by Rose, Renee
“I’ve got your back, Luce,” he murmured as they approached the department conference room.
“You’ve got my backside,” she said under her breath, making him chuckle.
No, she didn’t need coddling, after all. He should not underestimate her intelligence or spirit.
Wallace and Fedderson, the other two faculty members had already arrived, and the three men sat talking in loud voices, hardly glancing up when they arrived. He watched Lucy settle awkwardly into her chair and reached for her leg with his own under the table. She smiled faintly.
They waited for Snelling to take the lead, as he always did. He knew from years of experience that trying to direct things himself only made him the target of the older man’s venom.
“How is your research presentation going, Todd?” Snelling asked. “It’s due next week, isn’t it?”
“Yes, did you want to see a copy before I submit?” he asked politely. Department politics made him crazy—it was one of the reasons he had sent out a few letters of inquiry to other universities over the summer. He was tired of playing up to Snelling, having Snelling’s name appear on all his research, even though the man never set foot in his lab.
“Certainly,” Snelling said imperiously. “When can you get it to me?”
He grit his teeth. “Probably not until Friday.”
“Cutting it close, as usual, eh?” he said with a false jollyness. “Well, I’ll do my best to read it over the weekend, then.”
Snelling probably wanted Todd to thank him, but he didn’t.
“Well, I suppose we should get to the business at hand,” Snelling said at last, opening his laptop. “You all received the latest copy of Lucy’s proposal?”
They all assented. Lucy opened her mouth, then closed it, darting a glance at him. She dropped her hands to her lap and folded them. She wore a pleasant, but professional look on it and she said nothing at all.
Snelling cleared his throat. “Yes, well it is an improvement from the last train-wreck of a paper.”
“Much clearer,” Wallace said.
Still Lucy said nothing, her face a mask of serenity and polite expectation.
“The original proposal showed unique thought, and this one better outlines how your hypothesis might be proven,” he said.
“If it can be proven,” Snelling sneered.
“Even if it cannot, it moves the state of the art forward. This is valuable research,” he asserted. He knew he walked a dangerous line defending Lucy. If Snelling got wind of their relationship, it could cause him a major professional setback. And yet he could not sit back and agree with Snelling, especially not when he had forbidden Lucy to get upset in front of the man. “I have a specific question, Lucy,” he said in an attempt to redirect the conversation.
Her eyes widened and her look of trepidation pained him. Did she think he would challenge her here? He looked down at the print-out of her proposal. “On page five you mention protein extraction, but you did not say to what end, could you please elaborate?”
She met his eye and he saw understanding there. He had asked her the same question that day when they had lunch, and she had answered it adroitly. He expected her to do the same thing now.
She sat up straight and answered him in a perfectly business-like manner, explaining the procedure and purpose of the protein extraction in her study. The men at the table nodded at her explanation as she finished. She turned to him, “Do you think I need to add this to the proposal?”
“It would clarify things, but I think it reads okay without it, as well. Thank you for explaining it,” he said, resisting his desire to wink.
The meeting went on, with the other men nitpicking word choice and the order of her studies, but eventually, they could come up with no further criticism.
“Well, Lucy, I think you have yourself a proposal,” Fedderson said.
“I agree,” he said.
“Yes, well done, Lucy,” Wallace said.
Snelling said nothing, but closed his laptop with a snap and stood up.
The rest of them stood and Lucy picked up her things. “Thank you, all,” she said, still in her performance mode. She left and he let her walk ahead, hanging back to say a few meaningless things to Fedderson.
He found her back in his office, sitting opposite his desk. He shut the door and locked it. “You were fabulous, my dear,” he said.
She stood and lunged into his arms, laughing. “I just kept picturing Snelling with his limp dick in his hand,” she said.
He laughed. “I’ve had to picture it myself, I’m sorry to say.”
“Yeah, what was that bullshit about showing him your research proposal before you turn it in?”
He nodded. “His name goes on all my research.”
“What? That’s not fair. He never sets foot in your lab.”
He shrugged. “He brought me on here to help feather his nest of achievements You know how it works.”
“Gah. He doesn’t deserve it.”
He considered telling her he had been searching for a new position, but the moment was not right.
He reached around and pressed the plug deeper inside her. “How did you like your reminder?”
She blushed. “It was terrible,” she pouted, though she looked far more excited than put out.
Todd turned her around and placed her hands on his desk, reaching in front to unbutton her pants. He somehow pulled them and her panties both down without dislodging the plug. He diddled it again, moving it side to side and in little circles, making her squirm at the sensation it caused inside.
As he continued to play with the plug, his fingers rubbed her swollen sex, which had been literally aching for his touch.
She moaned wantonly. She wanted release desperately. She wanted the plug out, or his cock in or something to relieve the pent up frustration.
He slid one finger inside her, then two, pushing them up to the knuckle. She bit her cheek to keep from crying out. Her muscles squeezed his fingers and her feet danced on the floor as she neared orgasm.
