by Olivia Chase
"I'm an adult." I point to her and back to myself. "We are technically adults."
"He's a real adult. Like, what, upper twenties?"
"Twenty-eight. And how is he more of a real adult than me? You just said he didn't look that much older than us, just a minute ago. Like he was close enough to our age for it not to matter."
"But it does matter." Isabel comes over and sits beside me on her bed. "He's the one paid to be here. He's the contracted instructor. That comes with some kind of code of ethics, doesn't it? I mean, he’s a faculty member.”
"Visiting faculty," I mutter, but I know that's beside the point. Still, it's not like he's some tenured professor emeritus who's made Bristowe his entire life.
"Paid to be here." Isabel now sounds like she's trying to stay patient. "And whether he likes you or not, it’s not a good idea.”
"I don't want anyone else,” I say defiantly.
"Right now, no. But we just got back to school! We haven't met all the new transfers yet. There might be some super hot senior who's single and just waiting for a gorgeous brunette to sit in front of him at Movie Night."
Oh, Isabel. So cheesy. I forgive her. "I seriously doubt it. No fabulously hot guy who'd be good for me is going to transfer here his senior year."
"How do you know?"
"Because Bristowe doesn't allow that," I shoot back. "You have to do more credits in-residence here than just your last year." After my stint at the advisor's desk, and poring over the college academic handbook looking for a loophole, I'm very familiar with all of Bristowe's policies.
Isabel's only defeated for a second. "So we'll go find you a hot junior transfer."
"There will be no dating a transfer!" I clap my hand over my forehead. "Even if he's a freaking Hemsworth brother. I don't want a Hemsworth brother. I want Gage."
"Gage," Isabel says, like the name tastes bad. "I hear you saying Gage, Gage, like you're on a first name basis with this famous CEO, and I can't wrap my head around this."
"Our whole class calls him Gage," I inform her. "He's not the type to make people call him anything formal."
"Like, Professor?"
"Maybe I shouldn't have told you," I mutter. I know that's not true, though. That anvil being gone feels a lot better, even though my best friend doesn't approve.
"Keri, come on. Sleeping with a professor?!"
"Listen," I say, panic rising at the mention of anyone finding out. "Please, please, don't say anything. Okay? I lived it, and told you just now, and I still don't even know how things got to this point. I know it makes zero sense. It makes even less to me. But, Bel, please please please--"
"I won't," Isabel cuts me off. "Jesus. I'm not trying to throw my bestie under the bus. I just... I mean, God, Keri. Be careful."
“I will.”
"Not going out in public?"
"No way."
"Or making goo-goo eyes in class?"
"Not even a little bit," I insist. "If anything, he's so cold in class that I'm not sure he's the same guy I'm sleeping with."
Isabel keeps pulling her blond mane into a ponytail and dropping it. She turns her head and locks eyes with me. "I'm not going to tell you I think this is a good thing, or that he's good for you." She heaves a huge sigh. "But I'm not going to fuck it up for you or anything."
"How do you know he's not good for me?" I can't help feeling a little defensive, which worries me even more. How attached am I getting to this guy? "It's a matter of position, not a matter of whether he's good for me."
"I'm not saying he's bad for you, not like that. Or that your personalities don't mesh or whatever. I'm just saying this has potential disaster written all over it. You're playing with fire, Keri."
I pinch my lips together. I know she's right. But it still stings.
"I don't mean to sound harsh," she says, wincing a little at the face I must be making. "Believe me, I'd love to see you happy with a new guy. I just don't want you to get in trouble."
"And get hurt all over again," I finish for her. "I can understand that." And I can. I don't like the situation we're in-- Gage and me, and now Isabel too, for knowing about it-- but I can understand her concern. If she was dating someone who had the potential to make her life hell, I'd be plenty worried. I can't deny it. I'd be a pretty shitty friend otherwise.
"I'm still here for you. I just don't think this is a good idea. Like, at all."
