Waiting for Love ((Waiting) Book 2)

by Stanton, Dawn

  Hailey is the only female relationship that I’ve given a chance to grow, but she’s very similar to me in that respect. Her other best friend Marcus and she have known each other pretty much their entire lives. He goes to school in California on a full football scholarship. He was supposed to come to Beacon with us and when Hailey found out he wasn’t, she was heartbroken. They still keep in touch and see each other during the summer months on the Cape, but the long distance put the kibosh on any romance that may have finally been brewing between them.

  As I’m walking down the sidewalk toward Creedon Hall, the building where my creative writing class is held, I see Jeff getting out of his truck. I pause at the bottom of the stairs and wait for him to catch up.

  “Hey, Jeff.” I smile as I say his name.

  “Good morning Shelby. I’m glad you made it on time today.” He winks at me before opening the door. He holds it open for me and gestures with his hand for me to go first.

  “Thanks,” I reply as I walk through. I appreciate it when a guy has good manners like Jeff does. He’s got a lot of great qualities about him and will make some girl very happy. It just won’t be me. Sometimes when we’re together, I wish that he and I could be a couple, but it would never work. We’re way too much alike.

  We continue along the hallway until we reach the same classroom we were in just two days prior. Jeff opens the door and as we walk through, I notice that today there are plenty of vacant seats. We make our way across the room toward a table by the windows. He has his hand on my back as we’re negotiating our way in a single file formation through the rows. I place my stuff down at the seat furthest from the window and let him have the one next to it. Once I’m seated, I find myself glancing up to see what Professor Hanlon is doing. He’s staring at me and his gaze is so predatory my body is physically reacting to it. There’s a flutter of arousal burning in my core as I clench my thighs together under the table. We haven’t even touched yet and there’s something passing between us, an awareness, an attraction, whatever name you want to label it with…it’s powerful. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to any man before and it’s intimidating and confusing. Guys don’t usually make me uncomfortable or unsure of myself and I don’t like being in this situation at all. I’m going to have to make sure I keep my distance from Professor Hanlon. A guy like him probably wouldn’t be interested in someone like me anyway. I’m sure he’s attracted to the model type and someone closer to his own age. It really doesn't matter, though, because I never plan to find out.

  ***

  We’re two weeks into the semester and it was much less of a struggle for me to wake up on time today. I’m not really a morning person, but I am a creature of habit. Once I settle in and get used to my new schedule, it’s smooth sailing for me. I’m running early enough this morning to grab a cup of coffee at the kiosk on campus. The line is long and it has me rethinking my decision. I glance down at my watch and notice that I still have fifteen minutes until my creative writing class begins; plenty of time to satisfy my caffeine craving. As I wait to place my order, I become aware of someone standing behind me. In my periphery, I notice it’s a male and he clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of personal space. His chest has brushed against my back, at least, three times and I can feel the warmth of his breath on the bare skin of my neck as he exhales. I want to turn around and tell him to back off, but instead, I grit my teeth and convince myself to ignore him. I move forward as much as I can without crowding the person in front of me and I get a brief moments peace before he’s brushing against me. Only, this time, he doesn’t stop with a simple touch...this time, he remains there, pressed along my backside. His body is giving off a massive amount of heat and yet I inexplicably break out with goosebumps all along my arms. The customer in front of me steps forward to place their order and I breathe a sigh of relief as I place some space between the stranger and myself.

  “Good morning Miss Tyler.” I jump a bit from the unexpected voice whispering huskily in my ear. It may only be the second week of class, but already I recognize that voice and it belongs to Professor Hanlon. Shit. I stiffly shift my stance and pivot to face him, my back poker straight. His eyes slowly skate over my form, lingering on my chest, before raising back up to meet my stare. As our eyes connect I swear the hair on my arms stands on end and I’m fighting the insane urge I have to kiss his delectable lips. He leans forward, moving slowly toward my mouth and just as it seems like our lips will connect he shifts to the side. His lips make contact with the lobe of my ear as he whispers.

  “It’s your turn now.” It takes me a moment to grasp the meaning behind what he said and I’m embarrassed that he could clearly see the effect that he has on me. I place my order, throw the money down on the counter, grab my coffee and quickly make my escape.

  ***

  My mind wanders as I’m sitting here in the standard chairs the university provides for every classroom. They must choose the least comfortable ones they can to discourage sleeping. It’s hard to believe we’re already nearing the latter part of September. Hailey and I have barely had a moment to do anything other than school work and we’ve decided that we’re making time for fun this coming weekend, no matter what.

