^“Here, the key is under the pot. Mr. Daniels showed me it last night,” I say when East tries to open the door to Mr. Daniels’ cabin. The cabin is far outside the school, practically in the middle of the woods and a far distance from the other teacher’s cabins. I wonder why he wanted to be so alone out here? I pick the plant pot up and pull the key out, handing it to East who opens the door to the cabin.

I walk in after East, admiring how nice Mr. Daniels’ cabin is on the inside. It has a modern leather sofa and a large fireplace with a big TV above it. There is a big, fur rug in front of the fire, which is thick and looks real. I didn’t get a chance to look around much last night, so I walk over to the picture frames on the fireplace. There is a picture of a young girl who looks about eight in the picture. She looks so familiar, with her brown hair and green eyes, but I can’t place where I’ve seen her before. There’s another picture of an old couple, that are clearly his parents as the man in the picture looks just like Mr. Daniels. I quickly glance around the rest of the room, not seeing many other personal effects. There is a small pile of books on the window ledge, but that’s it.

“He has a nice place,” East comments, and I look over to see him walk into the small kitchen. There are five rooms: two bedrooms, the lounge, the kitchen and a large bathroom. It’s cosy and strange to think I’m going to be living here with Mr. Daniels for the rest of the year. My attraction to him is only getting worse, and being around him all the time is going to be a nightmare.

“I’m going to get dressed,” I tell East, gesturing down at my body dressed only in his shirt. I turn to go to the guest room when he grabs my arm and stops me. I pause and look up at him quizzically.

“Kenz,” he whispers, staring back down at me. I feel heat rush through me from the intensity of his gaze. I’m not able to shift my mind from our kiss yesterday, or the fact he saw me completely naked just minutes ago. I wonder if he liked what he saw? Fuck.

“What?” I manage to mumble back, taking note of the fact he looks so much better minus his shirt. Maybe I’ll just keep it? I’d be doing the world a public service. Shirtless Easton Black, thank me later, world.

“You didn’t do that on purpose, did you?” he asks gently, but I feel like I’ve been slapped, or had a bucket of ice thrown over me. He couldn’t be serious?

“What? I just embarrassed myself in front of our entire class! Why the hell would you think I did that on purpose?” He flinches from the bite in my words, pulling back.

“I don’t know, Kenz. Maybe to get Mr. Daniels’ attention?” he says, not looking me in the eyes anymore.

“You think I need to throw myself naked at someone to get their attention?” I ask him incredulously.

“No. Shit, Kenz, you’re taking this all wrong,” he mutters, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m taking this wrong? You’re accusing me of jumping naked onto our teacher for attention, or what, to seduce him? You think I’m trying to sleep with my teacher?” I question him, narrowing my eyes. He looks back at me silently, his eyes telling me all I need to know.

“You know what, East, get out,” I say, gesturing at the door.

“Kenz, wait. I think—”

“I said, get out!” I shout, losing my temper. I feel my marks start to respond to my emotional distress without my calling them. The room shakes and several objects are hovering above their rightful places.

“Kenzie, just breathe a minute,” he says softly, stepping towards me slowly, as if approaching a skittish animal. “You need to calm down.” He really didn’t just say that, right?

“And, you need to leave. You know what, maybe I do want to take my clothes off with Mr. Daniels, but I’m not really sure if that’s any of your business,” I snap. His head snaps up, and he looks me right in the eyes. I don’t look away from him as he stares at me, but I hear things breaking around the room and the ground starts lightly shaking.

“Fine, I’m going.” Shit. Maybe I went too far? He walks to the door and then pauses, turning back to face me. “I’m gonna need my shirt, but I can wait a minute,” he says, leaning against the door. Without hesitation, I pull his shirt off over my head and throw it at him. Standing completely naked as I glare in his direction. He gapes at me, holding the shirt in his hands. Well, he said he wanted his shirt back.

“You can go now. Don’t forget to shut the door behind you,” I say, turning around and storming into the guest room, slamming the door behind me.

I lean my back against it, breathing in and out deeply, trying to calm myself down. I hear the main door to the cabin slam shut and cringe from the harsh sound of it. He left. Well what do you expect, dumbass? You told him to go. I put my head in my hands and groan, rubbing at my temples. Why do I have to go and open my mouth like that?

After a while, my breathing returns to normal, and I feel my powers retreat. Thank gods for that. I move from the door and rummage through my bags for clothes, having not unpacked yet from moving in here. I pull out a red lace matching set of underwear and pull it on quickly. I hear the front door open and close again. Fucking East.

I turn around and shove open the guest room door, storming out into the main living area.

“East, I thought I told you to—” my words cut off as I spot who has actually entered into the cabin.

“Kenzie, I would have thought you would have had time to put clothes on by now,” Enzo teases, not looking away. I roll my eyes. I can’t even be bothered to be embarrassed anymore. My whole class, my hot teacher, and Easton have already seen me butt naked today. What’s a little walking around in my underwear going to hurt now?

“I thought you were East,” I mutter, walking over to the open-planned kitchen area to grab a drink. Maybe Mr. Daniels has something a little stronger in here somewhere?

“Do you always greet East in your underwear?” he asks.

“Funny. What are you even doing here anyway, Enzo?” I ask, checking the fridge first.

