Was that…? Oh. Em. Gee. Liam was clearly aroused, and I couldn’t help feeling a little satisfied that I was the one turning him on. I was also trying desperately to remember my own freaking name. Hadn’t I been mad about something? Or…
Liam pulled back just a fraction so he could drag his mouth along my jawline and down to kiss my neck. Having his lips away from mine helped to dissipate some of the fog, although the shivers racing down my spine with every scrape of his beard on my skin worked against me.
Suddenly, I remembered the last five minutes and why I was angry. I put my hands on Liam's chest, and my fingers curled into his t-shirt, tugging him closer and earning them a mental slap. He growled into my neck, and holy crow was it sexy. If I’d still been wearing my lace panties, they would be drenched. I sucked in some much-needed oxygen to clear my brain, then dug deep down and managed to grasp onto some sense. I let go of his shirt before shoving with all of my might. Liam was caught by surprise and stumbled backward, letting me go in an attempt to regain his balance. His deep brown eyes were cloudy with desire, and it made me want to grab onto him and climb him like a tree.
“I don’t know what on earth you think you are doing Mr. Bennet,” I snapped. “But you don’t own me, and you had no right to keep me from doing my job.”
Liam crossed his arms over his chest, the fabric of his paint-splattered T-shirt stretching over his muscles. Wow, he had really nice arms. And a really nice chest. And a really nice…I tried hard not to let my eyes do a full sweep but I failed and when I did, my mouth dried up. Yeah, he had a really nice everything. He was lean yet muscular. I decided he must be a swimmer. A picture of him in a speedo popped into my head, and I fervently prayed that my face had not turned a perfect shade of tomato red. My imagination had to have translated the size of the bulge I’d felt pressed against me to the...um...package prominently displayed by the spandex bathing suit. Oh, crumb. I was doing it again. Get it together, Hill.
I forced my eyes up to his face and frowned when I saw the amusement dancing in them. “I’m glad you like what you see, babe,” he said with a smirk. “I think I’ve already established what your sexy body does to me.” He winked but then his smile slowly dissolved into a scowl. “And no one else gets to see it but me. Is that clear?”
If it were possible, my jaw would have hit the floor. For the moment, I was going to ignore how much my lady bits enjoyed his bossiness and focus on how much it irritated my brain — the part not attached to the aforementioned lady bits.
“Just because you’re hot and an amazing kisser, doesn’t mean I’m going to fall at your feet and do whatever you say.” That smirk made a reappearance, and I gave him a dark look. “I need this job.”
Liam crowded into my space, forcing me back to the wall again. “You’re just going to have to find another line of work, baby.” He cupped one of my cheeks, and his expression turned tender. “You are so fucking beautiful.” His eyelids fell, and he pressed his forehead to mine, then replaced it with his lips. “Just the thought of anyone else seeing you like that.” He pulled back and shook his head. “It’s best if I just don’t think about it.”
I was slowly melting from his sweet words. Even his dirty mouth was…why did it make me so freaking hot? If I were wearing panties, they’d be drenched. It had seemed like a good idea to leave them off in the name of expediency, but I was regretting the decision now. Hopefully, there wasn’t a big wet spot on my leggings. However, those panties had been a splurge last year, so I supposed it was a good thing they weren’t currently being ruined. Speaking of splurging. Ugh! This guy definitely knew how to knock me off center. “You don’t get to dictate how I earn a living, buddy,” I growled as I poked him I the chest.
Liam’s expression turned brooding. “I do when it comes to working for this school, Rachel,” he warned, his tone final.
“I have a contract,” I muttered weakly.
Liam shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ll take care of it.”
Everything I was feeling collapsed and was swallowed by quicksand made of despair and my body went numb. The only emotion that managed to avoid the bottomless pit was my fury. I broke out of his hold and grabbed my bag from where it had fallen on the floor, pulling the strap up on one shoulder. “Fine,” I seethed, my fingers clutching the nylon so hard it was biting into my skin. “You can keep me from working here as a nude model, Liam, but that isn’t the only way to make a living by taking my clothes off.” I spun around and dashed out of the room into the hallway, slamming the door behind me.
