*~*Feel Again by Faith Andrews Cover Reveal & Excerpt*~*

Author:   Faith Andrews
Release Date:   February 2015

A dare.

A dying wish.

Fate…

After years of loneliness, widowed Gabriella is ready to fill the void—as long as she doesn’t have to give her heart to another man.

Caleb’s screwed himself right into a dead-end existence. Faced with an ultimatum, he’s hell-bound on changing his reckless ways.

A chance meeting has these two instantly attracted to one another, but when their paths cross again—this time as professor and student—the roles reverse on Professor Edwards as Caleb teaches her how to feel again.

Gabby

After class lets out, I head to my office rather than straight home. I turn on my laptop and log in to the school database. I need to catch up on my email, go over lesson plans and get a handle on the payroll information the dean emailed me.

Time gets past me as I lose myself in the heap of paperwork I wasn’t anticipating this early in the game. When I feel my eyes are about to cross, I’m interrupted by a knock at the glass paned door. I imagine it’s Dean Bishop checking in on me. I scowl at the shadow behind the unopened door as I place the thick stack of papers aside on my desk.

“Come in,” I call to the silhouette.

I’m taken aback by the man staring back at me. Instead of the balding, plump figure I expected, I’m face to face with a familiar, god-like creature.

“Caleb?” I ask at the same time he says, “Gabriella?”

Seriously? What’s he doing here?

I reexamine all the things I wasn’t able to see clearly in the dim lighting of the club. All the images I’ve been replaying in my mind: His dark brown hair is smooth and straight, resting below his ears, defining his masculine jawline and hiding one of his striking amber eyes. As he comes closer, he sweeps the strands that cover his eye, placing them behind his ear. You can tell it’s a habit his fingers have mastered. How kind of them to eliminate any obstruction of his beautiful face. He’s tall and slim, but even with his lean build I can see he’s defined. My mind dashes to my own invented images of his stomach, picturing an irresistible v-shaped cut in his lower abs. I wish I could peek beneath his layered plaid button down and tight fitting T-shirt. The thought makes me wriggle behind my desk. Where the heck is this coming from?

Caleb’s confusion breaks me away from my naughty thoughts. “What’s going on here? What—?” He’s dumbfounded and I find it really adorable.

“I don’t know. What is going on here? Are you a student?” Is this some kind of sick joke? He’s too old to be a freshman. Right?

“Yes. Caleb Waters.”

Let’s get to the bottom of this. I muster up some authority. “Well, I’m Professor Edwards, taking the place of Professor Stewart.”

“You’re shitting me!” his smile fades and one eyebrow arches dramatically.

I laugh at the silly expression of doubt on his beautiful face. Is it normal for someone so handsome and masculine to be . . . pretty? “No. I’m not . . . shitting you. Are you in my class?”

“Uh, it seems that way.” He shakes his head as if he’s still trying to make sense of this coincidence. “Probably seems like I’m too old to be here, but . . . it’s a long story. Anyway, sorry for being late, but when I got to the classroom no one was there. Was the course cancelled?”

It’s almost hard to pay attention to the words coming from his scrumptious lips, but my brain manages to send my mouth a response. “I let class out early after a quick introduction. First day. I like to go easy on the students.”

He smiles, and I nearly melt right there on the spot. Who is this guy and what is he doing to me?

“I guess it’s my lucky day, then.”

“Oh? How so?” I feel lucky, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the fact that out of all the possibilities one could come up with, the man who makes me think about things I haven’t thought about in years has just walked back into my life. I find it hard to make eye contact with him, but I look up from my pile of papers and meet his gaze, unable to suppress a smile. His stare is so inviting, luring me in. Does he know I’ve been thinking about him? That I can’t get him out of my head?

“I thought I’d never see you again.” His eyes travel, exploring my features.

I should keep this professional. He’s a student now. This kind of thing is forbidden. “Well, here you are.” I clear my throat. “Can I answer any questions for you?”

He looks around the room, plays with the straps of his backpack, eyes me some more with those hypnotizing, caramel eyes. “Yeah, actually you can.”

I wait for the rest, trying hard to ignore the unexpected urges begging me to press on and find out more.

“How am I supposed to sit in your class and pretend I haven’t been thinking about you since that night?”

His question leaves me floored. How do I answer that? I don’t know the first thing about flirting and I’m not even sure that’s what I want to do. Him being here complicates everything. When I met Caleb that night the idea of doing what my daughters dared me to do definitely crossed my mind. I remember thinking, one date couldn’t really be that bad, could it? But I chickened out, and now my biggest fear is standing right in front of me. A hot, willing, delicious, younger man . . . and all I can think about is Tommy.

I snap to with a professorial reply. “We’re on campus now. Not in a club. You’ll get through it. Unless of course you want to withdraw from the class.”

He licks his lips, sucking in the bottom one, then biting down.

My insides do a back handspring.

“Oh. So we’re playing it that way.” He looks disappointed. Hurt even. But not for long. “Well, Professor Edwards,” he says in a tone that mocks the whole damn bizarre situation. “I would be a fool to miss another chance to see more of you. I’m not withdrawing.”

I raise an eyebrow, surprised by his quick comeback. There’s something about him. He exudes pure confidence and his boldness is an extreme turn on. It’s wrong on so many levels to be turned on by a student. It’s wrong for me to be turned on, period. I feel guilty for letting my mind go there.

Shuffling some of my paperwork, I roll my chair back several inches. “I’m heading out, Caleb. Will you be on time for class tomorrow?” There. That was authoritative, right to business.

But Caleb smirks, paying no mind to my charade. “This isn’t over, Professor. Something brought us back together.”