“I was sent here to keep an eye on you. Mr. Daniels still has a class to teach, and they don’t want you wandering around alone,” he says and shrugs.

“So, they sent another student to watch me?” I ask dubiously.

“Not just any student, their best student,” he replies, following me into the kitchen area. He hops onto the counter, taking a seat there as I continue to search. I huff.

“Sure, not even a tiny bit egotistical there at all, are you?” I ask, rolling my eyes.

“I’m not, it’s a fact. I could have already finished and left this place if I wanted to, as it is I’m set to finish this year, instead of next,” he replies, not an ounce of exaggeration in his voice.

“Whatever,” I mutter as I open the last cupboard and spot a glass bottle hiding in the back. Bingo. I pull out the bottle of Vodka and place it on the kitchen side, and go in search of glasses. I’m sure I just saw them.

“What are you doing?” Enzo questions.

“What does it look like, Mr. Know-It-All?” I question back sarcastically as I place a couple of frosted, coloured glasses on the kitchen side. “How do you want it?”

“Straight, I guess,” he mutters. I roll my eyes, typical macho attitude. I pour some vodka into each glass, and top mine up with some Pepsi from the fridge. I hand a glass to him, he takes it, clinking it against mine.

“Cheers,” I mutter.

“What are we drinking to?” he asks, amusement colouring his tone.

“Embarrassment,” I reply wryly, before downing half my drink in one go. He drinks some of his. I lift mine back up and finish it off, going to pour myself another.

“Slow down,” he comments, knocking back some more of his own.

“What, worried you can’t keep up?” I tease. I down another drink, then I grab the vodka, Pepsi, and my glass and head into the main living room area. I sink down onto the leather sofa, feeling the cool material clinging against my bare skin. I can already feel a light buzz hitting me. Enzo takes the spot next to me, sitting much closer than he really needs to, his eyes running over me constantly.

Two can play at that game, buddy. I turn in my spot on the sofa, stretching my bare legs out across his. I take a swig straight from the bottle, trying not show the burn I feel on my throat as it makes its way down. I hand the bottle to Enzo, who silently takes a swig too, before handing it back.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asks.

“Not really,” I mutter.

“What do you wanna do then?” he asks, the slight curve to his sensual lips giving me all kinds of bad ideas. I wonder what kind of ideas are going through his head?

“I don’t know,” I answer, before taking another swig. The burn is slightly less noticeable this time, which can only mean one thing.

“I think you know,” he replies, looking down at me. His dark eyes are staring at me intently. He’s really putting in no effort to hide his visual pursuit of my body. Well, if he’s going to keep staring, I might as well have some fun with this, tease him a little.

“What do you think I want?” I ask seductively. I move over him, sliding a leg on either side of him, so I’m straddling his lap. He visibly swallows. I can feel his body responding to me. Or, maybe he’s been like that since he walked in and found me half naked?

“Kenzie,” he breathes.

“What?” I whisper, running a hand down the front of his body absently. Feeling his toned body, I almost forget my plan. He groans as I reach the top of his jeans. I brush my fingers lightly over the edge of the waistband. Leaning down against him, I put my lips to his ear, brushing them against his earlobe lightly. “Stop staring, it’s not gonna happen,” I whisper. I pull back slightly and meet his eyes. I’m sure smugness is painted across my face, as realisation crosses his. He narrows his dark eyes on me and opens his mouth to say something, when the door opens. It lets a gust of chilly air into the cabin, I feel it hit my skin, as well as the gaze of the person who opened the door.

“What the fuck is going on in here, Enzo, Miss Crowe?” Mr. Daniels’ voice calls into the cabin. He eyes take in the bottle of vodka on the floor next to the sofa, the two glasses on the table in front of us, and me. Sitting half naked on Enzo’s lap. Great, just damn, fucking peachy.

“I can explain,” I say, turning slightly to face him, feeling the heat rise into my cheeks. Enzo leans back and begins laughing. “Shut up,” I mutter. I slide off him and stand up, wrapping my arms around my body self-consciously. Is he really going to make me stand here half-naked and explain? Or can I go grab some clothes first?

“Well?” he asks, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

“Um, well . . .,” I trail off, trying to think of some kind of explanation for what he walked in on. ‘I’m sorry, sir, I just figured after embarrassing myself in front of the whole class by getting naked and jumping on you, followed by arguing with Easton, that getting drunk with Enzo in my underwear was a great idea.’ It sounds terrible even to me.

“I’m waiting,” he drawls. “Enzo, what about you, any explanation?”

“You don’t hide your booze well enough?” he mutters, but I’m standing close enough to catch it.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Mr. Daniels asks.

“Nothing, sir. Just remarking how chilly Kenzie must be with you leaving the door open. Maybe she should go finish getting dressed?” Enzo asks. A wash of gratitude hits me. I really don’t deserve him being nice after that. Turning back, I shoot him a grateful smile before looking again at Mr. Daniels, who is staring at me, deciding what to do. Or, maybe he’s—Nope, not today, Satan. I shut that thought up before it can finish forming.

“Fine, Miss Crowe, please go finish getting dressed. We can talk about this in a minute. Enzo, please come outside with me for a moment?” he finally says. Letting out a breath, I turn and make my way into the guest room. I catch Enzo’s eyes as I’m closing the door, but I’m not able to read the look in them.

Just what is he thinking?