“You just figured I was some dumbass jock who got passed along because of football.” It’s not a question. We both know that’s exactly what I assumed.
The force of his gaze feels relentless. I can’t tell if it’s anger propelling all that churning emotion within them or not.
“Yes,” I finally whisper when I can’t stand the intensity a moment longer, “that’s what I thought.” When I try ripping my eyes away, he jerks my chin until they slide right back to where he wants them.
On him.
Leaning towards my left ear, he finally murmurs, “I’m more than just football, Ivy.” As those words whisper against my ear, his fingers finally fall away from my chin. As they do, I inhale a huge gulp of air. Needing to put some physical distance between us, I scramble back a step. For some reason my heart feels as if it’s going to explode right out of my chest.
Whatever this is between us… I don’t like it.
I know damn well this is just a game he’s running on me. For goodness sake, he has this effect on everyone. I bet if he asked every single girl in this room to drop their panties right here, right now, the majority of them would actually do it. I’m nothing special to him and the last thing I want is to fall under the spell he’s able to cast over me so easily.
In my haste to distance myself from him, I end up stumbling backwards. Just as my arms start to pinwheel, Roan grasps my upper arms before jerking me towards him.
Neither of us say a word as his arms snake easily around me. It takes a moment for me to realize that I’m being all but crushed against that massive chest of his. Oh god, it’s seriously just as hard and granite-like as I’d suspected. This sends my pulse skyrocketing as I quickly untangle myself from him before stepping neatly out of his embrace.
“Sorry,” I mumble. Yep, I really need to get out of here before I become any more of a bumbling idiot and embarrass myself even further than I already have. For some reason I’m acting exactly like one of the silly little twits that are constantly pawing at him.
And I’m not even going to bother lying to myself by saying that I’m not attracted to Roan because clearly I am. I was from the very moment I spilled my coffee all over him. You would have to be blind not to think he’s one of the most attractive men you’ve ever seen in your life. The problem is that he’s aware of just how good looking he is. And he’s used to girls hanging all over him. He uses them for his own selfish pleasure without any thought to their feelings at all.
Not that I’m feeling too much in the way of sympathy for any of these women, because I don’t. They know exactly what they’re getting into when they hook up with him and that’s nothing more than bragging rights.
And yeah, he’s telling me he’ll do his share of the work load for this project but does that necessarily mean it’s going to happen? Or that it’ll be quality work?
Nope.
So… as much as I want to believe him, I don’t. Not yet. All he’s done up to this point is surprise me. Time will tell if he actually changes my opinion of him.
Holding out his palm, he says, “Give me your phone.”
Now that my sexual haze has finally cleared enough for my brain cells to start functioning again, my brows snap together because there is absolutely no way in hell I want him adding my number to his contact list of conquered co-eds.
Umm… no thanks.
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
Quirking a brow, a smirk tips the edges of his lips upward. “I want your number so we can figure out times to get together and work on our ethics project. That’s it.”
My face instantly heats because it never occurred to me that he would want my number for that purpose. Now who looks like a total jackass? Feeling irritated, both with him as well as myself, I hand over my phone and watch as he programs his name and number into my contacts. Then he calls his phone before handing it back to me.
“There. How does meeting on Sunday afternoon work for you? We need a few hours to sit down and generate some ideas about the case study we’re going to consider for the project.”
I stare down at my phone for just a moment before glancing back up at him. “Sunday afternoon is fine.”
My breath hitches as he steps towards me until we’re so close again that I have to tip my face up just to hold his gaze.
“I’ll text you with a time and place.”
Nodding, I take another careful step away. As I do, two girls slide between us before wrapping themselves around him. With his eyes still focused on me, he drapes an arm around each of them.