Educated

by Gray Gardner

  Now it was his turn to shift around under the table. His erection pressed against his tuxedo pants and he rolled his eyes at himself, feeling like a kid at his boarding school again. Had no one turned him on like this since his uncontrolled adolescence? It was unnerving.

  Mary frowned over at him, finally taking a deep breath as people began moving around them during more applause. When the band came back out she leapt to her feet. She actually thought she could have escaped through the crowd of people flowing past the table towards the bar if Nicole hadn’t have jumped out of her seat and taken it as a cue to leave.

  “We’ll come with you!” she grinned, grabbing at her date in the chair next to her.

  Dr. Frasier took a deep breath, made sure his jacket was fastened around his waist and strategically hung over the front of his pants, then stood and shook his head at Mary. She really thought she could get away? “This evening is far from over.”

  He heard her gulp as she clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at him with big blue eyes. Ooh, a guilty stance if he ever saw one. Maybe she’d even be repentant, too.

  “Um,” she began, turning her gaze downward as his parents stood and eyed them, his dad finally reining in his mother by holding her shoulder as she tried to walk over with a scowl on her face. “I, um, I have to go and get my books.”

  He looked pensive for a moment as he watched her rock from one foot to the other, eyes trained to the floor. Her books? What, did she think she’d get some studying done here? He glanced around in frustration and his eyes stopped at the author’s table.

  Oh shit. She wasn’t acting apologetic. She was embarrassed. He quickly realized that the other authors that evening had New York Times Best Sellers. New England Historical Society members wouldn’t be too impressed with a south Texan’s take on a controversial Civil War battle.

  Could this night turn out to be any more humiliating? First the indecent dress, then the furious matriarch to her asshole professor, and of course, her asshole professor and all of his issues. So to top it all off, she now had to tuck her tail between her legs and retrieve all of her unsigned, uninteresting books. How her editor had talked these people into promoting her book, she had no idea. She figured it might have a little to do with the fact that she wasn’t over 50 and was a woman, but it still didn’t diminish the two stacks of books underneath that stupid photo of her at the author’s table.

  She paused in surprise as Dr. Frasier reached over her and piled up the books in his arms. She was further surprised when his sister and her date asked if it was all right if they took a signed copy for themselves. She barely registered their conversation about Dr. Frasier’s book-in-progress as he casually held her coat out for her at the coat check and ushered the four of them outside. Could she wiggle away and grab a cab? Was his sister going to accompany them back to her house? With her date? Would they sit downstairs in her living room and wait while Dr. Frasier dragged her upstairs and over his knee like a kid?

  “Are you feeling all right? You looked flushed,” Nicole said as they stood underneath the large canopy by the curb in the chilly spring night.

  “She’s fine,” Dr. Frasier replied, hands casually in his pockets as he looked down at Mary in amusement.

  “Mom was really rude to her,” Nicole sighed, giving her a sympathetic look.

  “From the looks of it she held her own,” Liam laughed, as everyone else joined in.

  Mary gave a half grin as they talked about her and really wished she could just melt into the sidewalk. She had absolutely no clue where this evening was heading. When the black limo pulled up and Dr. Frasier instructed the driver to take them to his building she got a better idea.

  “I should really go home,” she tried to say confidently, hoping the close proximity of the other two people in the limo would surely make him see that he couldn’t do anything inappropriate to her. A kiss at the door would be fine if no one saw, but that was it. No, she wasn’t even sure she wanted that. He was enjoying her misery too damn much.

  The limo pulled up to a tall, modern, glass paneled building. She didn’t want to make a scene, which was why she suspected Dr. Frasier’s sister and date were also in attendance. They loaded onto the elevator and shuffled out on the 12th floor, entering apartment 1200 in the far corner of the hallway. She needed the slightest bit of coaxing to actually enter voluntarily, and luckily for her the other two didn’t seem to see or notice his not-so-friendly swat on the ass to shove her hips first inside his 3000 square foot condo.

