Page 30 of Revere

Turned on?

Is that possible?

He’s thirty-seven. Revered professionally. Brilliant. But that slanted smirk he offers me is downright deadly. Heat pools in mycore. I don’t break for charming men, and yet, it takes everything to find strength in my knees the longer he stares.

“Do you like a challenge, Professor?”

I’m testing him with those words—with my tone.

I know this.

I feel it in my bones as his jaw tightens.

Maybe it’s that I have Mila in my ear telling me to let loose for once in my life. Maybe it’s that after all the support I’ve given my brother, he still went back to Sigma Sin. Maybe it’s that I fell at the grocery store, and my knees are still raw and aching, and I just want to prove that I’m in control.

But I can’t help myself as I angle my chin up and refuse to back down like I normally would to someone in Professor Gray’s position.

I need more of that look he’s giving me. The fire in his emerald eyes.

I need more of that man from the plane.

Professor Gray leans so that his chest presses firmly to my back as he whispers, “A challenge implies the possibility of failure.”

“And you never fail? Do you think that highly of yourself?” I tilt my chin up. “Or do you just think my expectations are that easy to meet?”

“I have no doubt your expectations are as high as your walls.”

I scoff, shifting again like I’m going to turn away.

But Professor Gray grips my chin, holding it in place, forcing me to look at him. “You’ve been trained to think that’s a bad thing, but it’s not. Your standards are exactly where they should be, Patience. Never lower them because the right person will meet you there. And when they do, you’ll trust them enough not to be a challenge at all.”

My throat is sandpaper. My body hums.

He dares to brush his thumb over my chin, and every nerve lights up. But as quickly as he touches me, his eyes blink like he’s coming to his senses, and he steps back, releasing me. Without another word, he walks away, and I can’t help but watch him go, wishing he hadn’t, consequences or not.

10

AN OCEAN

JACOB

I can still feelthe prickle of her skin. The hum in her chest. The heat of her breath.

I can still taste the mint of her gum floating in the air between us.

Too close.

I’m gettingtoo close.

It took everything in me to leave the library tonight, and yet, I wait in my car, parked outside in the darkness until Patience is done. I watch her climb into the back of the car she ordered and follow her through the streets of LA until it stops outside her apartment.

Just in case.

This isn’t a city where she should be trusting anyone, and yet, that’s all she seems to do.

Staying late at the library.

Taking rides with strangers.