Teacher's Pet Complete Series (12 page)

“He has. It’s a first.”

“That’s surprising.”

“It shouldn’t be.”

I reached to grab a napkin off the table. Dane slid his hand across the surface and covered my hand with his own. He looked in my eyes and said with sincerity, “If you ask me, he doesn’t deserve you.”

Dane’s hands were large and surprisingly rough for someone who grew up well taken care of and rich. He began to squeeze my hand, and I welcomed his touch. Maybe it was because I felt vulnerable, or perhaps it was just because I liked it. I didn’t know. His hands were warm, and blanketed mine. I felt protected, secured and feminine, but with that came a strong pang of guilt. We were talking about my relationship with his brother, and here I was allowing him to physically comfort me. I snatched my hand from his and held it close to my chest. “I think it’s time we get back. I have a full schedule today.”

Dane nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “All right.”

The barista sauntered by. She was a gorgeous woman with flawless, golden Middle Eastern skin. She was dressed in all black, with rounded, ample hips and light brown eyes that were trained on Dane. She smiled at him as she placed the bill on the table. Dane pulled out a wad of bills and peeled off at least four twenties. “Here you go.” He placed the money directly in her hand, with a business card nestled in between.

“Really?” I exclaimed. “You’re going to do that right in front of me? Like I’m not even here?”

“What?” He smirked. “I’m being friendly.”

I shook my head as we got up. The waitress was all smiles, like Dane had made her day and several other days yet to come. I bet she couldn’t wait to call the number he gave her. Once we got outside the café, I turned to him. “I can’t tell you how disrespectful that was, Dane Foster. Are you always this discourteous to the women you’re with?”

“Well, it’s not like we’re dating.” He fastened the buttons on his suit jacket. “And besides, did you see her? She was beautiful. Those breasts of hers were like perfection. I have a weakness for beautiful women, if you haven’t noticed—you being one of them, of course.”

“Ha! Keep the charm, Romeo, it’s really working out for you.”

“So is your sarcasm.”

“Thank you. I try.”

We drove back in silence, but our body language was deafening. I was leaning toward the window with my arms crossed over my chest, while Dane was driving with one hand, leaning his elbow on the armrest. He kept looking at me as if checking to see how I was doing. He gave me a smile that could melt a block of ice, or, in this case, a thoroughly irritated woman. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”

“It’s something that’s not lost on me, yes. But I’m still pretty popular with the ladies. Go figure.”

“Desperation is the reason. You shouldn’t be proud of corralling women with low moral standards. Anyone could do that.”

“But those are the best kind. They don’t put up much of a fight.” He rubbed his chin with his fingers.

“You’re disgusting.”

“I know, but we all have our crosses to bear. Don’t we?”

He looked at me, and I looked at him. Smiles stretched the widths of our faces. Damn, what was with these brothers and their charm? Did they, like, go to a special school or something?

“It’s hard to drive when I’m smiling so big. I was trying to see how long I could keep a straight face.” Dane wiped at his eyes so he could clearly see the road. I found myself liking him more than I should. It seemed there was a lot of that going around lately. Maybe I wasn’t ready for the new me, and all it entailed.

He dropped me off at school and spread his arms for a hug. I offered him my hand instead. Visions of me burying my nose in the crook of his neck were thoughts I didn’t need at the moment. Besides, I would never be able to patch things up with Simon if I started getting all touchy-feely with his brother. “It was nice meeting you, Dane.”

“Really? That’s all I get? You’re not going to give your future brother-in-law a hug? You know, with a slight twist of fate I could’ve been the one you met first, and it would be me in the position that Simon is now.”

“And what position is that? Last time I checked he was at the top of list of people I
should not
talk to. So, there’s no current position to be envious of that your brother or anyone could fill at this moment. But let’s just say—since you brought it up—that this position did exist. I’d be a fool to let Simon get next to me at this point, don’t you think? Considering how he treated me earlier.”

“Well, you know what they say? Fools rush in.”

I sighed. “Have a good day, Dane.” I turned and walked away.

“Oh, Lynn!” Dane shouted. “I almost forgot to ask!”