A tap came on the door.
She gasped.
Todd withdrew both his fingers and the plug in one swift motion.
She yanked her pants up and buttoned them while he dropped the plug into a plastic bag and threw it behind his desk.
“Go,” he mouthed when she looked at him with panic.
She rushed to the door, unlocked it and pushed past the undergraduate who stood in the doorway.
“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you, I was just wondering…”
She left before she could hear the rest, seeing Ryan staring as she walked out. Her heart pounded from the startle and her pussy still pulsed with need. She exited the building and took a swift power walk around campus to alleviate the pent up tension.
That had been close. They really shouldn’t play around in his office. But she smiled at the memory, thrilled at what he had done to her that day. She stayed around for a few hours, hoping the lab would be empty by the time she got back. Unfortunately, Ryan was still at his work station.
She checked the cell culture count and added more growth media.
“So, is something going on between you and Daniels?” Ryan asked behind her.
She whirled around. “No. Why? What do you mean?”
He gave her a withering look. “Come on, Lucy, do you think I’m blind? You’re always going in there with the door shut and the blinds drawn, talking about your “proposal”,” he said using his fingers to make quote marks. “Daniels never asked me in for private consults about my thesis.”
“Ryan,” she began and then stopped.
He looked at her expectantly.
“I couldn’t really say if there was, do you know what I mean?”
He nodded, looking grim. “So that’s a yes?”
She nibbled her lip.
A nasty sneer came onto his face. “So, what? Did you fuck Snelling too?”
She stared at him, sensing the blood drain from h
er face. All the tension of the day, no, every frustration she’d had since she entered the department over two years ago surfaced. The underlying discrimination, the attempts to freeze her out, even the harmless objectification in calling her the Sexy Scientist surfaced. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she snarled. “You think the only way I can get a Ph.D. is to sleep with my professors? I’m not smart enough? Or too emotional for rational deduction?”
“No, Lucy,” he said, looking alarmed by her raised voice, but she continued.
“You can’t stand that I’m the lead assistant in this lab, can you? You think I had to sleep my way into it? You don’t think I have just as much of a right to be here as you?
“I aced my comps, I’ll have you know,” she ranted. “I graduated Magna Cum Laude from undergrad and I had a nearly perfect score on the GRE subject test. Just because I have two ovaries and—”
“It’s not that,” Ryan interrupted, his own voice raised. “I’m sorry, that was really offensive. I didn’t mean it.”
Todd walked out of his office at the sound of their raised voices. “What’s going on?” he asked sharply.
She lifted her chin and glared at Ryan, not ready to let it go.
He spoke in a low voice so Todd couldn’t hear. “I had just hoped to ask you out, that’s all. I’m jealous. Sorry.”
She gaped at him as Todd arrived at her side.
“What’s going on?” he repeated.
“Nothing,” she muttered. “Ryan just pissed me off, but it’s okay.”
“No hard feelings?” Ryan asked, ignoring Todd and looking at her.
She shrugged. “No.”
Ryan picked up his bag. “See you tomorrow,” he muttered, without looking at either one of them.
She pitied him, because he must know she would tell Todd everything, making it awkward for all three of them to work together. She hoped that was the worst of it. If he decided to tell people their secret, trouble could just be beginning.
“What happened?” Todd asked.
“He knows,” she said. “He suggested I slept with Snelling, too, and I lost it. I guess I said everything to him that I’ve wanted to say to Snelling.”
Todd looked murderous.
She leaned against him. “It’s all right. He apologized and said he was just jealous. Do you think he’ll tell everyone?”
He rubbed his face and looked to the ceiling. When he lowered his gaze back to her, he looked determined. “I don’t care. They’re not going to fire me. Not before I finish out this grant project. And frankly, I wouldn’t care if the whole world found out.” He circled an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Professor Daniels and the Sexy Scientist. It has a nice ring to it.”
She smiled and relaxed against him.
“But right now, I’m afraid I have to spank you.”
She tried to pull away, but he didn’t allow it, leading her toward his office with his arm around her waist. “Why? For losing control of my emotions? I’m sorry.”
“No. Ryan’s lucky I didn’t hear what he said, or I would have thrown him out. We can work on your emotional outbursts in the future. Right now I have something else on my mind. Come into my office, little girl,” he said. He took her around to his side of the desk, where he sat, and patted his lap. “Panties down.”
She gave up all pretense of resistance and pulled down her pants, diving over his lap.
“Now, Miss Larson,” he began, opening his desk drawer. “I’m going to have to punish you for leaving me blue-balled all afternoon.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” she protested.
She felt the tap of something cool and smooth. She craned her neck around to see he had a ruler in his hand.
“The fault is subject to interpretation,” he said and she giggled. “It was thoughts of your juicy little ass bent over my desk that had me on edge, so I’ve decided you are to blame. Besides, I’ve always wanted to turn a student over my lap and spank her with my ruler,” he said, bringing the ruler down on her upturned ass.
