The Professor's Secret

by Robyn Rychards

He was so nice to her, holding her all night while she slept. And it was certainly her fault he started kissing her. Men woke up turned on. Who knew? And she encouraged him to act on it. The least she could do was try to make it right. Please don’t let him lose tenure because of me. She chewed the inside of her lip at the thought.

  “Dani, no…” He swiped a hand down his face and tried to disentangle himself from her. She resisted and it was all it took for him to give up.

  “Shane, please. He needs to know you’re an honorable man and it’s my fault you’re even in this position.” She turned towards the man in the doorway. “Professor Edwards, you must know, Shane would never take advantage of a student. If anything, I’m the one that pursued him. I’m not in any of his classes and in a couple weeks, I graduate. We haven’t even, you know, done the deed.” She tried not to look as embarrassed as saying it made her feel. In the end, it was a small price to pay. The professor had a lot to lose and she couldn’t live with herself if she was the reason for it. “I hope what you saw here doesn’t go any further than this room. Certainly Shane can’t be faulted for getting a little frisky with his fiancée. We stopped by on our way to breakfast, to pick up some papers he left here yesterday. Don’t you think if he wanted more from me than a little fun on the couch, we would’ve gone elsewhere?”

  Shane was rigid as a board next to her and it made her stomach give a nervous flip. Maybe she should’ve kept her mouth shut. But with any other explanation, he had no hope of getting tenure. At least, if she pretended they were engaged, it could still happen.

  “Dani, that’s enough. I can handle it myself. Jack, what did you need?”

  “I wanted to discuss some changes for next semester, but now is probably not a good time. I’ll stop by Monday.”

  He nodded his head once. “I’ll plan on it. I hope, Jack, what you saw here won’t go any further, but I expect you’ll do what you think you must.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll see you Monday.”

  After the door closed behind him, the professor shook her off his arm and started pacing the room. The look on his face was rather intimidating. Much like the one she’d seen earlier. Scary professor face. Not good.

  “Shane—”

  He glared at her and the words died on her lips. She was afraid she might throw up. Not that there was anything in her stomach to throw up. This whole mess was her fault. If she hadn’t been so upset at the library, if she hadn’t missed her bus, he never would’ve spoken to her in the first place and they wouldn’t be here now. His career wouldn’t be at risk.

  He grabbed his bag off his desk.

  “C’mon. Let’s get out of here before things get worse.”

  She gathered up her belongings and slung her bag over her shoulder, while he pulled the door open and held it for her. After she exited, he locked it behind them and took off down the hall at a speed she had a hard time keeping up with. Eventually she quit trying. There was no need for him to give her a ride anywhere now. It was daylight. She could go to the bus station and wait for the bus to take her home. Not that she had any desire to go home. Depression descended. She hated being alone. Especially now.

  Dani exited the building and rather than trail after him—what was the point?—she walked across campus and headed to the bus station. As she wandered into the Farmer’s Market held every Saturday in downtown Boulder, not far from the station, her hunger made itself known and refused to be ignored. The fruit looked delicious and she purchased a variety, immediately popping fragrant, juicy strawberries into her mouth as she continued the remaining two blocks to the station.

  She cringed at the thought of going home. Alone. Forever. It didn’t change the fact it had to be done. There were so many things to take care of and she needed to grow up and do it. Though, somehow, having spent the night with Shane made the task seem less overwhelming. Or maybe it was merely because she’d slept and had something to eat. No. The comfort of his arms had soothed her soul. Eased its ache and made her feel less alone. At the time anyway. At the moment, she felt even more alone. If only he could stay in her life. She shook her head at herself. What a silly thought. Someone like him would never look at a woman her age. It was pure chance they’d spent any time together at all. Professor Hunk fell in the realm of unattainable fantasy. But, oh my, what a delicious fantasy. She’d had more than a few about him over the years. Which was the reason she encouraged their make-out session this morning. Well, that and the way she felt being near him. She wrapped her arms around her waist. My God, she’d slept in his arms. In his office. It was beyond any of her fantasies since she first laid eyes on him.

