Outside the Box

by Rochelle Paige

  chapter 3

  aubrey

  A couple of weeks had passed and I still hadn’t met any guys who’d tempted me to get back into the dating game. I figured that moment at the elevator had just been a fluke. And it was probably a good thing because I needed to focus on school. My statistics class was kicking my ass. Big time. Since I hadn’t had much luck finding a tutor, I’d been working with my professor whenever he had open office hours. But it just wasn’t enough, so I finally asked him for advice about what to do seeing that eI couldn’t afford to bomb this class.

  Luckily for me, he said that he knew a guy who might be able to help me out. An accounting major who was really good at math but only accepted one tutoring student a year because he was on the hockey team and didn’t have very much free time. So the prof usually found someone willing to pay a bit more and work around his scheduled. He figured I’d be open to that, and I definitely was if this guy was as good as my professor promised.

  So here I was, heading over to the library to meet math tutor number five. Otherwise known as Luka Ivanovich. Really, how cool was that name? It certainly didn’t sound like the name of someone who tutored math students. I could only hope that he would be my last one, too. We were supposed to meet upstairs in one of the private study cubbies that was reserved for the hockey team. The school was really big on making sure athletes had whatever they needed to focus on their studies because they never wanted anyone to accuse them of letting the guys float through school. They were really proud to have one of the highest grade point averages for varsity athletes across the country while still being competitive in many sports.

  I was curious about the cubbies because I’d never had reason to use one before. Drake had access to them because he was on the rugby team, but he never really took advantage of them since he studied at home with Lexi. I’d heard they were pretty cool though. As I scoped them out, looking for my new tutor, I noticed that they had comfy chairs and plenty of outlets. Those two factors alone made them way better than the rest of the library considering I usually had to fight for somewhere to plug in my laptop and nobody would ever describe the regular chairs as anything other than uncomfortable. My ass usually fell asleep before an hour even passed.

  As I turned the corner to where the ones assigned to the hockey team were located, I saw the lights were on inside one of them. That must be where I was supposed to meet Luka. I knocked on the door lightly before stepping inside.

  “Hey, I’m Aubrey. Are you Luka?” I asked before he turned and I lost my breath when I recognized those green eyes. It was elevator guy.

  Holy hell. This was my math tutor? A drop-dead-gorgeous, Russian hockey god? Karma really was a bitch if she was dropping Luka in my lap when I was trying to avoid guys.

  His eyes flared with heat for a moment before he answered. “Yeah. Professor Davidson said you needed a tutor for his stats class?”

  I nodded my head to agree as I seemed to be at a loss for words. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and regretted it immediately when I caught a whiff of his masculine scent and remembered the effect it had had on me last time.

  I cleared my throat before responding. “Yes, I could use some help in his class.”

  “Why don’t you have a seat?” he suggested as he pulled out a chair for me. “I usually like to start with a review of what you’ve learned so far if that’s okay with you, and then we can move on from there and cover anything that’s causing you any problems.”

  He looked at me oddly, and I realized that he was expecting me to agree.

  “Yeah, that sounds like a really good plan.” I pulled out my book, notebooks, and quizzes, and we dug right in.

  “Your quizzes don’t look that bad. What made you ask for a tutor?” he asked after we reviewed the basics.

  “I decided at the end of last year that I wanted to work in banking, so I need to make sure I have a solid foundation before I graduate. It isn’t just about the grade for me anymore. I need to really understand this stuff so I’ll be prepared. Besides which, getting C’s might not be that bad, but they certainly couldn’t be described as good either.” He seemed to like my response based on the smile he flashed me. And damn, but that smile sure made him even hotter to look at if the sudden dampness in my panties was any indication. I could feel the flush rising against my skin as I smiled back at him before looking back down at my book. He put to doubt any concerns I had about my ability to desire a guy again. There was just something about him that really got to me.

  “That’s as good a reason as I’ve ever heard. I hope you’re okay with my crazy schedule?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Professor Davidson explained that you’re in the middle of hockey season so you might only be available once a week until the season ends,” I replied.

  “I could probably do more than that,” he offered. “I mean, if you’re willing to meet up at odd times.”

  The thought of getting more time with Luka, even if it was just to study math, made my heart beat even faster.

  So that was the start of my sessions of math torture with Luka. Only it wasn’t torture because he was a horrible tutor like the others before him. He was an amazing tutor because he was able to explain things in simple terms so I understood them. Once I began to fully understand the concepts, I started doing very well on problems and in the class. No, it was torture because he drove my hormones absolutely bonkers. Our fingers only had to brush each other’s and I’d get goose bumps.

  I began to dream about him just about every night. Hot, sweaty dreams that made me wake up incredibly aroused. He was driving me crazy. I wasn’t stupid. I could tell when a guy was attracted to me, so I knew that this feeling was mutual, but he hadn’t made a single move on me yet.

