“Got it.” I absorb that long-winded answer, thankful it’s just one class this coming semester to get my sea legs.
We reach Bradley’s office and stop at the closed door. Light and shadows past the opaque sidelight signal he’s in the office.
“Give him a minute, looks like he’s got a student in there,” Darragh says, taking a seat in one of several chairs along the hallway wall.
Classes don’t start for another two weeks. What the hell is a student doing here? Wicked thoughts of the dean taking advantage of a student enter my head.
The door flies open, and a woman turns to say a final word to Dean Ford. From behind, I see she’s wearing a denim mini-skirt.
Nice ass.
But she’s a student, and students are off limits. I turn to face the windows to clear my head. Keep focused. Ready to answer any tough questions with a hint of my old charm.
If I can find it.
“Ah, it’s the infamous O’Rourke doctors from Seattle,” Bradley Ford chimes in the doorway. “Come in, come in.”
The student who waltzed out comes to such a quickhalt, her heels nearly setting the carpet on fire from the friction. I catch her looking at Darragh, her jaw dropping. I stir with irrational jealousy.
My movement catches her attention. But I look away as she gazes at me from the side. I can feel herdevourme with her eyes.
Being single and mostly unemployed, I developed an intense and strict workout routine. Darragh’s in top shape, too, but he has the start of a Dad-bod.
The student’s stunned expression shakes me, even from the side, I can tell she’s undressing me and eye-fucking me. It should unsettle me, but something makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I turn to see who this is and immediately focus on an entire right leg covered in tats. Tats that I recognize.
Jesus fucking Christ.
It’s Scarlett. Scarlett, who I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
But wait, how, why? What is she doing here? Does she work here?
No, she’s too young. Oh Christ, I can’t seem to get my mouth to work, to ask or say something. As hard as I try, I can’t help staring at her.
“Oh, hi,” she says in a delicate voice that rips out my throat. “Excuse me.”
She pretends not to know me. I don’t like it, but I pretend right back.
Stroking her neck, she gives me one last look, then she starts down the hall, away from us.
I feel like I’ve been struck by lightning. The woman I haven’t been able to forget. She’s got to be a student. At the same school where I’ll be teaching.
I’m fucked.
Chapter 10
Scarlett
10 Minutes Earlier
By the time I reach the medical school from the subway, sweat from the August heat runs down my spine. I stop to stare up at the building. Freshman year, I felt like I was carving my name into the medical world. Last year, when I knew I wasn’t going back in the fall, I felt every door close, that same world kicking my ass on my way out.
But now I feel like a different person.
Inside, I make my way to the administration wing. Standing in the doorway of my dad’s new office for an extra second, I watch him finish typing something on the keyboard of an outdated computer. Horn-rimmed glasses sit low on his nose. He’s too vain for bifocals.
I clear my throat. “Hi.”