“So, Ethics in Business,” Brian said with a smirk. “That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?”
Lauren gave him a death stare. Why did he think he was funny?
3
Riley turned the corner, her eyes flitting from the room numbers above the deep green doors to her watch as she narrowly missed colliding with another student. She was going to be late. She’d showed up to where she thought the Ethics in Business lecture was going to be, in a building on the far side of the campus. That’s what was on the initial PDF guide she’d downloaded weeks ago, but apparently there’d been an updated version sent out that she’d somehow missed. This class was one of three that had been moved.
One more glance at her watch told her she was officially late, and Riley hated being late. Her eyes finally landed on Room 124, and she nearly died when she peaked through the narrow window in the door. Lauren Harper was standing at the front of a room that reminded her of a typical high school classroom. That must have been why it was moved, because there were only twenty or thirty students, and they didn’t need the massive lecture hall.
Oh God. She’d have to interrupt the class. There was no sneaking in the back door and creeping into a seat in the very last row. Riley actually debated turning around and leaving, which was so unlike her, but before she could, the door swung open, and Ms. Harper’s steel-blue eyes locked onto hers.
“Are you taking Ethics in Business?” Ms. Harper asked, holding the door open, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Because if you are, you’ll get a lot more out of this class from this side of the door,” she said, sweeping her arm out to motion her inside. A few chuckles came from the other students as Riley entered without saying anything. Hopefully, her makeup was covering up the heat that had erupted across her cheeks.
Riley had every intention of finding a seat at the back, but there was only one available. Front and center. Riley sucked in a breath, knowing what that would mean. She’d be sitting right in front of Ms. Harper. There would be no hiding.
She took a seat as Ms. Harper spoke, but Riley couldn’t take in it. She should have double checked the room. Riley hated putting herself in situations like this, and why did it have to be this class? She bounced her knee under the table as she tried to get her shit together. It still would have been embarrassing, but why did she have to make a fool of herself in front of Ms. Harper?
Ms. Harper was writing down the key dates for the class on the whiteboard, and Riley knew she should take notes, but her eyes were focused on Ms. Harper’s backside instead. Riley never knew she had such a thing for pencil skirts, but the navy fabric perfectly highlighted her curves. Riley’s gaze dropped, moving to her toned legs. Riley finally tore her eyes away and took out her notebook just as Ms. Harper turned around again.
“And I can’t emphasize this enough,” Ms. Harper said, her heels clicking against the tile floor as she slowly paced the front of the classroom, her perfume drifting into Riley’s space as she walked by. “Please, do not call me Ms. Harper. You can call me Lauren. You’re not in high school anymore. We’re all adults here, and while I don’t want you to look at me as a peer, I’d still prefer that we all be on a first name basis.”
Riley nearly melted into her seat when Lauren’s eyes fell on her, but they were gone again as she made eye contact with another student, moving on to the topics they’d be covering this year and how the class would be graded. Riley wiped her sweaty palm against her jean clad thigh, watching the clock on the opposite wall ticking. She thought she’d love being in Lauren’s class, but Riley couldn’t move beyond her embarrassing entrance. She wouldn’t make the same mistake when she took Lauren’s Auditing class on Friday.
Riley unlocked her apartment door and left her leather messenger bag on the couch on her way into her modern black and white kitchen. She pulled open one of the refrigerator doors and found a chilled bottle of Chardonnay. She slid it out and poured herself a generous glass as she wandered around her apartment, noting all the things she’d have to do in the next three weeks.
Moving was never easy, but thankfully she didn’t have a lot of stuff. It was more about the change of lifestyle. Riley was giving up her spacious apartment beside the college to live in one of three bedrooms in Nicole’s apartment about fifteen minutes away. There’d be no more walking to class or coming home for lunch. She wouldn’t be able to come home for a quick shower and head back out to the library in the evenings. She could, but she’d be getting a bus both ways and it just didn’t make sense. There was a lot of wasted time there. Riley was going to have to plan out her days better when she moved in with Nicole.
Riley was thankful that she had Nicole’s place to go to. The rent was going to be so much more affordable, and she knew Nicole. There shouldn’t be any awkwardness there. Riley trusted that her friend Becca was normal. They’d never met, but this whole situation could have been a lot worse. Riley had to remember that. She also had to find the time to box up her things and meet with her current landlord to let him know that she wouldn’t be signing the lease for another year.
Riley had so many things to do, but all she wanted to do was sit down, put her feet up, drink this wine, and daydream about Lauren Harper.
4
Lauren sat on the wooden desk in the front of the empty classroom where her Auditing class would be starting in ten minutes, going through her notes even though this would be her sixth year teaching this class. She still liked to be prepared, to have the exam dates memorized.
This week had dragged on, but it was finally Friday afternoon. She was already thinking ahead to tonight when she’d go down to the casino like she did most Fridays and play poker. Brian’s words still lingered in her mind days later. Taylor Lloyd, the new lecturer in Brian’s department, would probably be there tonight too, and Lauren would assess that situation when she got there. She definitely wasn’t going out of her way to befriend this woman, but if she was cute, and they ended up sitting at the same table? She might strike up a conversation with this woman.