  We’d met up for nine tutoring sessions in three weeks already. I just couldn’t figure out the mixed signals I was getting from Luka. His eyes always lit up when he saw me. He pulled out my chair for me, helped me with my jacket. He certainly acted like a guy who was interested. Plus, he was making time to give me extra help even with his busy schedule. It was paying off, too. I’d aced the last quiz and was thrilled that the class was becoming pretty easy to me. I still needed help with some of the statistical models we were working, and I had a project I needed to start that Luka had said he’d help me with.

  And to top it all off, he hadn’t asked me about paying him yet. Which was kind of weird since it had been a few weeks already. Maybe he liked to get paid once a month or something. Who knew? I guessed I would just have to ask him this evening to see what was up with that. But for now, I needed to get a move on it if I was going to meet up with Lexi for lunch. Drake was busy and she was hoping we could squeeze in a little girl time this afternoon. Time with my best friend sounded like just what I needed to help me wrap my head around what was going on with Luka. I hoped she’d have some advice for me. How weird was that? The tables had turned and now I was going to ask my best friend for advice about a guy instead of the other way around.

  ****

  I found Lexi sitting at her favorite table at the deli in the quad on campus. There were a few different things I liked to eat here and only one thing that she liked, so I decided to head through the line first. Then I walked over after grabbing our lunches.

  “Boo!” I yelled in her ear as I dropped the tray on the table since Lexi seemed deep in thought.

  “Eeek!” she shrieked in response, drawing stares from all around the room. “Holy shitballs, Aubrey. You know I hate to be scared.”

  “Sorry,” I said with a grin on my face. I knew it had been bitchy of me, but I always liked to scare the crap out of her when I could.

  She glared at me from across the table as I sat down. “You are so not sorry, brat.”

  “Well, at least I’m going to feed you. That should count for something,” I argued.

  “Except I’m pretty sure you were going to feed me anyway, even without scaring me. So I’m thinking it doesn’t count as anything,” she grumble
d at me as she snagged her food off the tray.

  “Geesh. Okay, I really am sorry if scaring you means that you’re going to be in a bad mood when I actually get to spend time with you,” I apologized—for real this time.

  “Ha! Much better,” she crowed.

  “Dammit! You tricked me into that didn’t you?”

  “Who, me? Tricked you into thinking you really hurt my feelings by scaring the shit out of me when you know I hate that?” she asked innocently. “Now do I look like the kind of person who would do something like that?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “Yes, you look exactly like the kind of person who would do that. At least to me.”

  She giggled at my teasing tone. “God, Aubrey. I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too. Thanks for asking me if I could meet you today. It was perfect timing,” I said as I reached out to squeeze her hand.

  “Perfect timing for what?” Lexi asked, tilting her head and giving me an inquisitive stare.

  “Well, for one thing, I was available,” I said.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “And for another?” she asked, knowing that there was more to the story.

  “And I could use some advice,” I replied.

  “Ohhhh, advice!” She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “About what?”

  I looked around the room to make sure I didn’t see Luka anywhere. Not that I ever seemed to run into him on campus, but with my luck, he’d walk up behind me while I was talking about him.

  “A guy,” I said in a hushed tone of voice.

  Lexi got all bug-eyed at my response and leaned in closer. “A cute guy?”

  “No. A super-hot guy who is driving me crazy.”

  “Do I know him?” I thought about it for a minute and figured that the odds were she didn’t know who he was. “I don’t think so. He’s my math tutor.”

  “Wait! You have the hots for a math geek?” she exclaimed.

  “A math geek with dirty-blond hair, piercing, green eyes, an amazing smile, and these muscles. Ohmigod. You would not believe his muscles,” I explained. “Then again, he plays hockey, so I guess the muscles make sense, because when he’s not studying, he’s on the ice or working out all the time.”

  “Damn! Smart, hot, and athletic. No wonder he caught your eye,” she agreed.

  “Actually, do you remember that guy I noticed in your building? When you had me over for dinner towards the start of the year? That night when Drake’s friends came over to play poker?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she drawled out.

  “It’s the same guy,” I admitted. “The one I bumped into. The only guy I’ve really noticed at all this year so far.”

  “Okay. This all sounds pretty good so far. When do we get to the advice part?” Lexi asked.

  “Well, I’m into him, and I think he’s interested too. But he hasn’t asked me out on a date or anything.”

  “So you should just ask him out,” Lexi advised.

  My best friend, who hadn’t dated for almost three years until she met Drake, who had literally swept her off her feet, was telling me to ask a guy out.

  “Really? That’s your great advice?”

  “It seems pretty easy to me. You like him. You think he likes you, but he hasn’t made a move yet. You really only have two options. Either you keep waiting for him to do something or you pull up your big-girl panties and you ask him out yourself,” she said, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal.

  “Seriously. Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?” I deadpanned.

  Lexi giggled in response to my joke. “I guess I have a different perspective now. I know it’s hard to picture me asking a guy out. Like, ever. But if Drake hadn’t asked me, then I can only hope at some point in time I would have gotten up the nerve to ask him instead, because if we hadn’t gone out on that first date, then I wouldn’t be as ridiculously happy as I am today,” she explained.