"I get that." I let her put her arm around me and give me a side-hug. "And I am grateful you heard me out, really. It's just a lot to deal with."
"I know," Isabel says. She releases her arm and looks me in the eye again. "Just, for the love of God, watch yourself. Don't get caught."
I don't deserve Isabel.
She's still got her eyes focused on me. "So we're still us?"
I swallow. She's just trying to protect me. It's what best friends do. "Still us," I say.
Chapter 9
GAGE
I make it until Sunday night before I text her.
I can’t stop thinking about her tight little ass, how good her cunt felt wrapped around my dick.
COME OVER.
I type it in all caps, so she knows I’m not asking.
She shows up thirty minutes later in tight jeans and gray tank top that shows just enough cleavage to make my cock twitch.
I watch a car turn around in my driveway. "Who's that guy leaving?" I demand, possessiveness flowing through my veins.
"My Uber." She shifts nervously from foot to foot. “I thought… I mean, I didn’t think it would be a good idea for my car to be here. Remind me to go pick up my car at the bowling alley tomorrow morning."
"Bowling?"
"It was fun," she says defensively. "Isabel and me, and some other people against... well, some other people you wouldn't know, I guess. None of them are in your class."
I return her smile, seeing how earnest she is, but I feel a pang of... wistfulness? The thought of her out without me, guys staring at her....it makes my possessiveness flare even more intensely. I couldn't have gone bowling with her, even if I'd wanted to. It would be out of the question. And still the jealousy burns inside of me.
"What did you tell your friends when you left?" I ask, half wanting her to tell them she was coming to me.
"Just that I was bailing," she says. "Everyone else was staying out so nobody cared when I got an Uber."
She sees the look on my face and mistakes it for worry.
“The driver was a fifty-year-old guy named Phillip,” she says. “No connection to anyone we know." She softens her voice. "Relax, Gage."
"I am relaxed," I say into her shiny black hair. It smells like fruit, maybe jasmine too, some concoction of amazingness that makes my cock hard.
I cup her chin and giving her a long kiss. It's insane how fast-- and thoroughly-- she turns me on. As soon as she gets close to me, I get a raging hard-on, ready to go.
It only gets worse when I grab her ass and pull her toward me, pressing her pelvis against mine.
“Maybe we should step away from your front doors,” she says.
She takes my hand and pulls me into the house, and I follow like I'm doing her bidding. Which, while she's got me like this, I pretty much am.
I stare at her ass as she pulls me along with her, through the foyer and living room, all the way to the row of glass doors at the back of the house. "Come on," she says, opening one of the latches. "I need to get this smoke and beer smell off me."
“You smell amazing," I tell her.
She leads me out onto the patio, pausing briefly to turn on the pool lights. "Perfect," she says. She releases my hand in order to peel off her tank top, revealing a gray and white striped bra. Damn. I mean, it's not the typical red lace or what would first come to mind when you envision sexy underwear, but her tits look incredible in it.
"I like that," I say, as she unzips her jeans and pulls them down. "I like that, too."
So the stripes are a set. Very nice. When she turns, I see the thong is more like a
half-thong, showing just enough of the two globes of her ass. She walks to the pool's edge and peers down into the water. She sticks a toe in. "Ahh," she says. All I want to do is make her say that again, because of me, not the water.
"Sure you want to get your bra and panties wet?" I catch myself. "If they aren't already."
"Wouldn't you love to know?" she shoots back.
“Don’t tease me,” I growl. I’m on her in a second, my body pressed up against hers, taking her in my arms.
She trembles a little, and I can tell that despite her bravado of trying to act like she’s totally in control, she’s nervous.
I grab a fistful of her hair and tip her head back, my mouth pressing against hers, my tongue invading her mouth.
I pull my shirt off, then step out of my jeans until I’m just in my boxers. I take her hand and pull her down the steps of the pool. She ducks under water, and goes to swim away, but I grab her around the waist and pull her back up, pinning her against the side wall.
She gasps at my strength, her hands on my biceps.
