He couldn’t get his fight with Malia out of his head. Every time Zephyr thought back to class, he wanted to groan. Even when he got home he still couldn't let it go. The look in her eye, a mixture of hurt, and disappointment and then challenge.

Shit. What the hell had he been thinking? What was going on with her that she rolled into class in the same clothes from the night before? And why had he touched her? He needed to forget the girl and move the fuck on. She had a point. She was at the top of the class, and he had selected her. So what if what he got was not exactly what he expected? Clearly her grades were there. He'd just panicked when she walked up to the group.

He scrubbed a hand down his face before grabbing a beer out of the fridge. He'd been an asshole for no reason. Liar. He had a reason. He wanted her. As it turned out he hadn't learned a goddamn thing from the last year.

He knew what was at stake. So he needed to let it go. Forget the challenge in her eyes and the way she carried herself despite what anyone else might think. This inner grace along with a badass spirit, it was hot as hell. But it was also coupled with the vulnerability that was his Achilles’ heel, and it triggered every instinct inside him to take care of her. In bed.

Fuck. No. Let this one go. Because there was a hardcore, no-fraternization policy for the organization. It was not okay to date a student. And given all the shit of the last year, staying away was safer.

A knock at the door dragged him out of his reverie. He opened it with a grin to find Cooper on the other side. "What's up, bro?"

Cooper shrugged. "Nothing. But you look like shit."

Zephyr grabbed another beer for Cooper. "Thanks for that. I'm just going to put this beer back."

His friend grinned and took the beer. "Now, let's not get all hasty. Nice digs man. Wow, Tanashi must be paying you a shit ton."

Zephyr laughed. "No. I mean, they pay me well, but not well enough that I could afford this place on my own. It's a corporate apartment."

Cooper whistled low. "Is it too late for me to get a job there?"

"Who knows? I'm sure a company as big as Tanashi has an architecture arm.”

"Something tells me I wouldn't get these nice perks. I might get that paycheck, but the corporate digs wouldn't come with it."

Zephyr laughed as he led him into the living room. "Probably not. I was surprised to find that this place was as nice as it is. Hell, I may never leave."

"I don't blame you. Want to go out tonight? We can to grab some food, watch the game?"

He wanted to, but he recognized the babysitting intent for what it was. "Honestly, I'm chillin' tonight. Going out last night might have messed me up."

"You barely had a couple drinks." Cooper laughed.

"I know. But still. I met my students today and fucked up pretty bad so I was going to do the whole low-key thing."

Cooper frowned. "It was the first day. How badly could you have messed up?"

Where to even begin? "Remember the girl from last night?"

Cooper grinned. "You mean the one you ran off to go help, then looked dazed after seeing?" His idiot friend put the word help in quotations

"Fuck off man."

Cooper's grin stretched broadly over his face. "Woohoo. I told you man. She's a fucking smoke show. She looks like trouble too."

"Well you'd be right. She is trouble. First problem: she's my student."

Cooper stopped drinking mid-sip. "No shit."

"Wish I was kidding," Zephyr sighed. "She strolled in late for class looking rough as hell around the edges and wearing the same clothes from last night."

Cooper shrugged. “Ah, walk of shame. At least you know she's bright. She went to class instead of staying with whatever dude she hooked up with last night."

Irritation flared quickly. "She wasn’t with some dude last night."

Cooper laughed. "I mean, how do you know? It’s not like she's ugly."

That was the rub. Zephyr didn’t meet Cooper’s gaze when he muttered, "I know because I kissed her last night." He left out the part about her coming apart in his hands.

Cooper stared at him. "When the fuck did that happen? You went to help her and …" His voice trailed.

Zephyr shook his head. "I went to check on her …" He shrugged.

Cooper hung his head and chuckled. "Man, do you ever learn? That one doesn’t need saving. And even if she does, you’re out of the saving business."

"That’s not what this is about."

Cooper studied him. "I've known you a long time. After the Alice thing—"

Zephyr worked hard to suppress the wince at her name. "This isn't like that. I'm not saving her. If I'm being for real, I don’t even know what the fuck happened. One minute, I was carrying the box downstairs for her; the next thing I know …" His voice trailed off, and he shrugged.

Cooper just laughed. "No wonder you were so out of it. You looked like you were in pain, man."

"Yeah, well, it got worse when she walked into class today. Turns out she's one of my scholar students."

Cooper whistled low.

"I made it worse when I pulled her aside and told her that she should probably drop the class if she couldn't handle the workload or turn up on time. All this stupid nonsense came right out of my mouth."

His friend raised a brow. "You're shitting me, right?"

"I wish I was. And I could hear myself saying it. I was just completely powerless to stop any of it coming out."

