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Her breath hitches. “You called me Nova.”

My nostrils flare and I ignore her comment.Damn it, I have to be more careful.Looking at the textbook in front of us, I continue, “Many teachers recommend spinning up a story about these characters. For example, this is the character for heart.” I write it on the paper. “Kind of looks like a human heart, right?”

She nods and leans closer. I rake in a deep inhale of her sweet perfume. So damn sweet. I can get drunk from the scent.

Wetting my lips, I point to the first formula on the opened chapter—how to derive the future value of an investment based on a present value. “So for this formula, FV = PV x (1+r)^n, imagine a garden where the future blooms from my efforts in the present, nurtured by my persistence and care over time. So, the future value is equal to the present value multiplied by one plus the interest rate to the power of n, or the time period. Does that make sense?”

Alexis stays silent for a bit, and slowly a soft smile graces her face. “It’s almost like poetry.” She turns and stares at me. “You, Ethan Anderson, are a poet hiding behind a fancy last name and a broody personality.” The smile turns impish. “Makes sense. All the greats…Byron, Keats…they’re all sensitive, grumpy souls.”

Her tongue dips out to wet her lips and my eyes snare on the movement. More heated blood rushes south and my cock stiffens.

Her breathing grows heavier. Louder. The swells of her breasts move with each breath, inviting me, beckoning me to lean in and taste them. My nostrils flare and I curl my fingers into a fist on the table.

“Nova,” I whisper and lean in.

“Yes, Keeper?”Keeper. I’m her keeper.

She’smine.

“I…” I swallow.Take it, Ethan. Take what she’s offering. You’re her keeper. Screw the promise. Liam can fuck off.Why is it so hard to breathe in here?

But what if you hurt her?I think back to Cleo, how heartbroken she sounded when I broke it off with her. Or Maxwell, and how much colder and withdrawn he is after his high school sweetheart died.

Who buys their dream car before they even get a learner’s permit?

Our faces are now inches apart, and suddenly, I feel her soft hand on top of mine, and electricity courses between us, setting me on fire.

I need to think. I need to distract myself.

“Best thing this week?” I blurt the first thing in my mind. Of course, it has to be what we used to tell each other—the journal entries I treasure.

“Seeing you, Ethan,” she murmurs. I watch as her eyes darken, the pupils encroaching on her irises, a siren singing her song, luring me to crash into her rocks.

Swallowing, I close my eyes, feeling her breath graze my face as I dip my nose into the crook of her neck. A sound escapes her lips.

It’s needy. Hot. Somewhere between a moan and a whimper.

My Nova needs me.Only I can give her what she needs.

The possessive thought crashes in from nowhere, a tsunami obliterating all rationality. I part my lips and kiss the pulse beating at her neck before sucking it.

Hard.

A shriek tumbles out of her mouth, and I slap my hand over her lips. She returns the favor by biting my fingers and grabbing my shoulder, her body melting against me, her tits thrusted against my face.

My brain short circuits. I don’t remember why this is a bad idea. All I know is, I need to haul her on my lap, kiss her, shred the damn clothes separating our bodies, make her scream my name in pleasure, and then I’ll do it again, and again. Then—

A loud thump sounds from Liam’s room and jolts me from my insane thoughts.

I slam back in my chair, getting as far away from her as possible, my lungs short on oxygen, because that’s the only rational explanation for why my brain stopped functioning.

Alexis’s breaths are heavy, her eyes that were drunk with lust and passion moments ago, now carry a glimmer of pain. She blinks rapidly, and her lips tremble.I’ve hurt her. I’m a fucking bastard.I bite the inside of my cheek, focusing on the pain instead of my impulse to reach out and comfort her.

“You know, I can deal with my brothers. They don’t run my life. They’re overprotective, but they want what’s best for me. But you…I don’t get at all.”

Her nostrils flare, her lipspressed in a hard line.

“The worst thing about this week,” she says thickly as she gathers her papers, “is seeing you pull away.”