Professor Richter's Rules

by Jessa York

  Chewing on the end of my pen, I gazed out the massive windows. The backyard went on for miles. At least as a young kid that was how it felt. Jake and I would wander around, playing hide and seek with the neighborhood kids. He always kept an eye out, making sure I was safe.

  He’d always been a good-looking boy. A bit on the skinny side but his sense of humor and smile would charm you in seconds. There was no more boy left in that devastatingly handsome man who sat in the other room with his soon-to-be wife. Jake was all grown up.

  Baked salmon hit my nostrils so suddenly, I leaned back in my chair. “Here, eat something,” Mom said, breaking me out of my trip down memory lane, slipping a stacked plate in front of me before rushing off.

  I sat there, pushing the food around on my plate with my fork for I don’t know how long. When I heard, “Jake, mijo, you never come around. I haven’t seen you for so long. And now your parents tell me you’re getting married?”

  Looking up, my stomach twisted seeing Jake hugging my mom. She’d called him, mijo—my son, just like she always did when we were kids.

  His eyes landed on me, giving me a smile. If I could have told him exactly what to do with his dazzling grin, I would have. There was no benefit to outing him to my mom. She’d always thought of Jake as one of her own. Telling her what happened between us would hurt her too much.

  “I know, Maria, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with school,” he said, still looking at me. Seeing him right now was too painful. Turning my head, I went back to staring out the window pretending it was ten years ago and we were outside playing kick-the-can.

  “Paige, Paige,” I heard my name called. Swiveling my head, I glanced up to see mom and Jake near the table.

  “Always daydreaming, this one,” my mom scolded me, her arm around Jake’s waist. The sight of that alone stabbed me through the gut. He had his arm solidly around Mom’s shoulders, holding her close. I glared at him, wanting so much to tell Mom what a scumbag he was now.

  “Paige, you remember when you were just kids and you used to say to me, ‘Mom, I’m going to marry Jake one day,’” she said, laughing so hard she bent forward, holding her stomach. A stabbing pain zinged through me as I pursed my lips together.

  “You were so sure of it you even had me convinced,” she said, bursting into another fit of hilarity. If I could have melted into this chair and disappeared, I would have.

  Not bothering to look at Jake, I kept my eyes on my mom. “Yeah, I was a pretty dumb kid,” I said, pretending to smile. Closing up my books, I leaned down to grab my bag.

  “Mija, good news,” she said, slapping her hand down on the table making me jump. “Jake teaches calculus, can you believe it?”

  “Really?” I muttered, feigning interest as I silently prayed for lightning to strike the handsome jerk standing in front of me. Soon.

  “He’s offered to tutor you.” She clapped her hands together. Her words caught me off guard and I tipped my backpack, spilling everything out.

  “Damn it,” I said, referring to both the mess of pens and books currently on the floor and her so called good news. Bending over, I picked up what I could. This stupid thing on my foot making it more than difficult.

  “Paige, language.” I heard behind me. “Anyway, you two catch up. I have cleaning to get done.”

  Jake entered my line of sight, a big, gorgeous smile on his face. “Need some help?” he asked, handing me a book.

  Refusing to take it from him, I said, “Nope.” Then continued trying to clean up my mess.

  “Would you stop and let me do it?”

  “Nope,” I repeated, nearly tipping over as I reached for my English books.

  “Stop,” he said, seizing my arm to halt my fall. “Let me do it.” The heat from his touch gave me palpitations as our eyes met momentarily. All the feelings from our night together resurfaced, muddling my brain. A few more inches and his lips could be on mine.

  Jake’s eyes darted down to my mouth then to my chest. I followed his line of sight, noting the ample cleavage shot he now had. Crap.

  Sighing, I sat back up, crossing my arms.

  “Why haven’t you been in class? You’re behind enough as it is.” His voice was low enough only for me to hear.

  Was he an idiot? “I dropped your class. Just like you wanted.”

  “You can’t drop my class,” he whispered as though he was surprised. Mom scurried out of the kitchen into the dining room with a tray of coffee and tea.

