Bad Teacher
“Work can wait. We don’t want anyone to notice what we did, right?”
“But what about the dogs?” I ask.
“They’re at the doggy daycare, remember?” he says, and I do remember. “They’ll be taken care of.”
“Right,” I reply, still not thinking straight.
“You can get cleaned up at my place.”
“How? I don’t have any spare clothes on me.”
“You can borrow some of mine. Now c’mon,” he says.
All of a sudden, we’re out on the street. Right around the back of the building in some small alley. Like a secret route no one knows about. Except him.
I giggle.
“Why are you laughing?” he asks.
“Oh, nothing. It just reminds me of college.”
“What?”
“Sneaking out like this.”
He smiles. “You did that often?”
“Oh yeah … my best friend, Hailey, and I would sometimes skip classes and sneak out to the back, hoping no one would find us. We’d smoke and discuss boys and stuff.”
“You smoked?” He snorts. “Lesley Fischer, smoking?”
I shove him a little. “Shut up; I’m not some stuck-up ditz everybody thinks I am.”
“No, you’re one of the coolest girls I’ve known.”
I hear the words, but they don’t really register. Did he actually just say that?
I don’t know how to respond. I feel flattered. No one just says that to you. Unless they mean it, of course.
“Thanks,” I reply after an awkward silence passed.
“Don’t mention it.” He clears his throat.
Is this a moment? Like the ones everyone talks about when they first meet the person they plan to spend the rest of their life with?
Or is my imagination running wild again? It probably is. Even though for a second there, I swear I thought about kissing him again.
He looks down at me and says, “Tell me more.”
“About what?” I ask.
“Anything.”
“Oh …” Now I’m starting to blush again. “Well, back when I was still in college, we used to go to this ice-cream shop too, like all the time. It’s Hailey’s favorite food.”
“But not yours?”
“I like ice cream,” I say. “But macaroons are to die for.”
He laughs, and the sound is so damn sexy, it makes me grin stupidly. “Macaroons? Like the French stuff?”
“Yeah.” He laughs again, so I ask, “What?”
“Oh, I just never pegged you to be that kind of girl.”
“What kind of girl?” I narrow my eyes.
He bites his lip. “You know … someone who likes all that fancy-shmancy food.”
“Fancy? Macaroons aren’t just fancy. They’re godly.”
He snickers. “I’ll remember that.”
I grin. “Why?”
“No reason.” He shrugs coyly. “We should go,” he says. “People could see us here.”
“Yeah.” There goes the moment again. Ruined by broad daylight and a dirty top. “How far is it?” I ask, looking at all the people walking down the street.
“Not far. Follow me,” he says, and we cross the street.
He’s right, though. We’ve only walked for about ten minutes before he stops in front of a building and goes through the doors. For some reason, it feels familiar, but I ignore the feeling because I don’t wanna lose sight of TJ, so I follow him inside. It’s a luxurious hallway with a security guard overseeing the elevator in the back.
“Welcome back, Mr. Morrows,” the guard says.
“Just going up for a quick change,” TJ says.
“Of course.” The guard smiles as TJ grabs my hand again and pulls me into the elevator, pressing the button to go up all the way to the top.
But for some reason, I’m not bothered by any of the expensive looking furniture and design in this building. I can only focus on the fact that his warm hand wraps firmly around mine, sending tingles up my spine.
“So this is where you live, huh?” I muse, trying to break the ice because it’s so damn quiet. That, and for some reason, this all feels so strange. Like something’s not quite right.
“Yup,” he mumbles, smiling softly when I glance at him.
However, the longer I stare, the less I can take my eyes off him.
He’s just so damn sexy … and … sweet too.
And before I know it, he grabs my face, shoves me against the elevator wall, and kisses me hard.
His kiss is passionate. As in an “I can’t get enough of you” way. Like he wants to kiss me forever … and I wouldn’t even mind.
Fuck. I’m really starting to fall hard.
I love the way he nibbles on my lip so gently between kisses, savoring each one of them with a tempting, boyish smile. It’s one of those grins that makes your heart flutter and your body numb.
I can feel the desire bubble up again as his lips roam my skin, pressing kisses against my neck and below my ear. I wrap my arms around his neck with the tulip still firmly clenched between my fingers, wishing he wouldn’t ever stop.
But then the elevator makes a sound and the doors open … and he pulls away from me just like that. Like he wasn’t ever touching me in the first place. As if I made it all up, he clears his throat and walks out.