Sucker for the Boss

by Blue Sky Books

  She settled on the corner seat of third row, away from the center, shielded from spotlight. Luke was already interacting with the other girls and guys around. Sofia could tell he was a social bee; unlike her. She pulled out the small sketchbook from her bag and began to doodle an abstract. All of sudden the chattering and noises vanished and it was pin drop silence around her.

  She looked up from her sketchbook and found a tall figure standing in front of the class. His back was towards them and his hands were moving swiftly as he wrote something on the white board. Sofia noticed he had a good height of over six feet. His broad shoulders flexed under dark navy jacket he was wearing. She couldn’t make out the shade of his hair from afar. They were a mix of multiple shades of brown. She bent down to take out her notebook when she first heard his voice.

  “My name is Raphael Giovanni and you’ll be with me for English Prose. In the coming class, I want your views on the mentioned books which I expect you have already read, considering the reason you all are here sitting in my class.”

  His voice was deep and commanding with a pitch that wasn’t loud but still could be heard to the end of the room with equal intensity. Sofia when raised her eyes, she stilled at the sight before her. She felt as if all air had been pulled out of her young lungs. Professor Giovanni was handsome to the height that it should be illegal. His face was perfectly cut with a strong jaw and well-proportioned nose. His eyes were a shade of emerald and onyx mix together. The flawless white skin on his forehead was slightly squeezed and a couple of strands from his brown hair had managed to escape down from the rest of the brushed back hairstyle. His lips were aligned into a straight line, giving no hint of what was going on inside his head. That only complemented his looks. His tailor-made suit gave away his well-built physique. Raphael Giovanni was trimmed to perfection.

  What spiced up his overall gentleman look was a small piercing in his left ear. Sofia gasped. She felt her own ears turning red as she took her professor in. The blood inside her veins began to pump excitedly. A fire ignited inside her. “Ms. Hawthorn?” His voice rang like a bass note into her ears. She stared at him dumbfounded. Why was he calling her? “Ms. Hawthorn?” he repeated and that’s when she realized that he was marking the attendance. “Yes,” a croaked whisper came out. She cleared her throat and answered again, “Yes, that’s me.” He looked up at her, his eyes collided with hers. “Glad you woke up.” She blushed at his comment. A few snickers rose from back but died down quickly when Raphael threw a sharp look. Holy wet panties, was the man intense? For the first time since leaving her home, Sofia felt things were finally starting to change. She was having the hots for her Professor – a very devilishly handsome Professor.

  *****

  Raphael handed over the course outline to the students as they passed through his desk after class. “Thank you, Professor Giovanni.” A tall blonde whose name he remembered as Jane Bennett, took the handout from his hand and brushed herself along his bicep. He stiffened at the movement and glared at her. She giggled and walked away. Moments later he could hear her talking to other girls. “Damn, he is so hot.” This wasn’t news to Raphael.

  He was well aware of his looks and for years he’d used this knowledge to his fullest for a lot of things. But now, at age of thirty four, he was done with the women who just wanted him for his face. He longed for something deeper now, something that was real. Just like his brother, Nathaniel had with Jessica. Having thought of them, he had to do something about the engagement party coming up a couple of weeks later. He had to find himself a decent convincing date for the event that’ll make his relentless mother think that he wasn’t playing around anymore.

  He brushed the self-pitying thoughts away and focused back on the work at hand. The hall was now almost empty except for a few students standing at the door. He looked up just in time to see Sofia Hawthorn tripping on the last step of stairs. He advanced towards her in one quick leap and caught her before she could hit the podium. Her stuff flew in all directions as she grabbed him by shoulders. Her almond shaped eyes widened as their gaze met and his own heart skipped a beat.

  Raphael took a moment to study her. She had a heart shaped face with arched brows and a slightly pointed nose. Her light blue eyes were like a mystery with her rich brown skin tone, surrounded by the mass of thick dark hair. Her lips were just the right size and slightly open. There wasn’t a hint of makeup on her face, yet she looked beautiful, in her own way.

