by Shelia Grace
“June thirteenth.”
She swallowed.
“What will you do after that?” she asked.
“Apply for a few teaching positions, but in the end, if I’m honest with myself, I’ll go back to the winery.”
“Does that mean vacation’s over?” she asked dryly.
I smiled as I remembered telling her that the program was my vacation.
“I never intended to leave and never go back. I just didn’t want to be one of those people who spent their entire adult lives fulfilling their parents’ expectations—and then they wake up one day and realize they’ve never done anything else.”
Alex nodded and sighed.
“Yeah, if I hadn’t been so awful at Calculus, that might have been me. My mom really liked the idea of having a doctor for a daughter. She wasn’t thrilled when I burst that bubble. I guess it’s up to Stephie now …”
She shrugged. Then, without warning, she took off running across the beach. Finn looked up at me and then ran after her. I jogged after her and then sped up, surprised by how far she had gotten. When I caught up with her, she stopped breathlessly and stretched up.
“This is awesome! I feel so much better. My ribs barely even hurt. Does that mean hot sex cures everything?” she laughed.
Blasted by another reminder of reality, I frowned.
“Maybe you should take it easy.”
“Oh, come on. When do you think we’ll ever get another day like this?”
She looked around and shook her head.
“Damn,” she muttered. “I think that was the last thing my dad said to me: One day at a time, Alex. Don’t focus on tomorrow, right? I’ve always had a hard time with that.”
I wanted to tell her that I would never let her go, not tomorrow, not ever. But today wasn’t the day for reality. Pulling her into my arms, I bent down and brushed my lips against hers until she whimpered and leaned into me. I loved that I could make her lose control with such a simple touch, and suddenly I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and caressed her breasts with my thumbs until she stiffened and pulled away. Her cheeks flushed as she looked around the empty beach.
“No one’s here,” I whispered.
She backed up a few steps, pulling out her keycard and grinning at me.
“If I beat you back to the room, then I get to blindfold you and tie you up.”
She turned and ran across the hard-packed sand, thrilling Finn with another game of chase. Jogging after her, I kept my pace relaxed and watched as she picked up her shoes and kept going. Instead of following her into the hotel, I whistled for Finn and went to the parking lot to pick up a spare towel from the trunk.
I dusted the sand out of Finn’s coat and wiped his paws, and by the time I got up to the room, Alex’s clothes were in a pile outside the bathroom and the shower was running. Grabbing Finn’s dish, I fed him and pulled off my shirt. Stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I walked into the bathroom just as Alex was wrapping herself in a towel and drying her hair.
She grinned and then slipped by me into the bedroom. I wanted to follow her, but I relented and stepped into the shower to rinse off any remaining sand. Toweling off, I walked out of the bathroom and saw her kneeling on the bed. A jolt of pure lust coursed through me.
“I went to the mall over the break, and it was stupid, but I thought maybe I would see you again when I got back to school. So … I got these.”
It pained me to hear the tremor in her voice, but I couldn’t concentrate on that for more than a millisecond as I stared at the black and hot pink lace bra and matching panties that looked—fuck. If they were crotchless … I felt another surge of blood through my cock as I stalked toward her. Before I could get to her, though, Alex held up her hand. I frowned at the sight of my belt and a black silk sash in her hand.
“Your turn,” she smiled.
Standing up on the bed, she gestured for me to come closer. When I stopped in front of her, my head came up to her breasts.
“Turn around,” she whispered.
I couldn’t help grasping her hip in one hand as I ran the other between her breasts, which were pressed together quite hypnotically in the bra. Running my fingers all the way down to the panties, I groaned. Alex shuddered and backed away from me like she was afraid I was going to ruin her ability to concentrate.
“Alex, you are trying to kill me, aren’t you?” I asked, looking up at her.
“Turn around,” she commanded.
