Against the Rules (Kingston Brothers Book 3)

by Isabel Lucero

  Royce shrugs. “So, tell him to come here.”

  The thought of Nova walking around in my house spikes my heartrate a little bit. I immediately think back to the night she was here, and what her naked body looked like on my bed, and what her skin felt like against mine, and how tight and wet she was. Good God, that’s not a good idea.

  “I’ll think of something,” I say.

  Royce jumps down. “Well, good luck. I’ll see ya Sunday night. Whatcha makin’?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know.”

  “Cool. Love you, bro,” he says, walking to the door.

  “Love you, too.”

  As I go back to the den, Sugarfoot—the dog my ex left behind when she left me—falls into step. When I’m on the couch, he jumps up next to me and drops his golden head to my lap.

  “Hey, boy,” I say, scratching between his ears.

  I thought me and Jenn were going to get married. She wanted Sugarfoot to be the ring bearer, and as ridiculous as I thought that would be, I was down for it because she wanted it to happen.

  When she left, it was the second hardest thing I had to go through. I thought she was such a cold-hearted bitch for leaving her dog behind, but honestly, I’m grateful she did. If I didn’t have Sugarfoot, I wouldn’t have anybody to come home to. And though he’s a dog, he makes the house a little less lonely.

  14

  I last saw Professor Kingston in class on Friday. After everyone left the room, he told me where and when to meet him today, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I changed my outfit three times before finally settling on something I thought was both cute, but not trying too hard. I wanted him to like what he saw, but I didn’t want to be a slut about it.

  Once I’m in my car, I recall his directions, and eventually find my way to a park. When I turn the corner, I see cars lined up on a gravel lot and pull in immediately. My eyes scan the nearby area, looking for an attractive, brooding math professor, but I don’t find him.

  Farther away, in front of the lake, there’s another parking area, and then even further away, on the complete opposite side is another one.

  I spot several picnic tables, a playground, and lots of ducks and geese in the water. A few kids run around on a basketball court, and an elderly couple sit on a bench in front of the water, feeding the birds.

  I get out of the car, bringing my notebook and laptop with me, and start walking. I pass several beautiful trees and follow a cement walking trail. I’m too busy enjoying the view of the lake and laughing at a goose chasing after a woman who was trying to feed it, that I nearly bump into the sinfully sexy teacher I came here to meet.

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Looks like we parked on opposite sides.”

  “Yeah. That goose is mean,” I say, pointing at the white bird who continues to harass the lady.

  He chuckles. “Yeah, they can be. I don’t bother feeding them. They’re greedy little fuckers.”

  I laugh, surprised at the language. Not that I don’t have a potty mouth, but you always think of teachers as non-human. Like you don’t expect to see them at the store or doctor’s office. You don’t think they cuss or smoke or drink. You just see them as the people meant to teach you something, and think they live their lives in the school.

  We continue down the path until we get to a single picnic table as far away from everybody else as possible. There’s no playgrounds, ducks, basketball courts, or anything over here. This is where teenagers come to smoke weed or make out. It’s nearly hidden behind a massive tree. He’s probably afraid to be seen by anybody.

  “Okay, let’s start with chapter two, section two point one,” he says as soon as we get to the table.

  “Oh, fun.”

  His lips turn up on one end. “I have some worksheets here.”

  He starts talking about finding the slope of a curved line, and something about finding the derivative of f(x)=4x, and possibly more numbers and letters. Honestly, it’s hard to concentrate on his words when he’s leaning over and the muscles in his forearms are bulging, the veins calling me to trace them up under the sleeve of his gray shirt. His eyes are even lighter out in the sun, and his lips are perfectly proportioned and look so soft.

  “Do you get it?”

  It takes me a second to realize he’s asking me something. I look up into his hypnotizing eyes. “Huh? Sorry. Umm, yeah, let me try.”

  It ends up taking me way longer than I thought it would to get through this section. But after I snapped myself out of the daze he put in, I was able to focus a little more. After a million questions, and lots of patience on his side, I was finally able to complete a worksheet without missing more than one problem.

  “We have a lot of work to do,” I tell him, making a face. “Sorry I’m so shitty at math.”

  He laughs. “You’re not the only one.”

  I pout. “You’re not supposed to admit I’m shitty.”

  His smile makes my heart thump wildly in my chest. “Sorry, Nova. You’re not shitty.”

  “Yeah right. Liar.”

  His smile grows bigger, and I realize this is the most I’ve seen him look happy. Now that we’re done with this section, I don’t want him to leave. I don’t want our time to come to an end. So I start talking and hope he doesn’t realize I’m stalling.

  “I have a confession.”

  He looks worried. Probably afraid I’m going to tell him I’ve had another dream about him. Even though that hasn’t happened, he’s starred in many of my daydreams.

  “I looked your brother’s band up. I have some of their music on my Spotify playlist. They’re pretty good.”

  He relaxes. “Yeah, they are.”

  “Did you know all of them?”

  He nods. “Yep. They all practiced in the garage of my house.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. Did you ever expect it to go anywhere?”

