by Jessa York
Pushing away from the chair, she said, “Give me a second, I’ll be right back.” Off she walked, disappearing down the hall. I took that time to jot down a few more things for her to work on. It gave me some time to clear my head as well.
When Paige came back, however, I nearly groaned. Instead of her usual tight to her ass jeans, she now had on yoga pants with a matching yoga bra. A light, button down top made every attempt at covering that cleavage but failed miserably in the process.
“Do you want more?” Paige asked before sitting down. At first, I thought she was talking about her body. And the answer right then would have been, yes please.
“More?” I asked, now being the one whose pants were tight.
“Cake? I see you ate it all,” she answered, picking up the plate.
“Oh, of course. I mean, yes, please.” I wanted more cake like I wanted another hole in my head. What I was really after was for Paige to turn around so I could see her ass in those pants.
And it did not disappoint. My hands itched to sidle up behind her and touch that behind as I kissed her neck. These pants would be much easier to remove than her tight jeans.
“Here,” she said, breaking me out of my nasty daydream where I was ready to bend her— “Oh, good. More notes.” The sarcasm in her voice was not lost on me. Neither was the deep valley between her breasts as she leaned forward on her elbows.
“Some suggestions, that’s all. Don’t panic,” I said, unable to stifle a yawn. “Look these over. Especially the first one,” I said, pointing with a finger as I passed her the paper, yawning again. These late nights were killing me.
She looked up at me with her gorgeous eyes, “I will, thanks. If you want to go, you can.”
“We have two more chapters,” I said, stretching my arms above my head, taking a deep breath, trying not to yawn again.
She smiled at me. “You’re tired, go home.”
“You’re tired, too.”
Looking me over, she finally spoke. “Follow me,” she said, standing up.
I kid you not, I hoped like hell she was going to lead me to her bedroom. Unfortunately, Paige walked into the living room instead. Throwing me a pillow she said, “You get that couch.” Then she proceeded to curl up on the other couch.
“Paige, we’ve got work to go over,” I said, wanting nothing more at the moment than to lay down and shut my eyes. Well, other than taking a visit to her room.
“Fifteen minutes won’t matter,” she said, yawning as she turned the TV on to something mindless. Before I knew it, I was on the couch, asleep.
Paige
Good grief the man could snore. How could someone so young snore so loudly? I didn’t want to wake him—Jake had seemed really tired. Instead, I decided to get up, tiptoeing passed.
Staring for a minute, I took the chance to really look at him. He was too heartbreakingly handsome for words. The Saturday scruff he sported on his cheeks and chin made me want to reach out and touch it. I opted to pick up a blanket, gently tucking it under his chin.
The smell of his manly, spicy cologne drifted around us tempting me to bend down and take another sniff. Which is exactly what I did one more time before sneaking off to my room to catch a few minutes of quiet.
That noise. Was it a train? We didn’t live by any tracks, so I thought that was fairly unlikely. Moving my stiff leg, I hit something. My eyes opened quickly to see a sleeping, snoring Jake. In my bed. Holy crap. How did he get in here?
Jake laid on his side, hand on my stomach, his breath crossing my face as he made sounds that would scare children and small animals. The fading light in the room meant we’d been out for a while. I couldn’t reach my phone from here to see what time it was.
Slipping my fingers over his, I lifted carefully so as not to wake him. He moved his hand, landing on my breast. “Mmm,” he moaned in his sleep, rolling his body closer to mine.
Again, I tried to pick up his hand. The snoring stopped abruptly. “What are you doing?” He sighed, sliding up onto his elbow, staring down at me.
“You’re in my bed,” I whispered, barely breathing. The look in his eyes changed in an instant. He gazed at my breasts, his palm still covering one of them. Then he looked at me. All the pent-up sexual frustration from the last two months zinging between us.
“Screw it,” he said, leaning down to take my mouth with his. Heat flared in my belly, flooding down lower between my legs. That familiar ache pulsed as his tongue forced its way in my mouth, claiming it as his own. Weeks of tension broke as our tongues finally touched.