I gritted my teeth and obeyed, feeling her bring the black silk up to my eyes. She looped the material around twice and tied it at the back, and when she grabbed my shoulders, I let her push me back onto the bed. The mattress sank as she moved, and I lifted my neck as she nudged a pillow beneath my head. When her hand grabbed my wrist, I resisted instinctively before letting her lift my arm above my head. She straddled my chest, and I thought about how easy it would be to grab her. I didn’t, though. I let her take my other arm and then swallowed as she slipped the belt around my wrists. Not being able to see her or touch her was fucking torture.
“How does it feel to be totally under my control, Professor Bennett?” she whispered, brushing my ear with her lips.
I wasn’t about to tell her that she hadn’t tightened the belt enough—or that I could pull free any time I wanted thanks to an old break in my wrist. Her lips traveled to my jaw, and I felt her fingers skating over my chest as her tongue tasted my neck. She kissed one bicep, then the other as her fingers inched down my chest. Then she stopped. The bed shifted, and when she straddled my legs, my muscles tensed. Her fingers brushed against the head of my cock, and I strained against the belt as her hand gripped the base and slid all the way to the tip.
“Alex,” I snarled.
“Yes, Ryan?” she asked sweetly.
“I know I need to be gentle with you, but right now all I want to do is fuck you until you beg me to make you come again.”
Her hand stilled, and I heard her breathing falter. Then she leaned forward, and I felt her hands on the blindfold. When she pushed it up, I saw her breasts rising and falling with the quickness of her breaths. I thought she was going to undo the belt, but she just smiled.
“Good thing you’re tied up, then.”
She rolled away from me. Turning my head, I watched as she took the condoms and the bottle of lubricant from the nightstand. She came back and knelt, her legs straddling mine again as she flicked open the bottle and squeezed some onto her fingers. I watched, hypnotized, as her hand moved to her panties. When her finger found the tiny slit in the material at the apex of her thighs, she grinned.
“Wow. I didn’t see that when I got these.”
I watched hungrily as her finger slipped into the opening of the panties. Then her cheeks flushed as she began to touch herself. She reached for me with her other hand and gripped my cock, her thumb brushing over the head in a way that made me groan in agony. She began to stroke me slowly, and I watched as her eyes closed and her head fell back.
“Fuck it.”
I sat up and wrenched my wrist free of the belt, not caring whether I dislocated the joint. I just needed to touch her. Alex’s eyes fluttered open in surprise.
“Shit! How the hell did you—”
I grasped her face between my hands and took her mouth, thrusting my tongue between her lips. Then I pulled back, my eyes traveling over her body. Goddamn blindfold. Ruining the worst view I had seen in years. My hands teased over the tops of her breasts before I unhooked the bra and brought it down her arms. Then I pinched her nipples until she moaned. Laying her back on the bed, I came down beside her and did what I had been aching to do. I slipped my finger into the slit of her panties and felt Alex shiver. Her hips rocked forward as I started to stroke her.
“You’re still—oh my god—better at that,” she gasped.
“I’ve had more practice.”
Her clit was swollen and sensitive, and I could feel each touch bringing her closer. I sped up until she was panting. Bringing
her to the very edge of climax, I rose and kneeled between her legs as I grabbed a condom and ripped it open. When her eyes opened, I spread the seam of her panties and lifted her hips. Then I plunged inside her.
She was incredibly tight, and I nearly died waiting for her to adjust to me. Pulling out, I stood at the foot of the bed and dragged her to the edge, sliding a pillow beneath her before pulling her legs around my waist. Pivoting my hips, I pushed all the way in, loving the sound of her helpless moans as I began rocking slowly against her tight, wet heat. I dropped my hand between us and stroked her clit.
“Ryan,” she breathed. “You feel so …”
Her eyes closed, her breath hitching as I shifted my hands under her ass and lifted her all the way to me. When she cried out, I let go, pushing deeper over and over as her pussy tightened around me. Then, with a low growl, I gave in and poured into her.
