Free Blessed by Ann Mayburn

even entered a temple? The thought of the man that she had a mountain-sized crush on looking at her as though she was an idiot made her shrivel inside.
    Too late to chicken out now.
    She gave Professor Klemenson a bright smile. “Hi.”
    He nodded back at her. The intensity of his gaze stoked the fire in her blood. They stared at each other in silence, the charged tension between them building. She clenched her thighs as his gaze moved to her breasts, and her clit rubbed against her panties.
    “Um, shouldn't we have some books from class in front of us or something?” she asked to break the silence. As usual, she seemed hyperaware of Professor Klemenson. The way his strong hands moved on the table, the glint of gold from the bracelet around his right wrist, and the way his sleeves were rolled to reveal his muscled forearms.
    “Right, yes.” He seemed to visibly shake himself and a more authoritative mantle fell over him. “Eliana, I promised I would explain some ideas about being a Chosen. Important things you'll need to remember. If you’ll have a seat I’d like to begin.”
    For a moment she was tempted to pull out the chair next to his, but that would only lead to her looking like an even bigger fool as she would no doubt drool all over herself. Taking a seat across from him, she set her backpack on the ground and placed her hands on the table, looking up at him expectantly and praying her sweater was thick enough to hide her rock hard nipples. The background murmur of students talking and the copy machine humming faded as he leaned closer across the table. Her attention focused on him, and everything else faded but the amber glints in his green eyes. It would have been embarrassing if he hadn’t seemed as equally focused on her.
    He drew in a deep breath and her gaze focused on his lips as he said, “I'm going to make this as basic as possible. I realize it's a lot of information to absorb at once, and some of it's hard to believe. I need you to suspend your disbelief and try to pretend everything I'm saying is true.”
    With a small, wry smile, she said, “If I can believe what happened earlier today wasn't some delusion caused by drugs slipped into the cafeteria food, I can believe anything you tell me.”
    “Well, yes. Today was, um, exceptional even for me.” Professor Klemenson grinned and she was struck by how young he was. He couldn’t be more than five, maybe eight years older than she was, tops. “But please call me Aiden. Hardly anyone calls me Professor Klemenson, and as your Mentor, we will be spending a lot of time together.” He glanced at her and quickly looked away. “Studying what it means to be Chosen.”
    “Okay, Aiden.” The way he smiled at her when she said his name made her swallow back a sigh.
    “Eliana, I’m going to be upfront with you. I read your student file before I came here and I’m aware of your atheist upbringing.”
    Shame filled her and she looked away, hating the fact that this amazing man knew she’d been raised by people the world considered whackjobs. “I’m sorry.”
    “Why are you sorry?”
    “Because…” she shrugged, unable to articulate how she wasn’t freak, and that she didn’t hate him because of his beliefs. How she tried not to judge people and that she wasn’t as judgmental as her parents or as closed minded. But most of all she wanted him to like her and she’d lost more than one friend and boyfriend after people found out about her family. Not that she had much of a chance with him in the first place, but now she was sure she had none.
    He reached across the table and drew her hand into his, the heat of his touch burning her skin as he held it. “Eliana, it’s okay.”
    She shivered, actually shivered from the riot of pleasurable sensations coming from where there skin touched. “Thanks.”
    When he removed his hand she wanted to groan in protest, but managed to hold it back. He seemed to have sensed it anyways because the corner of