We were total opposites, even. I’d envied her appearance, always wishing that I was slimmer or blonder or cute.
Ever since Professor Marks had shown interest in me, though, I realized that I felt just as beautiful as Petra looked.
“So, Eden,” Petra said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Golden Wok?”
I nodded decisively. “Golden Wok,” I said.
Petra grinned. She got to her feet and walked into the kitchen where she took another bottle of wine from the fridge.
“But first, I think we should do some serious day-drinking,” she said. “Because Chinese food always tastes better when you’re drunk.”
“Sounds good,” I said, even though I wasn’t much of a drinker.
I figured that if booze would help me forget about Professor Marks and my growing obsession with him, then day-drinking was the best idea that Petra had ever had.
14
Will – Thursday
My ... encounter with Eden that morning had left me so shaken that I’d completely forgotten about asking Peter, my TA and grad student, to handle the freshman seminar later in the day. When I showed up, he threw me a confused look.
“Don’t mind me,” I said, aiming for nonchalance. “I’m just going to sit in the corner and grade papers. I thought that being in my office would invite conversation,” I added in a low voice as I thought about Gina.
Peter looked relieved and I wondered if he’d been hoping that I would show, if only to observe him.
“No problem,” he said. “Just let me know how I do, okay?”
I nodded.
Peter got the class underway – he was trying to go over the basics of literary criticism to give the students a small explanation of each school of theory – and immediately, my attention went straight to Eden. The way she’d sighed softly and sort of leaned against me, pressing those curves into my body. I’d felt her tits and her hips and her ass, all brushing against my body, and I had been paralyzed with lust and desire. The urge to take her in my arms and kiss her roughly had been so strong that I almost hadn’t been able to push it aside – when she’d muttered ‘thanks’ under her breath and fled the room, it had almost been a relief. I’d watched her scamper away, well aware that all I wanted was more.
God, she was driving me insane. At the brewpub, she’d accused me of being hot and cold with her ... and while that was partially true, if unintentionally so, she was far worse. One minute she stepped in and gave me those big doe-eyes and batted her lashes at me.
And the next, she ran off like a frightened deer.
I had to clear things up or else I was truly going to lose my mind. I’d never spent this much time worrying about a woman before, and while it had been kind of fun initially, it was draining. I was living in such a perpetual state of horny arousal that I was going to explode if it kept going.
Had this been Eden’s goal all along, to make her professor lose his mind?
She seemed sweeter than that, but maybe there was a beautiful devil lurking beneath that sexy angelic exterior.
The freshman seminar flew by. I wasn’t paying a tremendous of attention, as my mind was primarily occupied by none other than Ms. Eden Cooper, but the few moments I looked up I was surprised to see the students responding far better to Peter and his instruction than they ever did with me.
Maybe they’re not all dumb after all, I thought as I watched. Maybe they’re just intimidated. Maybe they just need to connect with someone in their own generation for a change.
“So, how did I do?” Peter asked afterwards.
“Great,” I said. “They really seem to like you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “In fact, I’d actually like you to handle this course for me for the rest of the semester.”
“No shit,” Peter said. “That’s awesome.”
I nodded. “You deserve it,” I told him. “And to be honest, I could really use the break for extra office hours.”
Because I don’t already spend enough time daydreaming about Eden and her sweet little pussy, I thought to myself as I walked away. I went into my office and shut the door behind me – I’d been careful to do that ever since my last talk with Gina – and sighed as I sat down at my desk.
Before I could think twice about what I was doing, I pulled up my email and hit ‘compose’. Eden’s address was at the very top of my contacts, which I took to be an omen.
Hey, I wrote. Hope you’re doing better. I hope whatever was bothering you is gone now.
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the screen, wondering if I should send it. This was, after all, from my Oakbrook College email account.
But it was innocuous. It was a professor, checking up on a student. And if I sent it from my private Gmail account, well, then it would look suspicious.
So, I guessed it was better to stay here and send it from my official account.
As soon as I hit ‘send’, though, I felt an immediate twinge of regret.
Eden’s response came seconds later.
Feeling really overwhelmed. Should not have done that today. Sorry.
Sent from my iPhone
I swallowed hard. What had been bothering so much?
And did I have anything to do with it?
Coughing slightly, I typed a reply before I could really think about what I was doing.
I’m always good to talk to my favorite student.
My heart thudded in my chest. Was I really doing this, doing something so colossally stupid that I couldn’t comprehend it?
When her reply came, I stared at the screen for a long time.
Really? Because I could talk more.
Sent from my iPhone.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “Of course, you could.”
15
Eden – Thursday
“Hey,” Petra said, and I looked up to see her peering at me. “Are you even listening?”
“I’m sorry,” I said as I shoved my phone back down in my lap. The two of us were sitting at Golden Wok, with a pile of empty plates before us. After we’d spent a few hours on the couch, drinking wine (well, that mostly had been Petra ... I’d had one glass), we’d bundled up and walked across campus, then across the street to the shopping center where Golden Wok was perched between a CVS and a grocery store that had shuttered years ago.
