Annie let out a soft cry of surprise as Jack lifted her up over the top of him and rolled them both over onto their other sides. Jack was still in approximately the same place in the bed, but facing the other direction. Annie was still in Jack's arms with her back to his chest, but now, she was lying on the far side of the bed on her other side, and Jack's other arm was underneath her.
"We slept like this for a while, until my right arm started to fall asleep, but you still wouldn't let me go, so I rolled us both back to our original positions." Jack flipped Annie up and back over to the other side again. "If we'd kept on sleeping longer, I probably would have had to make a few more rotations."
With that, Jack flipped Annie up, over, and back to the other side, and then quickly back again. She was shrieking softly with laughter, so Jack flipped her back and forth a couple more times. When he finally stopped and she turned back to look at him, he saw that she was flushed and breathless and her pupils were dilated so far, he could hardly see the green of her irises. The clear sign of her arousal was almost overpowering to him, and he bent his head close to hers, but at the last minute, instead of kissing her, he fought for self-control and merely pressed his face into her hair.
Jack closed his eyes tightly and summoned all of his willpower. He was a gentleman and he wouldn't take advantage of her this way, not to mention the fact that he had promised not to be inappropriate with her, if she stayed in his bed to get warmed up. He simply had to talk to her first and make sure that he had her permission before he kissed her. Maybe now was the perfect time.
"Annie…" he whispered softly into her hair.
Before he could get any further, Annie had hopped out of bed, pulling the quilt around her. "My clothes should be dry by now," she said breathlessly. She turned and hurried down the stairs before he had a chance to say anything more.
Jack plopped his head back down on the pillow and let out a low moan of frustration. "Ah, Annie, you're killing me here," he said with exasperation. "Come back, so we can talk!" He pounded his pillow once, but then took a deep breath and tried to look on the bright side. He had all day, or at least until the roads were clear, to find out if she would be willing to take their relationship to the next step.
* * *
When Annie got to the laundry room, she pulled the door tightly shut behind her and leaned against the warm humming dryer to catch her breath and pull herself together. She had almost made the worst mistake she could imagine. Of all the stupid things she had done and said while visiting Jack, this would have been worse than everything else put together.
She had thought Jack was going to kiss her! As if! What had she been thinking? Of course, Jack didn't think of her that way. When Jack had rolled her back and forth on his bed, she had been giggling wildly, and when he ducked his head and leaned toward her, she had mistakenly thought he was leaning in to kiss her. She had started to close her eyes and part her lips when, suddenly, she realized that Jack was merely resting his head against hers. She had jumped up and gotten out of there as fast as she could, before he could realize that she had foolishly thought he might kiss her.
She said a silent and very fervent prayer of thanks that she had caught her mistake in time and had not humiliated herself when, of course, he had no intention of doing anything remotely like kissing her. She took a deep breath and pulled her still-tumbling clothes out of the dryer. She relaxed slightly as she pulled the warm fabric over her skin and repeated her prayer of thanks that she had caught her mistake in time.
The sweater she had left on the drying rack was still damp, as was her bra where it was hanging behind the washer, so she left them both there to finish drying. She'd be warm enough in her long sleeve shirt even without the sweater, and one advantage of being so scrawny was that she could go without a bra with no problem.
By the time Annie emerged from the laundry room, Jack was in the kitchen with his head deep in the fridge. "What do you usually eat for breakfast, Annie?" his voice drifted back to her.
"Umm, I don't usually eat breakfast," Annie replied, trying not to look at the muscular butt that poked out of the refrigerator.
Jack stood up and turned around, giving Annie a mock stern glare. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Annie?"
Annie's breath caught. She knew, or at least she hoped, he was only teasing, but he was using the same tone of voice that he used when he scolded her during her spankings. It made her stomach clench in a not-entirely-unpleasant manner. The way he said her name when he scolded her, his voice deep and commanding, took her breath away.
But his stern look quickly turned to a smile as he continued, "How about an omelet? I bought a bunch of nice cheeses, in case you wanted a sandwich last night, and I thought the Jarlsberg might pair well with some broccoli in an omelet. What do you think?"
After breakfast, Jack announced that he was going to exercise and asked Annie if she wanted to join him on the equipment he had upstairs. Annie declined but asked if she could take a shower. Jack told her to go ahead, but she had to admit there were no towels in the guest bath. When Jack got her a towel from the linen closet, Annie asked if he had any extra soap, and Jack realized he had forgotten to give her the basic supplies a guest would need.
Jack sighed deeply. "Annie, I'm so sorry I haven't taken better care of you. There were so many things I did wrong last night, and all I wanted was to—"
"That's okay, Jack." Annie was a little surprised at how badly he seemed to feel. "You weren't expecting company, so of course, you didn't have things ready. You didn't do a bad job. In fact—"
What Annie wanted to say was that, in fact, she was happy with the way things turned out. She loved sleeping in his bed with him last night. It was well worth being a little cold, if it meant that she got to cuddle with him all night. Of course, she couldn't say anything of the sort.
