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“You noticed me?”

“Is that so hard to believe?”

“Yes! Look at you!” I wave my hand up and down at him. “You could have anyone you want. The students, the staff, the teachers—they all have the hots for you.”

“No, they don’t.” His eyebrows dip into a V.

“Yes, they do. And if you’d look around and pay a little more attention, you’d see that too.”

He slows down, making a right turn. “It doesn't matter. I don't care about them. I would never get involved with one of my students. And we got sidetracked. I owe you an apology, so this is me apologizing right now.”

His students or any student? He saidmy student.He pulls into the empty parking spot next to my car. How did we get here so fast?

“That first time we met”—he makes air quotes—“I got angry because I wanted you, and I couldn't have you.” He runs a hand through his hair. “And then I heard stories about you being …” He looks at me. “This is not me saying I believe any of those things I heard, okay? I want to be honest with you.”

“What did you hear?” But I already know. I’ve heard the same words myself.

“I heard people saying you go after the freshmen. That you have some kind of fetish for them.”

My body revolts against the words, even though I know they are true. Just not the way people think. “And if it’s true?”

“I have no say in how you live your life or who you date, Becca. But I was a jerk. I was jealous and took my anger out on you, and for that, I apologize.” He opens his mouth as if to say more and then presses his lips together.

“Thank you. I appreciate your honesty. I dated some freshmen. But not because of a fetish or fantasy.” I don't give him anything else.

He looks straight ahead. “And then I saw you with Tommy. And he couldn’t stop talking about this new friend he was hanging out with. And all I could think was that my little brother was being used. I got angry.”

I’m taken aback by his candor. “Tommy and I were never together like that. We’re just friends. He's like a little brother to me.”

He takes off his seatbelt. “I know that now. After the first time we met at the bar, Tommy came to my office at Riggins and ripped me a new one.” He laughs, his gaze lost in the memory. “I had no idea he had it in him. He made me proud.”

“Tommy is a good kid. You should be proud.” I adjust the heat vent away from me. Why am I so warm?

Dylan shifts toward me, and with two fingertips, tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “For the last two years I have been watching you from a distance.”

“Two years?” Never mind butterflies. There are seagulls dive-bombing in my stomach.

“Yes. I never planned on acting on it. I just like to look at you.”

Whoa … he likes to look at me? “I don’t know if I should be flattered or really creeped out.”

He grimaces. “Even before that day in my classroom, I knew you. I watched you, paid attention whenever you were around. I didn’t like the things I overheard. I hated when I saw you with someone. But to be completely honest, the main reason I was mad is because I wanted that guy to be me.”

Chapter Forty-One

He wantedit to be him? Him instead of Lucas? Something warm and unexpected tingles inside me. The sensation is so foreign to me, it takes me a while to identify. Is this a spark of … joy?

“You did?” My voice is the squeak of a bird.

He leans in and wraps a long lock of my hair between his fingers. “I still do.”

I don’t know what to do with this revelation. He wants me. And I want him too.

“What does this mean?” I’m in unfamiliar territory here. I have no footing.

“It means I care for you, and I’d like to get to know you better, take it slow, see where this goes.”

“Where this goes?” My heart flaps around in my chest like a bird fighting its cage.