For the rest of the day, we ordered room service and only left the room to take Finn out. Lying in bed facing me, Alex trailed her fingers over my face, stopping at my brow.
“Where did you get this scar?”
I swallowed.
“Car accident.”
“Bad?”
She stopped and looked at me silently. When her fingers traveled to my jaw, I relaxed.
“That was a chain-link fence.”
“Chain-link fence?” she repeated. “How? Did it attack you?”
“Youth and stupidity.”
She smirked.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I was sixteen, and I was trying to get back to the house before curfew. It was dark; I was careless.”
“Wow. … Get back before curfew. I didn’t even have a curfew. I guess I seemed so boring that Mom and Stephen never even contemplated that I needed one. Now look at me … I’m a freaking hell-raiser. Dropping Calculus, telling my parents I’m back at the dorms, having a torrid affair with my TA—”
I grabbed her hand in mine.
“Alex, if you call me your TA or Professor Bennett one more time, I’m going to put you over my knee and spank you.”
She stared at me in shock, and when she licked her lip, suddenly the thought of spanking her became unbearably tempting. But that hadn’t been my point.
“I’m not your TA. Right or wrong, I’m the man who is deeply in love with you.”
I wrapped my arms around her as tears filled her eyes. The truth was I had no fucking right to hold onto her. But I didn’t care what was right any longer. I just wanted her. All of her.
Chapter 31
Alex
The sound of a phone woke me out of a deep sleep. Rolling over, I reached for Ryan. He kissed my forehead.
“Go back to sleep,” he whispered.
I smiled and drifted off. Then the next thing I knew, someone was banging on the door. I sat up and looked for Ryan. Gone. And his bag, which had been in the corner by mine, was gone, too. I searched for any sign of Finn. Also gone. So were his bowls. Shit. Shit, shit, shit! Someone knocked again, and I jumped out of bed, lunging toward my clothes, which were strewn across the floor. As soon as I was dressed, I crept warily toward the door. Looking through the peephole, I cursed.
This was a fucking nightmare. That was the only explanation. I waited to wake up. I had done this a few times—realized that I was having a nightmare and then woken myself up. But it didn’t happen this time. I looked through the peephole again just to be sure. Yep, it was Ryan’s misanthropic friend James McDevitt outside. When he started smacking the door with an open palm, I finally swung it open.
“Happy to see me?” he asked.
“What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Ryan? And please, don’t even think about fucking with me.”
“You want to invite me in?”
I hesitated. That was just about the last thing I wanted to do. But what other choice did I have? When I opened the door wider, he walked by me, looking around.
“Would you like the good news or the bad news first?”
“The bad,” I said with a sinking feeling.
“Quite the pessimist, aren’t we?”
“Spit it out!”
“Ryan’s father went into the hospital last night.”
I swallowed and felt my pulse beating in my ears.
“Is he … okay?”
“He’s alive.”
I exhaled.
“Why didn’t Ryan wake me up?” I mumbled, more to myself than him.
“I imagine he didn’t want to interrupt your post-coital bliss.”
Watching as James McDevitt’s eyes drifted across the room, I turned and winced at the box of condoms on the nightstand.
“And he sent you?” I asked in disbelief.
“You would have preferred he left you here? I mean, there is a Greyhound station. I could drop you off.”
I smirked.
“I appreciate you coming to pick me up. Do you mind if I grab my stuff?”
“Take your time.”
He walked over to the phone at the desk and picked it up.
“Yes, I’d like to order room service.
I listened in awe as he ordered two full breakfasts. Then he hung up and looked over at me.
“Yes?”
“How long have you and Ryan known each other?” I asked.
“Since I was … your age. We were roommates freshman year. By the way, did Mr. Bennett tell you his twenty-ninth birthday is coming up next month?”
