Under the Law: A When Opposites Attract Romance (Fanning the Flames Book 3)

by Liz Peters

  It wasn’t that she thought she was going to get in trouble. As a matter of fact, it was enticing that he was a little bit forbidden. He was someone she wasn’t supposed to be seeing like this. Instead of flirting over texts, he should have just been the figure standing behind the podium of her eight AM classes. If anyone in the room had known what was going on between the two of them, something told her that she would have been in one of the deans’ offices faster than she could send another text message, and the both of them would have had a lot of explaining to do, even though nothing had really even happened. That air of trouble between them just made it a little more dizzying and electrifying.

  However, the last thing she wanted was one of her classmates thinking that she was doing anything besides working for her grade. Debbie was bound and determined to come out of the class with whatever she earned of her own accord. So far, that hadn’t been too hard, but things were just ramping up for the semester. She knew it was only going to get harder, and between working and commuting into school two days a week, she was already starting to wear herself out. It was going to be a struggle to make it through the rest of the semester and the rest of the academic year in one piece. Even so, she was going to do this on her own without any special favors. It wasn’t a position she wanted to put herself in at all, and it was the main reason she should avoid Joshua Brennan.

  He had just happened to hit her in the right frame of mind when he’d asked her to go out with him tonight. Debbie knew it was a dangerous frame of mind, but she was up for something dangerous, even if she was exhausted. She dropped her bag on the couch when she entered her house and made a beeline for the bedroom to rummage through the closet for something to wear. Debbie loved clothes. That was something she’d carried over with her from living in the city. She had an outfit for every occasion. Something pulled her towards the little black dress hanging up in the back of the closet. It was a little more revealing than she would have normally worn for a night out, but she was feeling risky, so she pulled it on along with a pair of bright red heels.

  If she was trying to convince herself that she wasn’t trying to flirt with her professor, then she was failing. Debbie was too much in need of a distraction to keep her head on straight tonight, so she gave in to the urge to do something a little bit bad for the evening. By the time she managed to get ready for the night out and pull on her heels to head out the door, she was just barely going to make it to the restaurant he’d texted her the address to in time.

  It wasn’t somewhere Debbie had been before, but she was excited to get to visit a few new places. This one was pretty close to the University, so she could navigate most of the way there on her own. She had made this drive twice a week for the last month, so it was almost second nature to her. Debbie got a little lost in the music on the radio and found herself singing along as she tried to loosen up for the rest of the night.

  Before she realized how close she was, Debbie was pulling up into the small parking lot outside the posh cafe they were meeting at. Professor Brennan had chosen the place. It wasn’t exactly Debbie’s style. It was upscale and quiet, full of people talking quietly over the candlelit tables, and it was small, which meant that the two of them could have an uninterrupted dinner. Debbie was glad she’d chosen the little black dress and heels in place of a pair of jeans and a blouse. At least she didn’t stick out like a sore thumb with the well-dressed patrons of the restaurant.

  Professor Brennan was already here, sitting at a table in the back corner of the restaurant that the hostess showed her to when Debbie told her who she was meeting here for dinner.

  “Sorry I was running a little late. I lost track of time when I was changing clothes after work.”

  Professor Brennan’s eyes trailed along the curve of her body approvingly as she settled into the chair and he smiled.

  “Nothing at all to apologize for. Trust me, the wait was well worth the outcome if it was over your choice of clothes.”

  Debbie could feel herself blushing, and she knew she was in for a long night of this with Joshua. He had been overtly flirting with her over text messages for weeks now, but it was quite different hearing it in that accent. Debbie didn’t know whether she should push him away or encourage him. She was quite honestly torn about it all, but when she heard his voice in person, all her doubts got pushed aside and the little voice that told her all of this was wrong got so quiet she could barely hear it for the way the other half of her conscience was yelling at her to just quit being a goody two shoes and kiss the man already. She settled for the middle ground and decided to just flirt back a little. It wasn’t something she could have even stopped herself from doing if she’d tried, so Debbie just went with her instincts here.

  “You look nice yourself, Professor Brennan. I have to admit I’m glad you don’t wear that to class because I’m certain it would be quite the distraction.” She found herself talking a lot more primly with him, even if she was trying to flirt. She blamed it on the accent and the fact that he spoke like he’d swallowed a thesaurus half the time, but whatever the reason was, she found herself emulating him every time she opened her mouth.

  “Trust me when I say I’m not the one every man in the room is looking at while their mouths are watering, my dear girl, and don’t call me Professor when we’re not in the classroom. Joshua sounds so much more intimate, doesn’t it, Debbie?” Debbie had no idea how she was going to have a comeback for that one, but the waitress relieved her of any need to reply when she appeared at the table to take their orders. It gave her the chance to gather her thoughts and figure out a little of what she was doing.