  “I can and I did. Exactly what you asked me to do.” I shook my head at him.

  Jake chucked my bag to the side, yanking out the chair beside me. Sitting down, he said, “Look, I apologized. You need this class and I’m prepared to tutor you for the whole semester.”

  “I’d rather eat broken glass.”

  He chuckled slightly, shaking his head. “I see that. However, I’m going to tutor you anyway.”

  “Would you like me to go into the dining room and tell your family that you and I screwed a couple of weeks ago?” I asked him, my voice deadly serious.

  Jake’s eyes scanned my face, his jaw tightening as he swallowed. “Not really.”

  “No? You don’t think your future wife would care?”

  “Umm—”

  “Leave me alone. I’ve dropped your class.” It meant I was already behind in my goals. If it saved me from having to see Professor Jake Richter every day, it was worth it.

  Standing up, he shoved the chair back under the table with so much force the legs made a terrible screeching sound against the floor. “We aren’t done here,” he said before turning around.

  “We are so done here.” I was unprepared for the thunderous look on Jake’s face when his head swung back to look at me.

  Whatever.

  23

  Jake

  If I didn’t get out of my Jeep soon, someone was sure to call neighborhood watch on me. I’d been sitting outside Paige’s house for at least fifteen minutes now, attempting to gather the courage to go up to her door.

  The shock at realizing who she actually was—Paige-freaking-Flores—still made me reel. Good God, the last time I saw her she must’ve been no more than eight or nine. Nothing at all like the woman she had become.

  Putting my hands on my face, I shook my head from side to side. I’d taken Paige-freaking-Flores’ virginity. What were the chances of that happening? The girl who used to follow me around like a puppy.

  Her mother, sweet Maria, who’d been like a second mom to me until I’d left for boarding school, wouldn’t lie about Paige wanting to marry me. And now I had to tutor her? Or lose my job.

  It wasn’t like getting another job right now was even an option. Any future employer would call Dean Miller. He’d gladly inform them in a hundred words or less what I’d done.

  Dragging my hands off my face, I sucked up my pride.

  On my way up to their door, I looked at the obvious care and attention they’d taken over the small yard. Pots of flowers bloomed up the driveway. The lawn was cut, hedges trimmed. If I remembered correctly, Maria’s husband had left them when Paige was young. Really young.

  I wondered if she’d ever married again.

  Their steps held more pots of flowers and a small wooden board that said, Home. That word stopped me in my tracks. Taking a deep breath, I took one more step forward then knocked on the door.

  It opened almost immediately. “Jake,” Maria yelled loud enough for people blocks away to hear. “What a wonderful surprise. Come in, come in,” she said, ushering me into their living room.

  “Hi, I’m sorry for the intrusion. I tried to get ahold of Paige to set up a tutoring session but was unsuccessful.” In reality, I’d gotten in touch with Paige a few times on her phone—with her real number that I found on her registration forms. Well, she’d only answered once, telling me to get lost. The other times I’d left messages which weren’t returned.

  “Don’t be silly, you are always welcome. Maybe you have the wrong number?”

/>   “Ah, maybe that’s it.” I nodded my head, walking further into the house. “Anyway, is Paige home? I’d like to start now before it gets too late.”

  Maria jumped at that suggestion. “Yes, yes, the table in the kitchen good enough?” she asked, shuffling through the hallway. “Sorry about the mess, let me move this,” she said, picking up the fruit bowl that was on the table. There was nothing else there, no mess at all. The kitchen was spotless.

  “Paige,” she hollered, twisting her head to the side. Picking up a rag, she wiped off the immaculate counter. “Paige, come here.” Maria looked at me, giving me a nervous smile. “It’s so nice of you to come here and help her out. She told me that she’d dropped calculus. I said, ‘Don’t give up so quickly, it’s only the first week.’”

  Seeing an opportunity for some parental assistance, I decided to jump on it. “Calculus is a very important class, Maria. She’ll need it eventually so she may as well take it now. Get it out of the way.” That was complete and utter hooey. I was the one who needed her to take the class, so I didn’t get my sorry ass fired.