“Is everything okay? You keep checking your phone,” Petra commented. She reached for an egg roll and swallowed it in two bites, chewing with her mouth open and reaching for her glass of water.
I nodded.
“Worried about your mom or something?”
“What? I mean, no,” I said quickly, remembering the lie that I’d told Petra days before – that my mom had gotten the flu and it was hitting her pretty hard.
I felt terrible lying to her. I’d never been a good liar – not even at white lies, like “oh, that looks fabulous on you” instead of “that dress makes you look like a hippo”. It just wasn’t in my DNA. I was Eden Cooper, sweet and untouched.
Or naïve and dumb, if you wanted to look at it that way.
At any rate, I knew that sooner or later, I was going to have to stop.
There was no way that I could have told her the truth, though. I wanted to – I desperately did. We’d shared so much in three and a half years that keeping a secret from her now was literal torture.
I would have told her, too, if it had been anyone in the world other than Professor Will Marks. If news got out that he, a professor, was involved with me, a student ... well, I knew it would mean more than just the end of his career. That was the kind of scandal that would follow him for the rest of his life, and I cared for him far too much to want to put him in danger like that.
Which was ridiculous: we barely knew each other.
I didn’t want to think about the word love, even though that was what I felt in my heart.
What a mess.
“Anyway, I think we should keep going after this,”
Petra said. She had just returned from the buffet with a platter of sushi. “Like, let’s maybe find a bar or something – I bet we could find a ladies’ night special somewhere if you’re worried about money. Or just let me pay for you,” she continued. “But I’m having so much fun with you, I can’t remember the last time we did this.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. I felt bloated and fatter than usual from the four plates of fried Chinese-American food I’d consumed in a short amount of time, and I wanted nothing more than to go home and lie in bed.
And think about the emails that I’d exchanged with Professor Marks. A hot thrill ran through my body when I remembered that he’d reached out first.
That he wanted to make sure I was okay.
Was it possible that he really cared about me?
Another rush of emotion came at me, flooding my senses, and I knew that I had to find out.
Or at least, I had to be by myself for a while until I could figure this out on my own.
“I’m not feeling well,” I said suddenly. Petra’s head snapped up and she looked at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I just need to go for a walk,” I said. “You don’t mind, do you?”
I could tell by Petra’s face that she did mind – very much – but after a moment, she shook her head.
“No,” she said. “You’re fine.”
“I’ll see you at home,” I said. “I really hope you feel better soon.”
“General Tso always helps,” Petra said. She waved her chopsticks at me and I left her there, sitting in the middle of Golden Wok, surrounded by food.
I didn’t feel great about what I was doing, but being in that hot, stuffy, cramped little Chinese restaurant had been driving me crazy and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to relax until I was out in the cold, night air. The winter chill refreshed me and I stuck my hands in my pockets as I walked away from the bright lights of the shopping center.
I walked down the street, in the opposite direction from Oakbrook and my apartment, until I was meandering along the nicer houses, the ones where all of the professors lived. Every five minutes or so, I’d stop and check my phone, hoping for another email from my professor.
But there was nothing, and I kept walking. I walked past the picturesque park in the middle of the city, the park with a large carillon bell tower and bronze sculptures of the city’s founding fathers.
The cold was starting to get to me, and I realized that I’d practically walked across the entire city. As I looked down at my phone, wondering how much it would cost to Uber back to my apartment, I looked up and saw a familiar car in the driveway right in front of me.
A familiar car, with familiar bumper stickers.
“Oh my god,” I breathed.
It’s a sign, I thought, even though in the past I’d been far too pragmatic to take things like this as signs. Taking a deep breath, I crossed the yard, approached the walkway, and knocked on the front door.
He answered almost immediately. When he saw me, shock registered on his face, and he put his hands on me and pulled me quickly inside. I reached out to hug him but he stepped back, breathing hard – I realized that he hadn’t wanted to touch me, only to get me off the porch so no one else would see.
“What are you doing here?” Professor Marks asked.
“I ... I don’t know,” I said, swallowing. My heart was beating like a drum and there were mere inches between us. He was wearing a pair of dark plaid pajama pants and a soft-looking black sweater and I could see the tuft of hair on his chest.
It was all driving me wild with desire, and I licked my lips.
“You don’t know?” Professor Marks asked in a low voice that sent a shiver down my spine. He stepped closer and I gasped again as he put his hands on my waist, pulled me close, and kissed me.
Instantly, I knew that this was happening – that this was finally, really, truly happening. I kissed him back eagerly, moaning softly into his mouth and wrapping my arms around his neck. He was so tall that I had to stretch up and stand on tiptoe, whimpering with pleasure as his hands pawed at me through my coat. He yanked it off and tossed it to the ground, then pulled me backward into his house without breaking the kiss. We moved closer and closer to the couch and fell backwards in a delicious tangle of limbs. My heart thudded in my chest and my skin felt hot and excited, just like it had that night in his car. Professor Marks broke the kiss and nudged my head up, kissing and biting at my neck with such passion that I cried out with desire.