  It seems like most of the girls signed up for this class to stare at Professor Hanlon. Now that his lecture is over there’s a whole lot of giggling and whispering going on in the rows of seats behind me and it’s both distracting and annoying. I actually need the credits from this class for my English major. Academics have always been important to me and I always make studying and getting my work done a priority. Speaking of doing well in all my classes, since I’m sitting with Jeff right now, there’s no time like the present to ask him for his assistance with my math classwork. I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to fall behind and if I don’t get some help, it will be too late. I lean over so our shoulders are touching and glance at Professor Hanlon to make sure he isn’t looking. There are lots of whispers going on throughout the different sections of the class so I don’t see how it could be a problem as long as I’m quiet.

  “Hey, can you help me with my math homework sometime soon?” Jeff looks over at me and nods his head, licking his bottom lip.

  “When are you available to come over?” He asks me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

  “Why does is it have to be at your apartment? Why can’t we meet at the library or for coffee?” I ask and nudge him with my elbow. He leans in closer, putting his lips against the shell of my right ear.

  “I’m going to tutor you in math and then I’m going to tutor you in the language of love.” I can’t help the giggle that escapes from my mouth. I throw my hand over my lips to keep the rest of them in and I use my other hand to smack him on his arm.

  “You are so freaking cheesy, it’s painful,” I whisper at him from behind my hand. “How did I know you would try to barter sex for helping me?” I shake my head in feigned disgust as I hear Professor Hanlon address the class one last time.

  “You guys can go now. I want to see your poems on Friday and I want to feel your emotions when I read them.” A collective groan goes up over the hellish homework assignment. Poetry is not my strong suit that’s for sure.

  I’m putting my notebook and pen away when I hear Professor Hanlon call my name.

  “Shelby, I’d like a word with you, please.” I roll my eyes and finish zipping my bag and mutter fuck under my breath.

  “You wanna grab coffee as soon as you’re done here? We can compare schedules and figure out what will work best for tutoring times.” Jeff pauses as he waits for my answer.

  “Shelby, I don’t have all day, a word, please.” I grit my teeth and tell myself over and over again to calm down when what I really want to do is to tell him to fuck off.

  “Go get coffee and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I put my bag on my shoulder and smile at Jeff. He flashes me a quick wink as he walks away. The classroom is now completely empty except for the professor an
d me. I make my way to the front of the room, stopping just shy of his desk. I stand there waiting for him to begin talking and he rudely ingnores me as he continues writing on some piece of paper. Screw this, this is bullshit. I’m about to turn and walk away when he finally begins to talk.

  “Shelby, if you keep being disruptive in class, we’re going to have a serious problem.” My mouth falls open with a gasp of outrage. What the hell is he talking about? I cross both my arms over my chest before I begin to speak.

  “You clearly must have me confused with someone else. I wasn’t the least bit disruptive in your class or any other class, for that matter.”

  “I know what I heard and it would be in your best interest to stop the incessant chatting with Mr. Walsh and focus on your work.” I can’t believe this asshole.

  “Wow, you are delusional as well as obnoxious. I didn’t address Jeff at all until the very end of class when everyone else was talking. But I guess you didn’t bother to pay attention to all the giggling and whispering that was going on in the peanut gallery. Instead, you’re going to single me out? Yeah, I don’t think so…nice try, though.” I don’t usually speak so disrespectfully to my professors; I find the words flying out of my mouth before I can stop them. He’s such a dick, I can’t seem to help myself.

  I turn my back on him to walk away but before I take a single step, he’s out of his chair and around the front of his desk. He grips my wrist and pulls me back, spinning me around to face him. Both of his hands are gripping my upper arms and even though he’s standing toe to toe with me I have to look up in order to make eye contact. He towers over my five-foot-five-inch frame and the wide breadth of his chest is impressive. I want to place both of my palms on it and slide them slowly down over his stomach, exploring every single defined abdominal muscle. My fantasy of having my hands on him is interrupted when he opens his mouth and more of his assholishness comes out.

  “I won’t tolerate being insulted by you in my own classroom.” He grits his teeth as he finishes.

  “What about outside of your classroom? Is it okay for me to insult you then?” I just couldn’t help myself. He opened the door and I had to go there. I rarely miss an opportunity to use sarcasm, even when I find the person attractive.

  He looks kind of angry now and I’m rethinking the answer I gave him. It probably wasn’t the best idea. It was a little like poking an angry bear. He squeezes my arms tightly, almost to the point of pain and unexpectedly pulls me tightly against the front of his body, before closing his lips over mine. I gasp with surprise giving him an opportunity to slide his tongue in to tangle sensually with mine. His hands move from my arms and he tightly clenches his fingers in the sides of my hair, holding my head in place as he continues roughly devouring my mouth. I’ve never been kissed so hungrily before. Every nerve ending in my body feels sensitized and I’m hyper aware of all the places our bodies are touching. His kiss has destroyed my self-control and now I’m shamelessly wiggling my hips against him. I tease his tongue with mine and bite his bottom lip to see if it’s as plush as it looks. When I discover it is, I continue to nibble on it until I somehow regain enough self-control to pull my mouth from his. I turn around and in my haste to get away, I almost fall over as I run out of the classroom. What the fuck just happened?