  “Yes, I know. Very important,” she said, a serious look crossing her face. “You know she gets good grades in everything else. But maths have never been easy for her. Think she gets that from me. Oh well, what can you do?” Maria’s shoulders shrugged in resignation.

  The sound of a door opening ended our conversation. A few clomps later, Paige rounded the corner. “Why are you yelling? I—” She stopped dead, seeing me sitting at the table. “What’s going on?” she asked, turning toward her mother.

  Setting down the dishcloth, Maria said, “Jake came all the way here to tutor you. Nice, right? Now you don’t need to drop that class.”

  Hushing her tone, Paige put her hands on her hips. “I told you I already dropped it.”

  “But what sense does it make? Jake can help. That way we won’t lose our deposit.”

  I cleared my throat as I grabbed a few books out of my bag. “If I may interrupt for a second?” Both of them turned to look at me. “You need this class, Paige. Correct?”

  “Eventually, yes,” she said, shooting me a glare.

  “Then it only makes sense to get it out of the way now. You’ll likely need tutoring whenever you take it anyway. Private tutoring is expensive, and I can’t guarantee that I’ll have time to help you in the future. Whereas right now, I just so happen to have the time.” More like I had the time to save my ass by tutoring her, then going home to mark exams until two in the morning. I held in a sigh as I thought about how much extra work this was going to add to my day.

  “I—” Paige said before Maria cut her off.

  “Try it, okay? For me? If we can save some money, that would be good.” She rubbed Paige’s arms, a motherly pleading expression on her face.

  Paige sighed loudly. “Fine, I’ll try.”

  Maria’s face brightened. “Good enough. I’ll go to my room and watch TV, so I don’t get in the way.” Then she turned to me. “Thank you and good luck.” She shot me an unsteady smile.

  As Maria turned down the hall, Paige kept her back to me until we heard a door close. She spun around so fast I was sure she’d tumble over with that thing on her foot. “What exactly are you trying to pull, Professor?”

  “Whatever you want me to.” In hindsight, that was probably not a good thing to say.

  “Really? Should we ask your fiancée if she wants to join in this time?”

  Yeah, wrong thing to say. “Look, I was just kidding. Sit down and we’ll get to work.”

  “Ha, we will not. You were just about to leave,” she said, throwing her hand toward the door. It was almost like she didn’t want my help—

  “You need me.”

  She frowned at me like I was from another planet. “Are you quite insane? I don’t need anything from you.”

  “No matter what you think of me, you do need me. Your mom’s right and so am I. You’re too smart to let this opportunity go by. Go look up how much one hour of private tutoring is. I’m offering it to you for free.”

  Paige hobbled closer to me, lowering her voice even more. “You couldn’t pay me to sit here and listen to you.”

  “Think about this, Paige,” I said, staring at her, unblinking. “Your mom works hard. If you drop my class now, you lose twenty percent plus an entire term of daily tutoring. Think hard. I’ll leave if that’s what you really want but you know you need this class. This is your best—and let’s face it, probably your only opportunity to pass.”

  After unloading the best attempt at a guilt trip I could muster, her face softened. Eyes off to the side, she chewed on that delicious bottom lip of hers. “I told my mom I’d try.” She peered down at me. “One stupid move—one terrible, demeaning comment—and this,” she said, pointing to the table, “is done.” The deep shade of black on her ring caught my eye and I sighed.

  Holding up my palms, I said, “Nothing stupid or demeaning. I promise.” Now I was the one feeling guilty. I knew my spoken and written words would hurt her. That was the point after all. Looking at her now, I felt the true gravity of my actions.

  Paige’s body was wound-up tight. Quite unlike the soft, willing woman I’d had in my bed.

  “Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?”

  Yeah, she was one smart cookie. “I was an ass. I feel terrible for how I behaved and this is how I’m making it up to you.”