“Gage,” she whispers breathily.
My eyes travel down to her cleavage. Her bra is soaked now, and I can see the dark circles of her nipples through the thin fabric.
“Yes, baby?” I ask. I grip her leg and pull it up over my hip, pressing my cock against her pussy. Even with the barriers of my boxers and her panties, she moans at how hard I am. “See what you do to me baby?” I ask.
She nods.
“What?” I demand.
“I make your cock hard.”
“That’s right.” I kiss her again, sucking her bottom lip in between my lips, nipping her gently with my teeth. “God, you taste good.”
I take her tiny hand and place it on my cock, and she pulls my cock out timidly. I pull away her panties, pushing them to the side, my fingers sliding up inside of her.
She gasps.
“You’re fucking wet. Stroke my dick while I finger you.”
She does as I tell her, her little hand wrapping around my shaft. “You’re a good little girl, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Professor,” she says, her voice all breathy and shy, and something about hearing her say that makes me want to come.
“Again,” I demand.
“Yes, Professor.” Her hand is moving faster now, stroking my cock, and my fingers are shoved up that tight little cunt.
I reach behind her and unhook her bra, letting her titties out. I reach down and suck a nipple into my mouth, licking around her areola with my tongue.
She sighs in pleasure, her head tipping back as she strokes my dick harder.
“What do you want, you bad little girl?” I ask.
“To be fucked.” My fingers are still knuckle-deep in her tight little pussy, and I feel her clench around mee at the words, like she’s anticipating what’s about to happen.
I reach around and grab her ass, pull down my boxers with my free hand, then pull her toward me and press just the tip of my cock against her tight channel.
I look her in the eye and slide into her slowly.
She’s so tight, and I can see the look of half pain on her face, like maybe she isn’t going to be able to take all of me.
“I’ll get you used to it again,” I promise. “Nice and slow, okay?”
She nods, and I feel her pussy giving into me, relaxing around my cock. It’s excruciating. She feels so good, and she looks so good, the water droplets beading on her tits, her nipples out of the water and sticking up like two little buttons. Her lips are so full and the look on her face is one of angelic innocence.
I push into her a little more.
She’s holding onto my shoulders now, almost like she thinks she’s going to be able to stop me if I just decide I want to start railing away at her pussy. It’s pointless -- I’m much stronger than her, and if I want to fuck her hard, I will. But it’s cute that she’s trying.
“You feel so fucking good,” I grind out. I’m almost all the way in, and I summon all my self-control not to push into her. “I can’t last much longer.” She gives a little whimper as I push more of my thick cock into her, and I know I should go slow, but I can’t control myself.
I push into her and she gasps and cries out, half in pain, half in excitement.
“Take it,” I say. “Take it, baby, that’s right.”
She’s getting used to me now, and I start to rock my hips, pulling her toward me at the same time so I can get even further into her. “Gage,” she says, “Gage, I don’t think I can take it.”
I kiss her again, muffling her cries with my mouth until she goes silent and opens her legs to me, letting me in.
I fuck her harder and harder, the whole time my tongue tangling with hers. I pump my seed into her, coating her insides with my cum, letting it blast into her.
“Gage,” she cries as I release her mouth and her own orgasm pulses through her. I wait until she shudders and then kiss her softly.
Then I take her to my bed and fuck her again.
Chapter 10
KERI
My phone alarm starts bleating when it's still impossibly dark outside. Gage grumbles as I wriggle out of his arms to grab it. "Did I just see five-thirty on your phone?" he demands.
"Yes," I say, shutting off the alarm. "Sorry I woke you up." I go to get out of bed, but he pulls me back to him.
"You’re not leaving.”
"We can't let anybody see me,” I remind him.
"Stay for coffee.”
"I can’t," I say, resiting the urget to snuggle into him. "I'm going to go home and sleep for a little bit more before class."
