Thea wondered where the commotion came from as she stepped into the lecture hall. She was pretty sure that it wasn't because of her. It wasn't that unusual for her to cover for Professor Wilson so the students mustn't be too surprised by her presence there.
Continuing to walk down the stairs, she put down her bag on the table and looked up at her class. Everyone was busy looking from her to someone in the back row. And as her eyes traveled up following their gazes, she realized what drove their attention this much.
Sitting at one of the far back rows was no one other than him… The stranger from the park. The man who almost ran her over.
Sitting there, Thea couldn't help but note why the students were making such a fuss about him. He was sitting there looking down at his phone in his clearly expensive three piece suit. He looked too much out of place and to be honest way out of league of his entourage which made Thea wonder why she hadn't seen that when she first met him.
So… This stranger was one of Chim&Bio's executives… Maybe she should have seen through that. Especially after he talked about biology with that mysterious smile.
He probably already knew who she was from the start. She was the only idiot who didn't realize…
As that thought crossed her mind, she watched carefully as he put down his phone and looked up at her. Their eyes met and for a very brief moment, she saw his eyes widening slightly in surprise before a smile broke over his lips.
He seemed… Pleased. Could it be that he really didn't know who she was?
The thought was somehow reassuring and comforting. She took a deep breath moving her gaze away from the handsome stranger and addressed her class.
"Hello, Everyone! As you can see, today I will be replacing Professor Wilson because of an emergency. I can see that you're all very excited by our special guest's presence, but let's try to focus on the material for today since I am pretty sure that it will be part of the mid-terms," She said with a smile and there were groans all over the hall making her want to laugh.
Looking up again, she met the handsome stranger's gaze again as he smiled at her. He seemed to find the whole situation humorous. Not that Thea thought it wasn't…
As the lecture went on, she tried to ignore his gaze on her which she felt like it was penetrating her bones and leaving her with no choice but to steal glances only to fall deep into his piercing graze which was laid out to her like a tantalizing trap.
The man certainly had a presence. Extremely sexy and charming, he didn't even have to try to draw attention to him. Hence the distracted lot of the female students she could still not even halfway through her lecture.
It was a challenge to keep her student's attention while also focusing on ignoring his attention on her which felt more and more like a torturous temptation as time went on.
By the time the class ended, Thea felt so tired and sensitive that she thought that she would snap at the slightest provocation.
"This would be all for today, thank you," she said ending the long torture.
Thea would have loved nothing more than to gather her things and leave the hall as soon as possible. But she knew that she shouldn't do that.
She couldn't act like a love-stricken teenage girl.
So, instead of Running away, she steeled her frayed nerved and greeted her students as she waited for the class to empty out and for her guest to head down her way.
"That was a great lecture," he said by way of greeting and she looked up at him with a smile.
"Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it," She answered as she looked up at him as he towered over her standing before.
"This is a nice coincidence," He said softly leaning against the table and peering at her with his deep green gaze which left her even more intoxicated than last time.
"Is it a coincidence, that is..." She asked as she eyes him and he gave her a mysterious smile not answering her question.
He know who she was. She was now sure. And too embarrassed to say anything further because he saw her in that unsightly state.
"I don't think I had the chance to introduce myself last time," He said extending his hand toward her, "I'm Lucian Salvator, CEO candidate for Chim&Bio,"
Thea was shocked for a moment. To think that the infamous CEO was no one other than the handsome stranger she met earlier…
And why in the world did his name make him sound even more alluring?
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Salvator. I'm Thea Keaton, although you already know that." She added with a half hearted glare his way and he answered with an annoyingly provocative smile.
"Thank you again for the other day. You helped me a lot," She added with a sigh reaching her hand out which he took in his sending waves of shock and warmth through her skin upon their contact.
"I'm glad to see you doing well. And please call me Lucian, Thea," He said with a smile as he shook her hand his eyes never leaving hers.
"Well, Nice to meet you, Mr. Salvator," She said with a stubborn smile and reached for her bag to carry it.
"Please, let me get that," He said
"No, that's quite fine," She answered, "I can inconvenience you any more than I already did, Mr. Salvator,"
"Please call me Lucian," He said again with the same smile seeming unfazed as he took the bag from her hand and waited for her to step up toward him to walk.
It seemed like he has no plan to leave her alone for now.
"Thank you," She answered, "I was a bit surprised to hear that someone would be auditing my courses so soon. I thought the schedule was going to start next week,"
"I was actually on my way here for the meeting when something came up. I had Haden take care of it and only made It after the meeting, so I decided to audit some classes as it is. When I asked the department head, he insisted that you would be okay with me coming without notice," He explained which made Thea wonder how in the world did this escape her grandfather's notice. She needed to talk to James about this later.
Or Else, Robert was going to completely sabotage their whole project.
"Of course, it's fine. Although the course is a bit far from our area of interest with the project. I was only filling in for another professor," She explained as she walked beside him.
"I was surprised! You were completely natural out there that I thought that this was your lecture from the start," he said, "I enjoyed the lecture anyway, it was fun,"
"I'm glad to hear that," Thea said as she reached her office and made her way inside making way for Lucian who didn't seem like he was going back anytime soon.
"Would you like something to drink?" She asked him as he put her bag on the desk.
"Water would be fine," He answered and as she turned around to hand him the bottle, she found him leaning against her desk, his eyes trained on her with a look so intense that it stole her breath away.
They remained like that in silence for a few beats as her heart raced away. Then as Lucian finally said,
"Would you like to have lunch with me?" He asked.
Thea didn't have the time to answer him before someone barged into her office without knocking.
"Thea! There is something I wanted to disc-" Robert said as he came into the office then paused when his eyes landed on Lucian who looked like he was quite comfortable leaning against her desk casually.
"Mr. Salvator…" Robert trailed off as he paused by the door and Thea saw some movement behind him to find the same student from before standing there.
"Professor Pierce," Lucian answered not seeming to be bothered enough to move from his position.
"How can I help you, Professor Pierce? You seemed like you were in a hurry," She said as she handed Lucian the bottle trying hard to ignore the gaze he was giving her and the way he touched her fingers lingering on them when she handed him the bottle.
"Nothing that can't wait. I was just going to talk about the handover we discussed the other day. But, we can talk when you're done with Mr. Salvator," He answered managing to look dignified.
"Oh, I finished the paperwork with the administration earlier and made sure to explain the situation. Since the midterms are still not here, the transfer was easy to make. Please talk to them directly if you have any questions," She said as she headed toward the door waiting patiently for Robert to understand that he was an unwanted presence.
After a few beats, the man seemed to realize that and bid them curt goodbyes before leaving the office with Thea closing the door behind him.
"Well… That was… Interesting…" Lucian trailed off his voice sounding off.
Wondering what was wrong with him, Thea closed the door making sure that Robert wasn't still standing in the hallway. That's when she heard the question that she hadn't expected to hear from him.
"That your boyfriend?"
Shocked, Thea looked back at him only to be trapped in his intensely dark gaze as he looked at her waiting for an answer.
He was serious. Very serious about this question.