by Anthology
Sylvie broke free from the kiss. Her lips were swollen in that just been kissed kind of way. And in the begging for more kissing kind of way. “Do you want to go to my bedroom?”
Wade had always been confident with his lovemaking skills. Women never complained. Plus, he never left a woman unsatisfied. There was something different about Sylvie, though. She had to be the smartest woman he’d ever met. Of course, there could have been other smart women. But most of the interactions he had never got beyond the physical, one-night variety. He hadn’t wanted to settle down when he was a Marine. The uniform had been like bait to attractive females, and the nomad lifestyle made anything long term unappealing. He didn’t like uprooting his own life to move from base to base. He couldn’t stand forcing that on anyone else who would do it just for the fact that they loved him. No, bachelor life had been fine for him. The only lonely times had been during deployments. He didn’t mind not leaving anyone behind, but he hated not having someone to come home to. Though seeing how some of his friends came home to unfaithful partners made him resolved in his singleness. After leaving the service, he thought about getting serious with the right woman. And the way Sylvie kissed him with hungry passion, the fire in her eyes, and the gentle, teasing, tickling of her fingers made him think she could be the right woman.
“I’m having plenty of fun in here.” Wade kissed her neck. Gently nipped at the tender flesh with his teeth.
He wrapped his hands around her slender waist, hoisting her up to the counter. She wrapped her legs around him, pressing his hardened groin against her. She flicked her tongue along the sensitive spot on his neck as her fingers undid the buttons on his pants. Was part of her education on how to turn on a man? Because she definitely knew the right things to do.
“Condom?” Wade barely managed to get the word out through his ragged breath.
“By the nightstand in my room. I can go get one.”
“You stay there and don’t move a muscle.”
Sylvie pointed down the hall. Wade all but ran to the room, immediately locating the sleek, wood table by the large bed.
King-sized, nice!
He opened the drawer in search of the rubber, which he located next to a large purple vibrator. He knew most women owned one, but seeing the toy so readily available by the sexy teacher’s bed only excited him more. He made a mental note to use it next time on her. But now he couldn’t wait another second longer to be in her.
Wade smiled when he walked back into the kitchen. Sylvie sat exactly where he’d left her. She looked at him with an expectant gleam in her eyes. He held the foil package up, and he slowly prowled back to her. She grinned. Without a word, she finished unbuttoning his pants. He stepped back a few feet and slowly took his boots off. She watched every move he made. He savored the fire in her eyes. He lowered his pants, discarding them on the floor by his bare feet. Sylvie licked her lips as she looked him up and down while he stood in front of her wearing nothing but his gray boxer briefs. The underwear made his junk look good. He may not be as smart as Sylvie, but at least he knew that.
She reached out for him. He evaded her grasp and smiled.
“Nope. You’re in charge in the classroom. I’m in charge here. Put your hands on the counter.”
Sylvie gripped the sides of the counter. She followed directions well.
He walked back over to her, then slowly brushed his lips along her collarbone. Sylvie shivered in response. He dragged his fingertips lightly up and down her arms. She reached to grab him, but he grabbed her hands and guided them back to the counter.
“What did I say?”
“Not fair. I want to touch you,” Sylvie purred.
“You need to learn to follow directions better, teacher.”
Sylvie laughed in response and made a show of placing her palms against the counter.
“Better.” Wade smiled. “Now where was I?” He kissed her neck. “Here?”
“Mhmmm.” She lifted her chin, giving him better access.
He kissed her shoulder, tasting her sweet flesh with his tongue. “Or here?”
Sylvie moaned.
“Maybe here?” His tongue flicked over the creamy skin of her cleavage.
“This is torture.” Sylvie’s voice sounded strained. Wade could feel Sylvie’s heart racing in her chest.
She was right. He couldn’t stand the wait, either. He needed to feel her skin against his. With a twist of his fingers, he undid the buttons on her shorts. He lifted her shirt over her head. Her large breasts were firm enough that she didn’t need a bra. How had he not noticed that fact before? She pushed up on her arms, allowing him to pull her shorts and panties off. He dropped his own underwear.
“Put your legs around me,” he instructed after putting on the condom.
Her long, lean legs wrapped him tight, and within seconds he was pumping in and out of her. She felt even better than he could have imagined. So good that he had to distract himself from finishing too quickly.
“Oh my God!” Sylvie exclaimed, throwing her head back as she shuddered around him. He barely had time to register her release before he found his own.
Chapter Three
Sylvie
Tuesday afternoon couldn’t come fast enough for Sylvie. Wade had stayed the night on Saturday but had been up with the sun to go spend the day working on his ranch. He’d come back over that night, and they’d actually made it to the bedroom before tearing each other’s clothes off. Progress. He’d been busy all day on Monday with his other classes, but they’d sent each other flirty little texts back and forth. But her Tuesday afternoon class guaranteed that she’d get to see the sexy cowboy for two hours. Of course, they had to act professional and not let on that they’d become intimate. She didn’t want her new job jeopardized by the relationship. Was it a relationship? It’d only been a couple of days, but she couldn’t help the way her heart beat faster and her panties turned wet the minute she saw his name pop on the screen of her phone. And she couldn’t help that she wanted to spend every spare minute with him. They’d still be in her bed now if she had her way, but they both had jobs. Responsibilities. And at least she could see him.