  The noises from the corridor brought him back to his senses and he immediately straightened her and stepped back. “I am so sorry, Mr. Giovanni … uh, and thanks as well, for saving me. I don’t know where I was walking. I am such a klutz,” Sofia was mumbling. He saw the color rising on her cheek and something stirred inside him. A reaction that was first of its kind to spark inside him. He didn’t comment, just gave her a nod and turned to his desk to get a handout for her.

  “The course outline.” He extended the hand out in her direction without looking at her. “Thank you, Mr. Giovanni.” Her fingers brushed slightly with his and a jolt of current ran in his veins. God, what was wrong with him? Sofia made her way towards the door, only then he turned to look at her and immediately regretted. The way her narrow hips were swaying in those skin fitted jeans, made his manhood jerk into attention more than it already was. She had a good height and her legs went forever. Her dressing was nothing outrageous, a purple checked shirt with blue jeans and converse. Yet her appearance had managed to throw him off the guard. She is a student! He reminded himself.

  All reminders were flushed out of his mind when he saw her again in the next class. She intrigued him. She wasn’t like the other girls. She was quiet, aloof and unaware of the attention that she held around her. Probably she didn’t even know what looks she was receiving by the guys standing next to her. She was oblivious to everything and that was what captured his interest. And a few parts of his anatomy were more interested than others. Her piercing blue eyes twisted something inside him and he longed to get her back into his arms, make her grip him again and bring her to the heights of ecstasy. Cool down, Giovanni. Look where you are heading. He dismissed the thoughts and ended the class early.

  The buzz of phone distracted him. He pulled out to see incoming call from Logan Malfoy, his best friend and New York Times’ bestselling author. “I see you are alive, Malfoy.” Smile tugged onto his lips immediately. “Yeah, yeah, I know some friends say I am. But will this be justification enough that I have a book launch this weekend?” Logan’s revelation filled Raphael’s chest with pride. “Seriously, man?” “As serious as heart attack.” “About time, Malfoy.”

  “I called to invite you to the festival. I have a launch the same day. Will you be able to make it?” Los Angles this weekend? He thought for a second. Maybe that was the best way to get his perspectives straight about the fraternizing thoughts he was sporting earlier. He attended the festival almost every year anyway and given that it was Logan’s book launch which he was looking forward for such a long time, then why not? “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

  *****

  Sofia tried to concentrate on Mr. Gatsby’s mysterious personality and all she could think of was Mr. Giovanni’s looks. She was unable to take him out of her mind. The feel of his arms around her, his intense eyes boring into hers and the way he had looked at her, she just couldn’t shrug that image. It was like he had seen through every barrier that she had placed before her. That scared the shit out of her, but excited her at an entirely new level too. She had to remind herself again and again that he was her professor and she was forbidden to even think about him.

  She shook her head and focused on the book that she’d read countless times before already. “Sofia!” Luke’s voice hit her ears and she turned back to look at him. He was with two other girls she remembered from World Politics, another course that she shared with Luke. “We are leaving for movies and then club. Are you coming?” Movie she could do, but clubbing? She wasn’t so sure about it. She didn’t
like alcohol. Though she did have her fake ID, being around new people and getting wasted didn’t settle well. So she politely declined Luke. He whined about her being a spoilsport. The other two girls appeared like they didn’t give a rat’s ass about her joining them.

  She walked back to her dorm and sprawled on the bunker. Her roommates were already gone for whatever plans they had for the first weekend of the first semester. She was in no warm terms with them that they’d ask her to join them. In fact she wasn’t at talking terms with anyone on the campus, except for Luke. All the things that happened back home made her uncertain about every relationship.