“What is it now?” I shouted over my shoulder.

“Has the golden boy started playing his little games with you yet?”

I spun around. “What games are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about. The games where he tells you what to do and you do it. I’d have warned you about it if I had the chance. But you seem like a smart girl—too smart to ever fall for something like that, right?” He winked. “I gotta go, but you’ll be seeing me around soon. I promise.”

Dane slipped in the driver’s seat of his car, revved it up and peeled out the parking lot. A cloud of smoke rose in the air, and he vanished behind it like a magician. I turned to make my way to my next class, but first I had to stop to change clothes. My feet were killing me, my skirt was too tight and my panties were far too wet for my comfort.

“I don’t know how you always manage to convince me to hop my massive butt on these crazy torture devices. The human body isn’t meant to withstand this level of pain.” Sweat was pouring down my face and into my eyes. I had gone through two towels already, not including the one I was holding. Bobbi was on my left barely breaking a sweat. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and she was makeup-less and plain, if you could ever call her that. Her knees were going up and down vigorously. She was taking the strenuous workout like it was nothing.

“If you could burn calories complaining you’d be as slim as a fitness model,” Bobbi said, wearing a black and yellow half-top and matching yoga pants that made her ass sit up like a bookshelf.

“If I could burn calories complaining I would’ve changed my major to politics.”

Bobbi reached over to the dashboard of my machine and increased the thing’s speed with her finger. I gave her my patented Lynn stare of death, but all she did was look at me and smile. The gym was usually busy after classes. It was packed with several athletes and casual enthusiasts like myself. We were both working out on a torture machine built like a small rotating flight of stairs. It was like climbing to the top of the world’s tallest building and back without taking a break.

“See, this is the part where you have to relax into your workout. If you fight it, your muscles tense up and it will only make it worse, so relax and breathe like me.” Bobbi took a deep breath. “In for two seconds and out for three seconds. It calms you right down.”

“Screw you Bobbi, this hurts!” I grabbed a towel and wiped my forehead again.

Bobbi chuckled. “Is that the best you can do, tell me to screw myself?”

“I’m too tired to be creative right now, and my mother used to say that curses were ugly words that only came out the mouths of ugly women.”

“Well, in that case,” Bobbi said, “we’re both as ugly as sin. Lynn, I’ve heard you go on tirades that would make a sailor blush.”

“Why are we having this conversation?” Sonja chimed in. She was also working out on a stair climber to my right, wearing something similar to Bobbi, but powder blue. Her hair was tied up in a long, thick braid, and she too was au naturel—without any makeup. “Where I come from there is a saying. Beauty is pain. We’re too young to be fat and flabby. I don’t see what all this complaining is about.”

“Why do Russians always come up with such harsh expressions about pain or death?” Bobbi scoffed. “It’s creepy.”

“I am not Russian,” Sonja retorted. “I’m Serbian, for the hundredth time.”

“Tomato tomahto.” Bobbi cut her eyes at me. “Why is this tramp even here?” she whispered.

Sonja muttered some words that I couldn’t understand, but I was pretty damn sure they were curses.

“I told you, Sonja and I are cool now.” I wiped my forehead with my towel. “I misjudged her and so did you, so cut her some slack.”

“Okay, fine, but you can’t expect me to just change my perception of someone overnight, considering all that you’ve told me. I need a minute.” Bobbi looked past me to address Sonja directly. “Sorry, girl. I’ll come around sooner or later.”

Sonja nodded, but I could tell she was upset.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to do about your job situation?” Bobbi asked. “I could front you some cash if you need it. I don’t know for how long, but it’s an offer.”

“You could always get a job as a juggler.” Sonja smiled. “The way you handle men these days, having one in your right hand and the other in your left. You already have plenty of experience.”

“What’s she talking about?” Bobbi asked.

“It’s nothing,” I replied, giving Sonja a stern look.

“Oh, it’s something,” Bobbi said.

“Damn it, Sonja,” I said under my breath.

