Teacher (Voyeur #6) - Fiona Cole Page 0,80

off, but they both knew me too well.

“Does this have to do with Daniel?”

“What? No.” This time my laugh reached too high of a pitch with a scoff in between.

“What happened?” Erik asked.

I swallowed, calming my nerves, and going for a calmer, more believable tone. “Nothing. We’re just friends.”

“Does he know that.”

“Yeah. He most definitely does.”

“What does that mean?” Ian asked.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to give them the truth—at least part of it. “I want more, and he…most likely doesn’t.”

“Most likely?” Erik asked, leaning his palms on the table and glowering like this was some kind of interrogation.

“We haven’t talked about it.”

“Is there something that happened that would need to be talked about?” he practically growled.

I pursed my lips and considered just laying it out there, letting him know we fucked like bunnies, just to make him regret pushing me like he has a right to. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Maaaaaybe we don’t want to know, Erik,” Ian suggested lightly.

Erik’s lip curled up, and he rolled his eyes, pushing away from the table. “If he hurts you,” he said, turning back, finger pointed. “I’ll kill him.”

“Aye-aye, captain,” I mocked his deep voice and saluted.

Ian laughed behind me and ruffled my hair like he had since we were kids. Done with the questioning and older brother glares, I made my excuses and got the hell out of there, heading back to my office.

Flopping back in my chair, I heaved a sigh and dared to look at my phone.

Daniel: You’re avoiding me.

Daniel: If you won’t come to me…

What the hell did that mean?

I didn’t have time to consider it before someone knocked on my door. Clicking the phone off, I shoved it to the side. “Come in.”

And in walked the person I was just trying to avoid.

“Daniel.” Tingles washed over me when I caught his blue eyes, made all the brighter by the dark circles underneath.

“I decided to be a little proactive and come to you. This way, you can’t avoid me anymore.”

“Oh…” I looked away, shuffling papers and buying time to come up with a valid excuse out of this. My office was spacious, but the threat of facing him turning me away had the walls closing in. “I, um, I have meetings so I really can—”

“No, you don’t. I ran into Ian in the hall and asked.”

Shit.

“Come on, Hanna. Don’t try to put me in a box like everything else.”

My gaze snapped up at that. “I’m not shoving you anywhere.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair before almost closing the door.

“Leave it open, please.”

I needed as much air in here as I could get and having the door open would prevent me from flinging myself in his arms, begging him to love me, like I so desperately wanted to.

His jaw clenched, but he nodded and sat in one of the seats across from my desk. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. But you have been avoiding me.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” I deadpanned.

“Hanna…”

Just my name and fire burned up my throat, stinging my eyes. I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want to hear him tell me I pushed too far and now he was done with me. I couldn’t handle it. I also couldn’t handle him asking if we could forget the words and go back to friends.

“I really don’t want to do this, Daniel.”

He watched me like I was a wild animal ready to bolt—he watched me like he was tiptoeing around my feelings. Like I was made of glass. Moisture built in my eyes, and I hated it. I hated that after everything, he saw me like everyone else did.

“Listen, we’ve been through a lot. What we’ve accomplished together in helping you, it brings two people close. We knew that going in, and that was why we set up the rules. I made a mistake in breaking them on our trip and continuing to break them once we got back.”

“It wasn’t a mistake.”

He swallowed hard and dropped his gaze. “I told you I don’t do love, Hanna. And maybe you thought what happened between us was more because you grew to lean on me.”

“Don’t belittle my feelings. Don’t make it sound like I’ve created this…transference.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, and his question pierced my chest. The first tear fell, and I swiped it away. I’d have rather had him come in and tell me he didn’t feel the same over this.

“I care about you, Hanna. But I told