Spoilt Princess Reincarnate As a Waitress Chapter 91: Playing with Fire

Alexia’s POV:

Oh... shit.

Professor Sinclair’s gaze locked onto mine, his smirk both confident and knowing. The kind that said I caught you looking, and I like it. My stomach did an embarrassing little flip, and suddenly, Lucy’s ridiculous idea didn’t seem so ridiculous anymore.

I swallowed, trying to act normal, but my traitorous mind went into overdrive. Okay, so what if he’s looking at you? Professors look at their students all the ti. It doesn’t an anything.

Except... it did.

Because this wasn’t the first ti.

And because the way his lips curled in amusent made it clear that he knew I’d noticed.

Lucy, beside , was already vibrating with excitent. She gripped my arm, her nails digging into my skin. "Oh my God, he smirked at you! Alexia, do you realize what this ans?"

"That I need to disappear into the ground imdiately?" I muttered, heart pounding.

She scoffed. "No, dummy! It ans he’s interested. And you so need to use this to your advantage."

I rolled my eyes. "He’s our professor, Lucy. There are rules—"

"Pfft. Rules are just suggestions," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "Besides, he’s young, hot, and clearly intrigued by you. And if Aiden sees you getting attention from Professor Sinclair of all people?" She whistled. "He’s gonna lose his damn mind."

I hesitated. Would he?

Aiden did rush to Liz without a second thought. He did leave behind without an explanation, like I was nothing more than an afterthought. It was stupid—painfully stupid—but a part of wanted to see if he’d react. If he’d care.

And if not... well. At least I’d have the satisfaction of knowing I wasn’t so pathetic little wife waiting for a husband who didn’t really want her.

Professor Sinclair was still watching .

Still smirking.

Oh, screw it.

"Okay," I said.

Lucy blinked. "Wait, what?"

I lifted my chin, feigning confidence. "I said okay. Let’s make Aiden jealous."

Her face split into a wide grin. "Oh, this is gonna be fun."

And with that, she linked her arm through mine, practically dragging toward where Professor Sinclair was standing.

I had no idea what I was doing.

But for the first ti all day... I didn’t feel so powerless.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

Why didn’t I think this through?!

Professor Sinclair was standing right in front of , one eyebrow raised, his smirk still in place, waiting. anwhile, my brain? Completely empty.

I could practically hear Lucy screaming flirt, you idiot! in my head, but my body refused to cooperate.

So, what did I do?

I blurted out the most basic thing possible.

"Uh... hi."

Kill . Just kill now.

Professor Sinclair’s lips twitched in amusent. "Hi, Alexia."

His voice was deep, smooth, and annoyingly confident. And the way he said my na? Yeah, I felt that.

But instead of responding like a normal person, I just... stood there. Staring at him like I’d forgotten how human interaction worked. Silence stretched between us, growing awkward by the second.

My inner monologue was a disaster: Say sothing. Anything. Complint his stupidly sharp cheekbones? No, that’s weird. Ask about class? Boring. Oh my God, why did I agree to this?!

Lucy, the traitor, was conveniently quiet, probably enjoying my suffering.

I cleared my throat, scrambling. "So... uh..."

He tilted his head, his smirk widening. "Yes?"

I was dying.

Cursing Lucy again in my head, I went with the first thing that ca to mind.

"You—uh—you look... very professor-y today."

What. The. Hell.

Lucy let out a strangled cough beside . Professor Sinclair blinked, then let out a low chuckle. "Professor-y?"

I nodded furiously. "Yes. Very much like a professor. You know... with the suit and the, um..." I made a vague gesture toward his entire very well-dressed existence. "The... um... outfit."

I was never going to recover from this humiliation.

To my horror, his smirk deepened. "Well, that’s a relief," he mused. "Considering I am a professor."

Kill . Soone. Right now.

Lucy finally decided to jump in, clearing her throat loudly. "What Alexia ant to say," she said, throwing a side-eye, "is that you always dress sharp. Very put-together."

I could have hugged her.

Professor Sinclair glanced between us, amusent still dancing in his blue eyes, but thankfully, he let off the hook. "Well, I do try," he said lightly, adjusting his cuff. Then his gaze flickered back to . "And I have to say... you look rather nice today yourself, Alexia."

My stomach flipped.

Oh. Oh. Was that actual flirting? From him?