  Michael had made her doubt that she was unable to keep a relationship. He had made her think that she was selfish and always thought about herself first. His words still echoed in her ears. I can’t imagine I wasted such a long time with you, Sofia. When I was thinking about us, you were making your own plans and dreaming about only yourself. What was your intention? You just wanted to pass your time with me and then move on. You wanted to give everybody an impression of how easily you can pick me up, use me and then leave me behind. You know what, Sofia? I won’t give you that satisfaction. I won’t let you have your way. I dump you, right now. Go wherever you want to go. I am done.

  Saying that, he left her humiliated in front of almost the entire high school where she had known everybody all her life. In that moment, she had gone from sweet, nice Sofia to bitchy and selfish Sofia who had broken Michael’s heart. Very dramatic, but she had refused to go after him and explain herself. She had kept her dignity and parted ways from him and every other person who once was her friend. Her family hadn’t been much different from Michael. Their reaction was more or less the same. “You seriously aren’t thinking of accepting this, Sofia, are you?” her father had looked at her acceptance letter and asked. “I want to avail the opportunity,” she had told him. In return, he had given her a cold disapproval and told her that no support would be provided to her financially if she pursued this. She hadn’t needed any financial support because she already had received a full scholarship. So she didn’t wait for someone else to tell what she should do, she had gotten into her old sedan and drove all the way from Ontario, California to Berkeley.

  She picked up her phone and logged into her Twitter account. The first post on her newsfeed caught her interest. It was about the two day Literature Festival in Los Angeles, starting next day. She had always attended these festivals when she was back in Ontario. And twice she had gone with Michael. Desolation tried to take over her again but she quickly pushed it back and tried to think of something else. To her utter surprise, what came to her were those emerald-onyx shaded, intense eyes that belonged to her hot-beyond-description Professor, Raphael Giovanni.

  Sofia groaned in frustration. There was no way she was able to put away both the thoughts that were detrimental to her sanity. After a shitty first week at the college, haunting thoughts of her ex-boyfriend and her encounter with the English Professor, going away from the campus for the weekend might be a good idea. She decided to leave for L.A. early the next morning.

  *****

  “Fresh from Monaco, performing for Microsoft, Miami to LA, G-4, we’re takin’ off,” Sofia sang along Pitbull and Chris Brown. As she raced her old Toyota sedan on Interstate-5 at eight in the morning. She was really looking forward to attending the event and the best part was that her favorite writer, Logan Malfoy was launching his newest book too. So her decision of travelling all the way down to L.A. was definitely going to be worth it.

  She was more than halfway through when her car started to make strange noises. She didn’t give much attention to it. Accustomed to such sounds, she kept driving until the engine suddenly halted after a couple of jerks and then died in the middle of the road. “What the hell?!” She opened the hood and black soot welcomed her, making her cough. “Holy hell!” she cursed. Her car had finally broken down and that too in the middle of the highway with no help in sight. She tried to look through the engine herself, but she was just as clueless around the mechanics of car, as an engineer around medical appliances. She knew next to nothing about cars.

  She picked up her phone and scrolled through the numbers. Her luck, there was no one she could call. She had no new friends from college, and older ones, well, they were old news. She called a tow truck service. Now she had to find a ride to take her to L.A. or back to Berkeley. “Damn it!” she kicked the tire in rage. Of all the time, this was when her car decided to break down.

  She decided to wait for the tow truck and then see what she could do next. Just then a shiny silver Mustang passed through. She looked at the car in awe, if only she too could have something that was better than her old, rusty sedan. Before she could look away, the Mustang stopped and then reversed back towards her. It stopped just in front of her and the door opened. She caught her breath as Raphael Giovanni stepped out.