  The large living area was surprisingly normal, with brown leather couches, a large flat panel television above a gray slate fireplace, hardwood floors, gray marble and white cabinets in a large kitchen, and a wet bar in the corner. Everyone immediately flocked to it.

  “So how’s my uglier half doing his first year teaching a graduate course?” Nicole asked, sipping her martini and clinking Liam’s glass as he leaned on the shiny wood countertop of the bar.

  Mary swallowed almost all of her scotch as she leaned against a padded barstool. Uglier half?

  “We’re twins,” Dr. Frasier sighed, sipping his scotch and watching her as he leaned on his elbows behind the bar.

  “Oh,” she brilliantly replied. Like she would have ever figured that out? She licked her lips and looked around at everyone, extremely intimidated but determined not to show it. She had a plan to sneak out when Nicole and Liam did. Assuming they wouldn’t get so hammered they’d have to stay the night. “Well, um, he, uh…”

  “Don’t put her on the spot like that,” Liam scolded, giving Nicole a look. “She’s had a rough night. And to top it all off we’ve dragged her back to one of her professors’ homes. Would you have ever gone to one of your law professors’ homes with his siblings and friends for a night cap?”

  Nicole rolled her eyes and bumped shoulders with him. “I guess not. But her silence tells me you aren’t as great as you think you are, bro,” she grinned, backing away as Liam shook his head and fought a grin as he looked at her in return.

  Dr. Frasier loved his sister, but she did have a big mouth. He kept his eyes focused on Mary as she rubbed her ear and tried to smile. He refilled her crystal glass. What was she thinking about? “Come on and spill it, Mary Madeline,” he said, smiling.

  “You two are incorrigible,” Liam sighed, shaking his head. “Maybe it’s time to separate you.”

  Mary perked up at that statement. She quickly downed the rest of her drink and looked up expectantly at Liam. He seemed to be her ally and best bet at an escape.

  “Yeah, I really should be going anyway,” she tried to say apologetically, walking towards the door.

  “Charmed another one right out the door,” Nicole threw over her shoulder, winking at her brother as she joined Mary in the small entryway.

  Liam came up from behind and placed Nicole’s coat on her shoulders, then turned his glance down to the uncomfortable grad student losing her battle with a twisted coat belt. “Can we give you a lift home?”

  “I’ve got a cab waiting downstairs,” Mary replied, abandoning the coat and pulling her phone out of her pocket. Thank God her friend Emily had taught her how to text without looking. She’d been able to glance down inconspicuously at her phone once and manage to order a taxi to her location.

  A hand rested on top of her shoulder and she tried not to react as she smiled up at Liam and Nicole. They seemed entirely oblivious to the fact that an Eastland professor had a student in his home. Maybe they just wanted to see him happy. Maybe they honestly didn’t care.

  “Uh, hold the elevator for me,” she huffed, turning to look back at Dr. Frasier. She was about to give him a victorious smirk and perhaps a few callous words but he, of course, immediately seized the upper hand again with his endless arrogance.

  “Pay the cabbie and tell him to go. I’ll be giving her a ride home,” he said, nodding as they shrugged nonchalantly and headed for the elevator.

  Wait a minute. That was not how this was supposed to g
o down. She took a step towards them but his hand grabbed her elbow, jerked her back inside, and the door briskly shut. About to completely lose it, she pressed her lips together and turned over her shoulder to object. Before she could even get one word out, his other hand swooped down from over his head and slapped against the silk stockings on her upper thigh.

  “Ow!” she growled, frowning back at him. Pain radiated off of her leg as she reached back to rub it away.

  “That was for trying to worm your way out of your impending punishment,” he said, raising a brow as he peered down at her. Yes, the cute angry face. He was back in business.

  Her leg tingled all the way up to her lacy underwear, but she managed to compose herself. “Well if you think I’m going to obediently sit here while you… ow!”