Lucy grinned like she just won the lottery. I, on the other hand, could barely form a coherent thought.

"Thanks," I mumbled, my face heating up. "It’s just, you know, clothes."

CLOTHES. REALLY, ALEXIA?

Professor Sinclair chuckled again, but before I could humiliate myself any further, my phone vibrated in my pocket. A welco distraction.

I glanced at the screen. A ssage.

From Aiden.

Be ho early. We need to talk.

And just like that, my heart did a completely different kind of flip.

The professor cleared his throat, snapping back to reality. I quickly returned my gaze to him, forcing myself to focus.

"It’s a good thing I ran into you, actually," he said smoothly. "I’ve noticed you’ve missed a couple of my lectures recently. There’s a crucial subtopic you missed that will be on the finals. I’d like you to make so ti to stop by my office so I can give you so guidelines."

For a second, my brain short-circuited. His office? Alone? With him?

Lucy bumped —not subtly, might I add—nearly making stumble forward. I shot her a glare, but she just wiggled her eyebrows at like the little nace she was.

Professor Sinclair was still watching , waiting for a response, his expression unreadable but undeniably expectant.

"Oh—uh, yeah," I stamred. "Of course. I’ll, um... I’ll find ti."

His lips twitched slightly. "Good. My office hours are listed, but if you need a different ti, let know."

Lucy bumped again, this ti not even pretending to be discreet. "She’ll make ti," she chirped, all too eagerly. "Wouldn’t want to miss any crucial information, right, Alexia?"

I wanted to strangle her.

Professor Sinclair simply nodded, seemingly pleased. "I’ll be expecting you, then." His gaze lingered on for a second longer before he turned and walked away, his strides confident as ever.

I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.

Lucy? She was grinning like she had just orchestrated the greatest love story of our ti.

"You’re so going," she declared.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Lucy—"

"Nope! Don’t even try to back out of this." She looped her arm through mine and started dragging along. "The hot professor just invited you to his office for one-on-one tutoring. Do you know how many girls in this school would kill for that?"

"He’s just being professional," I muttered.

Lucy scoffed. "Sure, babe. Keep telling yourself that." Then her grin turned wicked. "anwhile, Aiden is busy playing knight-in-shining-armor for that woman. If he can play his little gas, so can you."

I bit my lip, a tiny, petty part of agreeing with her. It wasn’t like I was actually trying to make Aiden jealous. But... maybe a little bit of attention from soone else wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Still, as we walked toward the next lecture, I couldn’t shake the feeling that agreeing to et Professor Sinclair might be inviting a whole different kind of trouble.

************

Lucy gave a knowing smirk when I told her I’d et Professor Sinclair tomorrow instead of today. "Oh? And what’s so special about tonight?" she teased.

I sighed, adjusting my bag on my shoulder. "Aiden said he’d be coming ho earlier and that he had sothing important to tell ."

Lucy’s smirk wavered. "Oh."

I didn’t miss the way her expression turned slightly skeptical, but she didn’t voice it. Instead, she just shrugged. "Alright, I guess Husband Dearest gets priority. But if he ends up wasting your ti, you better let sign you up for Sinclair’s office hours for the rest of the sester."

I rolled my eyes but smiled a little. "Deal."

But honestly? Now I kind of wished I had gone to et Professor Sinclair instead.

After classes, I expected Aiden to pick up himself, maybe even explain whatever he was so eager to tell . But no. Instead, Tobias was waiting by the car, looking as expressionless as ever.

I hesitated for a second, staring at the car, irritation bubbling inside . Seriously? He told to go ho early for sothing important, and then he doesn’t even bother picking up himself?

I was this close to turning around and walking right into Sinclair’s office instead. But I wasn’t exactly in the mood to fight with Aiden later. So, with a sigh, I got into the car.

Tobias didn’t speak as he started the engine, which only annoyed more. Finally, I caved. "Where’s your boss?" I asked, my arms crossed.

"Still at the hospital," Tobias replied simply, not even glancing my way.

My mood took an even deeper dive.

Of course, he was.

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to let my frustration show too much. I knew Liz must be seriously unwell if Aiden was still at the hospital with her. But then why the hell did he tell to go ho early if he wasn’t even going to be there?

I didn’t want to be upset. I didn’t want to care. But damn it, I did.

And that pissed off even more.