Mark pulled his hand free, and Ivar let him. “Promise and I go way back.”
Pinpricks danced along Promise’s spine. What was happening? Tension filtered through the room, and she pondered the puzzle, finally reaching a conclusion. They were posturing? Over her? She leaned back against the crammed bookshelf to watch. This was new.
Ivar smiled, and the sight was a threat. “Well, Missy and I are enjoying the present.”
Red flushed through Mark’s face. “Missy?”
Ivar lifted a shoulder. “Nickname. Just mine. You can’t use it.”
All right. This was quickly descending into something that would destroy the organized chaos in her office and probably result in Mark enduring broken bones. Promise pushed off the bookshelf. “Mark? Don’t you have a class to teach?”
The math professor looked at his watch and then straightened. “Yes. I was just popping by to tell you I could cover your supersymmetry class for the rest of the semester, since we don’t have grad students advanced enough to do so.” He smiled at Ivar. “I read her sabbatical request in the office.”
“I helped her compose it,” Ivar returned.
Oh, for Pete’s sake. Promise fought a laugh and made herself nod. “That’s wonderful. Thank you, Mark.”
He hesitated. “I understand that you need to take some time off.” He eyed Ivar. “For personal reasons.”
Ivar growled, and Promise jumped, looking toward him. He looked back with a guileless expression on his hard-cut face. “What?” he asked.
Had she imagined the noise? Maybe. “I’m healing from the car crash and working on a theory for that grant,” she said. “It’s got me, and I want to work the problem all the time. I’m sure you understand.”
Mark looked Ivar up and down. “I understand the math problem.”
Ivar took a step toward him. “Perhaps I can help you understand the personal issue.”
Promise held up a hand. “Mark? I appreciate your help with the class, and I’ll make sure to keep you appraised of my work on the theory.” She used her crispest voice, and it was a clear dismissal.
Mark paused and then nodded, disappearing back out into the hallway.
Promise crossed her arms and stared at Ivar.
“What?” he asked, his rugged face the perfect picture of innocence.
Why did she feel so good? Almost delighted at the moment? She’d have to explore that later. “It’s going to take me an hour or so to get organized, and you’re way too distracting. Any chance you can patrol the hallway without causing gaggles of girls to follow you?” Most were in class right now, anyway.
His smile was more than mildly arrogant. “Distracting, huh?” He pulled her close for a hard and what felt like possessive kiss. “Okay.” Then he was gone, smoothly shutting the door behind him.
Her lips tingled along with the rest of her body. From one kiss. A proprietal one. At least, that’s how she’d qualify it. The only way to know would be to ask what he was feeling when he had kissed her, and she’d learned early on that most people didn’t like to be questioned about their feelings. Ivar might be different, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable right when they’d become lovers.
She’d really like to engage in sex with him again. He was superb at it, and she’d never felt like that before. Ever.
She shook her head to regain control of herself and then moved to one of the file cabinets, where she thought she’d left a partially used notebook on a theory seeking evidence of a higher dimension. She had set it aside months ago to follow new math on Standard Model observables. Ah. There it was. She took it out and then considered what else she’d need for the next month or so. Or longer.
Her office was a mess. Well, she knew where everything had been placed, but the piles of books, papers, and notebooks might amount to a fire hazard. She should probably organize it a mite more before leaving on sabbatical.
The cast-iron vent in the ceiling opened, and a tall male body dropped down in one smooth motion. Papers and a couple of notebooks scattered across the floor.
She blinked. Shock kept her immobile for about a second, and then she opened her mouth to scream for Ivar.
“Don’t scream.” The man pulled a gun from the back of his waist. A green gun.
Her breath stopped. She swallowed.
The man had long black hair tipped with red, deep green eyes, and pale skin. No way was he human. He stood to at least six seven, and he