“Thank you.” I took the paper from him, somewhat shocked by the act. “That was really thoughtful.”
“Well, prepare yourself. I am all kinds of thoughtful this week. I brought you something else.”
I bit down on the edge of my pen as he rooted around and took the moment to openly gawk at him without him knowing. It really had been a long time since I held a conversation with the opposite sex that wasn’t related to me, but from all the people watching I’d done over the years, I thought I was handling this well. Besides the plowing comment, I was sort of proud of myself.
Cam pulled out a napkin and unfolded it with long fingers. “Cookie for you. Cookie for me.”
Removing the pen from my mouth, I shook my head. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s just a cookie, sweetheart.”
I shook my head again, because it just didn’t make sense to me. Cam didn’t make sense to me. Hell, most people didn’t make sense to me.
He looked up through those impossibly long lashes and sighed. Tearing the napkin in half, he folded up one of the cookies and then dropped it in my lap. “I know they say you shouldn’t take candy from strangers, but it’s a cookie and not candy and technically, I’m not a stranger.”
I swallowed.
Cam took a bite of his cookie and closed his eyes. A deep sound emanated from his throat—a growl of pleasure. My heart jumped and my cheeks heated even more as I stared at him. He made the sound again, and my mouth dropped open. A row down, a girl turned in her seat, her eyes clouded over.
“Is it really that good?” I asked, glancing down at the cookie in my lap.
“Oh, yeah, this is the shit. I told you that last night. Be better if I had some milk.” He took another bite. “Mmm, milk.”
I dared another peek at him and he looked like he was on the verge of having an orgasm or something.
One eye opened. “It’s the combination of walnut and chocolate. You mix that together and it’s like an explosion of sex in your mouth, but not as messy. The only thing better would be those teeny tiny Reese’s Cups. When the dough is warm, you plop those suckers in…. Anyway, you just need to try it. Take a small bite.”
Oh, what the hell? It was just a cookie, not a crack pipe. I was being stupid. I unfolded the napkin and took a bite. The cookie practically melted in my mouth.
“Good?” Cam said. “Right?”
I took another bite and nodded.
“Well, I have a whole ton of them at home.” He stretched as he rolled up his napkin. “Just saying.”
Finishing off the cookie, I had to admit that it was a pretty damn good cookie. Wiping off my fingers, I started to roll up the napkin, but Cam reached over and took it from me. He twisted a bit in his seat, causing his knee to brush my leg.
“Crumb,” he said.
“What?”
A slight grin appeared on his face and then he reached out, without the napkin, and before I knew what he was doing, he smoothed his thumb over my bottom lip. Every single muscle in my body locked up and became painfully tense. My eyes widened and the air caught in my throat. The touch was slight, barely anything, but I felt it in several parts of my body.
“Got it.” His grin spread.
My lip still tingled. That was all I could think about. I didn’t move, not until the door at the front of the classroom opened and the strangest man I’d ever seen rolled in. Dressed head to toe in olive green polyester, the man had thick, curly hair that went in every which direction, peppered black and gray. His glasses were huge, resting on the tip of his nose. As he crossed the main stage, I noticed he was wearing a pair of checkered Vans… that matched his bow tie.
Cam chuckled softly. “Professor Drage is a very… unique man.”
“I can see,” I murmured.
Professor Drage had an accent I couldn’t quite place, but based on his olive skin tone, I was going with Mediterranean or Middle Eastern. He launched right into the topic—no roll call or warning. I scrambled to catch up to his introduction to the field of astronomy and units and measurement while Cam scooted even further down in his seat and opened his notebook. His pen was making quick, short strokes over the paper, but he wasn’t taking notes.
He was drawing.
Cocking my head to the side, I tried to focus on what the hell an astronomical unit meant, which was some crazy number I couldn’t even begin to remember. Turned out to be the average distance the Earth orbits the sun. That was important because astronomical units were used to determine most distances in our solar system, but I found myself glancing at Cam’s notebook.
What the hell was he drawing?
“Now, most of you kiddos don’t care about astronomical units or have never really heard of them,” Professor Drage went on, passing the length of the stage. “What you are familiar with is the term ‘light year.’ Although, I doubt any of you really, truly understand what a light year is.”
I was pretty sure Cam was drawing Big Foot.
The lecture went on until Professor Drage suddenly changed gears at the end, catching me and everyone else besides Cam off guard, and started passing out star maps. “I know today is only Wednesday, but here is your first assignment for the weekend. Skies are supposed to be clear as a baby’s bottom on Saturday.”
“Clear as a baby’s bottom?” I muttered.
Cam chuckled.
“I want you to find the Corona Borealis in the sky—the actual real, honest to goodness, night sky,” Professor Drage explained, smiling as if he said something funny, but we all stared at him. “You won’t need a telescope. Use your eyes or glasses or contacts or whatever. You can view it either Friday or Saturday night, but the weather is looking sketchy on Friday, so choose wisely.”