I am a complete and total dick.

I saw the look in Purity's eyes when I made that comment about her writing, the flicker of disappointment followed by hurt when I disparaged her. I could have been kind and welcoming. Hell, I could have been honest and told her that her writing sample was the standout piece of all of the writing pieces submitted for consideration.

But I wasn't honest and I wasn't kind.

Instead I was a jackass, and it wasn't remotely her fault. After all, it's not her fault that my mind was in the gutter the second she walked through my door. It's definitely not her fault that I want to pull that innocent little white dress up around her and –

I need to shut down those thoughts.

For a split second, right before I said what I said, I thought I saw a flicker of desire in her eyes. I thought I saw her pupils growing larger as she looked at me. I thought I saw her lips fall open and her breath catch.

For a second, I thought I saw arousal.

And that is way too fucking dangerous.

It's better if she thinks I'm an arrogant asshole.

Alan's baritone interrupts my thoughts. "Purity, please wait outside while I talk to Gabriel for a moment."

Oh, shit. Is he able to see the guilt on my face for the way I've been ogling his daughter?

"I'm not dropping out of the class," Purity says, her voice firm. A surge of pride rushes through me at her insistence on standing up to her father and not quitting – but more so, standing up to me, especially after I was so rude. The girl has more of a backbone than I'd expect for someone raised the way I know she was. But as much as I'd like to acknowledge her strength, I don't toss a glance in her direction, because I can't.

If I look at her again, I know that all of those dirty thoughts about her will come flooding back.

"Purity," her father warns.

The girl sighs loudly before turning to walk out of my office. As she's leaving, I finally allow myself one glance at her – and immediately regret that choice when my eyes land on her oh-so-perfectly-round ass. The floor-length dress caresses her curves as she walks, managing to leave absolutely nothing about her ass to the imagination.

My cock twitches just looking at her, and I have to force a cough to cover my arousal.

The fact that I can't seem to stop looking at her ass is dangerous. It should also be disturbing.

It is disturbing.

It's so disconcerting, in fact, that I sink into the chair at my desk, ignoring Alan momentarily while I yank open the bottom left drawer. Without a word, I pull out a bottle of whiskey and a glass I've stashed in there for emergency purposes.

Emergencies like discovering that I'm a fucking pervert having lewd thoughts about a preacher's eighteen-year-old daughter. The kinds of emergencies that mean you're basically headed on the express train straight to Hell.

I hold up the empty glass, offering it to Alan even though I know he'll decline because he doesn't drink. Pouring out two fingers of whiskey, I ignore the judgmental look Alan gives me.

That look makes me let out a low laugh under my breath.

If he knew what I was just thinking about his daughter, he'd be judging me a hell of a lot harder right now.

After swallowing down the alcohol, I return the bottle back inside my desk drawer. The liquor warms my belly but does nothing to slow the racing of my heart.

Alan lets out a long exhale. "I should have called and let you know we were coming here."

Or given me a heads-up that your daughter was going to attend college here in the first place. Or that she'd applied to my class. Or that she'd written the piece she'd written.

Or that she'd grown into a woman who looks the way she does.

I think what she looks like now might be indelibly burned onto my brain.

"Yeah, you should have," I reply, my words short. Too much has passed between Alan and I for me not to be bitter. Growing up together in South Hollow, we were best friends when we were kids, but that doesn't mean we ever saw eye to eye when it came to anything, even when we were young. We were only friends by virtue of living in a small southern town and by being next-door neighbors, definitely not because we had the same worldview.

So once we turned eighteen, Alan went one way and I went the opposite. He married his high school sweetheart, Deborah, a mousy girl who was pregnant within a month of their marriage. I ran around doing exactly the opposite of settling down, because like hell was I going to do that at eighteen years old.

By the time Alan was nineteen he had a newborn, a position of leadership in the local church, and a knack for getting people riled up about the evils of life outside of South Hollow. In contrast, by the time I was nineteen, I had joined the Marines and made a personal vow to never be saddled with a wife or kid.