  “Not really, to be honest. I thought they were just kids who had a hobby. Yes, they were talented, but this is a small town. However, they put in a lot of work. They got older and smarter, made demos, put videos on the internet, played locally, then continued to grow.”

  “Do you have other brothers?”

  “Two more,” he answers simply.

  “I only have one sister. We fought a lot growing up, so I couldn’t imagine having more than that.”

  “I’m the oldest, so I didn’t really get involved in a lot of the fights as we were growing up. The two middle ones, Royce and Cillian, fought a lot. Merrick, the one in the band, was too young, so he wasn’t caught up in all of that either.”

  I nod my head, enjoying hearing him talk, but I sense him becoming uncomfortable. He keeps looking away and clenching his jaw.

  “I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I’m sure you’re busy on the weekends.”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t have too much going on,” he replies. “And I don’t want you to fail.”

  I want to ask if I’m the only student failing, but I have a feeling I’m not. I couldn’t be. He has multiple classes a day. I can’t be the only one struggling with math, so him offering to tutor me can’t be just for me.

  We find ourselves locked in a gaze. The wind picks up, blowing cold air through my hair, the curly strands flying in front of my face, and our papers travel through the air before hitting the ground.

  “Oh no!”

  We both get up to collect the few that have flown off. I gather a couple while he rushes off to get the others. The wind continues to gust as the clouds draw in, covering the sun and darkening the sky.

  “Looks like it’s about to rain,” I say, handing him the papers.

  His thumb rests over mine, and he lightly strokes it, his eyes dipping to my lips. “You keep them,” he says. “To study.” Then he hands me the ones he picked up.

  Rain drops start to fall—heavy and fast. The clouds didn’t give us enough time to get to our cars before opening up and unleashing a heavy torrent of w
ater on our heads.

  “Shit. Follow me,” he says, running toward a row of parked cars.

  The parking lot seems like it’s miles away. Wind and rain whip me in the face, and a few small leaves fly past me, one sticking to my lips.

  “Ugh. I almost ate a leaf,” I yell.

  He laughs, and I decide then that I love his laugh, or maybe I love that I made him laugh.

  “Almost there.”

  A black Audi beeps, the lights flashing as he unlocks it with his key fob. I instantly jump into the passenger seat and slam the door closed.

  He starts up the car and we both sit there and take in some air. When I glance over at him, he grins.

  “You have a…” he trails off, his hand reaching toward me. “Leaf.”

  He shows me the small leaf that got caught in my hair, then rolls his window down slightly to toss it out.

  “Oh. Thanks.”

  His eyes trail down. “There’s another one on your…chest,” he says, gesturing to his own.

  I look down and spot the smallest little leaf plastered against my rain-slicked skin, right at the top of my cleavage. After I get it off, I tug my loose V-neck shirt up. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll drive you to your car,” he says, getting himself situated behind the wheel.

  The car fills with tension, hovering around us, trying to push us together. The way he looks at me lets me know he wants me just as much as I want him. His eyes linger on my lips, and his gaze always finds a second to inspect my breasts or my hips.

  I let my eyes trace the lines of his veins in his thick forearms as he handles the steering wheel, moving up to his wide shoulders. The light scruff on his jaw and chin only stand to highlight the sharpness of the angles in his face rather than hide them. His piercing eyes stay focused on the road while his brows pinch together slightly.

  He angles his head in my direction, those striking eyes catching me checking him out. I’m thankful he doesn’t say anything. Soon, he’s driving into the parking lot.

  “Which one’s yours?”

  I point to the white Honda. “That one.”

  He pulls up to the side of it and unlocks the doors. “See you tomorrow.”

  I force my lips into a smile when all I want my lips to do is attach to his. “Yes, sir.”

  Professor Kingston gives me a look, but instead of responding, I take advantage of the rain slowing down a little and rush out of the car and into mine.

  15

  It’s been a week since our tutoring session, and there’s been many lingering gazes between Nova and I. She’s caught me watching her while she’s working at her desk, and I’ve noticed the way her eyes roam up and down my body when I’m in front of the class.

  One day, as I was walking between the aisles as they were testing, she stretched her arms out to the side as I was approaching her desk, and the backside of her hand touched the front of my pants.

  She hurriedly and quietly apologized, snatching her arms back into her sides as a flush ran up her cheeks.

  It was a very non-sexual touch, but her hand on my crotch still sparked many, many thoughts in my head for the rest of the day.

  And now here we are, about to start another tutoring session. Since the weather is bad, the park is out of the question. I’m definitely not inviting her to my house, and while some professors hold office hours in different locations, I’ve had my office hours set for years. Everybody knows the days and times I have them, and it’s never been on a Sunday.

  Since there are days I go up to the campus and spend time in my office preparing lectures, conducting research, or responding to student emails, I figure I could hold the tutoring session there. Other professors don’t come to my office since they’re too busy completing their own work.

  Today, the tutoring session is starting a little later since Nova had to go to work in the morning. At three o’clock, a light knock takes my attention away from my work.

  “Come in.”