The nerve of that guy! Just because you look like a hipster Adonis doesn’t mean you can go around kissing girls and claiming they are yours. It was maddening. It was also so very tempting to give in to him.
I reached the parking lot and was instantly soaked to the bone by the buckets of rain being dumped from the sky. I’d completely forgotten to take my umbrella out of my bag. Muttering about stupid men and ridiculously sexy kisses...that I totally hated, I hurried to find my umbrella and open it, not that it mattered at this point. I’m sure I looked like a drowned rat. Sighing, I whipped out my phone to call Rosa. “Nine-one-one, girl,” I said when she answered.
“I’ll be at our dorm in ten.” She hung up, and I thanked my lucky stars that I had a best friend like her. When I arrived at my room, she was walking up to the door with a bag that I knew contained chocolate. “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly. “And damn, did you jump in the pool?”
I gave her a scathing look and grumbled, “Forgot to get out my umbrella until I was outside.”
Rosa pressed her lips together, and I knew she was trying not to laugh.
“Are you seriously going to laugh at me when I called you with a nine-one-one, dude?”
She sobered fast and jerked her head up and down once. “You’re right. Did something happen when you were modeling?”
“I didn’t even get that far,” I whined as I unlocked the door and stomped inside.
“What?” Rosa walked right over to my bed and plopped down, then started to empty the plastic bag of its contents. There were several different types of bars and bags of chocolate, and a pint of Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream that she stuck in the tiny freezer section of our mini-fridge. She swung her feet up and crisscrossed her legs, then rooted around in the pile of sugary goodness until she found a bag of Hershey’s kisses.
“Have I told you lately that I love you?” I sighed as I quickly peeled off my soggy clothes and put on a pair of dry yoga pants, underwear, and bra, and a comfy—oversized T-shirt that said, Art you forgetting something? A joke only an Art History Major would appreciate, as Rose liked to tell me. Once I was changed, I fell down backward onto the mattress. Rosa laughed and dropped a KitKat onto my stomach. “Maybe I should give up guys altogether. You’d make the best girlfriend,” I sighed happily as I unwrapped it, then bit into the delicious treat.
“No offense, Rach. But, when I lose my virginity, it’s going to be with a real dick, not a dildo.” I snorted and rolled over to lay on my side facing her. “So?” She looked at me expectantly and popped a Kiss into her mouth.
“The class I was sent to is taught by Liam Bennet.” I waited for her to choke and sputter like I knew she would. Right on cue, she swallowed her bite whole and started coughing and thumping her chest.
Once she stopped hacking, she took a deep breath, then croaked, “Liam Bennet. The artist”—I nodded—“I think I just had a mini orgasm picturing him as a naughty professor.” Her brown eyes turned dreamy, and she bent forward to rest her elbows on her knees.
“Not helping, Ro.” Irritation flooded me. But, not because she was getting off topic, rather, I was annoyed that she was salivating over Liam. When I realized I was jealous, I wanted to bang my head against a wall. “Anyway…” I needed to get this conversation back on track.
Rosa snapped back to reality and propped her chin on one of her fists. “Right. So, it was Liam’s class,” she repeated. “Were you just too nervous to drop t
he sheet in front of him?” She guessed.
I mirrored her pose on the bed and proceeded to tell her every detail of what had happened earlier. The more I talked, the wider her eyes grew. Her jaw had slowly dropped, and she stared at me in astonishment. “So then I ran out of the room and called you,” I finished.
Rosa didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity. Then she snapped her mouth shut and shrieked. I ducked my head and covered my ears at the piercing sound. “What the fudge, Ro!”
“Liam Bennet wants you, Rach,” she shrilled as she clapped her hands.
