Professor Richter's Rules

by Jessa York

  “She can do that and be gay.”

  “I completely agree.” I sighed, wishing the world could be a better place. “Her folks don’t, though. Last year when one of her parents’ friends told them about rumors that had been going around—things got bad, quick. That’s when she asked me for help.”

  “You’re a good friend but why would you do that?”

  “My parents were constantly on my ass about settling down. This was a way to get them off my case for a while.”

  “I think there’s more to it,” she said, propping her head up on her hands.

  Smiling back at her, I said, “Her parents are wrong.” I gently pushed her hair back around an ear. “Mel shouldn’t be punished for who she is.”

  More silent tears escaped the corners of her eyes. “You wanted to protect your friend from injustice,” her voice trembled. “How much will she lose if they find out the truth?”

  “A lot,” I said, leaving it at that.

  “Millions?”

  I shook my head.

  “Billions?”

  I nodded.

  “Holy cow,” she said, her voice filled with awe. “Did she offer to give you any?”

  That made me laugh, joggling her head on my chest. “No, she did not offer me any payouts to pose as her fiancé.” Paige had asked enough questions for tonight. Now it was time for one of my own. Rolling her onto her back, I leaned down to kiss those pillowy, soft lips I loved so much.

  “You haven’t said it.”

  She looked at me like I was crazy. “Haven’t said what?”

  “I’ve said it at least three times now and you haven’t said it once.”

  “What?”

  “Are you that clueless?”

  “Apparently.”

  Growling, I flopped back over onto my back, frustrated she was going to make me spell it out to her.

  Moving her leg over mine, she quickly straddled me, hands on my chest, grinning widely. “Jake Richter,” she said, leaning down on me, her breasts touching my chest. “I’ve been in love with you since I was four years old. How in the world could you not know that?”

  I don’t think I’d ever smiled that big before. Taking the upper hand again, I pushed her to her back. “Say it.” Taking her hands into mine, I raised them over her head and started tickling her ribs.

  “Stop,” she said, laughing as she twisted her body.

  “Say it,” I said, refusing to stop.

  “Okay, okay, okay, I love you.”

  Closing my eyes, I laid my forehead on hers. “Say it again.”

  In her soft, sweet voice, she said, “I love you, Jake.”

  Gazing down, I took her lips in a powerful kiss. Then I made love to her as she told me over and over again how much she loved me.

  And I didn’t even have to ask.

  29

  Paige

  “You and the professor—am I right?” George asked as Jake left the two of us alone in the lecture hall. Her elbow nudged me in the arm.

  My stomach cramped up. “What? No, of course not,” I said, breathlessly.

  “Come on, sugar, he’s sweet on you.”

  “Why would you even say that?” I frowned, shaking my head while trying to look at the now blurry calculus problem on my sheet.

  George laughed, tossing her long red locks over her shoulders. “Because he looks at you like you’re a juicy, chicken fried steak.”

  “You’ve got it wrong. He’s just been tutoring me.”

  Her hand reached out, covering mine. “It’s all right, sweetie. I have a bit of a penchant for professors myself.” She giggled, giving me a wink. “Just be careful, okay? He’s been around the block and I’m guessin’ you—haven’t.”

  “The only thing I need to be careful about is understanding all these theorems. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to pass this next exam.”

  “You’ll pass it or you won’t. The world just keeps on turning no matter what. Try your best but it’s not worth losing sleep over.”

  My fingers went directly to my eyes. “I didn’t think I’d have dark circles before I was twenty.” Alex gave me quite the hounding last week about getting enough rest. Then he handed me some kind of miracle eye cream that obviously wasn’t doing its job.

  George’s arm went around me, giving me a side hug. “You take all of this too seriously, honey. Calculus is important but not to the detriment of your health.” She tucked my hair behind my ear. “You need to look after yourself.”