  “Except Drake didn’t ask you out. He pursued you relentlessly,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah. And your point is what?” she asked.

  “So you knew how much he wanted you because he had no problem showing you.”

  “Oh, Aubrey,” Lexi sighed and grabbed my hand. “Are you worried that this guy really isn’t that into you?”

  I looked down at the table and took a calming breath before I answered. “Yes. When I said I was into him, I think I might have understated it a little. I’m really, really into him. At that’s after only seeing him nine times during tutoring sessions and bumping into him at your elevator.”

  “You’re counting the number of times he’s tutored you?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I admitted sheepishly.

  “I’ve never seen you like this over a guy before Aubrey,” she said before giving my hand a quick squeeze and letting go. “Not with any of your high school crushes and not with anyone you’ve dated in college.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. There’s just something about this guy that really gets to me, Lexi.”

  “No, I get it. I fell for Drake hard and fast when I least expected it. Sometimes you just know what you know,” she said, comforting me.

  “That’s certainly true,” I said. “So I guess I better be prepared to ask a guy out on a date for the first time ever tonight.”

  “Tonight?” she asked. “You have a tutoring session today?”

  “I sure do,” I answered, looking at my phone to see what time it was. “In three very short hours. Or long ones depending on how you look at it now that I’m super nervous.”

  “Then we’d better hurry up and eat our lunch and head over to your dorm,” Lexi said.

  “I’m not really that hungry, anyway. But why do we need to hurry?” I asked.

  “Because there’s no way that I, as your best friend for life, can send you off to meet your super-hot, hockey-playing math geek tonight without making sure you look your very best. Duh, Aubrey!” she exclaimed.

  So I spent the afternoon doing things with Lexi that I hadn’t been able to do in a while. We went for manicures and pedicures, and she insisted that I have my hair done while we were at the salon. Then, when we went back to my room, she had me try on outfit after outfit until it looked like a hurricane had hit it. The time spent with my best friend nourished my soul, and by the time I was ready to go to the library, I felt like I certainly looked my best. Lexi sent me off to battle looking hot.

  chapter 4

  luka

  I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do. Tutoring Aubrey was a lesson in self-control for me. I didn’t want to be so drawn to her, but how could I resist when I was in such close proximity so often? I couldn’t stop imagining her sprawled naked in my bed. And it was my own damn fault because it had been my idea to tutor her so often. What the hell had I been thinking when I said I could squeeze her in a few times a week. I’d been thinking with my dick—that’s what I’d been doing.

  My dick, which stood up to attention every single damn time I was with her but didn’t seem interested in any other chick on campus. It didn’t matter that, from what I’d heard, she wasn’t really girlfriend material. When I’d mentioned to Jason that it was Aubrey I was tutoring, he’d filled me in on all the campus gossip I’d missed out on by keeping to myself before.

  I wasn’t happy to hear that Aubrey had dated a lot of guys on campus. Guys who weren’t worried about spreading it far and wide that she was incredible in bed but wasn’t too keen on keeping the same guy around for too long. If that was true, then she was exactly the kind of girl I needed to stay away from. So I’d managed to resist asking her out over the last few weeks even when she’d looked at me like she was just waiting for it each time she left me at the library. And then she’d turn away with a sad look in her eyes that drove me crazy and made me want to call her back.

  I figured I would crack sooner or later though. Because I was sleeping like shit with dreams of her waking me up each and every night, my coc
k hard as a rock. It was worse than morning wood, and it didn’t matter how much I jacked off, because it just kept going on and on. But damn, had she added something special to my spank bank.

  I hadn’t been joking when I had told Jason that I didn’t have to worry about being backed up because I took care of myself in the shower. I’d never had a problem with that because I’d gotten used to the need to blow off steam when I was dating Kat long distance. What I wasn’t used to was only being able to get off by thinking about one woman. Back then, I’d had plenty of visions float through my head. Now, it was like I was fucking obsessed with thoughts of Aubrey.

  “Dude,” Jason said, interrupting my line of thought. He nodded down to the obvious boner in my pants. “Just ask her out already.”

  “Who?” I played dumb.

  “You damn well know who.” He rolled his eyes at me. “Aubrey.”

  “Shit, man. I don’t know if it’s that great of an idea,” I answered.

  “Look. I’m not saying you have to marry the girl, but I haven’t seen you so much as look twice at another chick since school started. But every day when you have a tutoring session with her, you walk around the apartment in the morning with that waving around”—he pointed at my dick—“and then you come back later looking like someone kicked your puppy.”

  “You’ve heard the rumors, Jason,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, and I fucking wish I hadn’t shared them with you now. But you know what I haven’t heard?” he asked.

  I shook my head, not sure where he was going with this. “No. What?”

  “We’ve been back for two months and I haven’t heard of a single guy she’s even been on a date with. What does that say to you?”