Another year later, Alan had decided the conservative local church was too liberal – "too worldly", as he put it – so he decided to start his own, despite having no formal religious training. He got extreme enough that when Purity was four, Alan's wife up and left him. She just disappeared from South Hollow, leaving Purity in his care.

He'd been over-protective of Purity before that, but once Deborah left, he became more rigid, more insular, and more judgmental. He was never physically abusive – even though I was a total goof-off back then, I'd have stepped in if I ever thought he'd hurt her – but he definitely wanted to shut her off from the world. It was all under the guise of protecting her and doing what was good "for her soul". That meant home-schooling her, choosing her friends… the whole nine yards.

After his wife left, I came back to South Hollow on leave. I told him to see a damned therapist. He told me to keep my nose out of his business.

The final nail in the coffin when it came to our friendship was when my older brother got married to his boyfriend at our home in South Hollow (our mother was too sick to travel anywhere) – and Alan's church caught wind of it. People from Alan's church stood outside of my childhood home with signs calling my brother and his husband every ugly name imaginable. That was the last straw.

I can't imagine the man sitting in front of me now has changed a hell of a lot since then, but then again, maybe he has, if he's on-board with Purity attending college here.

Maybe he's a different person now. Giving him the benefit of the doubt would be the right thing to do.

"Purity must be doing well," I say, falling into forced polite small talk. "I mean, she must have done well in high school to get into college here."

High school.

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I choke. Guilt causes me to flush warm at the reminder that the girl whose breasts I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from is mere months out of high school.

Alan purses his lips and shakes his head. "She should be back in South Hollow, not gallivanting off to college."

So much for people changing for the better.

"She's clearly bright enough to get into a prestigious school. It would be a waste of her talent not to go to college."

Alan's cheeks redden and he clenches his fists at his sides. "She's going to come back to South Hollow," he predicts, "where she's going to marry Justin Evans. It's already been planned."

I choke. "Planned by who?"

"She's agreed," he insists, ignoring my question. "She's been promised to him. You wouldn't understand."

"No shit, I wouldn't understand."

"I permitted her to come to college here only because she's eighteen and strong-willed. But once she's seen the evils of this place, she'll realize that South Hollow is her home and Justin will be there waiting for her."

He's actually delusional.

I'm beyond irritated at the idea of that girl being holed up in that small-minded town with her small-minded father. The prospect of her being married off to some small-minded man is even more infuriating.

"I told her she wasn't ready to be off on her own at school, especially at a place like this," he continues.

"She's an adult," I tell him, my voice clipped as I stand up because I'm already finished with this conversation. "Most parents would be proud of their children getting into a school like this."

"She informed me she was coming here," he tells me. "She never asked my permission."

His permission??

Good for her for not asking.

"Well, parental permission isn't required for college attendance," I say. "Fortunately."

Alan rises and wipes his hands on his pants as he lets out a long exhale. He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again and stands there looking uncomfortable and awkward for a long moment. He sighs. "I know you and I have had our differences," he starts.

"You sent your minions to spew hate at my brother," I say bitterly. "That's not really a matter of differences of opinion. It's more a matter of decency."

For a moment, his expression softens, and I think I actually see regret etched across his features. For a moment, he looks like a concerned father and not the overbearing, controlling prick I used to know. For a moment, I remember riding our bikes through our neighborhood and into town to buy popsicles in the summertime when we were ten.

He doesn't acknowledge even hearing what I said. "I need to ask… a favor," he says, stumbling over his words. "I need you to look out for Purity. Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. She's not been to any place like this before, Gabriel. She's lived in South Hollow her whole life."

I let out a breath. Whatever I might think of Alan, I'll obviously look out for Purity. It's not her fault that her father has kept her shut off from everything in the world. Coming here for college will be a total shock to her system.

She's innocent and sheltered and naïve.

Which makes the fact that I looked at her the way I did even more reprehensible.

It also means that I'll never look at her that way again.

"Of course I'll keep an eye out for her, Alan," I promise.