  She was right, I knew that. One thing she probably didn’t understand was how tight money was for us. Failing this class meant more than just a bad mark on my transcript. It meant I’d wasted my mom’s hard-earned paycheck. “I’m good, don’t worry. Somehow, I manage to do well in my other classes. If I can slide by with a fifty, I’ll be happy.”

  Her phone buzzed on the desk. Picking it up, she frowned. “Dang, I’ve got to meet someone. I didn’t realize how late it’s gotten.” Standing, she gathered her things then said one last thing, “Have fun but guard your heart.”

  As she began to walk away, I turned my head and said, “Nothing to guard it from.”

  George laughed her infectious giggle. “Uh huh. Keep tellin’ yourself that, sugar.”

  I waited another ten minutes. When Jake hadn’t shown up by then I decided to go on the hunt. It was odd that he also wasn’t answering my texts. The halls had cleared considerably. Most people were finished for the day and the night class crew wouldn’t show up for a couple of hours yet.

  Poking my head around the corner, I peeked to see if there were any stragglers hanging around his office. All clear. Walking up to the door with the Professor Jake Richter sign on it, I rapped lightly with my knuckles.

  Seconds later, he opened, talking on his phone. “Mel, I’ve got a visitor. I have to go. You take care and I’ll call you tomorrow.” He clicked his phone off as I batted my eyelashes at him.

  “Professor Richter, I need your help with a problem. Please.”

  That deadly sexy grin spread across his face. “Hmm, you seem to require my help an awful lot lately. Come in,” he said, stepping to the side, sweeping his arm out. “We’ll see what we can do.”

  Swaying my hips in an exaggerated motion, I turned around, throwing my bag on the floor. “What kind of help were you needing?” His eyebrow quirked up as he leaned against the closed door.

  “Well, I have this ache.”

  “Mmm hmm. Where is it exactly? I’ll need a detailed map.”

  Moving his chair to the side I sat on his desk. “I think it would be more fun if you guessed.”

  Taking off his suit jacket, he tossed it on his chair. His hands went to his tie, loosening it slowly, never taking his eyes off me. Desire burned hot in the pit of my belly.

  Stepping between my legs, he looked down at my lips, tapping a finger lightly there. “Is it here?” Then his lips touched mine ever so softly.

  “No, afraid not.”

  “Let’s try again then,” he said, skimming his lips along the sweep of my cheek.

  “Here?” he asked, his breath on my sensitive skin making me shiver.

  I shook my head. “Try harder. You’re really off your game.”

  Chuckling, he dragged his warm tongue down my neck then down further between my cleavage. “I bet it’s here,” he said, undoing the buttons of my top followed by the front closure of my bra. Once my breasts were free, he palmed both of them.

  “No, but you’re getting closer,” I moaned, his head dipping to suck on each nipple until they were equally hard peaks. My gaze lingered over him as he willfully devoured my chest, groaning as he sucked and kneaded my breasts.

  Kneeling down, he shoved my legs further apart, forcing my already short skirt to slide up my thighs. Cool air hit my core as he moved my panties to the side, replacing it with his mouth. “How about here?” he asked, his penetrating gaze probing my face.

  The look of pure lust in his eyes made my head fall back as I sighed a
t the feel of him.

  “Oh, Professor Richter, I think you’ve finally found it,” I said, groaning when a finger joined his mouth. Then he made it a triple threat by finding my breast with his other hand. “You’re going to make me come,” I whispered, leaning back on my hands, eyes closed, fixated on every movement he made.

  Jake didn’t stop. Instead, he intensified his labors in an exquisite rhythm that drove me insane. His tongue circled and lapped at me in an almost punishing sequence. He was persistent, stirring my primal need to a heady climax that I couldn’t have stopped even if I’d wanted to. I came so hard for him, every muscle in my body contracted over and over again.

  Before I knew it, he was there at my core, demanding entry. “Yes, Jake, harder,” I said, still partway in another world. He grunted with exertion as he went faster.

  “You are so hot,” he said, pulling out, gasping for air.

