Bad Teacher

Mom: Good. You work hard, honey.

Me: Thanks, Mom.

Mom: xx

Smiling, I put the phone down and open the door. Right then, Pepper steals my wet panties, snagging them from the floor, and dashes off.

“No! Pepper, wait!” I yell as she rushes into the living room with my panties firmly jammed in her jaws.

I stumble after her, catching her … not in time.

Because TJ is standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand, gazing at the dog in my hands and the piece of fabric stuck between her teeth.

He bursts out into laughter at the sight of me rolling on the carpet with a dog. “I’m sorry, but that’s the funniest shit I’ve seen in days.”

Clutching the dog, I frown at him. “Are you drinking coffee?”

“Yeah, made myself a cup. Want one too?”

“Seriously?” I ask, crawling up from the floor. “Do you always snoop through people’s kitchen?”

He shrugs. “Well, since we were already partly going to second base, I thought I might as well make myself at home.”

I almost choke on my breath. “Second base?”

“You know I saw you staring at my chest, right? That constitutes eye-fucking.”

“I was not staring. And Jesus, eye-fucking? No. Letting my eyes roam free? Maybe. That’s a whole different thing.”

“Semantics.”

“Uh, no,” I say, trying to lie my way through this.

“Right …” He slurps again and then zooms in on the dog in my arms. “Is that …?”

Shit. I forgot.

I snatch the panties out of her mouth and hide them behind my back. “Paper.”

“Paper …” he repeats, raising a brow as he slurps on his coffee. “Odd.”

I turn around and saunter back into the bedroom, pretending nothing happened, but his words make me cringe.

“I could swear I saw some lace … from, you know, something that looks like panties.”

I throw them on my bed and quickly shut the door. “You saw nothing,” I say.

The irrevocable smirk on his face is infuriating. “Right.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because you just keep pretending nothing’s happening even when there is.”

“It’s called management. You should know that, considering your job function.”

“No, it’s called avoiding.” He takes another sip of his coffee. “And I do none of that, especially when it comes to you.”

Fuck. That comment really makes my pussy clench, but I won’t let myself be caught off guard by my own damn horniness. Definitely not with him.

He’s my boss, for crying out loud.

Things should be … professional between us.

I raise my brow at him drinking his coffee like nobody’s business. “Want one too?” he asks after a while.

“Well, since you’re offering so nicely … why yes, thank you,” I say with a sarcastic smile, which makes him smile back even harder.

“I’ll make you some.”

“From my own machine. In my own house,” I say with a snarky voice.

“Semantics, Lesley!” he calls out from the kitchen, making me roll my eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up. We’ve got work to do.”

“You keep forgetting I’m the boss.”

I sigh. “I wish, but you keep reminding me.”

“And for good reason because you’re more of a pepper than the dog.”

I snigger a little but not too loud because I don’t want to give him any more reason to be a total arrogant douche.

I tap my foot, and Pepper begins playing with it, which is kind of cute. I admit I was pissed when she stole my panties because it was embarrassing, but now that I think of it, she is kind of funny. A little bit.

“Already falling in love now?” TJ’s suddenly in the room with a cup of coffee, and I stop tapping my foot entirely.

“No,” I say, walking to the table where he set it down. “I’m just entertaining her.”

“Ha … good one.” The left side of his lips quirk up. “You’ll make a fine marketer. Already an expert at the lying part.”

“I’m not a liar,” I say. “I just know how to use my words.” I pick up the coffee and take a sip. Holy shit, what a kick. Damn. If he makes coffee like this all the time, I’d rather drink his. I could have his stuff in my mouth all day long and still be thirsty.

That sounded dirty even though I didn’t mean it that way.

Maybe I did.

“Same thing, Lesley,” he muses. “But now that you work for me, your words had better be useful to me.”

I nod, casually looking off into the distance as I sip my coffee.

It’s quiet for a few seconds as we both finish our coffee while Pepper is staring up at us, waiting for another walk.

“I like your dress,” TJ suddenly says, and he gets up from the chair, grabs the cups, and carries them back to the kitchen.

I don’t know what to say because it’s such a random thing. A sudden compliment out of the blue. And he just walks away like it’s no big deal. “Um … thanks,” I mumble. I’m so great with words.