Hot liquid pleasure flowed through my veins and arteries, filling my entire body with golden arousal. I felt like I was in a dream as I slid my hands under his black sweater and pawed at his skin, touching and caressing him. Professor Marks groaned with lust. He closed his eyes and arched his back, then put his hands on my waist and flipped me around so that he was on top of me. With one hand, he pushed my shirt up and unhooked my bra, pulling it away from my bare breasts. My nipples were stiff and tingling – both from the cold and the exciting lust flowing through me – and when he put his face to my nipples and bit and sucked, I gasped and moaned. It felt so good, better than anything I ever could have imagined, and I spread my legs and wrapped them around his waist. I could feel that he was rock-hard beneath his pajama bottoms and I flushed hotly – he felt so big!
I couldn’t imagine how deliciously obscene it would feel when he plunged his massive dick inside of me for the first time, how he’d make me scream and moan and writhe with insane delight.
I’d never been with a man before, and I couldn’t have been happier that the man I was finally with was as gorgeous and sexy and smart as Professor Marks.
“Oh my god,” I whimpered as his mouth moved lower and lower. I crossed my arms over my body and pulled my shirt over my head as Professor Marks fumbled with my leggings, pulling them down my round legs and tossing them to the side. My pussy was throbbing with anticipation and my panties were so wet that the cold fabric against my lips almost felt painful. Professor Marks dug his fingers into my thighs and spread my legs, dipping his face to my crotch and breathing in the scent of my pussy. I blushed hotly – no one had ever smelled me there before – but Professor Marks groaned and licked his lips.
“Baby, you smell so fucking good,” he growled before tearing my panties down my legs. I spread my thighs for him, wanting him to see me, all of me, and Professor Marks stared hungrily at my exposed clit.
“I want you,” I whimpered as I reached down and tangled my fingers in his hair. “I want you so fucking much,” I crooned in a breathy whisper. “Please, take me.”
Professor Marks got to his knees and we locked eyes. A shiver of lust ran down my spine as he took off his sweater, revealing a muscled, tight chest with just the right amount of dark brown hair. He didn’t tear his gaze from mine as he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pajama pants and pulled them down. When his magnificently huge, veiny cock popped free, I gasped. He was even bigger than I’d imagined and I moaned softly as he stroked himself with one hand, closing his eyes in obvious pleasure.
When he leaned in and steadied himself with a hand against my hip, I shivered.
“Are you sure you want this, Eden?” Professor Marks growled.
All I could do was nod. I was paralyzed with lust, paralyzed by how badly I wanted him to take my virginity. He plunged his cock deep inside of me and electric pleasure flared in every cell in my body. I felt so full, so tight, so consumed by him that it was almost impossible to breathe. When his body began to rock against mine, ecstasy flowed through my veins and I gasped as Professor Marks put a hand between our bodies and rubbed my clit in time to his thrusts.
I loved the way he was stretching me, taking me, making me his. I closed my eyes and arched up, whimpering and begging for a kiss. Professor Marks fucked me harder, spreading my legs and pounding deep inside of me, thrusting hard and burying his cock to the hilt. When his lips brushed mine, electricity crackled between us and I moaned as his fingers rubb
ed my clit harder and faster. He knew just how to touch me, just how to make me cry out and scream with delight. Our movements grew more intense and soon I was shuddering and gasping and bucking my body against his, eager to take every inch of his perfect, enormous erection.
“Fuck yeah, baby,” Professor Marks growled in my ear. He was panting and grunting, driving into me with greater force than ever before. Sweat dripped from his perfect, muscled body onto mine and I closed my eyes and moaned louder and louder as the sensations flowing through my body got stronger and stronger until I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Come for me, baby,” Professor Marks grunted. He nipped at my earlobe and swirled his tongue on my neck, only adding to the heavenly pleasure. His command made me shiver with want and just like that, a powerful orgasm, unlike anything I’d ever felt crested and broke over my head. Each wave was stronger than the last and I suddenly didn’t care about doing anything else again, I just wanted to fuck and fuck and fuck until I felt like this for the rest of my life. White-hot fireworks exploded in front of my eyes and I screamed and moaned his name, rubbing my body against his as my orgasm took ahold of me and refused to let go.
Professor Marks grunted and bucked, thrusting deep into me and screwing his eyes closed. He groaned loudly into my neck and I felt his body pulse and shake with his own orgasm as his cock gushed seed deep inside of my pussy.
“Fuck!” He cried loudly in a deep voice, reaching for my hands and tangling his fingers with mine as he came hard. It was so intense, so wonderful, that tears came to my eyes.
I didn’t want him to pull out – I didn’t ever want our bodies to stop touching. I loved the sensation of his warm, hard skin gliding against mine. I loved his hands running down my body, caressing and holding me. I loved the way that I felt in his arms: safe and protected and sexy and loved.
Forbidden First Times: A Contemporary Romance Collection Page 111