“Lynn went out to breakfast with Professor Foster’s younger brother. I saw them in the parking lot, and the man was gorgeous with a capital G. He was like the cover of a romance novel: tall and muscular, with a sexy, wide chest and big, rounded shoulders… I bet he has a huge cock.”

“Stop it, Sonja,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“I bet it hangs like a fat baby’s arm between his legs.”

“Hey!”

“With its hand balled in a fist.”

“Sonja. Stop it!”

“Okay, okay… I’m just saying.”

“I get it already. Sheesh!”

Bobbi fell out laughing, of course. She lost her footing on the stair climber and fell on her butt going backwards. “You know,” Bobbi said, lying on her back, “I think I’m beginning to like this girl.” Bobbi sat up and wrapped her arms tight around her shins, bringing her knees up close to her chest. That was not what I had in mind when I’d hoped we could all be friends. I felt like they were ganging up on me. I already felt guilty enough for the whole Dane thing. “Seriously, though, all games aside, Lynn, I hope for your sake Sonja is wrong. You couldn’t handle a man that huge, especially when it’s only on your second time around. You’ll wind up in a hospital somewhere swearing off men forever.” She giggled.

“Correction,” Sonja interjected. “It would technically be her third time around.”

“Oh, great, just tell everything you know why don’t you?” I threw my hands in the air.

“I plan to,” Sonja replied, pushing the button to stop her machine. “Lynn and Simon had sex the other night… in our room.”

“What?” Bobbie shouted.

“Hey! Keep your voice down,” I cautioned.

“You did not do it with Professor Perv! Lynn, you told me all you did was make out. Tell me you didn’t have sex with him.”

I sighed. Thinking I should’ve told her everything from the start. “I did.”

“Wow.” Bobbi scratched her head. “I’m sorry, but that’s just mind-blowing. I guess I should’ve seen it coming, though. I mean, I knew you guys had had a minor intimate encounter, but I didn’t know you went that far. You made it sound like you were fantasizing about sex but it hadn’t happened yet.” Bobbie paused, probably thinking whether she should be pissed at me or not. “Well, was it good, at least?”

“I don’t want to talk about that. It’s over now, anyway, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Good. In that case, it would serve Simon right if you dated his younger brother. It sounds like he would be the better choice anyway. What’s his name?”

“Dane Foster.”

“Well, better Dane than Simon, if you ask me. I’m telling you, Professor Perv is bad news. What he did to you in class has already gotten around the school. You should never be his assistant again even if he wanted you to be. How would the students respect you after watching him berate you like that in front of them?”

“I don’t know.” I felt a sting of shame. I was still sore about the whole thing. I could tell the whole world it was over all I wanted, but deep down I still had feelings for him. I wasn’t ready to be so nonchalant about it yet. “I never thought about it that way. Let’s change the subject, okay? What’s done is done. I have to move on, and besides, he’s hired another assistant already—and before you say anything, just because there’s a new assistant it doesn’t mean that he’s involved with her.”

“Damn, Lynn, you are really that naïve, aren’t you?” Bobbi exclaimed. “Odds are he’s smacking her ass behind a desk somewhere, and you know it. I say if the brother is interested, you could at least see what he has to offer other than a big dick. But for your sake and sanity, we don’t have to talk about it anymore.” Bobbi sighed as I saw her look over my shoulder. “That might prove to be more difficult than we thought, though.”

Sonja also looked to her right.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because Simon’s coming in, and he’s not by himself.”

I turned my head toward the entrance door. Simon walked in with his chest out and his head held high, trailed by his new assistant Meghan Carmichael. Both of them were wearing workout gear. Simon was wearing basketball shorts and a plain white tank showing his broad, athletic chest that I remembered caressing and his well-defined arms that were wrapped around my body. Meghan was wearing green super-short shorts with her butt hanging out, and a matching mesh tank top. I hated them both immensely.

Bobbi looked at me with empathy in her eyes. “Maybe we should hit the showers. I’m sure you don’t want to see this.”

Simon and Meghan placed their towels on the bench by the free weights. He looked like he was there to train her, showing her proper form and the like. Every time she bent down, he was staring at her ass and resting his hand on the small of her back.