"And when would be a convenient time?" she texted back.
I’d told her just this once. I had the perfect out. The only problem was that my plan backfired. I didn’t fuck her out of my system at all. She’d crawled under my skin. She was still all I could think about. For just a moment while I had been working tonight, I’d thought I was cured. But as soon as I’d put the marker down? All my thoughts had gone back to her. Which meant one thing. I wasn’t in control of this situation. And that was dangerous.
I needed to stop. I knew it. But instead, I texted her again. "It would be most convenient after you graduate in the spring."
The minutes ticked by. Was she considering that proposal? Did she really want to wait for months to reenact our tryst? It wasn’t what I actually wanted. What I wanted was for her to be right in front of me, on her knees, worshipping my cock again. Everything would have been easier if she wasn’t a student. But would I have wanted her as badly if she wasn’t? There was something about the way she said Professor Hunter that did something to me. I raked my hands through my hair. I was a sick fuck.
"What happened to just this once?" she replied.
I rarely ever did anything just once. I thought I was getting better. I thought I could handle it. But I didn’t realize how fucking fantastic she’d be. I didn’t realize that she’d clear my mind enough to actually think for a few hours, only to reel me back in. I was consumed by her. It was terrifying. But I fucking loved the high.
I texted her back before I could talk myself out of it. "We can discuss it over dinner. I will pick you up on Saturday at 8." A date. I was going on a date with one of my students.
"I'll be waiting,” she texted back.
I smiled and looked up at my whiteboard again. Just hearing from her had helped clear my head once more. It was time to start working on one of these ideas. Because I was probably going to be fired soon.
Chapter 19
Wednesday
I felt Penny’s eyes on me as I entered the classroom. The class grew quiet. For just a second, I wondered if they had been talking about me. About what I’d done. I glanced at Penny out of the corner of my eye. She looked perfectly content. And sexy as hell. She wouldn’t look so calm if her classmates had just been talking about us. My office door had been locked. No one knew. Besides, I didn’t care anymore. I’d tried to tell myself to cancel my plans with her ever since I’d made them. But I’d never been good at telling myself no.
Her eyes scanned me from head to toe. I was more dressed up than usual. I was even wearing a tie. And I wondered if she was imagining the things I could do to her with just a tie.
Breathe. I pulled my satchel off over my head and placed it on my desk. It would be easy to stand here and envision all the ways I wanted Penny Taylor, but I had a class to teach. For now.
"I only had a few people complain to me about their grades, so I'm glad that we're all on the same page,” I said. “I think we'll all be seeing even better speeches for the next assignment. Speaking of which, have any of you read ahead in the syllabus to find out what the next speech is about?"
Only one person raised their hand. Which was funny, because I knew for a fact that Penny had read the syllabus. But she was much too shy to volunteer an answer in class. Yet bold enough to storm into my office and kiss me. I tried to hide my smile.
"Yes, Miss Snyder?"
"We're supposed to tell you about why we chose our majors."
"Precisely. There's usually a pretty personal reason why we choose the majors that we do. Whether it's about who you want to become, impressing your parents, or maybe just not knowing what the heck you want to do after you graduate. I find this topic to be quite beneficial for seniors, because maybe a look inside that true reason will help you decide which jobs you should be starting to apply to. So today let's go around and state what your majors are and one thing you love about them. Raymond, you're up."
I sat down in my chair. I was having a hard time focusing on what my students loved about their majors. Even though it had been some time, it was easy to picture myself in their shoes. I’d known exactly what I wanted to do. I’d always known. But I’d let my parents make all the decisions regarding my future for me. I still resented them for that. I looked down at my hands. I resented them for everything I’d become.
Taking a job in teaching was the first decision I’d ever made just for me. Walking out on my ex was the second. And the third?
“Penny Taylor,” I called when the shmuck that always sat next to her sat back down. She was the third thing I’d ever done for myself. And it really felt like the third time was a charm.
"I'm majoring in marketing,” she said.
Marketing? I sat up a little straighter. How was that possible?
"And mostly I love the creativity behind it." She sat back down.
No flirtations today, not that the topic had left room for much. But I wasn’t sure I would have registered the fact that there was an innuendo even if there had been. Marketing? I taught lots of marketing classes. I should have had her in one of my classes by now. The odds that we hadn’t run into each other before this semester were slim.
Fate. The term rolled in my head again for the second time this week. If I’d had her in a class last semester, I never would have pursued her. I hadn’t been ready for a relationship. I was barely ready now. She’d fallen into my lap at the perfect time. Quite literally. I remembered how she’d fallen into my arms in the coffee shop. How for just a second it had been a little easier to breathe. I tried to shake away the thought. There was no such thing as fate.
I stuck to my lesson plan as best I could, distracted the whole time. Penny was all I seemed capable of focusing on anymore. I had a million questions for her. I wanted to know everything. And I felt like an idiot for not even knowing her major.
When I dismissed class, Penny dillydallied in the back of the room as the class emptied. Once it was just the two of us, she came straight up to my desk.
"I'm surprised to hear that you're majoring in marketing, Miss Taylor."
Her gaze dropped to my lips. If we were alone in my office, I wouldn’t hesitate to kiss her. But I was glad she didn’t come any closer to me right now. A student could come in for the next class at any moment. Although it pleased me to know she was thinking the same thing I was.
"Why does that surprise you?" she asked.
I stood up and pulled my satchel over my shoulder. "I'm just surprised that it's taken us this long to run into each other, since I'm a marketing professor."
"I guess we weren't supposed to meet until now," she said.
"I take it you're a believer in fate then?"
She nodded. "And you?"
I took a step closer to her. "I don't know what I believe. But I know what I want." You. Again.
She looked adorably nervous. She knew exactly what I was thinking. "I'm going to be late for my next class, Professor Hunter."
God I loved when she called me that. "I'm not stopping you." But I’m pretty sure I was. Neither of us wanted to move. Because then we’d have to wait two days to see each other again. I wasn’t sure why I’d picked Saturday for our date. Maybe I was hoping I’d be able to talk myself out of it by then. That I could convince myself I could resist her. Staring at her right now, I knew that wasn’t a possibility. I could barely keep my hands to myself when she stared up at me with her big blue eyes. How could she still look so innocent after everything I’d already done to her?