The Professor Read Online Free

that,” he said. “It’s just… I have a hard time reading you.”
    He didn’t know how to read me? What was that supposed to mean? I didn’t think he was doing all that much “reading” in the first place.
    “I’m an open book,” I said. “If there’s something you want to know just ask.”
    He hesitated for a moment, but smiled and nodded his head.
    He nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.
    We sat there for a few more minutes while he re-explained some of the things I would be helping him on. It was all pretty straightforward once I was able to pay attention. The heat lingered between us, still, but I was better able to keep it under control. Eventually he left me alone to get some actual work done - and I found it more difficult to concentrate when he wasn’t near me than when he had been.
    What was this mysterious power this man had over me? I barely knew him and still I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
    I scolded myself again. What was there to even think about? He was my Professor - just a guy that my tuition paid to educate me - nothing more.
    A tiny pang crept inside of me. It was a pang I had felt only once before, but I knew exactly what it meant even though I was trying hard to deny it.
    I wanted him to mean something more. Deep down, I didn’t want him to just be my Professor.  
    Don’t be so silly, Kayla. It’s time to grow up and ignore your school-girl fantasies.
    I shook my head and tried to focus on work. There were stacks and stacks of papers that weren’t going to review themselves. The first few documents I reviewed might as well have been hieroglyphics, and I struggled to identify the key items that needed recording. Slowly I found a rhythm though, and soon I was cruising through them at full steam. I had made it through a third of the papers when something interesting caught my eye.
    “Professor?” I asked after a while. “I have a question about this.”
    I grabbed the sheet I had been uselessly looking over and thrust it toward him.
    “It’s Ethan,” he said.
    “Ethan?” I asked, confused.
    He nodded sharply. “If you insist that I call you Kayla, then I insist that you call me Ethan.”
    I was surprised by the seriousness in his voice - but it was swept aside as I rolled his name off my tongue for the first time.
    “Ethan, then,” I said.
    He grinned at me and took the paper. He studied it for a second.
    “What’s your question?”
    I pushed my chair closer to him and leaned in over his shoulder, pointing at one of the graphs on the paper. That was when I got another whiff of his striking scent. It was intoxicating, and its effect overpowered me.
    Heat rushed to my face and I had to catch myself before I fell into him. My head went thick with a haze, and my heart pounded hard in my chest.
    When I finally came to my senses I saw that his eyes were locked on me. We were so close, only inches apart. The heat of his breath washed over me - it smelled sweet; minty. His eyes bounced between mine and my lips, and I felt a sudden wave of numbness go through me.
    I wanted to collapse into him - to let him whisk me away to some magical far off land. My eyes began sinking closed. I could feel my weight tipping forward, and the warning sirens in my head began going off. I was so close to the edge; so close to falling off.
    “I think that’s enough for today,” he whispered in a pained voice. The soothing, minty breath washed over me again.
    I shook my head, snapping out of the daze.
    “Right,” I whispered back at him.
    Our eyes lingered for a bit longer before I was able to break the contact. I pulled myself away. Slowly. It took every ounce of willpower I had. When there was finally enough distance between us I was able to form coherent thoughts again. Panic set in as I realized what had almost happened - I had almost ruined everything.
    I pushed the chair away from the Professor - Ethan. Every instinct in my body told me to run from the room as fast as I could.