"In fact, you did a great job adjusting to unexpected company, especially for a man. Most men—"
"Annie, are you being sexist?"
"No, I just meant, well, women are usually more…. I mean…" Annie tried to explain herself without resorting to gender stereotypes, but it was impossible because her whole argument was based on gender stereotypes. She could see that Jack was grinning at her attempt to extricate herself.
"Anyway, thanks for the towel and the soap," Annie finished lamely as she turned and hurried off to the shower.
After her shower, Annie was walking back to the stairs when she spied Jack through the half open door of the exercise room. He had his back to her, dressed in shorts and a tee shirt with the sleeves and collar ripped off, and he was pulling down on a bar connected to some weights on the exercise equipment.
Annie's whole body seemed to quiver at the site of his well-honed muscles rippling as he raised and lowered the bar. He always looked great, no matter what he was wearing, but now that she saw him wearing next to nothing, she realized just how desirable his body was. Her breath caught in her throat, and then a feeling of despair seemed to settle over her, much as it had last weekend when he had told her about the inheritance his grandparents had left him. How could she have fantasies about a man like that? A man like Jack would never have any interest in her, and she was just setting herself up for disappointment, if she let herself imagine anything else.
Annie had done a good job, for years, avoiding romantic disappointment. She knew guys weren't interested in her. For reasons she couldn't quite figure out, they didn't find her appealing, so she never let herself get fooled into thinking they might be attracted to her. But in the last few weeks, her barriers were starting to break down. Jack was so nice to her, and with all the time they had spent together recently, in fairly intimate contact, she had found herself starting to have impossible dreams.
But as she saw him there, glistening with sweat, his masculine magnificence was like a punch in the stomach to her. What a fool she was to imagine, for even a second, a man like that would have any interest in her. She sq
ueezed her eyes and fists tightly as she tried to banish all romantic notions from her head.
She turned to leave, and the movement caught his eye. "Hey, come on in. Don't just standing there peeking," he teased.
Still feeling the full force of the realization that she was a fool for not controlling her fantasies about him, Annie couldn't look at him as she stepped hesitantly into the room. "I-I wasn't peeking. I was just…"
"What do you like to do for exercise, Annie?" Jack could see that she was in one of her shy moods, so he attempted to draw her out by asking her about her interests.
Annie kept her eyes on the floor. "I don't really like to exercise."
"You don't eat breakfast and you don't exercise. What a naughty girl you are, Annie."
The phrase "naughty girl" caused Annie's heart to skip a beat. She raised her eyes to his and saw that he was grinning at her wickedly. It was as if he knew what effect that scolding tone of his had on her. Annie knew she was blushing and turned away.
"I'm going to go make the bed," she mumbled, but when she got to his room, she found he had already made it. Instead, she headed for the guest room and tidied up in there, taking as long as she could so she wouldn't be tempted to look in on him exercising again.
By the time she was finished, Jack was just coming out of his room, all showered and dressed. His hair was still damp and he was rubbing it with a towel.
Jack suggested they put in a little work time on the computer. He had to get his PowerPoint slides submitted for his award address in Copenhagen, and he wanted to get those out of the way so he could concentrate on talking to Annie about their relationship. He offered Annie the use of his laptop while he worked on the desktop in his study, and she was grateful for the chance to get some online studying done. Despite her good grades, she was always worried about falling behind.
Annie followed him to his study and waited by the door for him to bring her his laptop. He turned and looked at her, puzzled as to why she didn't follow him in.
"You have to use the laptop in here," he explained to her. "The wireless signal isn't very strong, and the walls in these old stone houses are thick. The signal barely carries as far as the hallway here."
"Oh…" Annie thought quickly. She didn't want to be in the study with him, where he had spanked her last week and last night. That room sent her anxiety levels through the roof, and she was afraid she might say something that would give away her secret desires. "I just remembered that I have some phone calls to make. I'll make them downstairs so I won't bother you."
Annie hurried down the stairs before Jack had a chance to reply. Actually, it would be nice to call her family and her friends and see how everyone had survived the storm, and talking to them would help her to feel better.
Her brother, Toby, was busy helping dig his girlfriend's car out of the snow, so they didn't talk long. Annie called her mother, next, and her mother put her grandmother on for a few minutes. Her grandmother was getting quite hard of hearing, and the cell phone reception was less than perfect so the conversation was a bit rocky, but it was good to hear her grandma's voice. While they were talking, her father came in from the barn, so she talked to him for a few minutes, too. Her father wasn't a big talker, especially on the phone, but he did tell her a little about how much snow had fallen on the farm. Annie tried to call Sonja next, but either Sonja wasn't up yet or was away from her phone, because there was no answer.
Annie turned her phone over in her hands, wondering whom to call next. She tried her sister-in-law, her brother Eric's wife. She only talked to Stacey a couple of times a month, but it was always good to hear how her nephews were doing. Stacey was busy getting the boys dressed so she could take them to the grocery store, however, so they only talked a few minutes.
Sam had trotted in and cuddled up close to her while she sat on the floor in the living room making calls, so when Annie hung up, she started playing with him. He had brought one of his chew toys in with him, and he and Annie were engaging in a rousing game of fetch by the time Jack came down looking for her.
