, ostentatious, and unnecessary too. Which explains why I had to have it.

I lean my head back and close my eyes, intending to ponder my lecture for this afternoon. I've prepared one about ancient Greek weapons. How bloody boring. Though I considered lecturing on sex in the ancient world, I discarded the idea. The last time I'd done that, four of my fellow faculty members filed complaints about the "noise" and "vulgarity" emanating from my lecture hall.

The lot of them are prudes. Irritating, mentally stunted prudes.

Naturally, thinking about a naughty lecture makes me think of Cat. Her voluptuous body. Those lips I tasted again for the first time in twelve years. How hard I came in the shower while picturing her naked, imagining the sounds she'll make when I finally have her under me. Or over me. Or in any position I can convince her to try, as long as she's naked.

My cock loves the idea. It's grown so hard that it aches from a need I can't satisfy. Not quite yet, at least. I reach down to grasp the button on my trousers, about to unhook it and slide my hand in there to relieve the pressure.

And of course, since the Fates despise me, Cat walks into my office right then.

Yes, I'm the sort of bloke who has a wank in his office with the door wide open.

Maybe I would've closed it before I really got going. Maybe.

Catriona flumps onto the chair across the desk from me. A mischievous little smile tugs at her lips, and her breathtaking blue eyes glint in the sunshine pouring in through the window. The light seems to gild her skin and her hair, transforming her into a golden apparition of Aphrodite.

Oh bloody hell. What, have I turned into a lovestruck idiot? Comparing Catriona to an apparition of the Greek love goddess. For pity's sake, man, get a grip.

"It's lovely to see you," I say, maintaining my calm demeanor in spite of my idiotic thoughts. "But why are you here?"

"To see you."

My pulse speeds up.

No, it does not. That thumping in my ears must be air pressure.

"How sweet, Catnip," I say, smiling. "You missed me."

"Catnip?" She wrinkles her nose. "Please donnae ever call me that again."

"Why not? It's a perfect nickname."

She tilts her head to the side, studying me with those luminous eyes. "Why do you keep trying to annoy me?"

"What?"

"Don't pretend you're an eejit. That's how I know when you're lying."

"Maybe I had no intention of annoying you. And in case you're wondering, I'm not irritated in the least that you implied I'm an idiot, in your charming Scots way."

Her gaze sharpens on me, like a well-honed knife driven straight into my forehead and deep into my brain. "Stop doing that."

"What?"

"You're being evasive again."

"Am I?" I rock my chair, hands linked over my lap to hide my erection. "What if I'm unaware of what I'm doing?"

"Bollocks. You always know exactly what you're doing." She rises and approaches my desk, leaning over it, her hands flat on the desktop. "Why do you always couch your responses in 'maybe' and 'what if'? Why cannae ye ever tell the truth?"

"It's never that simple." I sit forward, my face inches away from hers. "Why don't you scurry home to bonnie Scotland? If I'm such an irritating, untruthful bastard, why haven't you left yet?"

Instead of answering, she leans in more, peering into my eyes from a centimeter away.

Her scrutiny makes my skin itch.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"They say the eyes are the windows to the soul." She tips her head left and right, still boring her gaze into mine. "I'm searching for yours."

"I haven't got one, remember? I'm the Soulless Sassenach."

She straightens, sighing. "I should never have made up all those stupid names for you. I'm sorry."

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I have no flippant response to offer. My brain can't summon any words at all. Catriona apologized. To me.

Her lips tick upward into a charming smile. "A miracle has happened. Alex Thorne is speechless."

"Not speechless." Just because I have no fucking idea what to say to her doesn't mean I'm incapable of speech. I spoke two words, didn't I? There, I'm not speechless. Now that the verbal pump is primed, more syllables flow from me. "You apologized, and I feel rightfully stunned by this turn of events. Wouldn't you rather whack me on the head with a book or punch me in the gut?"

She keeps smiling, like she's discovered a wonderful secret and knows exactly how she wants to use it against me.

I snatch up a book and thrust it at her, realizing too late it's a slender telephone directory. "Here. Beat me with this."

Cat laughs at me. "I love it. You're confused and can't figure out what to say." She bends over my desk again and pats my cheek. "It's adorable, Alex."

Why didn't I grab the unabridged dictionary? Maybe then she would've believed I'm not one bit affected by her.

I toss the phone book onto the desk and make a noise that might be a growl, or possibly a snarl, then I slump back in my chair. No one has ever affected me the way she does—now. When I knew her before, she hadn't done this to me. I'm not at all sure I like it. Being off balance is…disorienting.

At least this bizarre encounter with Cat deflated my cock. I can walk into the lecture hall without being arrested for indecency.

"I have to prepare for a class," I inform her. "You'll need to find another way to amuse yourself."

Her smile broadens into a grin. "I know. I'm sitting in on your lecture."

"My—Why?"

"Because I like this new side of you, the confused and speechless man. He's so much more likable than the evasive, annoying version of you."

I open my mouth but decide against speaking. It seems likely to get me into more trouble. I usually like trouble, but not this kind. She's dangerously close to figuring me out, at least in part, and uncovering the secrets I don't want her to find.

"Go on," I say, waving toward the door. "Get out of my office."

"Yes, Dr. Thorne." She whirls around and marches to the doorway, her hips swaying in a deliberate attempt to tease me with that body. On the threshold, she pauses to look back at me. "I'll see you at two o'clock, Dr. Thorne."

Why the blazes does she keep calling me that? It's rousing my cock again.

"Yes, whatever," I say, pretending to study the papers on my desk.

She leaves, and I sink back in my chair, eyes closed. Cat intends to audit my class. If I want to be vindictive about it, I'll switch to the sex lecture. That will serve her right.

Or get me arrested. Is it illegal to have an iron-hard erection in the middle of a lecture hall?

I'm about to find out, because I've made up my mind.

Oh yes, if Catriona wants to audit my class, she'll get an earful—and an eyeful. What a bloody brilliant idea. First, I need to run home and get a few props. Then…

You're in for it now, Catnip.