Cooper chuckled as he took another swig of his beer. "You have a girl problem."

"I do not have a girl problem. I can handle this one. I'll just treat her like everyone else."

Cooper shook his head. "You’ve got a little crush on her. And now you're acting like an idiot. Happens to the best of us. All you need to do is find someone else and get laid pronto. Focus all your energy on some new chick. Then you'll be able to handle this one better."

"Oh, the sage advice offered by the guy who might as well be a monk?"

"Hey, we're not talking about my situation. Besides, I do know how to handle women. And you, my friend, opened your mouth and shoved your foot right up in there. If you think you can handle her without losing your shit again, then great. But, if you don't think you can, you better find some other way to direct your attention. Because this girl could be a problem for you. I can't believe you're such a dumbass and told her to drop out. You said yourself that she was top of the class."

Zephyr rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know. I seriously fucked that shit up. No more distractions. Tomorrow I officially start working for Tanashi. I need to be on my A-game."

"Then, my friend, I suggest you figure out the fastest way to get this girl out of your head."

"Yeah, too bad that's easier said than done.”

* * *

“Wait, so he said what?"

Malia leaned back against Emily's beanbag chair. "You heard me. He asked me if I'd be able to keep up."

Emily slammed her hand on the table. "That's it. He's a racist asshole."

Malia shook her head. Emily was known for getting on her soapbox very quickly. "Ease up. I think he's biracial. Asian maybe. Maybe white? So pretty unlikely."

Emily placed her hands on her hips. "I'm Chinese. I know other Asian people who are racist. I mean it's ridiculous but true."

Mali considered for a moment. "I don't think he is. But I do think he might be classist." She shrugged. "Also, I might have been wearing the same clothes as I had on last night. And I might also have kind of smelled a little bit like the bar."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean might have smelled a little bit like the bar?"

And this was the tricky part of the story. There was no way in hell Malia was letting Emily know that she didn't have a permanent place to stay. She didn't want that pity.

The story she told Emily when she lost her apartment was that her roommate was evil and often locked her out of the place so she could bang her boyfriend. Last year, Malia's apartment was a studio up in Squirrel Hill that she shared with another student. Emily had been there once or twice, and her former roommate had indeed been unfriendly. But the girl had been kicked out around about the same time that she was. And Malia had no idea where she was now. But she was more than happy to use her as a scapegoat when needed.

"Well, you know how my roommate is. So I couldn't exactly stay at my place, so I might have camped out in the Sober Car. I changed my shirt this morning."

Emily slapped her forehead. "Oh my God. That was entirely my fault. I brought Mac home last night."

Malia shook her head. "Not your fault. Besides, I was working late and it was kind of ridiculous to expect you to not hook up. You do you. We talked about that before. It was cool. Only problem was I was late to class, and well, he was right. I did sorta smell like a bar."

"Yeah, but he didn't need to be a prick about it."

"This is true."

"So how do you deal with him? I mean, if the guy is hostile there's no way to work with him, right?"

What Emily didn't understand was that Malia was willing to do just about anything to get that internship. That scholarship meant money and a completely different life. She wouldn't have to depend on her aunt to look after her sister. It meant that she would have enough money to have a decent place and take care of Eva, keep going to school, and have money for extras, like shower gel.

That's right Malia, you just keep thinking big. "No. I am keeping his class. I'm not dropping. I wouldn't give the guy the satisfaction. Besides, I told you what this kind of internship can mean. It's a great opportunity. I'm certainly not letting this guy run me out of it. Besides, I know how to handle guys like him."

Emily studied her closely. And then she leaned forward, bringing her face mere inches away from Malia's. "Oh my God. You think he's hot, don’t you?"

The flush crept up Malia's neck and into her face, and she wished she could hide. The olive tone of her skin did a decent job, but Emily knew her too well. "Really? I didn't really notice."

"You didn't notice, my ass. Clearly you noticed. Look at your face. You are all flushed and hot and bothered. This is amazing and completely changes the landscape. Do you think he's into you?"

"Oh my God. How are you so boy crazy and have a 4.0 GPA?"

Emily shrugged. "I know how to multitask. You can be boy crazy too."

"I'm not boy crazy. I just want to get my work done. Focus."

Emily sat at her desk chair, rolling it forward. "I'm leaving for Mac's in a minute but I want all the details. What does he look like?"

By now Malia knew that her friend wouldn't be satisfied until she had some details. "I mean, I don’t know. He's tall I guess. Over six feet. Really cute. Dark hair. Deep-set, smoky-gray eyes. If I was into him, and I'm not, he has the kind of eyes you can get lost in. But I'm not into him, so they don't do it for me. But I can see it." She shrugged. "I don't know. He's all right if you like that sort of thing."