“Shut your pie hole,” I said as I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Good grief. Get that scowl off your face, woman!” she exclaimed. “You’ve drooled over that guy for years. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve done research papers on him for at least four classes.” She narrowed her eyes at me, and I couldn’t fight the blush that heated my cheeks.
“That’s not the point,” I argued, tossing a mini Milky Way I’d just unwrapped at her. She caught it and tossed it in the air before catching it in her mouth. How did she do that? I always ended up practically poking my eye out.
“It’s totally the point,” she countered, leaning back and planting her hands on the bed. “I fail to see what the problem is here.”
I looked at the ceiling, praying for patience. “Let’s come back to the fact that he suddenly thinks I’m ‘his’ and focus on the fact that he’s going to have me blackballed from posing nude for any class at our school.”
Rosa cocked her head to the side and gazed at nothing in particular while chewing on her bottom lip. It was the look she always got when she was concentrating on something. “What about another school in Nashville?”
I scrubbed my face with my hands before tipping backward until my back hit the bed and spread my arms out at my sides. “I don’t think I can take the bus ride to Nashville and the time it takes to sit for art classes and still manage to get to classes and complete homework,” I lamented. Rosa hummed in agreement. I lifted my head and met her eyes. “Do you think Liam has enough pull around here to keep me from posing at the other colleges in the area?” I could tell she wanted to say no, but the truth was in her eyes. I flopped back down and muttered, “That’s what I thought.” There weren’t any jobs in our hometown where I would make enough to pay my tuition and make up for the added transportation costs to get there. Besides that, if I took a normal job, even a fast food position, my parents were bound to find out, and the drama they would cause would likely get me fired. I knew this from experience.
Silence stretched between us for a little while until I finally said out loud what we were both thinking. “Do you have Big Mike’s number?” I inquired with a resigned sigh. “I don’t think I have the courage to call November for it.” Mike Rouger, or “Big Mike,” as a lot of people called him, was November’s father, but I knew Rosa’s dad was a friend of his. He and his brother ran a club in our hometown and at this point, it was looking like my only option.
.
6
Liam
The door almost flattened my nose when Rachel slammed it behind her. My first instinct was to go after her, but a little voice in my head warned that I’d already come on too strong and scared her. I wasn’t worried about finding her though. Besides that, with the state I was in, I was in no condition to be running anywhere. I adjusted my jeans and hissed when the zipper scraped the sensitive skin of my cock. Commando was my norm, but since I was going to be spending a lot of time with Rachel, I had a feeling I was going to be hard pretty much all the time. Underwear might save me from chafing and possible zipper mishaps in the future. Then again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to give up the easy access.
I leaned my back against the wall I’d had her pinned to moments ago and thought hard about the project I was currently working on. I’d been commissioned to design and paint a mural, and I was extremely excited about it. After a few minutes of contracting, my dick started to soften, and I blew out a relieved breath.
My thoughts drifted back to Rachel, but my focus was on our conversation. She’d been adamant that she needed this job and I’d seen the desperation in her clear blue eyes. I knew I couldn’t let her pose nude; I’d lose my fucking mind. And, I wasn’t sure if she’d been serious when she snapped those parting words about taking off her clothes. I needed to come up with a solution before she could get into any other trouble.
Using my back as leverage, I pushed away from the wall and adjusted my pants one more time before heading back into my classroom. It had emptied of students, and I shook my head as I imagined the stories that were already spreading. I was a laid back guy, I viewed the world with an artistic eye, always finding beauty, and I rarely exhibited negative energy. Most of the people I worked with and taught had more than likely never even seen me raise my voice. I had probably looked fucking insane when I shouted for them to leave and ran after Rachel like my ass was on fire. Yeah, I’d been on fire alright, but it was burning in a decidedly different place.
