Chapter Nine
Tessa
After class, I packed up my stuff and acted as if I was going to leave. Instead, though, I hung out in the small lobby near the entrance. I could feel people’s eyes on me as they walked past, though I tried to ignore it. I pulled out my textbook and opened it randomly to a page, starting to read, even though I wasn’t really able to focus on what the words were saying. I just wanted to do something so it would look like I was busy.
I heard someone say my name.
I looked up. It was Nick, and he was with his best friend, Seth, who was one of his teammates. They were both tall, fit, and good-looking, and they were both walking toward me.
“Tessa,” Nick said. He had the same expression
on his face that he had when we first started hanging out. “I thought that was
you. I like the outfit. A special occasion?”
“Um . . .” I wracked my brain, trying to think of some sort of witty response.
“Laundry day,” was the best I could come up with.
Nick nodded. “It should be laundry day more often. How’ve you been?”
“I’m okay.”
“Great. Glad to hear it. What are you up
to right now?”
“Oh, um, I’m just . . . just waiting for someone.”
“Yeah?
“Yeah.”
“Cause I was thinking maybe—”
“Come on, man,” Seth interrupted,
laughing. “Don’t get started on that shit. We’ve got to get to class. You know
I can’t flunk out of Professor Murphy’s class, and you know she’ll dock you for
being late. Get your mind outta the gutter and let’s go.” He looked at me. “Not
that I’m trying to ruin anyone’s plans or
anything, but you understand, right?”
“Of course,” I said, feeling my face flush. I pulled my phone out of my purse
and looked at it. Ten minutes was almost up. “As a matter of fact, I have to
get going, too. Nice to see you guys.”
I stuffed my book back into my backpack and hurried off, not needing to turn to look to know that Nick was watching me as I went. I did feel a little surge of adrenaline shoot through me, just knowing that he was watching me, that what I was wearing today had managed to catch his eye. I made a note to tell Lindsey when I saw her later.
I went into his office, trying not to feel nervous. I tried to replay what Lindsey had said to me, like a mantra, in my head. You’re doing this for you. This is empowering.
But there was a part of me that was saying no self-respecting woman would do a thing like this, and that I certainly wouldn’t be in this situation if I didn’t need a better grade. Stop it. I pushed the thought out of my mind.
“That’s quite the outfit,” he said slowly, his eyes moving up and down my body. But instead of just standing there with my gaze down like I was on display for his viewing pleasure only, I returned the look, taking in his square cut jaw, his long, straight nose, the bright blue eyes. Underneath his clothes, you could tell he had the sort of body that was home to supple, smooth muscles that would feel like silk underneath your fingertips. He was the sort of guy that had probably never been turned down by a girl before, and the thought that he wanted to do this with me made my whole body feel hypersensitive.
“My mother bought it for me,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “Really.”
“Yeah. She was into road cycling for a while,
and she tried to get me into it, too. I think she was more interested in the
outfits, though. And the shoes. She liked the shoes; she said they were like
reverse high heels.”
“I see.”
“I never actually wore this out riding a
bike.”
“That’s a shame. It’s very . . .
striking.”
He came over and stood in front of me, our bodies only inches from each other. My heart thudded; I could feel the pounding in my ears. My whole body felt electrified, the little hairs on my arms were standing straight up. I smiled, and that smile turned into a laugh, even though nothing funny had happened. I just needed a way to relieve a little of the pressure.
“What’s so funny?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know. This. It’s not funny, it’s just . .
. I never thought that I’d be doing something like this.”
“And what is it we’re doing?”
Before I could respond, though, he brought his hand up to touch the side of my
face, his forearm brushing my left nipple, which felt hard as glass, pushing
against the thin material.
The Lycra of the skin suit suddenly felt as though it were actually more like a wetsuit, this awful impediment that I just had to get rid of as quickly as I could. I reached up to pull the zipper down, because I was suddenly overwhelmed by the need to feel his hands against my bare skin. It was as if my flesh were on fire and his touch would be the only thing capable of putting it out.
I got the zipper halfway down.
There was a knock at the door.
He pushed back from me so quickly he almost fell backward. I could see he had a huge erection, pressing against the front of his pants. I yanked the zipper back up and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
“Come in,” he barked.
The door opened and Professor Douglass, one of the other journalism teachers, came in.
“Oh,” she said, look of surprise crossing her face. “I’m sorry; I didn’t realize you were having a meeting.”
“That’s generally what a closed door means,” he said, settling himself back in the chair behind his desk. I breathed a little sigh of relief; at least this way she wouldn’t be able to see that he had an erection.
I hoped my own face wouldn’t betray anything. My cheeks were probably flushed, but I tried to look as though we had just been talking about something that had to do with class. I felt Professor Douglass’s eyes take in my outfit, though she didn’t say anything. About that, anyway.
“I just wanted to borrow your copy of Feature Writing Fundamentals. My own copy seems to have gone missing, and there’s a chapter I’d like to have as a handout for my next class.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever you want,” Leo said. He swiveled in his chair to the overstuffed bookshelf behind his desk. He pulled a tattered copy of the book out and held it out to her. She looked unimpressed that he wasn’t going to get up and hand it to her, so I reached over and got it from him, then turned and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” she said to me, though her eyes were still on Leo. “I’ll get this back to you shortly.”
She paused, waiting for him to say something in return, but he didn’t, so she turned and left, though not before letting her gaze linger on me a few more seconds.
“She’s wondering where on earth you got an outfit like that,” Leo said, breaking the silence once Professor Douglass was gone.
“She looked more horrified that I’d actually wear something like that out of the house.”
“She’s just envious because she knows she’d never look as good as you do, no matter how many Pilates classes she took.” He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his palms together. “It’s kind of insane how good that looks on you, though I must admit, I’d much rather see it off.”
I thought back to a few minutes ago, his hand on the side of my face, my whole body tingling with this overwhelming desire. I couldn’t remember ever feeling this way, not even with Nick. It was like all Leo had to do was ask me to take my clothes off and lay across his desk and I would.
But he didn’t; he took a deep breath and shook his head, rubbing a hand across his eyes. “That won’t do,” he said. “What just happened there. I’m all for the exciting aspect of this, but having Carla fucking Douglass walk in on me like that doesn’t fall into that category. What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Tomorrow night? Um, studying?”
“Why don’t you come over to my place. You can study over there.”
“Sure,” I said, even though I knew studying was the last thing that we’d be doing.