Page 23 of Finley

“Yeah. It’s hot out here.”

The professor’s brow winged up, and then he narrowed his eyes on Daniel. “A bottle of water and then you go.”

Daniel nodded in agreement as his teacher jogged the rest of the way up the stairs.The man has a fantastic ass,he thought as he trailed closely behind. The red-and-grey gym shorts clung to it every time he took one of the stairs. He also had sexy-as-fuck legs. Built calves with a nice dusting of dark hair, and Daniel could only imagine how thick and firm his thighs were.

When his feet landed on the wooden planks of the rear balcony, Hayes walked over to the far left and inserted a key into the lock on the sliding doors. As he slid them open, Daniel willed his dick to stay under control, because he wanted nothing more than to follow his professor inside that house, and he had a feeling that if he was caught sporting an erection, he’d be denied the access he wanted so badly.

Walking toward Professor Hayes, he tried to decide his best course of action. Each time he’d alluded to being interested, his professor had laughed, brushed it off, and acted as if he hadn’t been bothered. However, the look Daniel had seen in his eyes earlier when he’d faltered on the beach? That look had been pure sex.

Hot, sweaty, toe-curling sex.But how to go about gettingHayesto admit it?That was the tricky part.

When Professor Hayes looked over his shoulder and smiled, Daniel wondered if his teacher would feel more comfortable if he put his shirt back on. So, as he followed him into his home, he slipped his shirt over his head. He stopped short, however, when his feet landed on the welcome mat.

“Fucking hell, this house is insane.”

The guy had impeccable, and very expensive, taste.

Professor Hayes picked up a towel that’d been hanging over the back of a pristine white leather recliner and wiped it over his face and hair before slinging it around his neck.

“Yeah, that was my first thought too. Closely followed byI must have it,” he said as he toed out of his running shoes. “Do you need a towel?”

Daniel shook his head and raised the hem of his shirt to wipe his face. He then followed Hayes’s lead and kicked out of his shoes before making his way over to him. “I’m good. But I…I could definitely go for that bottle of water, if you don’t mind.”

An arrogant light flickered in Professor Hayes’s eyes, and Daniel wondered what had prompted it. Maybe the fact that he was impressed by his house? Because he was more than impressed—he was close to speechless.

“The kitchen’s through here,” Hayes said, passing underneath the arched entryway and disappearing inside.

Daniel took a moment to let his eyes wander around the living space. Two potted palms in each corner of the room led out onto the deck, and the narrow green leaves looked crisp and clean, with the white curtains as their backdrop. There was a TV on one wall and a mahogany bar lining another. All in all, the room was like something out ofArchitectural Digest. The hardwood floors so polished that Daniel could see his fucking reflection.

“You coming?” Hayes said from the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Daniel said, and then he followed in the professor’s footsteps.

He expected to find him by the sink or fridge, getting a bottle of water for Daniel so he could kick his ass out and send him on his way. What he didn’t expect was the hand that whipped out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him to the left.

Caught off guard, Daniel was easily maneuvered so that his ass was pressed up against a marble countertop and his professor,oh shit,was boxing him in with a hand on either side of his waist.

Not knowing what to do with his hands, he dropped them by his sides, and the cool wood of the kitchen cabinets against his palms was almost as shocking as Professor Hayes’s fiery expression when he demanded, “What game are you playing?”

Daniel’s gaze dropped to the stern line of the professor’s mouth, and his breath caught in the back of his throat.God,what he wouldn’t do to taste those lips.

“Daniel?”

He blinked and brought his attention back to those green eyes. “Finn.”

“Excuse me?”

“Finn. Call me Finn.”

“I asked you a question,Daniel.” The irritation underlying the words was lessened by the flush on Hayes’s cheekbones.

He might have been annoyed by Daniel’s pursuit of him, but there was no mistaking that he liked it. In fact, Daniel was almost positive that between the way he’d looked at him outside, the heat in his cheeks now, and the way his eyes were darkening, his professor fucking loved that he was Daniel’s sole focus. He would’ve also placed bets that he was just as hard as he was.

“I’m not playing a game.”

“No? It sure feels like a game to me.”

“Why? I like men, and you’re fucking hot. There’s no need for games.” Blood rushed around his head, making his ears ring as he dared to put his hands on the waist of the man in front of him. Professor Hayes, however, was quick to brush them away.