“Ow,” she said, even though it hadn’t hurt that much. “What do you mean, a student?” she demanded.
He chuckled and slapped her with the ruler again. “I meant you, of course. Only you.” He picked up speed and began to spank her insistently, causing her to jerk and squirm, the sting as satisfying as it was painful. Just when it began to cross the line into discomfort, he stopped and rubbed her blazing cheeks with his hand.
She sighed with bliss.
“Stand up,” Todd said, helping her to her feet. “I can’t stand it any longer.” He unbuckled his belt and opened his jeans, allowing his hardened cock to spring free. Slipping a condom out of his wallet, he sheathed it. “Sit on my cock,” he said.
She moved to straddle him, but he gripped her hips and turned her around.
“Reverse cowgirl,” he said, easing her down over his shaft. “I like to see your perfect ass when we do it.”
She smiled and arched her back to give him a better view, lifting and lowering herself over him with his hands at her waist to assist. Her hair fell down in her face, her thighs began to burn and something about the position made her feel used in the best possible way.
“I’m not going to last long,” Todd gasped. “You feel so good.” He groaned and pulled her in, holding her against him as he bucked beneath her.
She had not come, but she didn’t mind, his pleasure just as satisfying as her own. He pulled her immediately off, bent her over the desk so her ass was in front of his face and began to spank her hard with his palm. She closed her eyes, welcoming the sensation. By the time he reached the seventh slap, she orgasmed, clutching her fingers in her own pussy as her muscles lifted and spasmed.
“Oh God,” she panted. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” he asked, stroking her heated cheeks.
“Always know what I need?”
He pulled her down to sit on his lap. “It’s my job, sweetheart.”
Lucy spent the next day researching adoption records. She discovered two different agencies where biological parents and adopted children could register to find each other—one a Catholic organization and one Mormon. Needing more information to enter, she stepped into Todd’s office.
He looked up and smiled.
It was not a seductive look, nor the predatory one that made her toes curl. It was merely his warm regard, what appeared to be a genuine happiness to see her.
She tingled in response. She could never get her fill of his attention, in any form. She was falling hard for this man and she prayed he felt the same way or she would be in for a serious heartbreak.
“Hi,” she said, struck shy by the enormity of her feelings for him.
He continued to smile. “How are you?”
“I’m well. Listen, I know you don’t want me to get your hopes up or anything, but I just need a little more information to plug in to find your, um—” she hesitated, wondering how to phrase it.
“My child?” he finished for her. His smile had faded, but the warmth was still there. “Thanks for doing this, Lucy,” he said, looking serious.
“Sure,” she said, losing her breath at the way he looked at her.
“Okay, what do you need to know?” he prompted.
She gave herself a mental shake and looked down at her notebook. “The mother’s full name is Jennifer Reed?”
“Yes.”
“Date of birth of the child?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea. It would have been…” He looked up at the ceiling. “June 1994.”
“Place of birth is Columbus, Ohio?”
“Yes.”
“Great,” she said, beaming at him. “Thanks,” she said turning toward the door.
“Lucy.”
She turned around and found his look had turned wolfish, sending a shiver up her spine.
“Yes?” She smiled.
“I still haven’t finished punishing you for your lab antics that first week.”
; That first week. She liked that he called it that. She considered it their first week as well. If they set an anniversary date for when they started dating, she would probably start it with the caning over his desk, but really the flirtation had begun the moment they saw each other at the spanking party.
“Oh yeah?” she said, daring him to follow through with her smirk.
He gave her a wicked grin. “Did you bring in your yoga clothes today?”
She giggled, a trill of fear and excitement zipping through her. “Yes, professor.”
“What time is yoga?”
“Five-thirty.”
“I’ll see you in here at four fifteen,” he said, looking stern. “Bring the clothes, since you like to use my office as your changing room.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, smiling like a fool as she walked out.
She spent the next two hours entering all the information into the two matching agencies, and attempting some google-stalking of her own on the internet. She did not find anything immediately, but held out hope that the agencies would produce a match. Otherwise, it seemed some people resorted to hiring private investigators. She didn’t know how much such a thing would cost and she didn’t have a savings, but she would gladly put it on a credit card for Todd. She would do anything for him, and this seemed like something really important.
She watched the clock, willing the other students hanging around to leave by four, but they didn’t. At four fifteen she picked up her bag and walked into his office.
“All right, young lady,” he said, standing up. “You think my office is a good place to change your clothes?”
“Yes, sir?” she answered, not sure if the question had been rhetorical.
He cocked an eyebrow. “You do?”
“No, sir! I meant, no, sir.”
His mouth twitched. “I’m going to wait outside, like I did that day, while you strip naked and stand in the corner.”
Her eyes darted toward the windows, even though the blinds were closed. She could hear the voices of people talking in the lab.
“The door will remain unlocked, so I can get in to check on your obedience.”
Her stomach dropped to her shoes. “Todd…” she pleaded.