  Her eyes scanned my face while disbelief covered hers. After a minute of pondering, Paige gave up, letting out a loud breath.

  “One chance, Professor,” she said, holding up her index finger. To tell you the truth, I was expecting her to show me a completely different digit before she spun around and thumped down the hall.

  Paige

  Closing my eyes, a moment of clarity hit me. “I will never understand this.” Slamming my book shut, I backed up from the table, ready to burn this stupid textbook.

  “Hey,” Jake said, gripping my arm. “Calm down. You missed class, what do you expect?”

  I expected the touch of his hand not to feel as wonderful as it did. The warmth of his caress burned into my skin. Desire floated around me, landing deep in my belly. Being this close to Jake was not going to be easy.

  Pulling my arm away before I swooned even more, I stood up. “It’s hopeless. I’m hopeless. None of those numbers or calculations will ever make sense. Not in a million years.” Hobbling to the fridge, I yanked out my grape soda.

  “Get me a glass, too, will you?” Jake said, opening my books back up as if I was coming back to look at them. Seeing him in my kitchen at our tiny table was almost comical. How many times had I daydreamed that he’d be here?

  Mortification crept over me. I hadn’t asked if he’d wanted anything. Mom would kill me if she knew.

  Cutting up a few pieces of quesadilla, I set them on a plate. Very, very carefully, I held one glass between my arm and chest, one in my hand and the plate in my other hand.

  Please don’t let me drop anything. Going even slower than usual, I took a few jerky steps before Jake looked up. “Here, let me help,” he said, practically jumping out of his chair. I could feel the glass wedged between my arm and my body start slipping.

  “Crap, no, no, the other cup, it’s going to fall,” I announced, bending my body to the side as if that would help.

  He hesitated for a brief second but then grabbed a hold of the drink, saving me, and our floor from a deep purple mess. During the rescue effort, Jake’s fingertips grazed the side of my breast, sending a wonderful shiver down my body.

  With no bra underneath my tank top, my hardened nipples were difficult to conceal. In my defense he had shown up after I’d changed into my slob clothes. I wasn’t exactly expecting company.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he said, obviously knowing what and where he’d touched. His eyes shot down to my chest for a second then he took the plate from me.

  “It’s fine, thanks for saving the soda,” I said, walking to the table.
>
  He didn’t answer, instead just followed me and sat down. “I haven’t had this in years. She used to send me care packages when I was in boarding school,” he said, biting into the soft, moist cake. Jake moaned much like he did when he was inside of me.

  Hearing it again turned me on instantly, causing an ache in my lower area. “Mmm, this tastes so good,” he said, closing his eyes, licking his lips. It made me clench my thighs together. “What’s this called again? I can’t remember.”

  “Quesadilla.”

  His face frowned at me. “Isn’t that with two tortillas, melted with cheese?”

  “Uh, yeah. This is called Quesadilla Salvadorena. It’s a sweet, cheese bread. Like a heavy pound cake, I guess.”

  Jake nodded, watching my lips as I drank. “You still addicted to grape soda?” he asked through another mouthful of quesadilla.

  I ignored the fact he remembered my dependency. I also didn’t allow how that made me feel to register. Much. “It helps me think.”

  “Remember when I was helping you with your times tables? You went through gallons of the stuff.” He chuckled, shoving in another piece of cake.

  “I was too young to even be learning that kind of math,” I said with a mock frown.

  “I wouldn’t say you exactly learned anything.” Reaching over for his drink, he took a few long swallows, his throat stretching as he drank. Visions of me straddling him, kissing that neck as his hands stroked my—

  Shaking my head, I took a breath then took another sip, hoping it would cool me down. “Yeah, not much has changed. I still suck at math for some reason.”

  Setting his glass down, he gazed over at me. “That’s not what I meant. You were way too young for times tables but man, were you determined to learn.”

  He had one thing right. As a kid, I had been determined.

  Determined to spend as much time as I could with Jake. Conning him into helping me was less about learning and more about just being with him. “It didn’t help then and I don’t think it will now, either.”