CHAPTER 2

Liam

I was entering my tenth year teaching after working with friends at school tutoring and assisting in classes while I got my doctorate. Once I came back to Washington to take care of my mom as she succumbed to breast cancer, I stuck around when this job was offered. I liked this city and had grown up here, after all. I let my sister Marie have the house that we grew up in while she went to school and bought myself a condominium with some of the money that Mom left for me after her tragic death. It wasn’t fancy, but it was mine. I could sell the three-bedroom unit if my life changed and I ended up with a family, but I was already thirty-nine, and it hadn’t happened.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like women. I loved them and was well-aware that they enjoyed me as well. Before I started teaching, I played the single card frequently when out with friends, but I had to be careful now. College students were forward when they wanted me, men and women, alike. Some of the girls were fucking gorgeous, but that was against every rule when I took this job. Hell, I had to be careful when I was out at bars and check that the girls weren’t students at my school. I didn’t want to lay a finger on a girl that attended U-dub.

Admittedly, that slowed me down some. Seattle was a big city but the early mornings and evenings doing my job took over as I got older and I didn’t want the casual sex as much as I once did. I saw my friends but the late nights of drinking so much that I had to think about the evening before for a beat after waking up were done, as far as the weeknights went. I kept it to a couple of beers at most with dinner or just watching a game.

This semester, I was teaching every day in the mid-morning and then helping the tutor with some of the work she prepared. It took more time than one might think. I kept the same tutor after my fifth year teaching this class until Sarah graduated in a couple of years. Before that, there were teacher’s assistants and worked well enough, but Sarah was a steady worker.

People asked if she and I were hooking up, making me shake my head. She was a sweet kid and smart as hell, but no. There was no way that I’d touch her even if I found her attractive. Sarah was on the geeky side with large glasses and dirty blonde hair that was often in a bun. Then again, friends asked me if I ever sampled the hot sorority girls that were scattered throughout my classes as well, as if life was one big orgy.

I didn’t like the vapid sorority type to begin with. They had grated on my nerves when I was in college, for fuck’s sake. They hit on me all the time, and I went for it sometimes. They aimed to please, but that was all it ever was: one night.

That all changed for me this year when I walked in that first day, feeling the eyes on me as I prepared my podium and fought the yawn that threatened to come. I let my eyes take in everyone and halfway up, wide green eyes got my attention. She was a pale girl with those dark eyes and wavy brown hair but beautiful, and I took her in for a moment before she looked up at me.

Jesus, I felt my body stirring. I needed to get laid soon at this rate.

I continued to look over the class as I explained about my seating chart and what was expected of them this semester. These were college students, and I wasn’t going to be holding their hands. They came and sat in their assigned seats for attendance credit, no questions asked. I handed out a syllabus and dismissed the class a few minutes early before I started for real tomorrow.

I watched as the girl tucked her stuff into a pretty teal backpack and left the class after giving me a look. Yep, she noticed me like a few of the other women in the class. Nothing new.

The problem was that I noticed her as well. I saw her curvy body and those eyes that begged for me to take her. I needed to keep this in check for the next several weeks because women rarely affected me this way.

I sent out the seating chart the following day, telling everyone to pick a spot they were happy in. I collected it about halfway through the class and set it on my desk before I continued with my first lecture. I heard the bell and watched them leave before I sat down and held up the chart to compare it to the seats.

Elena Carter was her name. She was a Junior. She was hot as fucking hell and would test my patience for the next few weeks.

The class seemed to settle down and get serious after that since I jumped head first into lectures. I noted who was paying attention and seemingly getting the information, with Elena being very intent on what I was saying. She took notes, and I liked the way the tip of her tongue stuck out slightly when she was concentrating. She wore glasses when she was reading and looked like a hot, nerdy librarian in them.

There were always the students that seemed to nod off during class, making me smirk. If they missed anything at all, they would be behind and beg me for help from the tutor. I always had those students and expected it, getting a certain amusement from them before I explained to them what they had to do to fix the situation. After that, some would pull their grade up, and others would just disappear.

I was surprised a few weeks in when Elena was one of the ones coming to me for help. Her lovely dark eyes looked scared, and there were circles under them as she approached me after class. I told her to come to my office where we could talk, feeling her behind me as I led her across the campus even though I’d rather be following her. Her worn skinny jeans made her ass look amazing, and the gray shirt that she wore buttoned over a camisole showed off her cleavage just enough to make me want to see more. We sat down in my small office, and she licked her full lips nervously as I took in the movement with rapt attention. “So, I got a bit lost in last week’s material when I missed a day because I was sick, and I am just drowning now. I was hoping that you had some way to help me.”

It was criminal what I was considering offering her to bring up her grade, even though I knew she wasn’t that far behind. I refrained and told her the standard information, passing along Sarah’s email before I leaned back in my seat and took in the grateful look on her face. I was shocked by the words that escaped my mouth next and judging from the look on her face, so was Elena. “You’re a stunning girl, Miss Carter.” She blushed as she told me to call her Elena and thanked me awkwardly. She was quiet for a few moments before thanking me, giving me the chance to tell her to call me Liam, which I never did. Not with students and not even Sarah, who called me Professor Forsberg even though I told her I was okay with her using my first name. She was just formal that way.

Elena looked shaken and excused herself to leave, making me rest my head in my hands. I couldn’t believe that I came off as that forward with her, but I couldn’t help it. There was something about her that drew me in without that invisible wall that every student here had for me.

With Elena, it just fell away, and I wanted to get to know her more. I wanted her, something that would risk everything that I’d worked for. Fuck, I was in so much trouble, and I stood as if to go look for her in the hallway, swearing that I heard footsteps walking away as I reached for my door.

I always looked at her in class, trying to play it down. I could tell that she was tired a lot, making me wonder if she was working her way through college and keeping up with several classes. That wasn’t easy, and I was lucky to have parents to help me. I wondered what her story was. Sarah told me general information about the students that reached out to her since I usually didn’t ask for specifics. I didn’t care under normal circumstances.

After the first test, I could tell that Elena was getting back to speed and smiled when her test was corrected. She got a high B, and if she kept that up, she’d be even in her GPA. I suspected that her major wasn’t anything like Econ based on her more creative look, probably making her an Art major or something along those lines.

I ran into her at the coffee shop in town two weeks after our meeting in my office and watched as she ordered her drink at the counter in front of me. Her hair was wound into a low bun at the nape of her neck and covered with a dark gray beanie as I smiled and looked at her hungrily. Elena leaned forward to pay for her stuff and turned to look around as the girl scanned it, meeting my eyes as heat flushed my skin. Her eyes went wide before she turned and took the card back, scooting to the left to wait for her order. Elena shuffled her feet, and I approached the cashier, placing my order of a large black coffee with the same girl that helped Elena. She flirted with me relentlessly, and it took everything that I had not to roll my eyes at her. She was a freshman at best, and her actions were embarrassing as I found my eyes wandering to Elena. She was leaning against a back wall, and her eyes were locked on me as I offered her a small smile, ignoring the girl telling me how much I owed her. I glanced forward in annoyance and handed her a bill, dropping the dollar and coins into the tip jar so I could get closer to Elena. She was just getting her coffee, and I scanned the room to see if any students would recognize us. We were far enough from the school that it might be safe and I grinned when there wasn’t a familiar face in sight.

I caught her gaze as she turned to leave and mouthed for her to get a table as she smiled shyly. Elena turned and seemed to look the room over before finding a bistro table in the corner by a small fireplace and taking a seat. I grabbed my drink and the two slices of pumpkin bread that I’d ordered on a whim.