How many times had I imagined him doing this exact same thing to me in my bed? It seemed surreal now after the hours I’d spent daydreaming about him here, with me. Kissing me. Touching me.
“I missed your mouth,” Jake mumbled before taking the kiss deeper as I gladly invited him back in.
When his thumb grazed over my already hard nipple, I sighed into his mouth. Yanking on my yoga bra, he nibbled down my neck before his tongue swept out teasing my nipple.
“Oh, yes,” I said, moving my head from side to side as he sucked and teased, making my whole body shudder with need. Still reveling in what he was doing to my chest, I didn’t notice his hand was gone until I felt it travel inside my waistband—and down.
He didn’t stop until his hand was directly on me, making me tremble. One finger circled around my opening, feeling the wetness there, inflaming me even more. When he finally dipped it inside, I called out his name, “Jake.”
I could feel his hardness on my thigh while he found my mouth. I grabbed onto his shoulders, pulling him down, his finger filling me but it wasn’t enough. I needed more. He got the hint, moving between my legs, panting into my mouth he said, “I want you so badly, Paige.” Removing his hand, his pelvis ground down into mine creating a brilliant friction I never wanted to end.
The slamming of a door broke us out of our clinch. “Hi, you guys,” my mother called from the front door.
“Oh no,” I whispered as Jake practically jumped right off me.
He adjusted himself then turned on the light. “Paige,” he said with some degree of urgency, pointing to my chest. Looking down I realized my breast was still out for all to see. Popping everything back into place, I stared at Jake, practically frozen.
Thank goodness one of us could still think. “Get to your desk.” He motioned, bending down to my shelf where all my games were. I listened, plunking my butt down on the chair just in time for Mom to come around the corner.
“Oh, there you are. I thought I saw Jake’s Jeep outside—”
“Hi, Maria,” Jake said, twisting his head around.
“We were just playing a game. I mean we were just getting ready to play a game,” I sputtered to my mom who was looking at me with suspicion. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jake’s shoulders shaking.
“Have you eaten? I’m going to make empanadas. Jake are you staying?” she asked with almost no emotion in her voice.
He stood up and turned the Game of Life box covering his nether region. It took a valiant effort to hold in my laughter. “Sounds great, thanks,” he said. Mom nodded before turning to walk out.
After she was gone, Jake—still holding the game hostage against his hips—asked, “Do you think she bought it?”
I closed my eyes, letting my pounding head drop on the desk.
“You want more, Jake?” Mom asked him, scanning his nearly empty plate. The man could pack away empanadas like a champ.
Sitting back, he said, “Please, that would be great.”
She got up, grabbing his plate from him. “Not everyone enjoys these. I’m glad you have a taste for it.”
Jake’s hand found its way to my knee, sending heat to certain areas that still hadn’t cooled down from our make out session earlier. “They’re delicious,” he said, squeezing then rubbing my thigh. “I’d eat it every day if I could.”
His eyes looked directly into mine letting me know his double entendre was indeed on purpo
se. “What kind of game were you playing when I came home?” Mom asked, back still turned. My eyes went wide, looking to Jake for help.
“We were going to play Monopoly,” Jake answered, his voice calm as his hand traveled further up my thigh.
“But I interrupted. Maybe we’ll play after supper?” she said, carrying Jake’s plate over to the table. “I’ll warn you, though,” she said, casting her eyes down on him, “she cheats.”
That cracked him up so much his hand squeezed harder on my leg. Damn, it felt so good, but he needed to stop. Maneuvering under the table, I pushed his grip off my leg. He allowed me to do that, first linking his fingers with mine.
“Hopefully she doesn’t make up a bunch of fake rules like last time.” He chuckled, taking another forkful of food.
Mom put her knife down. “How do you know that?”
“We’ve played before. And I do not cheat or make up fake rules.”
