Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,18

Valdez had been my favorite teacher. Inspiring, passionate, and smarter than anyone I’d ever met. He may have been ruthless with his homework, but I had always loved working hard and seeing that he appreciated my efforts.

The professor gave me a probing look. “When your father said I’d find you here, I thought he might’ve been mistaken.”

I swallowed. He hadn’t meant it as an insult, but it wormed its way under my skin just the same. “Well, here I am.”

“We’ve missed you in class,” he said, twisting a key-laden ring in his hands. Professor Valdez oversaw the entire chemistry department at the University of Washington. Those keys might as well have been to the pearly white gates, for all they meant to me. They were for every lab I’d ever been in. Every classroom that had sparked my passions. “I thought you’d be back by now,” he added, his voice taking on a new note of concern.

I nodded, pursing my lips as I struggled to maintain eye contact. “I thought so too.”

“And?”

I stared down at the ground, at the swirls in the hardwood. “I don’t know. It was like once I got out of the swing of things, I just… didn’t know how to go back. It felt like I’d missed so much and was so behind.”

“It’s not too late,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft, compassionate. He ruled his classroom with an iron fist, his expectations higher than any teacher I’d ever worked with. And yet there he was, at the mall, encouraging me to return despite my dropping the ball.

I cleared my throat, feeling like my face was about to burst into flames. This was almost worse than Landon seeing me there. “I’m hoping to return this fall.”

“Does that mean you don’t have any plans for this summer?”

Now that I was quitting this job, I certainly didn’t. I shrugged, feeling ashamed in so many ways, I didn’t even know how to respond. I was lost and my professor knew it all too well. I could see it in his eyes.

He went on. “The thing is, Miss James, the internship is open.”

I froze. “The biotech internship? But the applications were due months ago. Last year I turned mine in around February.”

He tilted his head. “Normally you’d be correct. Unfortunately, another student was awarded the position… but he just broke his femur in a car accident. They need someone else immediately and you’re top of the list.”

I shook my head, backing up and bumping into the cart. “Surely there are active students who qualify.”

“None who completed biochemistry with a 4.0, and passed the screening process.” His grin widened as he presented me with my dreams on a silver platter.

My heart soared, racing with possibilities. “But I didn’t even apply.”

“You did last year. And even though you withdrew your application when you left school, they’d already conducted the initial screening. You were going to be selected, but you walked away before knowing it.”

I couldn’t decide if this news broke my heart or made me feel lighter than air. I would’ve been awarded one of those most competitive internships in the country. Only one student from each state was given the chance to participate. Professor Valdez prided himself on the fact that that student would come from UW.

From his classrooms.

A lump formed in my throat, choking me with emotion. Pride and regret warred together in my stomach. “You sure there’s no one else available to take the spot?”

Someone who deserves it more? I nearly added.

“Of those who qualify, no. If you don’t take it, we won’t have a representative on the team from UW.”

“Oh,” I said, my head spinning. How had everything changed in twenty-four hours? “When does it start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes,” he said, amusement sparking as he flicked a glance at the cart. “Unless you have a better opportunity occupying your time.”

I blushed. “But isn’t the internship in Dallas?”

He nodded. “Of course, it’s out of town and lasts six weeks, but the opportunity is priceless for someone who wants to do serious work in this industry.”

“It’s just very sudden. I didn’t see this coming.”

Thoughts barreled through at a mile a minute. I’d wanted this internship a year ago. Desperately. A week before the selection was announced, my mother took a turn for the worse, and I had to withdraw.

And now it had just fallen into my lap. A second chance. Mine for the taking.

I pursed my lips, sliding them back and forth as I considered it. “I’m not sure I’m ready,” I said,