  She relaxed her arms and touched a finger to her mouth. Even now she could feel his lips on hers, his tongue in her mouth. The only thing she wanted more than her parents alive in that moment, was to spend more time with Shane. Actually, she couldn’t imagine a time when she’d stop wanting to be with him. Dropping his class after only one semester was the hardest thing she’d done up until yesterday. She finally admitted the reason it had been so difficult wasn’t because it made no sense for her to devote time to art when she had no talent for it. It was not having Shane as her teacher.

  She put her hands on her cheeks as she remembered how she stalked him that second semester. What a foolish teenager she’d been. Learning the places he liked to hang out around campus. Making sure she walked by the art buildings on her way to class regardless of the extra time it took to get where she needed to be. Studying on the lawn by those same buildings whenever the weather permitted. Merely because she hoped to get a glimpse of him. Hoped he’d notice her in some way.

  Well, he’d noticed her now. And she knew why he never looked twice at her before. His career was number one. Screwing up his chances to get ahead in his career was not the way she wanted to get his attention.

  She buried her face in her hands and stifled her annoyance when someone sat next to her. The bus station was practically empty. There were any number of seats to choose from and this person picked the one next to her? She scooted sideways a little to protect her personal space.

  “Dani, let me give you a ride home. I hate to think of you by yourself right now. Is there no one you can stay with, or have stay with you, for a while?”

  Surprised, she looked at him. Why was he being so nice? “Not anyone I’d feel comfortable with.” She shook her head. “I’ve messed things up enough for you, Professor. I don’t want to make it worse. I’ll be fine. I’m sure you have better things to do on a Saturday than babysit me.”

  He picked up her hand and she didn’t have the strength to fight it. It felt so good. So right. She wrapped her fingers around his, wishing she could hold onto him forever. No other male aroused such desires by merely holding her hand. And she’d tried, desperately, to find someone who appealed to her as much as he did. Well, except for Robert, in her junior year. C.U.’s star quarterback. Until she found out his interest in her was because of a bet to see which member of the football team could catch the eye of the girl who’d never been interested in anyone.

  “People are more important than anything, Dani. Let me help you since it seems you have no one else. After all, we’re engaged, aren’t we?” He gave her a half smile, a teasing light in his eyes. She couldn’t resist smiling back. “Let’s go to my house, I’ll change and get us something to eat. Then I’ll take you home and we can start dealing with what has to be done.”

  She nodded and tightened her grip on his hand. She certainly didn’t want to do this alone and the fact he wanted to be there for her was almost too hard to believe. If she let go of his hand, it might all disappear. “Where do you live?”

  “Just a few blocks from here, on Maxwell Street. I’m parked at the gas station across the way. Let’s go before my car gets towed.”

  She laughed lightly as they stood up. “What’s gotten into you in the last twenty-four hours professor? You’ve been taking a lot of risks.”

  “You, I do believe, Dani. You.”

&
nbsp; “Now I’m a little worried.” She liked it nonetheless.

  “Don’t be. It’s a good thing. Like I said, people are important. You’ve reminded me of it and I needed the reminding. I can become obsessed with art sometimes and while it isn’t a bad thing in itself, I was well on my way to turning it into one.”

  “I guess we all need a reality check from time to time. So, I’m glad something good has come from it.”

  They came to a stop at the street corner, waiting for the light to change so they could cross. He looked down at her in silence for a moment, then let go of her hand, cupped her cheeks in his hands and captured her lips in a searing kiss. Her heart flipped and her knees weakened. She grabbed his shirt, bunching it in her fists to keep from falling to the ground. What had come over him? He was kissing her on a street corner in broad daylight for all to see.

  She was still reeling when he ended the kiss and started pulling her by the hand across the street. “There’s chemistry between us Dani and although we’ve discovered it at the worst possible time for both of us, I’m not going to let the opportunity slip away because of that. So, for now, let’s take care of what needs to be taken care of. Then we’ll see what happens with us.”

  He came to a halt at a black vintage Porsche 356 and opened the door for her. Damn, he had a nice car. She wondered if she was dreaming. Professor Hunk was giving her a ride in a fantastic sports car and he told her he felt chemistry with her. Things weren’t all bad right now.