  Unsure of why he was stopping right at a very good part, I asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Turn around,” he grunted, trying to catch his breath. “I’ve been fantasizing about taking you from behind on my desk,” he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

  His words made me even hungrier. I quickly slid off the desk. Before I had a chance to turn around, Jake’s hands gripped my hips, turning me forcefully. “Head down, ass up,” he said, pushing a palm to the middle of my back. He grabbed a hold of my hips even harder now. Once my torso was flat on the surface, Jake didn’t waste time pushing himself inside of me.

  He completely commanded my body, imprisoning me against the desk, unable to move away from him. Not that I wanted to. Jake filled me so completely, I let myself succumb to the thrill of feeling him so hard inside me.

  The unrelenting thrusting had me wanting to shatter. “Jake.”

  Slowing down, he asked, “You okay?”

  Nodding, I said, “Touch me? Please?” He exhaled loudly, ramming back inside me as his hand reached around, finding my clit. “Mmm, yeah, like that,” I urged him on. His finger rubbed and rolled the exact spot where I needed him.

  Beginning to twitch, I whimpered out, “I have to come again.”

  “Yeah, baby, come with my cock inside you.” Finally, I yielded to his demands just as he, too, tipped over the edge of ecstasy. I could feel my walls contracting on him almost violently. He collapsed on my back, his chest damp with perspiration. “Did I find the source of your ache?”

  Smiling, I stared at the stark white wall beside me. “I think you finally found it.”

  30

  Jake

  Driving to Paige’s, I thought about our rendezvous in my office the other day. The way she acted and played along made me nearly explode before I even got inside of her. She was spectacular.

  My phone chose that moment to go off. My parents. I’d been avoiding them, knowing they’d likely heard through the grapevine that my engagement was off. Being in the Jeep gave me the excuse to disconnect quickly if need be.

  “Hello,” I said, waiting to turn onto a busy street.

  “Jake, we’ve been calling,” my mother said, waiting for a response.

  Taking my chance, I sped around the corner during a quick break in traffic. “I’ve been busy, Mom. How are you guys?”

  There was a long silence. “Do you think you’re being amusing? Pretending not to know why I’m calling? As though we wouldn’t be upset about hearing of your breakup secondhand? Instead of from our own son?”

  Clearing my throat, I dove in. “Look, it happened quite fast. I needed a few days to process it.”

  “You mean you needed a few days with your new hussy?” That, too.

  “She’s not a hussy, Mom.”

  “Any girl who would hide out in the bathroom at the Senator’s mansion with you for Heaven only knows how long has got to be a hussy.”

  “Then I guess that makes me a hussy as well.”

  Mom gasped into the phone. “Have you no decency? Do you realize how socially ostracizing this will be for us?”

  “Yeah, that must be tough,” I said, taking a left onto Paige’s street. I slowed down, watching for kids.

  “Jake, your sarcasm is not appreciated. I can’t believe you cheated on Mel. You need to go ask for forgiveness.”

  “We’re done, Mom. Maybe one day she and I can still be friends but right now it’s too raw.” I tried my best to fake an excuse.

  She practically roared through the phone, “Are you not right in the head? Go to her and apologize.”

  “I can’t do that, Mom.”

  “Why?”

  It hurt me to know how I’d made my parents feel. My lies that had meant to protect Mel, were now damaging my relationship with my parents. “Because I’m not sorry. Look, I have to go. I just pulled up to my destination. I’ll call you next week.” Not waiting for an answer, I hung up quickly, glad to be finished with that conversation.

  “Paige, mija, you should go,” Maria said to her daughter, giving her the saddest look a mother could give.

  “Uh, no, I shouldn’t,” Paige shook her head as her eyes rolled.

  “Your abuela will be there. She’s not well, you know that.”

  Setting her fork down, Paige looked up at her mom. “I can go see her another time.”

  “But you won’t,” Maria whined, leaning on the table. “And all your tias who haven’t seen you in so long will be there, too. They were always so nice to you.”