Gage holds onto me for a minute, and of course, I don't want to let go of him, either, let alone get out of this big comfy bed. But I don't want our relationship to get discovered even more, so I heave my body over the bed's side and fumble around in the dark for my clothes. I sleepily tap around on my phone screen for an Uber ride, get one set up, and head into Gage's master bathroom.
His massive shower is tempting, especially since my skin still smells like chlorine and I still need a proper shampooing. But that would take too long, and Gage doesn't have all the heat protectant potions and styling tools that Isabel does, anyway.
I keep forgetting to bring a toothbrush, so I gargle with some of Gage's Listerine, which is definitely one way to wake yourself up. My hair looks ratty and horrible, thanks to Gage pulling it every which way, and I'm not even going to bother with makeup. Maybe after a catch another couple of hours at home and wake up a second time.
I step out of Gage's bathroom to find him lying on his stomach, arm falling over the side of the bed. With the bathroom light on, I can see his face, and he gives me a sexy grin. "You sure you can’t stay?"
"Yeah," I say, coming over to lean down and kiss him. "I'll see you later."
"Yes," Gabe says, his eyes blazing with promise. "You will."
I wait for my ride at the front doors, then realize that it might be easier for the driver if I meet him closer to the street. The trek down Gage's driveway actually makes for a decent morning walk, at least with the motion sensor lights detecting me and turning on, lighting my way. The sun hasn't had a chance to rise and roast everything yet, and right now it actually feels pretty good out here.
A morning jogger is the only other living soul out here, and she adjusts her ponytail as she nears, then pauses to pull up one leg for a stretch. I'm almost to the end of the driveway when I begin to wonder why her stretching is taking so long. And why this jogger is staring at me like she recognizes me.
"Well, well." She drops her leg, which clearly didn't need any stretching at all, and glares at me. "Look who it is."
"Hey?" I say, like it's a question. Because it is. Who the hell is this?
"Keri Willis, the dedicated business major. Coming out of Gage Ramsey's house. My, oh my."
"Have we met?" My heart is pounding now, anxiety blooming in my stomach. Who the hell is this girl and how does she know my name?
&nbs
p; "Not formally." The girl brushes a curly wisp of brown hair over her ear. "But I know who you are. You're all over that Bristowe mentoring young girls thing. You're in, like, every picture. It wasn't hard to find out your name."
"Why would you care about finding out my name? Because I definitely don't know yours." I pull my phone out of my bag, gripping it, ready to call 911 as I hightail it back to Gage’s house. But something stops me. She’s tiny, small than me – not really a physical threat. And something about the way she’s looking at me makes me thinks she’s not dangerous. And she obvioulsy knows I was with Gage. I need info.
"It's Natasha," she says. "And to answer your first question, because I've seen you with him."
"Who?"
"Gage. Don't play dumb when you're still standing in his driveway."
"How do you know whose house this is?"
"Oh, please. Really? Sweetheart, everyone knows this is one of the primo rental houses, and everyone also knows that this is the one Gage rented. It's not hard Besides, I've seen him coming and going."
"Oh. You live around here?"
Natasha nods. "Mmm-hmm. But you don't, do you?"
I stay quiet, not wanting to admit anything.
"So it's interesting that you're coming out of Gage Ramsey's house at 5:45 AM. Hmmmm."
"Gage Ramsey's house is on your route," I note. "That's also interesting."
She points toward the direction she came from. "My house is just around the corner, so yeah."
Excellent. Just fucking excellent. "You live here? In Deer Falls?"
"For a few weeks. Just playing some golf and water skiing."
"Sounds nice," I say.
"So what exactly are you doing, Keri?"
"Waiting for my Uber."
"With Gage." Even in this low light I can see Natasha's eyes are ablaze. "You know I don't mean what are you doing outside at 5:45. Because that much is obvious."
"Is it?"
"Who do you think you're kidding? The early morning sneakout. The walk of shame."
"I think we're past walk of shame," I snap, then immediately regret it. God, I can be such an idiot. Just handing her information on a platter like that!