  Nova steps in and closes the door behind her, her eyes dancing around the room briefly. She sits in the chair across from my desk and smiles.

  “Do you normally come in on the weekends?”

  “Sometimes. There’s a lot more that goes into this job than teaching class.”

  “Do you ever relax?”

  I smirk. “I went to a concert, didn’t I?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Was that the first time you did anything like that?”

  “I guess it had been a while.”

  “You should really get out more. I get you have work to do, but you know what they say…all work and no play…”

  “I play plenty,” I say before I even think about how it sounds.

  She jolts back slightly. “Oh, well, that’s good.”

  I want to explain to her that I don’t mean I’m always sleeping around. While, yes, that has been true in the past, I hadn’t actually slept with anyone for a while until I met her. But she doesn’t need my explanation.

  “Shall we get started?” I say, changing the subject.

  We begin going over the next section she needs help on, and nearly sixty minutes later we’re nearly done.

  “Okay, I’m almost finished. I just have a question about this,” she says, pointing her finger at a problem on the paper.

  I come around to her side, bending over to get a look. “Okay, since the two curves cross, you need to compute these two areas and add them.”

  She nods and goes back to work, so I back up and study her as she figures it out. I’ve noticed she sucks her lips in when she’s concentrating. Then she’ll poke them out into a pucker and tap the end of her pencil against them before diving back in.

  Her thick curls are gathered into a high ponytail, showing off the delicate lines of her neck. My eyes trail down to her exposed shoulder, then as she leans forward, her shirt opens up and I get a glimpse of her black bra.

  I quickly look away and go back to my seat.

  “Okay, I’m done.”

  I take the paper from her and start walking around the small office as I look over her answers. She fidgets in the chair, bouncing her legs and tapping the pencil on the desk.

  “Looks good,” I say, turning to face her.

  “Really?” she squeals, her eyes growing wide.

  “Yep. You did great.”

  She jumps up, her beautiful smile stretching across her face as she rushes toward me. Caught up in her excitement, she throws her arms around my neck, bouncing on her toes. “I can’t believe it. I fucking owned those curves and the area between!”

  I can’t help but laugh as I try to step out of her grasp. Her breasts are pushed up against me, and the sweet aroma of her perfume and shampoo invade my senses as the softness of her hands touch my neck.

  She realizes our closeness and slowly brings her arms down, but doesn’t step away. I can’t seem to peel my gaze away from hers, and before I know it’s about to happen, she raises up on her tiptoes and presses her soft lips against mine in a kiss.

  I quickly clamp my hands around her upper arms, pushing her back. “Nova.” My voice is a low growl.

  Her lust-filled eyes stare up at me, her chest heaving with each breath. “Please. I know you want to.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I say, struggling with my self-control.

  That admission gives her more confidence. She steps closer, putting her hand on my hip and pressing her body into mine. Our eyes stay locked on each other as she pushes up on her toes and plants another kiss on my lips. It’s soft and cautious, like she’s waiting for me to withdraw.

  I can’t fight it any longer. I drop the paper and yank her into me, my arms wrapping around her body as I part her lips with my tongue.

  Nova gasps, surprised at my actions, then moans into my mouth as my tongue swirls around hers.

  I spin her around, walking her backwards until she’s against the door. I wrap my right hand around the back of her neck, making sure we stay connected.

  I push my hard body against
the softness of hers, and the sinful moan she releases makes my cock twitch behind my pants. She feels it, arching into me with frenzied need.

  How much I want to throw her onto my desk and bury myself deep inside her is what makes me stop. I force myself away, taking a step back as we both pant heavily.

  “Nova, I’m sorry.”

  She rushes toward me, her eyes pleading. “No, no. Please. Please don’t act like this was a mistake.”

  “It was,” I say, wiping my mouth.

  I turn around and try to adjust the erection in my pants.

  “But it wasn’t. It was amazing,” she continues.

  I turn around and face her. “I am your professor. This is wrong on so many levels.”

  “Then why did it feel so right?”

  I can’t argue with her there. “Look, what happened before school started has to remain a one-time thing. This,” I say, gesturing between us, “cannot become a regular occurrence, no matter how much either of us wants it.”

  “I won’t say anything if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  I shake my head. “It’s not who I am. I’m responsible.”

  She looks hurt, maybe slightly offended, but before she can respond, there’s a knock at the door. “Elijah?” Lorraine pushes the door open, coming to a stop at the threshold. “I thought you…” she stops when she spots Nova. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine. She was just leaving.”

  Nova flashes me a look, but quickly grabs her belongings and brings them to her chest. “Thanks, Professor Kingston.”

  I nod and press my lips together in a tight grin. “No problem. See you in class.”

  “Bye, Professor Drakulich.”

  “Bye, dear.”

  Once Nova’s gone, Lorraine moves in. I expect her to question why a student was in here, but she doesn’t. She wouldn’t believe it if I told her anyway. It’s just not who I am. I don’t break the school’s rules. I don’t need students when I have plenty of other women I could spend time with. It’s not suspicious, because nobody would ever think it would cross my mind to cross a line with a student.