4. Tara

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur. Between catching up on my classes, unpacking, and finding my way around a new town, I was not only exhausted, I was lonely and overwhelmed. I’d made a friend of sorts, a girl I exchanged class notes with in one of the prerequisite science classes I was taking. She had a class with him and she was telling me how handsome he was.

Him being the professor next door, one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen. That was the only reason I could think of as to why I thought about him so often. I was crushing hard for the first time in my life and instead of being happy about it, I was so embarrassed. Finding excuses to go outside when he arrived home from work or was outside with his daughter was pushing the boundaries of what I generally thought of as sane behavior.

Luckily, my new friend soon informed me I wasn’t the only sad case wandering around campus. We’d gone to the cafeteria to discuss our complicated final project over lunch, when our plan flew right off the tracks when I let slip that I lived next door to Professor Galen Elliot. Amanda stared at me from across the table, our hamburgers half-eaten and forgotten.

“Oh my God, Tara, you live next to Professor Hotstuff?” Amand gasped. “He’s so hot!”

I tried not to laugh at the way she wiggled her eyebrows, but couldn’t help a sputter. “Yeah, he’s my neighbor, though I don’t think he realizes it when we’re at school. I pass him in the hall sometimes but he never notices me.”

I tried to play off the small amount of hurt I felt over it. He’d wave at me sometimes as we crossed paths in our yards, once he’d even shouted over a hello as he’d played with his daughter in their backyard while I broke down the unpacked boxes I’d tossed outside. Boxes I’d tossed outside on purpose in the hopes of striking up a conversation with him at some point. I couldn’t think of an excuse to talk to him and wasn’t sure I could speak if I did find an excuse. I had nightmares about standing there and drooling because I was just that awkward.

He was nice enough but he never really spoke to me other than a hello. He was always polite and respectful, which was a bonus in my book. But once we were at school I was just another faceless student in an ocean of clamoring students trying to get to their next class. Which meant he never saw me either.

“So what happens when he’s at home? I heard he has a daughter, but that he’s single. His wife died in a car accident, you know?” Amanda’s light blond hair and wide gray eyes were sparkling in the sunlight, the light showcasing just how flawless her skin was. She was beautiful, enchanting, everything I wasn’t. She was also an older student like me, twenty-two to my twenty-one.

“Wait, what? His wife died?” Her words finally penetrated the clouds in my brain and I stared over at her in shock. “That’s so terrible!”

“I know! It was just after the little girl was born too. There was some…” Amanda looked around before she scooted a little closer to me, her eyes even wider. “There’s a rumor that she killed herself, but nobody’s ever said why.”

“It was just after the baby was born?” I asked, my shock emptying my head for the moment. Amanda nodded but didn’t say anything else.

Then a thought crept in, a nugget of knowledge from my past. Maybe it was postpartum depression. I couldn’t help but wonder as I stared at Amanda. We all have social media now with its constant reminders and warnings about everything. I’d also written a research paper on it in high school. It could have been that.

“Wow. Just wow. How…tragic!” I pulled away from Amanda, feeling too close all of a sudden. I’d spent most of my life being a recluse, avoiding friendships, and enjoying being alone. The news reminded me of just how easy it was to lose people and not to get too close.

“It really is. Ever since, Professor Hotstuff has been the target of every available girl on campus. And the teachers!” Amanda tossed me another conspiratorial look, her full lips slightly pursed. “He’s got it all, the looks, the tragedy, the baby, what’s not to drool over?”

That last part was spoken with a whole bucketful of sarcasm, but I could see in her eyes that even she wasn’t immune to his charms.

“What do you mean, target?” I wasn’t sure, but I thought I knew. I might have been sheltered, I might have even been a recluse, but I’m not stupid! I grew up with the internet the same as everybody else I know. I’d heard whispers, seen movies, I wasn’t ignorant.

Just inexperienced.

Amanda looked at me as though I’d grown another head before she answered me.

“Girl, come on now, you can’t be serious? You’ve seen him! They want to get him into bed, make a nice little insta-family and live happily ever after! Or they just want to fuck the pain away, but I don’t think that’s possible, personally.” She sat back, taking a sip of her sweet tea.

The noise in the cafeteria increased as more hungry students came in and I leaned towards her again. Amanda was something new for me, a friend, a confidant, and someone that said bad words with ease. I don’t think I’ve ever said a swear word out loud, but Amanda let them fly like it was nothing.

“I can’t blame them. He is hot!” I grinned at her and she winked at me, her eyes dancing.

“You know it! I wouldn’t mind a turn at him myself, but I’d have to wade through a crowd ten women deep to even get near him.”

“Would you really sleep with a professor?” I gasped out, amazed. It was so forbidden! And naughty. I felt a flutter somewhere around my lower abdomen and shifted in my seat, the strange sensation new.

“In a heartbeat if it’s Professor Elliot. He’s so fucking gorgeous! Then there’s the experience. Have you ever slept with a boy our age? Ugh!” Amanda shivered, letting me know I wasn’t missing much in that department. “Professor Elliot is in his early thirties, he’d know what he was doing.”