“I see. When have you two played Monopoly?” she asked, looking straight at me, still as a statue—a very suspicious, Salvadoran statue.
Shrugging, I crossed my legs. “Jake likes to take brain breaks.”
She nodded before going back to her meal.
After supper, we did play the game. Despite my best efforts at introducing new, improved rules—Jake beat us both.
“It’s getting late. I should go. Thanks for supper, Maria,” Jake said, giving mom a hug.
She returned it, gladly. “You were always such a good boy. Don’t forget that.” It was an odd thing to say unless you knew her and that fact that she’d figured out what had been transpiring in her house.
“Help me out with my bags, Paige?” he asked, jerking his head toward the front door. I wasn’t sure right now who I dreaded being alone with more, Jake or my mom. Looks like I’d get to experience both.
Standing up, I grabbed one of his bags, knowing full well that wasn’t why he’d asked me to follow him but doing it anyway. Once we were at his Jeep, I handed him the case. “Here, thanks for your help tonight.” Turning, I hoped he was going to leave it at that.
Feeling his hand clutch mine, I sighed a breath of defeat. “We should talk.”
Slowly spinning back to him, I said, “No, we’re good.” His hand pulled me close to him until my breasts touched his chest.
“If your mom hadn’t come home—”
Gazing up at him, I said, “She did. And now I get to go in there and explain.” My hand swinging back to the house.
His fingers reached up, moving my hair away from my face. Holding my head, he said, “Paige, I didn’t want to stop.” Leaning down, his lips touched mine in the sweetest of kisses. Because I’m weak, I kissed him back. Stepping into him, his arms circled my body. “You always taste so good,” he said in between kisses.
When reason returned, I pulled away. “We can’t.”
“Why? Nobody has to know. We can keep it secret for a couple of months.” He moved forward like he was going to grab me again.
“Do you still have a fiancée?” I asked him, my heart beginning to crumble as he leaned back against his Jeep.
He cast his eyes downward for a minute. “You don’t understand.” Gazing back up at me he opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, then closed it.
“I think I do,” I said, my stomach feeling like it was in a freefall. “Plus, I don’t think they changed the rules on professors dating their students.”
A hint of a smile emerged on his lips. “You looked it up, did you?” His head cocked to the side as he crossed his arms.
“It’s not worth the trouble we’d get into.”
“What if I think it is?”
The intensity in his eyes made me want to rush into his arms and forget everything else. That wasn’t possible though. “You still have Melanie.”
Tossing his head back, he muttered, “Mel wouldn’t care.”
“How can you say that? Of course, she would,” I said, frowning at him as I stepped back further. “I think you need to go.” Then I turned around, steeling myself to speak with my mother.
“Since when do you play games with boys in your room?” Mom didn’t mince words as she jumped on me the second I walked back in the house.
“Mom, it’s fine. You don’t want him in my room, great. I won’t let him in.” I strode into the kitchen to collect my books.
She followed me. It wasn’t going to be that easy to lose her. “Your puffy lips, hair like a bird’s nest. You think I’m dumb? The light was off in your room when I drove up. What are you even thinking? He’s engaged to be married to another woman!” she shouted, throwing her hands up.
Something broke inside of me. I swore I heard it snap. “Do you think I don’t know that?” I screamed back at her, bursting into the loudest sob of my life. “I’ve been in love with him since I can remember and then one day he—just shows back up in my life.” I gasped air into my uncooperative lungs. “With a fiancée.”
I couldn’t take anymore, storming off to my room as quickly as I could. Slamming the door, I dove into my bed. My pillow still smelled of Jake, which was wonderful and awful all at the same time. Crying, I tried so hard to erase him from my mind to no avail.
A small knock at my door sounded. Ignoring it, I kept weeping, feeling sorry for myself. Moments later, she was sitting on my bed beside me. “He’s an attractive, older man. Of course, you’d be drawn to Jake.” She ran her hands through my knotted hair. “As a child, you looked up to him. He paid attention to you then and he’s helping you now. I can understand why you’d think there’s something there.”