Speaking of cute. Lauren’s eyes landed on the blond-haired student coming through the door. Lauren couldn’t resist teasing her the other day when she caught this woman peeping in the window, but she almost regretted it when the woman’s shoulders had slumped ever so slightly, and her cheeks had flushed a rosy red.
“One extreme or the other with you,” Lauren said as she came in, causing her to flinch as if she hadn’t noticed Lauren sitting on the desk in the corner of the room.
“Jesus,” she muttered, her hand on her chest.
“No, I’m afraid not. Just me.”
Her cheeks darkened. “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure I got the room right today.”
Lauren nodded, crossing her legs at her ankles as she watched the woman head towards the back of the room. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you the other day. It wasn’t my intention.”
“No. It’s fine.” She hadn’t sat down yet, leaving her brown leather messenger on the desk and flipping it open. “I wouldn’t normally be late. It’s my own fault. I never double checked the lecture locations, and then I wasn’t sure where that room was... Anyway, it won’t happen again.”
Lauren nodded, trying to figure her out, still eyeing her as she tucked a lock of blond hair behind her ear. “What’s your name?”
“Riley. Shaw.”
Lauren held her gaze for a second, but another student came in, quickly followed by another, and then a stream of people were filing in. Lauren pushed herself off the desk, picking up a marker on her way over to the whiteboard and wrote her name and the basic information about the class down while all the students got settled in, but she was already thinking ahead to tonight when she could unwind and have a few drinks.
Lauren shielded her cards and turned them up at their corners, catching a glimpse of her cards. Finally, a hand she could play. She normally didn’t have any problems exercising her patience, but tonight, for some reason, she just wanted to play, and she’d been dealt one shit hand
after another. Most of the starting field had been knocked out. There were only four people at her table instead of nine, and Lauren’s stack of chips was dwindling. There was a break after this hand, and she’d love to still be here when they reshuffled the tables.
Lauren threw a few chips into the pot, and everyone else folded, giving her the pot. The dealer pushed the chips towards her, and she added them to her carefully organized stack, each denomination getting its own pile. She’d made it to the break, and she ordered another whiskey from a passing waiter as the tournament officials directed new players to their tables.
“Thanks,” she said to the waiter when he returned with a tumbler of amber colored liquor. Lauren never got drunk when she was playing. Not even close, but she did enjoy two, maybe three whiskeys while she played. She took a sip, nearly choking on her drink when Riley Shaw sat down on the opposite side of the table.
Lauren was used to seeing students here, but they were rarely any good, and for some reason, she never would have imagined this being Riley’s scene. Not that she knew her. Lauren didn’t know the first thing about her. Well, maybe that she blushed easily.
Lauren noted the sizable stack of chips that Riley was bringing with her to the table. Riley wouldn’t be one of the leaders, but she was definitely comfortable. More comfortable than Lauren was right now.
Riley sat down, her eyes surveying the other players, finally landing on her, and Lauren couldn’t miss the way her eyes widened. Lauren gave her a smile, trying to get a read on her, but it was impossible. Riley looked just like she did in class, nervous and on edge, but she must have some clue what she was doing, or she wouldn’t still be in the tournament. Unless she’d just gotten lucky. It still amazed Lauren how the cards fell sometimes, how complete beginners could stumble their way through a tournament.
The dealer was back, and the rest of the table filled up. Lauren would find out soon enough what kind of player she was, but unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to do any of the investigative work herself. With the small stack she had left, if she was going to play another hand, she’d have to push all her chips in. Not ideal, but she wasn’t going to let her stack fade to nothing. She’d make a move while she still had something to work with.
Neither Riley nor Lauren played any of the first six hands. Lauren used her thumb to flip up the corners of her cards for just a second. Two Queens. She had to do it. The players to her right folded, and it was Lauren’s turn. “All in.” The players to her left folded, and then it was Riley’s turn. She double checked her cards and nodded. “Call.” The remaining player folded, leaving it to the two of them and a showdown.
Lauren sat back as she flipped over her cards, semi-confident that she’d get through this. She’d gone all in with much worse hands than pocket Queens. Riley turned over her cards, revealing a pair of tens. Lauren liked her chances even more now. She was about an eighty percent favorite. She reached for her drink as the dealer laid down the next three cards. Lauren knew her odds of winning this hand had fallen as the dealer continued. Riley had a chance at a straight, and there it was. Lauren bit the inside of her cheek as the dealer swept up the cards and pushed the heap of chips towards Riley.
Lauren stood up, grabbed her drink and made her way over to the other side of the table to shake Riley’s hand. “Good luck,” Lauren said as Riley got up. Riley’s hand was soft and warm in her own.
“Unlucky,” Riley said before she dropped her hand.
Lauren went over to the bar, not quite ready to go home. She could see Riley’s table from here, and she was kind of curious to see how the rest of the tournament would go for her. Riley’s chances of winning that hand weren’t great, but she was still in it, and Lauren had to wonder if that was how she’d made it that far. Her luck would eventually run out if that was the case, but Lauren had played enough poker to know that beats like that were just part of the game.