  He’d pulled her forward a little so she bent at the waist and his other hand connected with the small strip of flesh between her underwear and hose. His erection stirred at the sound of skin on skin and at the notion that she’d been wearing thigh highs all night under that short dress.

  “You’ve done an awful lot to deserve this spanking, Mary Madeline,” he rebuked, pulling her along behind him down a dark green hallway with white paneling. Her shoes clicked along the hardwood floor as she scurried to follow and not fall flat on her face.

  “Only in your twisted head!” she objected, tripping as he tugged her through a door and into what was obviously the master suite. His room. The far wall was floor to ceiling windows with a view of the city. The interior walls were painted navy. His furniture and the wood paneling were very dark and shiny. His bedspread was a dark cream color, a lot like hers. His bathroom had light marbling, just like hers. She swallowed as he released her arm and crossed his hands over his chest.

  “You called my mother a cunt in front of 500 people.”

  Wincing as she realized he had a major point, she turned her gaze to the wall with all of his signed and framed baseball cards. Then she made herself look back up at him with a shaky breath. “I… I’m sorry about that…”

  He cocked his head in deliberation and felt like she meant it. “You’ll feel better once you apologize to her,” he stated.

  Her mouth dropped open as her cheeks slightly flushed. “But… Dr. Frasier, you said yourself she was batshit crazy…”

  “You will apologize to her.”

  Frowning and looking down at the floor, she finally nodded. It was the polite thing to do, after all. Even if she was a batshit crazy cunt. “Okay.”

  “Excuse me?” he loudly asked.

  Her heart jumped at his curt response and she quickly replied, “Yes sir.”

  He rested his elbow against his arm that lay across his chest and rubbed his whiskers in thought. “You lied to me about having a date tonight and you lied by omission by not telling me you were being honored at a very prestigious historical society function. Why?” he asked, actually very curious. He couldn’t wait to gloat to his peers once he’d been published.

  Her cheeks flushed a brighter pink. “Because it’s embarrassing and… and I didn’t want you to know,” she quietly said, not able to meet his eyes. She figured the more truthful she was, the more likely she’d slip out of there unscathed.

  “Which brings me to the third offense,” he sighed, his stomach and everything below tightening as he stepped inches away from her and placed a hand at the small of her back, the other taking her chin and gently turning her face upwards. Her eyes made his breath catch in his throat every damn time he looked into them. “How can you possibly think I don’t like you? After everything, you think I don’t enjoy seeing your eyes look at me like they are right now, or feel your body shiver just the slightest bit when I get up close like this… or even listen to your adorable little insults?”

  “Hey,” she frowned, trying to take a step back but finding herself caught in his steely grip. “You say that you like being around me but… every time you actually get close, you back away from me like I have the plague and you look at me like I just kicked your dog. I’m getting the message, okay?”

  This time he was the one who stepped back, but he kept his hand at her waist. He couldn’t deny it. She scared him. The way he felt about her scared him. And she, being a very smart grad student, had totally picked up on it. But it was when she continued that he knew he had to go ahead and do something.

  “Look,” she said, barely above a whisper. “You’re bigger than me and stronger than me… so if you’re going to… s-spank me then go ahead so I can leave.”

  His hands suddenly grasped her silvery dress at the hips and he pulled her up against him, leaning his head down at an angle and pressing his lips against hers. She welcomed his tongue as she grabbed the sleeves of his tuxedo shirt in two tight fists, pulling the fabric against his lean biceps. He was totally confusing, but she didn’t care when he went in for a kiss. It was what she wanted, after all. Well, part of what she wanted, but she expected him to make her leave in the following five minutes so she was happy with what she got… a mouthful of musky, minty, man. And a hard erection against her stomach. Yep. All man.

  “Mary Madeline,” he said breathlessly against her lips. “I’m your professor.”

  “I know,” she replied, indicating that she understood what he meant with a long sigh. She kept her eyes closed as his lips brushed along her cheek. This was like, so forbidden. And so hot.

  “I don’t want you to feel forced into anything,” he said, kissing his way to her ear.