  Joshua ordered for her. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It was also a first. Debbie had been on her fair share of dates, but this one was something else. She wasn’t even certain she should call it a date considering what their relationship was outside of here, but everything about it was screaming date. To anyone looking on from the outside, the two of them could have easily been a couple.

  Debbie settled back into her chair. She needed this night out after the day she’d been having on top of the past few weeks where she’d been working herself into the ground between school and the office. There was just something about all of this that kept her on edge. That little doubt that kept popping up at the back of her mind as everything went on was the one thing that could keep her from completely enjoying herself. If he’d been any other man, she could have let go and had the time of her life. As it was, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything except dance back and forth across that line that she knew she wasn’t supposed to cross.

  Her tension must have been evident to Joshua because he leaned forward, grabbing the bottle of red wine that he’d ordered along with their meals to fill her glass, knitting his brows together.

  “I really hope that you’re having a good time, Debbie, but I get the feeling that something is wrong.”

  She wasn’t certain how much she could tell him about her doubts or what he was going to say. It certainly wasn’t any secret to him that she was one of his students, or that the two of them doing this was completely taboo, even if nothing other than dinner and drinks had happened between the two of them.

  “Well, Professor…” She made a point to call him that, even though she’d been careful to only refer to him using his first name before now since it was what he’d requested. “You and I both know that we shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “Whatever do you mean? I’m simply enjoying a night out with a lovely young woman, and since I happen to be partial to redheads, I’m also enjoying the view.”

  Debbie really wanted to just be able to get lost in what he was saying and the compliments he was giving her, but she couldn’t. There was just too much of her mind that was nudging her about what she was supposed to do.

  “Oh, come on. I’m your student, Joshua. You and I shouldn’t be doing anything together outside of me popping into your office to ask a question every now and then, but here we are having win
e and dinner while we chat about how good I look in this little slip of a dress that I put on because I knew I looked damned good in it.” Debbie was letting it all fly right now. She’d found her tongue, and the part of her that knew this wasn’t what she should be doing was doing all the talking.

  “Why are you so worried about what we should be doing, Debbie?” He raised his wine glass to his lips, taking a long drink from it and looking like temptation in human form as he put the glass back down in its place on the table. A slow smile spread across his lips, and the light behind his eyes was purely wicked. “What would be so wrong with letting go of the part of you that’s holding you back from getting what you really want for just one night? Because I’m going to be honest, every time I lay my eyes on you, I know exactly what I really want, and it involves peeling that dress off of you and leaving it in a pile on my bedroom floor.”

  The conversation for most of the night had been flirty but perfectly cordial. Now it was taking a turn that left Debbie flabbergasted. She would have been lying if she’d said that the exact same thing hadn’t crossed her mind. She just couldn’t let go of her conscience enough to disregard all the rules like that and give in to the desires that had been building in her since she met the man on the other side of the table.

  She didn’t know what to say to that, and what was going to come out of her mouth when she finally worked up the courage to reply was going to be a surprise to even her because she could make no sense of her swirling thoughts at the moment. Eventually, she gave up on trying to hold herself back and just leaned forward to take a long drink of her wine.

  “I won’t lie and say that hadn’t crossed my mind, but I don’t know how I could face you in class tomorrow if you saw me naked tonight, Professor. And the consequences if anyone found out about the two of us are more serious than I think we’re prepared for.”

  “Well, I’m not planning on telling anyone except for you about whatever happens between us, but I understand if you’re saying no. I just happen to know that you want me as much as I want you, Debbie.”

  He was right. She just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of saying it out loud. Instead, she stood up from the table, tugging her dress down where it had ridden up around her thighs from sitting. She smiled at him, walking around the table and enjoying the soft click of her heels on the floor beneath her feet until she stopped just inches from his chair and leaned down, pressing a long kiss to his lips. He returned it, biting down gently on her lip when his own lips parted and drawing a soft sigh from her. She pulled away reluctantly, tapping him on the tip of the nose before she took a step back.

  “Goodnight, Joshua. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Debbie turned and walked away without giving him a chance to say anything. If she hung around much longer, she was going to find herself letting go of her common sense and agreeing to go home with him tonight. It was only when she was in the cooler air outside of the restaurant that she came to her senses fully.

  On the way to her car, Debbie was already kicking herself for that last move before she’d left the restaurant. She wasn’t even sure why she’d decided to come. There were so many guys out there she could be dating, but she had to go for the one man in the world that she shouldn’t be with.

  For some reason, Jamie crossed her mind as she climbed into the front seat of her car and clicked her seatbelt into place. Of course, now that she’d walked away from one situation she shouldn’t be involved in, the other one that she needed to avoid popped up into her thoughts. He was going to be a co-worker, even if he was single. If anything happened between the two of them, it was going to make things around the office absolutely unlivable. There were rules against fraternizing in the workplace at most companies for a reason.