  “When I was three? I don’t even remember any of my aunts on that side.” Paige picked up her fork and started eating again.

  Maria stood, carrying her plate to the sink. “You should go, I’m telling you.”

  “Even if I wanted to go—which I don’t—the car probably wouldn’t make it that far on the highway. Do you think Dad will leave his family to come help me?” Paige said, sounding more than a little bitter.

  Placing my hand on her knee, I said, “I can drive you. Where do you have to go?”

  Maria spun around to look at me. “Oh,” she said, eyes wide, hands clasped together. “Jake can take you.” Maria had warmed back up to me—eventually. The first few days after Paige and I had made it clear our relationship had changed, Maria was less than hospitable.

  Her cold shoulder and evil eye were nothing to laugh at. Paige rarely spoke Spanish in front of me but for a few days that was the only way those two communicated whenever I was over.

  The difference between their tones was the only thing I could distinguish—other than the odd verb or noun. Spanish had never been my strong suit. Anyone with ears would be able to tell the words coming out of Maria’s mouth were not complementary.

  If the number of eye rolls counted for anything, Paige had a lock on that. Every time her mother said something, that’s how Paige began a sentence. Eye roll—blah, blah, blah. Not good.

  Eventually, Maria’s giant heart opened back up and I was once again in the fold. I knew when that happened because she’d started to give me leftovers to take home again.

  Paige glared, letting out a breath. “You’re not taking me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s all the way in L.A.”

  Squeezing her leg, I said, “I know how to get there.”

  “I don’t want to go,” she said in a monotone voice, lightly shaking her head.

  She hadn’t spoken about her father but from how her mom was acting, this party seemed important. “Your mom seems to think you should go.”

  “My mom should go then.”

  Maria started speaking to her in Spanish. I only caught a few words but her disappointment in Paige was unmistakable. Paige answered her back—also in Spanish. From her body language, it was obvious they were having the same conversation, just in a different language.

  In a low voice, I interrupted, speaking only to Paige, “I’ll take you. Make your mom happy.”

  “Gah, you guys are terrible. Ganging up on me like this,” she said, shooting me an angry expression.

  “So you’ll go?” Maria as
ked, expectantly, still standing in the middle of the kitchen.

  Not raising her eyes, Paige said, “Fine.”

  Maria raced over, wrapping her arms around Paige. “You’re a good daughter, I love you,” she said, kissing her on the cheek.

  Paige lifted a hand, touching her mother’s arm. “Love you, too, Mom.”

  When supper was over, we managed to fit in an hour of schoolwork. Paige’s mind was not into it, I could tell. “I’m calling it. Let’s pack it in.”

  “Thank goodness,” she said, slamming her textbook closed.

  Shoving my books inside my bag, I looked over at her. “Don’t look so heartbroken.”

  That brought out a smile. Leaning over, I gave her a quick kiss. “When is this party?”

  She groaned as she stood, clearing her work off the table, “Friday.”

  I nodded, then grabbed her hand. Leading us to the front door, I turned, pulling her into my arms. “It’ll be fine. I meant it, I’m more than happy to take you.”

  Her eyes roamed up to mine. “You don’t have to. What if someone recognizes you?”

  Smiling down at her, I hugged her close. “Nobody knows me. I haven’t been at the university very long. Besides, L.A. is a huge place, don’t worry. What kind of a party is it?”

  “My stepsister’s Quinceanera.”

  I’d heard of those but never actually been to one before. “That’s when a girl turns fifteen?”

  Nodding her head, she answered, “Yeah.”

  “And you don’t like Quinceaneras?” I asked, butchering the word even with my best effort.

  “They are beautiful parties. Everyone goes all out for them.”

  Wanting more of an answer, I prodded. “So, what’s the problem? You don’t like your sister?”

  “Stepsister. I don’t know. She’s okay, I guess.”

  “Hmm, sounds like there’s a lot going on here,” I said, kissing her on the top of her head.

  “Actually, not that much goes on with that side of the family.”