  *****

  Sofia had thought so much about Raphael that she thought it must be a hallucination that she was seeing him here in middle of nowhere. She blinked twice, as if expecting him to disappear. “Ms. Hawthorn, is everything alright?” his same deep voice affirmed that she wasn’t dreaming or imagining. How on earth was he standing before her? She hadn’t realized that she was gaping at him with her mouth open and eyes wide. “Sofia, are you okay? Is something wrong with your car?” Her name from his mouth, it sounded wonderful. Get a fucking grip, Sofia! She admonished herself and cleared her throat and thoughts. “Professor Giovanni,” she managed to say. His eyes were hidden behind dark wayfarers, but she could tell his emerald-onyx eyes were boring into her. That thought only made her blush. “My engine died.” She gestured at the open hood of the car.

  Raphael asked if she had called some help and then went to check the engine himself. “How did you manage to drive this piece of crap this long? Do you realize what danger you put yourself into?” She felt like a ten year old girl. How dare he treat her like that? She wasn’t going to let him talk to her like that. She straightened her spine and said in a very brusque tone, “I have been driving this piece of crap for years and it is only natural for a car to break down. You don’t have to stand here and question me, Mr. Giovanni. I didn’t ask for your help.”

  He cursed under his breath and before he could start another lecture, she was saved by the arrival of the tow truck. After giving them her credentials and contact details, she asked the driver how she could get to L.A., but Raphael didn’t give him a chance to answer. “I am headed there. I’ll give you a lift.” “That’s unnecessary, Mr. Giovanni. I don’t want to impose.” A four hour ride with him? God forbid. “I insist, Sofia. You don’t have to wait here to get a cab. I am driving there, I won’t mind company.”

  He had taken his wayfarers off. God help her, how could she turn him down when he was looking at her with those radiating eyes? She gave him a sharp nod, “Alright.” He put his glasses back on, thankfully, and opened the passenger door of the Mustang for her.

  Her nostrils filled with the scent of spicy cologne and she instantly regretted her decision. And when the Greek God himself sat next to her, she closed her eyes and cursed. Bad, bad decision. How was she going to survive the next two hours’ ride without making a fool of herself? She had to play cool and never for a moment let the fact slip from her mind that Raphael Giovanni was her Professor and he was clearly off the limits.

  *****

  Raphael looked at Sofia from the corner of his eyes and gritted his teeth. What was he thinking when he had offered her a ride? And why the hell did he stop his car in the first place? He glanced at her again. Her head rested against the window and she was staring out at the passing pole signs. She was spaced out of reality, into the world of her own thoughts. He had to adjust in the seat so she couldn’t see what effect she was having on him.

  They entered into the territory of Los Angeles. “Where should I drop you?” That was the first words he uttered. “At the Literature Festival, please.” He snapped his face in he
r direction. Literature Festival? So much for trying to run away from her. God had the most twisted sense of humor.

  He parked the car and opened the door for her. “You don’t have to come with me, Mr. Giovanni. I’ll be fine on my own.” He didn’t answer her. She stepped out of the car and shifted on her feet. “You are free to go, Ms. Hawthorn.” He pointed at the entrance. “Right, thank you for the lift… and everything else.” She turned and walked away. “Fuck me.” He squeezed his neck and then followed her inside.

  They kept bumping into each other and every time the air became more intense between them. He had to keep himself in check but no matter how much he tried to avoid her, her presence spoke volumes that he couldn’t avoid. Sofia Hawthorn had a magnetic pull in her and he was irresistibly attracted to her. This was a first in his thirty four years that he was having that much effect from a woman. She’s almost fifteen years younger than you, Giovanni. His mind was telling him but it was his dick that refused to listen.

  “Raphael! You made it, man.” Logan rushed towards him as he walked in for his book launch. “I told you I was coming.” He gave him one arm hug. Logan gave him the VIP seat. Raphael finally took a breath of relief. He could now take a break from Sofia’s spell, at least until he went back. It was only minutes later when he felt the air changing around him. He tilted his head a little and saw Sofia standing at the entrance. She was talking animatedly to a boy who was about her own age. The boy touched her arm and she smiled at him. Raphael clenched his fingers into a fist. An unidentified feeling came inside him. It was something he hadn’t ever felt before. A feeling the world called jealousy.