Emily hooted. "And I promise you, I like that sort of thing. Okay so what's your plan with the dude?"

Malia shook her head. "There is no plan. There's a very strict no-fraternization policy. And I am not that girl who's going to suck up to her teacher just because she thinks he's cute."

"I swear, you're so melodramatic. No one is asking to fuck up your future. I'm just asking you to think with your libido and your lady parts for once. This you is boring you."

"I'm not boring."

"Honey, you work your ass off. You have more jobs than anyone I know. What's the current count, six? Seven? You need to tell your aunt that she's got too many expectations of you. She is the adult. She needs to be looking after your sister. And then on top of that, you do your schoolwork. How you manage it all I have no idea. And you have that crazy ass roommate. You've got to change your living situation soon. You probably have a ton of money saved."

All of those things were true. But, her Aunt Mabel wasn't going to change. And that roommate, well, she had gotten rid of her. Sort of. Well okay, by default. But she didn't need Emily to know that. "I hear you. It's a lot. And I swear as soon as I get the scholarship and internship, I am pulling all the things back. God, can you imagine—me with just one job? What would that be like?"

"It would be like, oh, I don't know, fun. You could go out more. Relax a little. Have actual sex."

"Not with Zephyr Donovan."

Emily rolled her eyes and scooted her chair back. "If you say so, but I am going to look up the guy on my own. If I deem he's drool worthy, there are some rules that were meant to be broken."

Malia laughed. "Nope. Not happening."

"Okay, fine. I got to get to Mac's. You're cool crashing here?"

Was she ever. All she was looking forward to was a hot shower and an opportunity to sleep for eight whole hours in a bed. That would be like heaven.

"Yep. I'm all set. Just a quiet place to study and crash out."

"Well, you can always crash, whether I'm here or not. I gave you a spare key, so use it when you need to."

Emily was an RA for her dorm. The problem was her friend often had students who came in and needed to talk to her. So it wasn’t always the best option. "I know. Thank you."

Once Emily was gone, Malia let herself sag in the chair. A part of her wanted to crash so hard right there. But she knew she needed a shower. She needed to wash her hair and use freaking hot water. That would be a dream. She normally used the gym locker rooms on campus. But there was a ten minute water-use rule.

Washing her hair would take a lot longer than that. But before she succumbed to the lure of hot water, she checked on her sister. The phone rang several times before Eva picked up. "Malia?"

"Hey, Sprout. How's it going?"

"I'm good. Did you get my email about Tennman Academy?"

Tennman was a fancy boarding school just outside of Philly. "I did. I got your email. I'm so proud of you. You getting along with Mabel okay?"

"Oh my God, she called you already?"

"Yeah, this morning. But I got it. You just keep doing you. Keep working hard. I will handle it."

Her sister was silent for beat. "I know you will. But I can't help but worry about you."

"Don't worry about me. I'm good."

"You think I don't know that you're working your butt into the ground? All that money you send to Mabel. Luckily, I don't need much. Because I don't think she’d even let me have access to any of it. I honestly don't want you to have to work that hard."

"Like I said, you let me worry about that. I love you, okay? I'll call you this weekend when I've got a little more time. Right now I'm just checking in."

"Okay. If you're sure. But honestly, I still worry."

"I told you. I got this. You relax and let your big sister take care of you."

After she hung up with her sister, she headed straight for the shower. There'd been an email from Zephyr, but she was going to ignore that for now.

After a nice long shower, she dragged her books into bed to finish her reading that she hadn’t gotten done between classes. Unfortunately, no matter what she did, thoughts of Zephyr Donovan floated into her mind.

The strength of his jaw, how he looked in profile, etc. The way that Henley he wore fit his broad shoulders. There was an immediate throbbing between her thighs, and she scowled as she flipped over in the bed.

Goddammit. He was the last thing she needed to be thinking about. Unfortunately, her body didn't get that memo.

She thought of the smile he'd given the group at the end of class and every nerve ending in her body started to tingle, reminding her of how he tasted, the way his tongue slid against hers.

And right about then, it didn't matter that he stood between her and the one thing she needed. It didn't matter that nothing was ever going to happen. She wanted him. As if she even had time for these kinds of things.

Everything had changed last year. Her freshman and sophomore year, dating had been fun. She'd gone out with a couple of guys, and even had one boyfriend for about six months or so, but they'd broken up eventually over the summer. Then last year, her whole world changed.

Her parents had died, leaving her and her sister alone. Six months after that she lost her place to stay. So dating hadn't really been top of mind. And it still wasn't. She could indulge the fantasy for now, but she wouldn't allow it for long because she couldn't go there. Too much was riding on this class, namely her survival.