  It wasn’t that she thought Sam would fire her for being attracted to her new coworker. She knew her friend well enough to know that she would have been happy as long as her friend was happy. She just didn’t know how much more strain that the office could go through before everything ripped apart at the seams. She owed her friend more than that, and she owed herself more than being the chick who slept with her professor.

  Debbie was just going to have to figure out a way to clear her mind of all of this so she could get on with what needed to be done. She just had absolutely no idea how to go about it.

  Chapter Nine

  Class the next morning had been as awkward for Debbie as she’d anticipated. Instead of taking her usual seat near the front of the room, Debbie decided to sit near the back. She’d caught Professor Brennan shooting her a look or two during the lecture, though she could only hope that no one else caught the glances that passed between the two of them.

  It hadn’t helped that the night before she’d woken up well after midnight in a cold sweat from a dream where the two of them had wound up back at his place, and he’d had his way with her for hours. She’d sat straight up in bed in a cold sweat. Her body was burning up and aching for the touches that she’d only dreamed about. When she’d gone back to sleep, her professor had been replaced by Jamie, the man she’d spent an hour interviewing, but really knew nothing about. The two dreams had given her a restless night, and the only thing keeping her going for her eight am class was the thermos of coffee she’d brought along with her this morning.

  She’d made a beeline out of class as soon as it had been dismissed, making sure that she was the first person out the door. Hopefully, throwing herself into the rest of her classes for the day was going to be enough to get her mind off things. Instead, she’d found herself losing focus and daydreaming about the things that had only crossed her mind in her sleep the night before.

  Debbie was peeved that she’d allowed herself to get so distracted by a couple of guys. It wasn’t like her to get lost in something as simple as a man. In her experience, they were a dime a dozen. Once you got done with one of them, you could toss them aside and find a replacement as soon as you liked. Now, she was the one who was sitting around obsessing about a man or two when she should have just sat back and let them obsess about her.

  With the professor, it was easy to put her finger on what she saw in him. He was smart, well educated, older, and distinguished. There was something about the authority that he held at the front of the classroom or around campus that she found attractive.

  Jamie was the exact opposite. He was much taller and more strongly built than Joshua. It was clear that he worked out, because if he didn’t he was going to have a lot of explaining to do about how he got that physique. Debbie had only seen him with his shirt on, but she’d daydreamed plenty of times about what he was going to look like if she ever got it off him.

  Debbie just had to make it through the rest of her day and get home before she could relax and take a deep breath. Tomorrow was Wednesday, and she was going to spend most of her time showing Jamie the ropes. That meant she was going to have to keep her wits about her to avoid doing something that was going to make her look stupid like throwing herself at a coworker.

  Instead of hanging out around campus, hoping she would bump into Professor Brennan or even calling Sam and chatting about how her day went, Debbie went straight home, changing into her pajamas and pouring herself a glass of wine before she settled into the sofa she’d brought with her from the city and turned on some mindless movie that she’d seen a billion times so she didn’t have to think so hard about what was going on and could focus on just relaxing. Her phone went off before she got home with a text message notification.

  I had a great time last night, though I wish you would have stayed longer.

  And there it was. The ball was in her court now. She could start back down that path again, giving in to the game of cat and mouse that he seemed to enjoy playing with her. Instead, she decided to turn the phone off. Debbie waited for the screen to go black before she tossed it into the bag she carried back and forth to school and work, curling into the pillows on her couch to get lost in the television and to try to disconnect her brain.

 
She’d fallen asleep there, waking up just in time to run around and get ready for work in the morning. Thankfully, work was just a few minutes drive from her house, and Sam would have excused her being a little late once she’d heard about the past couple of days. Debbie hadn’t texted her friend with an update about what was going on. Sam had so much on her plate that Debbie wanted to give her a chance to let things settle back at home before she burdened her with the insignificant drama that was going on in her own life.

  Besides, she was supposed to start working with Jamie today, and she wanted to get there early enough to get everything in place to show him how the office worked and introduce him to Sam. She’d at least popped her head into Sam’s office before leaving work on Monday to tell her that Jamie was going to start work on Wednesday. She’d neglected to mention the fact that Jamie wasn’t the woman they had been expecting, or that all she could do when he was around was imagine those big hands of his anywhere on her body. Debbie was going to have to get herself under control before she screwed up both work and school, because so far, she was doing a terrible job at both of those things.

  She was still the first one to make it to the office, unlocking all the doors and getting the coffee pot running by the time that Samantha arrived. She was expecting Jamie sometime in the next few minutes, and she had no idea how Sam was going to react to seeing the man she’d hired. She poured Sam a mug of coffee, carefully carrying it into her office and resting it on center of her desk before she settled her weight against the edge of the same desk.

  “Morning, Sam.” She smiled at her friend who was still unpacking the things she needed for work this morning out of her bag. At least Sam had a smile on her face which meant things at home must have been in a better state.