Shaking my head, I felt the color drain from my face. That would make him more than a decade older than me. But that wasn’t what really bothered me. It was the fact that Ryan hadn’t told me that it was almost his birthday. Then again, he hadn’t woken me up to tell me that his father was in the hospital, either. For the past two nights, I had felt closer to him than anyone else. Now, though? I didn’t know. And my only option was to go back to school, get my books, and try to avoid fucking up my third term as badly as my second.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
My ticket back to school nodded before turning on the TV. Grabbing my bag and my phone, I locked myself in the bathroom. Life had been perfect last night, so I probably should have expected it to come crashing down sooner rather than later. James had been right, though. I was a total pessimist. But it served a purpose—at least in my mind. If I didn’t get too optimistic, it was less likely that I would be disappointed. Unlocking my phone, I saw a text from Ryan.
I’ll call as soon as possible. Hotel’s taken care of. I’m sorry about McDevitt.
I turned on the shower and got in, letting myself come apart a bit. Fuck. I wanted to call Ryan, but if he was at the hospital with his dad, I didn’t want to interrupt him. Getting out of the shower a few minutes later, I wrapped a towel around myself and sent him a text.
How’s your dad? Let me know if you need anything. A
I sighed. Now wasn’t the time to be needy, insecure, or demanding. I just had to wait until I heard from him again. Combing out my hair, I got dressed and organized my stuff. Then I stepped outside the bathroom.
“Lovely.”
Most of the remaining condoms were blown up like balloons, and James was reclined on the bed fondling the bottle of lubricant as he watched TV. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and I realized this was the first time I had seen him in anything other than a suit and tie.
“Are you twelve?” I muttered.
He turned and looked at me. Then he grinned and held up the bottle.
“Did you seriously let my buddy deflower you?”
My cheeks flushed, and I glared at him.
“You’re an ass.”
Someone knocked at the door, and I watched as he jumped up. He set down the bottle of lubricant before going to the door and swinging it open. Standing back, he waited for the hotel staffer to wheel in the room service cart. The man tactfully ignored the condoms blown up all over the room. Plus, the food smelled really good, so there was that. James directed him out to the balcony and then took out his wall
et and tipped the guy, who turned and left without a word.
“Mimosa?” he asked.
“Are you going to be sober enough to drive me back to school?”
“Please, young one.”
I smirked. He had been here less than a half hour, and already he was getting under my skin. It didn’t bode well for the trip back to school. Wow. Ryan must have been really desperate if he had sent this guy to pick me up.
“Breakfast?” he prompted.
He gestured for me to go ahead of him, and I sat down in one of the two chairs on the balcony. He lifted the lid on one of the plates, and I sighed.
“Dorm food is really going to suck after this.”
He sat down across from me.
“You never did tell me how you ended up playing innocent schoolgirl to Bennett’s naughty professor …”
“First, I’m eighteen, not thirteen. Second, I already told you—he was my TA.”
He laughed as I took a bite of waffle.
“Sorry, I just never saw Bennett as the type to go trawling at his place of employment.”
“Trawling? You mean like showing up at the library because he saw some creep following me?”
“Ryan Bennett, white knight?” he smirked.
“You sound surprised.”
He shrugged.
“I am. I never saw Bennett as having the fortitude to stay in character for so long.”
“In character?”
“To bang a chick,” he offered helpfully.
I took another bite and studied him.
“Which one of us are you trying to insult? Me for not being worth it, or your friend for being a sociopath?”
His dark eyes glittered.
“Neither. I’m impressed with Bennett for playing through … and you, my dear, must have been one helluva fuck. Or at least I hope you made it worth his while.”
I swallowed and realized it hadn’t been smart going toe-to-toe with this guy. He was a fucking professional asshole. I stood up.
“Your mother must be so proud of you. Thanks for breakfast. Can we go now?”
When I turned to go back inside, he grabbed my wrist. Looking down at him with all the coldness I could summon, I swore that I would not cry in front of this asshole.