Lauren rested her back against the wooden bar as she watched the next hand play out. There were only three full tables left out of the dozen or so they’d started with. She was aware of someone standing beside her, but Lauren’s eyes were glued to the table she’d just left. She really wanted to know if Riley was any good or not.
“Nothing like getting knocked out by one of your students,” a woman said beside her. Lauren turned, thinking she was talking to her, but the blond haired woman was chatting with the bartender.
“You too?” Lauren asked when the bartender had moved on and the woman was still standing beside her, a glass of white wine in her hand now. Lauren’s mind went blank as she tried to figure out where she knew this woman from, but then it hit her. Brian. This was the woman he’d told her about. The new professor. Taylor... Taylor Lloyd.
“Hmmm. Although, I mean, look around. Probably half of the field were students, so I shouldn’t feel so bad, but why did it have to be one of my own? What if he gloats on Monday?”
Lauren chuckled.
“One of your students knocked you out, too?”
Lauren nodded. “Yeah. She won’t be bragging about it on Monday, though. She’s too shy. I was actually surprised to see her here.”
“Well, I teach math, so I’m never surprised to see my students at a local poker tournament, although this is my first one here. I just moved to town.”
“I hope you’re settling in okay. You might know my brother, Brian Harper.”
“I do. He’s been so good, showing me around campus. He was the one who suggested that I come here tonight.” Taylor took a drink, her eyes darting towards the TV screen to their right that had the tournament leaderboard on it. “So, what’s your name?”
“Lauren.” They shook hands.
“Taylor.”
The photo Brian had shown her hadn’t really done this woman any justice. She had luscious blond hair that fell in waves across her shoulders. She was close enough to Lauren’s age. Maybe even a little younger. She was wearing dark jeans and a long sleeved white top. “So, what do you think of our college so far?”
“It’s overwhelming. I used to teach at a community college, so it was completely different. We knew everyone’s name. All the staff. Nearly every student, but I don’t think that’s going to happen here. I’m doing my best to keep all the names of the people in the math department straight in my head, never mind anyone else.”
“I know what you mean. This is my sixth year, and I still meet staff in the hallways that I’ve never seen before, but then again, I’m not one for making an effort. There was some mixer on tonight at the wine bar down the road, but this is my scene.”
“Mine too.” They shared a smile. “So, it’s perfectly okay for us to be here? Mixing with students?”
Lauren blew out a breath. “Yeah. I don’t see why not. I can see how it might look, but they’re here, legally gambling. We’re here.” She shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Well, that’s good to know. I still wish one of my students hadn’t knocked me out, though,” Taylor said with a lopsided smile.
Lauren sighed. “We’ll do better next week, if you’re planning on coming back that is.”
“Oh, I am. This is probably where you’ll find me on Friday nights from now on.”
“Same as that,” Lauren said. “Cheers.” They clinked their glasses together.
Lauren spent the next half hour talking to Taylor, finding out that she grew up about an hour away from here and that she’d just turned thirty-five. She was attractive and fun and they at least had poker in common, but there just wasn’t that spark. Taylor didn’t know she was gay. It hadn’t come up, but Taylor did mention her ex-wife, so Brian was right about that.
Lauren zoned out of their conversation for a few seconds when Riley walked by, making her way to the cashier’s window. Lauren glanced up at the leader board. Riley had finished in 19th place, making the money, although it probably wasn’t much more than the $50 buy-in.
“Is that her?” Taylor asked.
“Hmmm?”
&nbs
p; “The girl who knocked you out.”
“Oh. Yeah. I’m still trying to figure her out. Not sure if it was beginner’s luck or if she might actually have some skill.”
“I’m playing more aggressively next week,” Taylor said, taking a drink. “I’m going to use being a professor to my advantage. They might scare easy.”
“Yeah. They might.” Lauren found herself distracted once again by Riley as she left the room, the door swinging closed after her. “Hey, do you want to get a drink some night next week? Before Friday, I mean.”
Taylor hesitated for just a second. “Sure. Yeah.”
Lauren wasn’t exactly sure what she was offering Taylor. Yes, she was an attractive woman, but Lauren wasn’t instantly drawn to her. They could end up being friends, and for once, Lauren took Brian’s advice. She could be nice when she wanted to be.
5
Riley parked her black BMW as close as she could get to the entrance of Nicole’s building. She’d somehow fit everything she owned into one suitcase and the six boxes stacked up in the backseat of her car. She killed the engine and sat there for a minute. This would be one of the last trips she’d take in this car.
She’d gone over the numbers yesterday and came up with a budget. Having a car right now just didn’t make sense, not when she would be spending most of her time either at college or here at the apartment. Buses stopped right in front of this building every thirty minutes, and Riley was just going to have to get used to public transport.
This was also the final week of her lease, and now that her apartment was empty, Riley figured she’d just move in with Nicole and Becca now. Things were happening fast, and after being away from home for almost a month now, she gave up on hearing from her parents. Not that she really thought they’d change their minds, but she’d still hoped. And it wasn’t even about the money. She’d just thought they might come around, but she knew she was grasping at straws. She was officially on her own now.
Sweet Temptation Page 2