Moving my head from side to side, I so wanted to tell her that he was the one who’d kissed me. He wanted me. And his fiancée. What was wrong with him?
“You two have been working closely for weeks now. Almost every day. I can understand you thinking that the attention he’s giving you is—romantic.” She had no idea what a two-timer Jake really was. If I told her he’d picked me up at a bar, took me home, then slept with me several times it wouldn’t make matters any better for me.
She’d think I was loose and even more stupid than she did right now. There was also the chance she’d squeal to Mrs. Richter. That alone would cause a chain of events I didn’t want to be responsible for. Jake was the master of his own destiny. If he wanted to run around on Melanie that was on him. All I knew was I wanted nothing to do with it.
“I’ll be okay. I’m just really tired and stressed,” I said, not lying at all. I’d thought high school was difficult to keep up with. That was nothing compared to college.
Mom patted my back. “You get some sleep. Things will seem better in the morning.” I felt the bed move as she stood. “They always do.”
What she didn’t know was that for me, it would be worse than ever.
27
Paige
“Girl, you look amazing,” Alex said, dabbing Holly’s face one last time with an oversized makeup brush. “I’ve really outdone myself on you two tonight if I do say so myself,” he said, swinging the brush in the air like a magic wand.
Alex wasn’t exaggerating. He’d done a great job on our hair and makeup. I felt like a princess in my dress—even though Ivy had to raid her mom’s closet for it. None of her dresses fit my growing ass anymore. The only person who said anything was Ivy when she’d blurted out, “That freshman fifteen sucks.”
Holly on the other hand had lost weight. Alex had to do a quick adjustment on her gown so it wasn’t too loose.
“Ivy texted. She and her date just pulled up,” Holly announced as Alex finished packing away his supplies. “We should go now. I don’t want to leave them alone with Evan’s parents for too long.”
“Hmm, trouble in paradise? New in-laws not everything you’d hoped?” Alex asked, zipping up his bag.
She sucked in her lips, a tiny frown beginning on her flawless forehead. “Probably the other way around. I don’t think I’m everything they’d hoped for.” Her hands twisted together.
�
��Why would you say that?” I asked, touching her arm.
Sitting down on the bed, she spilled the beans. “They put us in two separate rooms. I mean obviously Evan got to stay in his room. His mom gave me this guest room on the other side of the house.” By house she really meant mansion.
“My mom would do the same thing. There’s no way she’d—” I stopped suddenly, remembering how she’d caught Jake in my room a couple of weeks ago.
“Child, you can say that again. My mom would have an actual jersey cow.” Alex tossed the various sprays into a bigger bag on the floor.
Her eyes looked back and forth between us for a minute. “I wasn’t done with my story,” she said, her shoulders falling forward as she let out a hopeless sounding sigh. “I was in my room, being a good girl when Evan started texting me to come to his.”
Alex and I started giggling, already knowing how this was going to end. “He can be very persuasive,” she whispered, shaking her head. That made us laugh right out loud.
“So, he came to your room?” I said, when I could catch my breath.
“No, I went to his. He’s got a—thing—about doing it in his boyhood bed.” That was it. I doubled over as Alex out and out howled his laughter. Holly just sat there, lips pursed together.
“Oh, I bet he does, girl,” Alex hooted out, unable to stop laughing.
“And his parents saw you sneak out?” I asked, walking over to her.
“Not exactly. In the morning, his mom wanted to take me to her yoga class as a bonding thing I guess. When she couldn’t find me, she got worried and pretty much enlisted Evan’s dad and every staff member in the house to search.”
I tried hard not to giggle as I sat down, putting my arm around my friend. “Then they found you in Evan’s room?”
She nodded, rolling her eyes. “He was supposed to set his alarm. Now his mom can’t even look me in the eyes.”
“Aww, she’ll get over it,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “Don’t worry.”