She’d spent Monday afternoon researching the school’s policy on dating. They didn’t have a no-fraternizing rule. From what she could tell, the school frowned upon relationships between staff and students, but she couldn’t find a rule against the situation. Still, she’d warned Wade to act like nothing had changed from the week prior. In general, she kept her private life private, but in this particular situation, she couldn’t risk losing this position.
Sylvie noticed Wade the second she entered the room. He sat in the last row, back corner. Chair closest to the back door. Was it an escape plan so he could get out of there without talking to her? She wouldn’t blame him if he did. She’d been the one adamant about not talking to each other. She wondered if there was something more to the location—something drawn from his time in the military. In the current climate, one had to worry about random acts of violence. Was his seat related to that? First one out the door if there were a problem. Or the first one to guard and protect?
Stop it, Sylvie! You’re overanalyzing again! It’s just a chair. She silently chastised herself as she set her briefcase on the desk. She had a tendency to get swept up in the most minor of details and pick things apart until she became a lunatic. She wouldn’t do that now. Not with Wade. She would be casual. Easy going. Whatever happened, happened.
“Okay, guys. We have a little pop quiz today. Just a quick little writing test,” Sylvie announced at the start of class.
“This isn’t high school. We don’t do pop quizzes,” one young female student said.
“Right? This has to be a joke,” a boy sitting next to her said.
“Not a joke. And since I’m in charge, we do whatever I say we do. Pop quiz. Laptops and phones away.”
Sylvie quickly scanned the room. Her eyes stopped briefly on Wade’s handsome face. His blue eyes narrowed, brow fur
rowed. She felt the buzz from her phone in her skirt pocket.
A text message from Wade popped up on the screen.
You didn’t warn me there was a pop quiz.
She looked back up at him and gave a barely noticeable one-shouldered shrug before passing out the papers. The quiz itself wasn’t much. Just a few questions to show the students paid attention. She’d learned the technique from a friend of hers who had been teaching for several years. Scare them early into paying attention and always keep them on their toes. That way she could separate the serious kids from the rest.
The rest of the class flew by in a rush between lecture and group work. She used the time to grade the quizzes. Wade got a B minus, one of the higher grades in the whole bunch. Not bad. But he didn’t really acknowledge her for the rest of the class. Sylvie forced herself to focus on the rest of the students and to remind herself that she had requested he not act as anything other than her student. He hadn’t spoken to her much on her first day. This was no different. Only it was different because she could still feel the warmth of his skin on hers. Smell the woodsy scent of his cologne. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine how she felt safe in his strong arms.
She glanced at her watch. The class ended in five minutes. “All right, everyone. If you’re done, you can go a few minutes early. Your quizzes are on the desk, ready to be picked up.”
As she expected, not a single person grumbled about early freedom. They bunched up at the desk to grab their papers. A red-headed boy with glasses, handsome in a hipster way, pulled her aside to ask a question about the lecture. Sylvie tried not to be distracted by the way Wade’s face drooped when he got his quiz or by the way he slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the room without so much as a glance in her direction.
Sylvie walked from the classroom to her office, watching for Wade on the five-minute walk. No sign of him anywhere. They both only had the one class and had planned to leave after to hang out. She figured he would wait for her outside. She pulled her phone out of her pocket when she got to her office. No message. After avoiding her during class and leaving directly after, her mind began to wander. The only logical explanation could be that Wade was blowing her off. Maybe something came up. Maybe he was sick. Maybe his mom was sick and he had to go help her. Maybe something terrible happened that kept him from their plans. Maybe she should call him and make sure everything was okay.
The door to her office opened. Wade stood in the doorway.
“Busy?” His voice was even. Flat. Like a student talking to his teacher. Good.
“Not at all. I have plans in a bit, but never too busy for a student.” Sylvie smiled at him. Relief that he hadn’t blown her off or been called to an emergency rushed over her.
Wade closed the door and sat in a chair opposite Sylvie.
“I didn’t think I could make it through that class. I tried to think of a reason to get you out of there so we could fool around in a closet or something,” Sylvie gushed.
Wade didn’t smile. “You didn’t tell me about the pop quiz.”
“I just decided to do it this morning. Plus, it wouldn’t be very pop if I gave you a warning, right?”
“I got a B minus.” Wade still didn’t smile.
“I know. Not bad!”
“Also not good. I have an A in that class. This will bring my grade down.”
The smile left Sylvie’s face. “First, it’s a quiz that isn’t very heavily weighted. Second, I’ve already told you that if we’re doing this, we have to separate student-teacher from personal. And you agreed.”
“You’re right.”
“So what’s the problem then?” Sylvie felt the heat rising to her cheeks. This wasn’t the afternoon she had planned or expected.
“The problem is that you didn’t warn me. I’m banging the teacher. The least you could have done was a head’s up. It’s not like I’m asking for the answers.”
