The plunging sensation only increased as I tipped my head up to meet his smoky-gray eyes. "Thanks, professor, but I'll be fine." I brought my gloved hands up between us and pushed against the hard contours of his chest.
He didn't release me. "You know, you can call me Ford. There's no policy against that."
"I can't do that," I said.
Our lips were just inches away, and for a moment, Ford shortened the distance and I couldn't breathe. "Maybe if my name was prettier, like yours. Clarity," he whispered. "Why do I like saying that so much?"
I felt heat as if the sunlight had burned through the high clouds and reached through the treetops to touch me directly. I blinked and saw the light had not changed, except in Ford's eyes. The smoky-gray had deepened to reveal a dark blue, like the stormy ocean when the depths are disturbed.
My hands were supposed to push him away, not drag my fingertips across the ridges of his abs, and start to slip around his waist. The absentminded move made Ford's lips part on a ragged sigh, and I felt his arms flex around me.
"Clarity," he whispered, louder this time.
"We can't," I said.
Ford’s voice was a low growl. "That doesn't make this any easier to ignore."
A wave of desire was pouring out from his eyes, and I felt myself about to drown. My entire body buzzed with the need to press against him, test the soft pressure of his lips, and dive into the whirlpool of lust I could feel spinning inside of me.
It took every bit of strength and nerve for me to turn around and secure my carabiner to the zip line. The line stretched out through the branches at a reasonable angle, but I wasn't prepared for the speed my body weight would create. I flew through the autumn leaves, and the wind buffeted away my scream before it could escape my throat.
I wanted to enjoy it, the wild rush of it. The free flying sweep out of the treetops and over the forest floor was exactly what I needed to capture for my news article. If I could make the reader feel the same exhilaration and sense of rapture, then Ford would have to give me an A+.
The only problem was separating it from my personal experience. What I had felt on the far-reaching ropes and the treetop platforms was not what the reader wanted to know. Somehow, I had to untangle the riot of feelings I had experienced on the high platform. My heart skidded to a swinging stop at the thought. Did Ford feel the same way I did when we touched?
I must have imagined it. Otherwise, he was right; how were we supposed to ignore it?
Two ropes course instructors caught me at the bottom and released me from the harness. Ford came flying down, laughing and whooping. When he was also free, he walked over to me.
"I don't care what you say, that was awesome."
I drew a shaky breath and pushed him away. "How's that for getting outside my comfort zone?"
Ford bumped a bare arm against me, and we both felt the jolt of electricity pass between us. "There's no going back now," he said.
#
My notes trailed off into a blank space slashed with absentminded pen marks. I had forgotten to hit record on my laptop, and Professor Bauer's lecture was almost over. I wanted to throw down my pen and admit defeat, but I could feel his eyes on me. Not a long stare, or a glance that anyone else would notice, but every time his eyes passed over me, I was back in the treetops.
The night after the ropes course, I couldn't sleep. It gave me plenty of time to write and rewrite the article to make up for my D+, but even I had to admit that was not why I was sleepless. Lexi had pressed me the entire way back to campus, but I didn't say a thing.
There was no way anyone could know what happened with Ford. Almost happened. I had to keep reminding myself that nothing actually happened. The proximity, the temptation, and the ragged words he whispered were all so heady in my memory that I felt a wave of hot guilt every time he glanced up at my row.
"Ms. Dunkirk, perhaps you can recap the best storytelling beats for a human interest piece?" Professor Bauer asked.
The lecture hall turned on me, and all I could do was shake my head. If there had been a crack in the floor, I would have tried to crawl in it. Where was my focus? I bent my head and concentrated on that day's material. The answer had to be in there somewhere.
I couldn't untangle any of my other thoughts, but I was determined to find the answer to his question. When I didn’t answer, he moved on to someone else.
The next time I looked up, the last student stepped out of the lecture hall, and I was alone with Ford. He startled when he looked up and saw me, then his surprise turned into a slow-burning smile. I slammed my book and stood up to gather my things.
"Having trouble focusing?" Ford leaned a hip against his desk.
"No. Why would I be unfocused?" I snapped.
He laughed. "I don't know, maybe your head is still up in the treetops. It was pretty impressive how you conquered that ropes course."
"As long as the article I wrote changed that D+ to an A+," I said.