"Hey, Jack, can we take Sammy for a walk? He seemed to love the snow last night."
"Sure. There's an off-leash area at the park, and we can walk there. He loves that." Jack had been thinking about just how to tell Annie how he felt about her, but Annie looked so excited about taking Sam for a walk that he was happy to do it with her. They had all day to talk, and if she were in a good mood from the walk, that could only help.
Chapter 17
Sam had a great time playing with the other dogs, and on their way back through the park, Jack and Annie stopped to watch the kids and families sledding down the hills near the creek. There was a father there with his young son, a boy of about three or four. After one of their rides down the hill, the father loaded the boy up on the sled and started pulling him back up the hill, when, all of a sudden, the boy started crying loudly.
Annie ran over to see if she could help. "What's the matter? What's wrong?" the father asked as he checked the boy over as well as he could through his snowsuit, to see if he might be hurt.
"I have to go weewee!" the boy wailed with dismay. "I waited too long and now I have to go weally weally bad!"
The adults were all relieved the boy wasn't hurt, and Jack could hardly keep from laughing at the boy's obvious reluctance to leave the fun long enough to take care of the necessities.
"Would you two mind watching our sled while I take him to the rest room?" the man asked. "You're welcome to take few rides while we're gone, if you like."
Jack and Annie got almost a dozen rides in before the man and his son got back from the rest room. Annie loved the feeling of riding in the sled with Jack. He sat behind her, with Annie almost sitting in his lap and leaning back against him. His long legs surrounded her on both sides, and, on some of the rides, Sammy sat in the front, on Annie's lap. They were all three covered with snow by the time they left the park.
On the walk home, both Jack and Annie noticed that the neighbor had finally plowed his driveway but neither of them mentioned it. When they got in, Jack gave Annie the tee shirt she had worn last night so she could put her wet snowy jeans back in the dryer. Her own shirt was only wet on the sleeves and her sweater was almost dry, but neither of them were long enough to cover her, so she needed something to wear while her jeans dried.
Annie's jeans had soaked through so that even her panties were damp with melted snow, but she didn't want to make the mistake she had made last night and run around in Jack's shirt with nothing on underneath. She put her damp panties in the dryer all by themselves and waited in the laundry room for the few minutes it took them to dry.
While she was waiting, she noticed a basket of dress shirts that were waiting to go back to the dry cleaner for washing and pressing. The shirt Jack had worn to school on Friday was there on top, and Annie pulled it out. It had long sleeves and was made of a heavier fabric than the light tee shirt he had given her. She wondered if he would mind if she slipped into that, instead of the tee.
"Jack?" Annie called though the closed laundry room door to him in the kitchen. "Would it be okay with you if I wore this long sleeve shirt of yours that's here? I think it'll be warmer than the tee shirt, if you don't mind."
"Of course, Annie, help yourself to anything you find." Jack tried to remember what might be in the laundry room. "But wait, those might be dirty. Let me get you a clean one."
"No, no, it's fine. I've already got this one on." Annie pulled her warm panties from the dryer and put them on then stuffed her wet jeans and shirt in to dry.
* * *
Jack was prepared to argue more, to insist that Annie could have one of his clean shirts and didn't have to make do with one that he had already worn, but when she emerged from the laundry room, the words died in his throat.
Annie stood there in his white dress shirt, the sleeves rolled up enough so that her hands poked out and the tails of the shirt coming down almost to her knees. He had thought she looke
d irresistible last night in his dark blue tee shirt, but seeing her red hair and her pale skin against the tailored white shirt almost overwhelmed his self-control.
When Annie saw the way Jack was looking at her, she was sure he must be angry with her for helping herself to his shirt. "Sorry," she muttered self-consciously. "I-I'll go take it off."
"No!" Jack replied a bit too loudly. He caught himself and repeated more gently, "No, it's fine." He turned back to the counter to give himself a moment to regain his composure. He told himself that if she agreed to have a relationship with him, he would ask her to wear exactly what she was wearing now, every time they were alone together.
Jack had promised himself that he would let Annie know how he felt about her during lunch, and he had just gotten the conversation started, when his phone chirped, alerting him that a text message had arrived. "Shi…I mean, shoot." He caught himself at the last minute after reading the text. "There were some formatting problems with the PowerPoint slides I sent, and I have to reformat them and send them again."
"Do you need help?" asked Annie, finishing her sandwich quickly.
"No, but come with me and then we can talk as soon as I finish. It should only take five minutes or less to revise the slides. No, leave the dishes, we can clean up later," he added as Annie started to clear the table. "They need the revised slides right away."
* * *
Annie's heart started beating wildly when he took her hand and led her up the stairs. The only other times she could think of that he had ever taken her by the hand before was when he was about to spank her.
Now, he had her by the hand and he was leading her to his study again! What could he want to talk about with her? Was he still mad that she had worn his good shirt? What was he going to do to her? Why was he taking her to his study?
Submitting To Her Professor Page 17