“Excuse me? Banging the teacher? Is that what this is? What did you expect? You give me an orgasm and I give you the answers? Easy A for an easy lay?”
“I don’t know what this is. But I’d expect some loyalty from someone I’m sleeping with.” Wade crossed his arms over his chest.
“The loyalty I’m showing is not having security escort you out of my office right now. And not kicking you out of my class. I should have known better than to mess around with some kid in my class.”
“I’m not a kid. In fact, aren’t I older than you?” A smile broke through Wade’s angry expression.
“Maybe in years. Clearly not in maturity.” Sylvie spat the words out. She felt the hot sting of tears in her eyes, but she refused to cry in front of him. His ego clearly didn’t need anything else from her dignity.
“I’m just pissed because I work so hard. I didn’t mean to imply anything else.” His tone softened. Too little too late.
“You didn’t imply anything. You straight up said it. We set boundaries. Remember? Boundaries which you eagerly agreed to. I’m in charge in the classroom. You’re in charge in the bedroom. We were both okay with that. You aren’t allowed to just arbitrarily change things around when you feel like it. Or when you feel like you aren’t getting your way. I think we’re done here.”
“I’m not arbitrarily changing anything. I’m just pissed.”
“Be mad on your own time. I have work to do. I’ll see you next week in class.”
Wade opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but closed it again before any words came out. They sat silently for a few moments staring at each other. The anger had left Wade, but Sylvie felt no sense of her own ebbing. She watched as he got up and exited her office.
She knew better than to get close to a man when so much change had already started in her life. She had told herself that she’d get settled in and tenured before she’d even think about dating. She never even considered dating someone she worked with, let alone taught. That handsome cowboy had thrown off all of her plans. Sylvie wasn’t the kind of person who felt an instant attraction and chemistry with anyone. She was careful. Guarded. Thorough in her analysis. All it had taken was one sexy cowboy with a drawl and tight-fitting jeans to unbalance her entire world.
Dating prior to moving consisted of a few casual dates with men that never turned into anything serious. She’d had an amazing boyfriend in high school, a few flings in college, and a serious boyfriend in graduate school. Serious to her had been three months before he found someone else. Or until Sylvie had found him with someone else. She hadn’t been that attached to any of them, so it never mattered when the relationship ended. She found contentment in her work. In her books. She could be hunting murderers on the Orient Express one day and dating Christian Grey the next. Real life always paled next to fictional worlds. Wade had changed that when he stopped to change her tire. Something about him cut deep into her soul. Maybe she had romanced the entire situation because the scenario felt like it came straight from a plot in one of her books. Nobody could have written a better meeting for her and Wade. And in the course of three days, she had fallen hook, line, and sinker for the cowboy, as if he were Captain Ahab and she were the great Moby Dick being harpooned and dragged on a line. Only, in the end, wasn’t it Captain Ahab who gets destroyed by his own ego and obsession?
Sylvie felt relief the next week when Wade was absent from class. She hadn’t spoken to Wade since he left her office. He hadn’t called, texted, or stopped by. She hadn’t given in to the temptation, either. Her heart hurt. She felt physically weakened. She’d allowed herself to give in to the sexiness and temptation of Wade. To the romance of him saving her on the hot summer day. No more. She wouldn’t allow herself to succumb to the anger or the anguish. He was a jerk, and he played her. Didn’t he admit to that in her office when he accused her of doing something wrong by not telling him about the quiz? He wanted a good grade, plain and simple. He didn’t want her. They’d had fun, and he thought he would get some teacher’s pet privileges out of the relationship. He’d pro
bably planned on ending things after the semester anyway. At least she saved herself a couple more weeks’ worth of attachment. True, those weeks could have been fun. But she would have ended up even more heartbroken than she currently felt. She’d face him again the following week at the final examination and then be done with him forever!
Chapter Four
Wade
Some screw-ups are bad, but a person can still apologize and move on. Some are life changing. Wade knew he’d made the latter kind the second the terrible words had left his mouth in Sylvie’s office. He hadn’t really been mad at her for not telling him about the surprise quiz. He’d agreed to keep their personal and professional lives separate from the beginning. By the time she took over the class, the semester was nearly done, way too late to change classes. The thought had crossed his mind as a way to make their situation easier. But he hadn’t been able to change and he’d acted out like a petulant child because he was mad at himself for not being better prepared. Sylvie couldn’t be held responsible for his own mistakes. But he’d still tried to make himself feel better by blaming her. The look on her face had killed him. But his stubbornness dug in and he refused to stop. Or apologize. And instead he stormed out of her office, shutting the door literally and figuratively on any chance of happiness he could have had with her.
When he’d started taking classes at the college, he’d told himself he wouldn’t get sidetracked by any of the pretty co-eds. He’d never even imagined he would meet a beautiful professor. And never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that someone so sweet, so beautiful, so smart would even notice him. But she had. And she liked him. He knew. She told him. They’d spent hours lying in bed, just talking. Well, not just talking. But in between making love and fooling around, they’d talked. Openly. Honestly. He’d shared things with her he hadn’t shared with anyone in his past. She hadn’t judged or teased him. She’d accepted him. More than that. She’d still wanted him.