Page 24 of Wicked Little Darling

He looked a little out of breath as he scanned the sea of faces staring at him, and when his eyes locked onto mine, my heart skipped a beat.

Reese stared me down as he stood just inside the doorway. A million different emotions seemed to clamor for dominance—shock, fury, hopelessness, irritation, disbelief. The one that won in the end was irritation, and he dragged his feet to the only available seat in the room—the one next to me.

“Hey,” I said as he tried to scoot away from me. He ignored me, and my skin started to prickle.

“Young man,” the professor called to Reese. He picked up a packet—the one he’d passed out earlier—and walked over to us. “Please try to arrive on time.”

“Sorry, I got lost,” Reese said, looking sheepish and offering our teacher a small, apologetic smile.

“Everyone in class has already paired up for a group project. You can find the details here, and you can also partner with Dakota since he’s the only one without a partner. While I’m not happy you arrived late, you seem to have solved this little problem, so welcome.”

I kind of resented being called a problem when I hadn’t even done anything, but whatever. Now Reese was my partner and there was no way he’d be able to ignore me anymore. I smiled and rested my head on my hand, letting my gaze drift over my new partner.

Reese paled as the professor turned around and headed back to the front of the room. His wide eyes flew to mine, and I didn’t like the mild panic in them. What was there to be afraid of?

He pulled his chair closer to his desk and grabbed a notebook from his bag, not looking in my direction again.

I leaned toward him and whispered, “Hey. I don’t bite, you know. I think that’s more your thing.”

His jaw ticced, but he said nothing. I studied his profile, a little disappointed that I couldn’t see the mark on his face from this side, which was disappointing because I was slightly obsessed with it.

Because I couldn’t see that pretty mark, I let my gaze drift over what I could see. He had the softest-looking skin and wide, full lips that were pulled down in a frown at the moment.

I leaned even closer. “What are the chances that we’re roommates, and now we’re partners in the same class? Feels like fate, doesn’t it?”

Reese set his elbow on his desk and covered the side of his face with his hand, blocking me from view. He had a small, dark pink mark on his wrist that looked similar to the one on his face. Were they birthmarks?

I scooted closer to Reese, whose shoulders went up. “Hey, are those?—”

“Mr. Voss, please pay attention.”

Ah, damn it.

I gave the professor an apologetic wave. “Sorry.” My shoulders slumped as I faced forward and picked up my pen, fiddling with it.

“Get your textbooks out and turn to page fourteen, please.”

Reese had been scribbling something in his notebook, but froze when the professor mentioned textbooks. He flushed and hunched lower in his seat.

The sound of pages being flipped filled the room, but he didn’t reach into his bag to get a textbook.

Did he not have one?

I picked mine up and slid it over to his desk. “Here.”

He glanced at me, then pushed it back my way. “It’s fine.”

I shoved it back. “Just take it, Reese. Professor Hawkins deducts points if you don’t have your book to participate.”

His gaze darted to the professor, who was writing something on the board, then back to me.

“I didn’t know there was a textbook for this class,” he whispered. “It wasn’t on the list.”

I shrugged. “You can just keep it, I’ll get another one.”

He looked at me like I was absolutely insane, then shook his head. “No. It’s yours.”

“What, you don’t want it because I touched it?” Amusement flickered through me as he frowned.