  “I know,” she repeated with a little more urgency as his hot, moist breath in her ear made her shiver.

  “And I certainly don’t want you to think you can’t leave at any time. You’re not a prisoner here. I want you to be comfortable here,” he whispered, licking down her neck.

  Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she bit her lip as she turned her face up to the ceiling. “Oh God, I know, okay? This is consensual,” she moaned, running her hands down to his waist and pulling him into her. Why was he being so hesitant?

  His breath hissed out of his clenched jaw as he visibly restrained himself and pulled his head back. “Then I want you to accept that when you step out of line I’m going to discipline you.”

  Her little strawberry blonde head stilled and he knew this was the turning point. She’d either cut and run or they’d be getting naked very soon. He was so into her and having so much fun with her that he didn’t want the dynamic to change. Relationships had never worked for him in the past. That’s why he was 35 and single. This was somehow working, though. They hadn’t lost interest in each other. They were fiercely attracted to one another. And he’d never hurt her. He knew she’d been turned on just as much as he had, only she refused to admit it… or accept it.

  “Hold on,” she ordered, holding up a finger to him and pushing back out of his reach. The only light in the room came from the spotlighting on the walls. Otherwise it was pretty dark and she was glad for it, considering what she was about to say. “You want me to… let you… and without a fight?”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that,” he sighed, leaning casually against a thick bedpost at the end of his bed. He calmly pulled on his black bow tie, letting it hang around his collar as he undid the top button.

  Mary squinted her eyes and took another step back. “Yes you did. Now you’re just being mean,” she frowned, wanting to just rip the rest of the buttons and covers off of that shirt.

  He smiled a dazzling smile and gave in. He figured he’d be giving in a lot when it came to her. “No, Mary Madeline, I certainly expect you to dispute me anytime I give you a spanking. And I welcome it. You’re much cuter when you put up a struggle.”

  Her eyes narrowed even more, if possible, as her mouth dropped open. “Is this funny to you?” she snapped, clenching her fists at her sides. She completely ignored her pink cheeks as she decided when would be the best moment to punch him in the mouth.

  “It’s just the truth. Plain and simple.”

  “Trust me, Dr.
Frasier, there is nothing simple about what’s going on between us. If I’m hearing you correctly, you won’t do me until I tell you it’s okay to hit me. That’s fucked up.”

  He suddenly pushed away from the bed and backed her into the navy wall with a thud, caging her in with his strong arms and hands pressed firmly into the wall. He leaned his head down to speak directly into her ear. “I’ll fuck you up and down and all over that tight little body. All I seem to think about lately is the sound my hand makes when it smacks your pretty little ass, the color your gorgeous skin turns at such little contact, the fact that I’ve licked the inside of your mouth when I really want to lick you everywhere else, inside and out. What have you been thinking about?”

  Adrenaline tore through her body and her muscles clenched relentlessly. She was hot and wet and all he’d done was softly speak, like, three sentences into her ear. His breath continued to blow down her neck and she suddenly felt a barely familiar tingling building up in her belly.

  Holy shit. She was going to have an orgasm.

  Chapter 10

  Dr. Frasier looked down as she clasped his collar and buried her face in his chest, pulling him into her and breathing heavily. Whoa. She was turned on, so much so that she was starting to lose control. He was about to smile and pat himself on the back when she absolutely floored him as she spoke desperately into his shirt.

  “Keep talking, please keep talking,” she moaned, squeezing her eyes shut as her heart began to race. “I’m going to come.”

  “What?” he asked, taken by surprise as he took his hands off the wall and placed them on her hips. His erection grew harder and thicker, if that was even possible.

  “Don’t stop, Mait. Tell me what you’re going to do to me. Please. Please make me come,” she begged, not feeling self-conscious at all by asking for this one little thing. The feel of his warm, wet breath and the sound of his vibrating voice against her neck and ear would have gotten her close, but the actual words he was speaking would push her over the edge. He just needed to find his balls and keep going.