I turned to my left and walked up to the row of cabinets where my brushes were laid out on the counter. They were dry, so I started to gather them, placing them carefully in a special case. “Professor Bennet?” The voice caught me off guard, and I whirled around in surprise. Hillary was standing next to one of the easels, a tray of paints in her hand and her cold green eyes were filled with confusion. Shit. I was not in the mood to explain what had gone down yet.
Hillary was small, like a little pixie, and I sometimes worried that a strong wind would blow her over. She wore her blonde hair in a ponytail and was currently twisting around a finger of her free hand. I didn’t know her very well, but she was a hard worker, and I appreciated her covering for me while I searched for the right TA. Hillary’s professor was on sabbatical for another couple of weeks, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when she returned to her previous position if I hadn’t found someone by then. Although, I hadn’t given her the full gamut of responsibilities that actually came with being my teaching assistant. I’d interviewed dozens of students for the spot but hadn’t found the right fit. I needed to truly trust this person because I would be relinquishing some of my duties to them. I could be very high maintenance at times, an adverse side effect of being a major perfectionist and it was hard for me to give up control. I needed just the right person—
You’re a fucking idiot, Bennet. I wanted to smack myself in the forehead when I realized I’d had the answer all along. But, before I could think much more about it, Hillary once again got my attention by calling my name. I smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Ms. Cramer. I was lost in my thoughts, and you startled me.”
“Um”—she shifted from foot to foot almost nervously—“is there anything you need? Was there something wrong with the model? I can talk to Dr. Leonard about having her replaced, but perhaps you should tell me what you are looking for first.”
I waved her off and shook my head as I twisted around and placed the case with my tools back on the counter. Facing her once more, I put my hands in my pockets and smiled. “I appreciate that, Ms. Cramer, but I’ll take care of it myself.” I expected her to start to leave, but she continued to stand there, shuffling her feet. “Was there something else?” I prodded, trying to keep any irritation from my tone. I was anxious to put my plan in motion.
“I was just wondering if you’d decided on a permanent TA. I know Dr. Rosenthal returns next week, and I’ve really enjoyed working for her”—twin circles of pink appeared on her cheeks—“but I would love to stay on with you permanently.” She bowed her head and mumbled, “I really admire your work, and I think if I—”
It was rude, but I cut off her speech, already knowing what my answer was going to be. “I’m flattered, Ms. Cramer,” I told her gently. “And, I really appreciate how hard you’ve worked. You are a great assistant, but, I’ve already hired someone else to fill the position.”
Her head whipped up, and I thought I glimpsed anger as her eyes n
arrowed but it was only a fraction of a second and when she gave me a resigned nod and a sweet smile, I figured I’d imagined it. “I’d like to continue working with you until Dr. Rosenthal is back. I could even train your new assistant,” she offered.
I didn’t want to keep her from earning her full hours since most students who had work-study or TA positions were in need of every penny. I smiled and nodded, crossing my arms over my chest. “That would be great. Thanks, Ms. Cramer.”
She brightened and bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Awesome!” Then she practically bounced up the wide steps where desks were spread out for lecture and threw a beaming glance back my way before exiting.
I chuckled as I went back to my task or gathering my things. Hillary was young, and despite her excellent work ethic, it often showed in her maturity level, reminding me at times of my younger sister. She’d shown a lot of talent when she’d attended my class last semester, but despite almost flawless technique, she lacked passion in her work. In fact, her art was often devoid of any emotion, a coldness that surprised me. I was always honest with my students, and we’d talked about how she could improve. While she listened intently and seemed determined to succeed, the lifelessness behind her creations continued to be very apparent. Luckily, she hadn’t asked for my critique while she was working for me. I didn’t want to discourage her in pursuing art, but if she’d brought it up again, I wouldn’t have sugar coated my opinion. And, it would have made having her as my Teaching Assistant for half the semester very awkward. As it was, she assumed I wouldn’t let any TA help grade the student’s actual artwork, and I wasn’t going to explain the truth unless she asked.
Until the Lightning Strikes: Happily Ever Alpha World Page 3
