Page 37 of Brighter Shades of Light
Mr. Miller,
Tutoring on Tuesday would work for me, as well. I’ll be in the lab from 1 to 2:30, so any time after that would be ideal.
-Dr. Vale
Yeah, I was crushing on him hard. He seemed like he was made of ice, but I’d gotten glimpses of what I believed was the real him. It was only a matter of hacking away at the ice and finding him beneath it all.
Dr. Vale,
That works out great. My last class ends at 2, so I’ll be there at 3. Can’t wait!
-Cody Miller
The rest of my weekend was great. I spent Saturday with Rachel as she dragged me to the mall and searched for clothes. I didn’t have money to buy anything, but it was fun spending the time with her. She found a pair of leggings with pumpkins on them and nearly deafened me as she squealed about them. It was cute how she could be so serious and focused during training and then let her girly-girl side show.
Sunday was mostly a study day. I couldn’t afford to make another bad grade in any of my classes. I wore my emotions on my sleeves, and knowing how upset Tristen had been had affected me more than I should’ve let it.
But I was ready to get back on track. Starting with tutoring.
Tuesday afternoon, I left my Amphibious Warfare class—a required naval science course for the NROTC—and walked toward the math and science building to meet Dr. Vale for our session. I’d had butterflies in my stomach the whole time he lectured yesterday morning, much like I did right then as I walked down the hall toward his office.
Nothing could happen between us. I mean, he was my professor. But I couldn’t ignore the urge to at least try. Some of that came from my time admiring his work, but the majority of it came from me just wanting to knowhim.
A man had never had such a hold on me before. I got bored with guys easily because none of them were able to keep me interested longer than a hot hookup or two. Dr. Vale was different. I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
“Good afternoon!” Professor Johnson, my Calculus Based Physics instructor, greeted me. He was a friendly guy but tried too hard to be best buds with his students. He’d been with Dr. Vale at the bar Friday night and had asked us if we wanted to do shots before he left with his group. Weird.
“Afternoon.”
“You on your way to see Seb? Er, I mean, Dr. Vale?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, don’t let me keep you.” He popped his suspenders and strolled off, stopping another student halfway down the hall to say hi.
Dr. Vale’s office was at the end of the hall on the left. I passed a water fountain, another teacher’s office, and a sitting area. There was a Coke machine, one for water, and a vending machine filled with chips and candy bars. Then, I was at his closed door, my heart thumping harder.
It’s only tutoring.
I really did need the help. A lot of the material I got wrong on the exam was because of lack of focus, but some of it had been confusing, too.
I didn’t know why I was nervous. It wasn’t like I was going to bust down his door, grab him by his sweater, shove him against his desk, and devour his sexy mouth.
Fuck, that’d be hot, though.
Right as I lifted my hand to knock, the door opened. Dr. Vale stood on the other side, looking like he hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in way too long. Blond hair stuck out around his face, untamed and sexy, and his green eyes pierced me.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Miller. Come in.”
I stepped into the room and he closed the door behind me. His office was tidy, filled with books and small knickknacks that looked like they’d come from an antique store. No clutter, though. Everything looked to have a place, carefully positioned instead of just thrown somewhere.
“Please have a seat.” He motioned to the chair in front of his desk and walked around to sit in his own chair. “Now, what is it you need help with? Entropy? That seemed to be the section you struggled with most on the exam.”
“Uh, yeah.” My voice was croaky, and I cleared my throat. “I mean, yes. That’s a great place to start.”
“Very well.” He slid over a notebook and flipped the page before lifting those gorgeous eyes back to me. “Entropy, as a reminder, is the measure of molecular disorder of a system.”
“So it’s a measure of uncertainty.”