  The more distance I put between the two of us, the better I feel and by the time I make it outside of the building my composure is somewhat restored. Once I’m on the sidewalk, I pause and take a deep breath of the fresh September air. The caress of a gentle breeze washes along my overheated skin as I start to navigate my way along the heavily cracked sidewalk. I’m moving toward the coffee café where Jeff is waiting for me and as I walk, I’m replaying what just occurred with Professor Hanlon on a continuous loop in my mind. I can’t even fathom what just transpired. It seems surreal and dreamlike certainly not based in any reality I’ve ever known. How did that even happen? I press my palms to my heated cheeks and hope that my face isn’t still flushed with desire.

  My lips are tingling from their contact with his. I’ve never been kissed like that in my entire life and I’ve kissed more than a few guys. My whole body is trembling from the after effects and it makes me feel out of control and panicky. As much as I enjoyed his lips on mine, I have to make sure that never happens again. I’m not ready for someone like Professor Hanlon. He’s way out of my league and I want no part of him.

  When I get to the little café we prefer, Jeff is waiting at a table with a coffee for me.

  “Hey, thanks for getting this.” I gesture to the cup as I sit down in the chair across from him. I place my bag on a vacant seat next to me, before taking my first sip. I’ve started to settle down now that I’m sitting here with him and I can finally relax.

  “So what did Professor Hanlon want?” He asks, with a quirk of his brow. Maybe I can’t relax after all.

  “He got after me for being disruptive when I was talking with you.” I take another sip of my coffee and hope this part of our conversation will be over shortly.

  “Seriously?” He asks, disbelief evident, in his tone.

  “Yep,” I say, popping my p, “I’m completely serious. I kind of went off on him a bit. I hope I don’t get in trouble, but I don’t think he’ll want to file any disciplinary action over it.” After the kiss he gave me, what could he possibly do without fear that I would retaliate and report him?

  “So let’s figure out a time that works for you to help me with my math. I’m desperate. There’s no way I’ll pass this class without your assistance. My brain is only wired for simple addition and subtraction, anything beyond that and I’m hopeless.”

  Chapter Three

  Fall is my favorite season and now that it’s officially here I can look forward to all the fun activities it brings, like apple picking. Hailey, Jeff, his roommate Lee and I are meeting her brother Jake and some other friends at our favorite apple orchard. We’ve been going to the same one for years now. It’s about a forty-five-minute ride from Boston and since I have the newest and most comfortable vehicle to ride in, I offered to drive the four of us. Most of our trip involves traveling on the highway and the uninterrupted panorama of the fall foliage is exquisite. I should’ve had Jeff drive so I could really enjoy the scenery. I may have to ask him to on the way back so I can take in the colorful trees while it’s still peak foliage viewing season.

  Our ride there passes quickly and before I know it, I’m pulling my vehicle into an empty space. The area provided for parking is in a large, grassy field and sometimes it can be a muddy mess. It’s been fairly dry weather lately so the ground appears to be nice and solid. I have on my oldest pair of sneakers and some worn jeans because I know I’ll get dirty at some point. The weather is in the high sixties so I’m wearing a black, short sleeve Beacon University tee shirt. My hair is in a messy bun on top of my head so it won’t annoy me and I have my favorite pair of aviator sunglasses shading my eyes from the relentless glare of the midday sun.

  We decide to wait for Jake and his friends in the bakery that’s attached to the orchard’s gift shop. Jeff and Lee purchase apple cider and some apple cider donuts for us to enjoy while we’re killing time. The cold cider is the perfect complement to the donuts that are freshly made and still warm from the oven. The sugar and cinnamon that they sprinkle all over them leaves a sticky residue that I have to lick off my fingers. Everything is made here at the orchard café and it tastes so delicious that before we head home, I plan to purchase some more to bring with us. We can have some cider and donuts for breakfast this week. It will be a nice change from the granola bars I usually grab on my way out the door.

  “They’re here,” Hailey announces as she reads a new text on her phone. We collect our trash from the table and throw it in the rubbish on our way out of the bakery. We meet Jake and his roommates Cory, Brian and Tom in the line for apple picking. Hailey rolls her eyes when she notices that Cory’s with them. The two of them have some horrible history between them so they don’t
interact at all. I should say, Hailey doesn’t have anything to do with him, even though he tries to talk to her from time to time. I can’t say I blame her since she’s the one that was wronged and he never even apologized for it. That was over two years ago, so he’s had ample opportunity to try to make amends and yet...he hasn’t. At this point we’re so used to her ignoring him, it’s not even awkward anymore. It is what it is and we all just accept that this is the way it will be when they’re in the same location.