Rule Number Five: A College Hockey Romance (Rule Breaker Series Book 1)(11)

His voice was so low when he leaned in close and whispered, “Have a hard time making new friends? Maybe challenge them to a chivalry race.”

This totally isn’t flirting. Nope. “I’ve got plenty of friends.”

“Really? How many?”

Well, I had three friends. But they counted for at least a dozen. “So many.”

He raised a brow, not believing me. “We should go out sometime. I’d like to meet them.”

Little did he know he already had. “I don’t know. Our club’s pretty exclusive.” Exclusive to hanging out at home, eating pizza, and watching old reruns of reality TV.

“Okay. Then just you and I.”

Did he just ask me out? My heart was about to pound out of my chest. The guy was hot. Like, roll off a magazine cover hot, and his confidence just made him all the more enticing. I twisted in my chair, already feeling warmth grow in my lower stomach as memories of dancing with him at the club flooded my brain, stealing all rational thought, and barely managed to respond.

“I see you forgot rule number two.”

He raised a brow, but he was cut off before he could reply.

The professor cleared his throat, looking right at us.

Shit.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “As I was saying… Welcome to Behavior Change Persuasion Technology. I’m Dr. Carter, and I want you to take a good look at who’s sitting beside you because these are your assigned seats for the rest of this class.”

Dread settled in my stomach. How was I supposed to survive the entire semester sitting next to him? I was going to lose my damn mind.

Jax looked over, one eyebrow raised. Could he tell how much his attention was getting to me? He was like sitting next to a vortex, impossible not to be sucked in. He directed his entire body toward me and searched my eyes, trying to read my expression.

My already warm face grew hotter. It was potent to have someone like him direct all of—that—toward me. He stared a bit too long, and I could feel my skin pebbling at his attention. This man was… dangerous.

Jax had that natural air about him all sports stars had. He’d taken off his beanie, and his light brown hair was in a naturally mussed state, and his eyes stood out with their light gray hue, surrounded by thick lashes. He scratched his neck over a tattoo peeking out above his collar, then pushed his sleeves to his elbows, revealing muscular forearms. Discreetly, I drew in a deep breath. He smelled fantastic and oddly comforting, a subtle woodsy scent mixed with masculine aftershave I hadn’t noticed at the club.

“You might need this,” Jax said and slid his coffee toward me. His voice was a low rasp, drawing me in until all my attention was on him—

Oh no. He was not allowed to be sweet.

Jax’s mouth curled up on the side, his amusement doing nothing to abate my flustered state.

Quietly as possible, I took the rest of my stuff from my bag, having left it for the last minute. I needed to figure out how to ignore him, or I wouldn’t survive this class.

A note was passed across our desk to Jax, and my patience disintegrated as I saw the name Lindsay in bright pink letters, followed by a phone number. I growled up at him, “Rein in your little fan club. Some of us need to take this class seriously.”

His eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but not before Dr. Carter called out to me, “Is there a problem?”

Shit, shit, shit.

“No, sir.” I wrung my hands together in my lap, body stiffening.

“This is a serious class, and I expect your complete attention. If you can’t show your classmates the respect they deserve, you need to leave.”

“It won’t happen again, sir, I promise.”

Anger rose in my cheeks, and I slowly turned to shoot daggers at Jax. His grin only widened, making me want to explode. My hands clenched, and I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. This was exactly why I stayed away from hockey players. They were nothing but freaking trouble, and Jaxton Ryder was no different. Sure, he might have been charming, funny, and apparently thoughtful, but that was the chase. I turned him down. I might as well have waved a giant red flag in front of his too-competitive ass.

Dr. Carter continued. “As I was saying. To get here, you had to be the best of the best, but you’ve never experienced this class.” I glanced over at Jax, but he focused on the professor, who was giving a once-in-a-lifetime speech. “The next four months will be some of the most grueling you’ve experienced. I’m here to make sure you succeed in the real world, which means I won’t go easy on you. You got yourselves this far, and how well you do is in your hands.” He proceeded to list off facts with his fingers.

Ten percent will fail.

Thirty percent will be below average.

Thirty percent will be satisfactory.

And only five percent will be top of the class.

“As an extra incentive, the top three students will get a personal recommendation letter from me.”

Blood rushed through my ears and drowned out Dr. Carter’s next words as I was overwhelmed with both excitement and fear. The exact thing I needed to secure my internship was being dangled in front of me like a freaking carrot. A carrot that might as well be twenty feet in the air for how hard the professor described this class.

Dr. Carter was halfway through the syllabus when I dropped back into reality. We were going to be quizzed weekly, which was more than the typical midterm and finals.