Amanda stared off into space and I knew she must be imagining what it would be like, which gave me time not to answer her question without her noticing. I felt heat begin to rise up my spine and make my cheeks warms as I did a little fantasizing of my own. Those full lips pressed to mine, his hands sliding up my ribs to…

The thought was interrupted when cold liquid spilled down my hair and down my back. I shot up out of my seat, sputtering in shock. I turned to see a young African American woman staring at me with shocked eyes and an empty tray. I was wearing her lunch.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, my foot slipped!”

She looked terrified and I knew the poor girl was just like me—shy, reserved, and more than a little bit timid. She reached for the napkin holder on the table and began to pat me down, something Amanda was also doing.

“I think she needed cooling off anyway,” Amanda said reassuringly in between the other girl’s constant stream of apologies. I glared at my friend before I took the girl’s hand to stop her patting my head down with another handful of napkins.

“I’m fine, really. No big deal. Relax.” I waved to a chair on the other side of the table. “Join us if you’d like.”

“Oh, that’s so kind of you, but, oh, I guess I need to get myself some more lunch and get to my next class. Thank you for not killing me!” She scurried away before I could say anything else and I turned to Amanda.

“That woke me up. I guess I should go home and get a shower.” I didn’t have any more classes so it was as good an option as any. “Do you want to come over later? We can do some more work on that assignment?”

“Sure! Don’t get upset if I stare out of your windows at your neighbor the whole time, that man is irresistible!” Amanda gave me a goofy leer, wiggled her eyebrows once more, and we both laughed before I went out to my car.

Life had changed already, and I hadn’t even been at university a month. I had a friend in my life that I hoped would turn out to be a lifelong friend. She’d sat next to me on my first day of class and had not shut up since. There was no question of whether we would be friends, the cheerful chatterbox next to me had determined that we would be and that’s all there was to it. I smiled as I turned into my driveway, thinking about her.

The man I sometimes saw with Professor Elliot’s daughter had the little girl outside as I drove up, a blanket and toys protecting them from the grass as they played under a tree. They were playing with a soft ball and the little girl was screaming with laughter as I got out my car.

I waved at them before heading to the mailbox and I could feel the man’s gaze lingering on me. He was a handsome looking guy so the attention was nice, but I wasn’t interested. My heart was still throbbing for Professor Elliot after Amanda’s story.

“Hey, you wouldn’t be free tonight by any chance, would you?” I heard a rich voice calling to me from across the grass and looked over to see the professor standing beside of the other man with his little girl in his arms. I think my ovaries released a lifetime supply of eggs.

I stopped in my tracks, rooted to the ground by his question. Had he just asked me out?

“Uh, maybe, why?” I’d completely blanked his tall, dark, and handsome companion, but I couldn’t help it. Professor Elliot was about to ask me out!

“Well, I thought if you were free…” he paused, giving me time to yell yes, yes, yes, a million times silently in my head. “I thought maybe, if you don’t mind…” He paused again, looking over at his friend with a squinty look I couldn’t interpret. He even shuffled his foot on the ground a little before he continued.

“It’s just I notice you don’t party, you don’t go out much, and you seem like a grounded person.”

I am so grounded! Grounded to the spot where you’re about to ask me out! I was almost bouncing with glee, which would probably make me sick later as I realized how silly I’d become over a man, but for now seemed like second nature. What happened to that stoic girl, the recluse, the one with few to no social skills? I’d chucked her under the bus the minute he called out to me!

Then I noticed he was staring at me awkwardly, as though he’d paused to wait for me to respond.

“What? No, I don’t have a lot of time for anything but unpacking and studying right now. I have a pretty big mountain to climb with one of my final assignments.” I thought it was a good way to slip in that I was going to the university he taught at.

He looked blank for a second and then seemed to realize what I was saying.

“Oh, you’re in my class?” His cheeks turned red as he spoke and then realization dawned that he’d just admitted he had no idea I’d ever been in his class. “I mean, it’s a big room.”

“No problem, and no, I’m not in your class. Although, if I was, I doubt you’d see me. Those rooms are huge. I just going to the same school is all.”

“Yes, they are big. So, listen. If you’re free tonight, I just wondered…” He looked at his friend again but turned back soon enough. “Would you mind watching Rikki for me for a few hours? John has to play tonight and I have an evening class I can’t miss. I’d pay you of course.”

My jaw started to drop before I stopped it, my own cheeks now turning red. Probably fire engine red, or the “look at the idiot turning red” kind of red. The kind that you could feel red.

“Oh! Uh, sure. I have a friend coming over to study later, but yeah. Oh. Um.” I turned away from his steady gaze, looking for an escape from the hell that had been my nightmares lately. I swiped at my mouth, relieved that I wasn’t drooling at least. “What time?”

I looked back at him, wanting to sink into the asphalt driveway. I am the idiot, the total-not-a-doubt-about-it idiot. I shot a glance at the sky, hoping for a freak bolt of lightning to strike me down. No such luck.

“Around six? Actually, I’ll come early, give you the rundown. Thanks, uh, what’s your name?” He gave me that charming, totally disarming grin of his and I lost myself in it for a moment.

“Name?” I asked, rather moronically. You go, girl!

“Yes, I’m Galen Elliot, but your name is?” He looked doubtful for a moment then hid it.

“Oh, shit, my name!” I slapped my hand over my mouth, my eyes huge as I realized what I’d just said. My first swear word! “Tara, my name is Tara. Sorry for swearing, it’s not something I do often.”

“No worries,” he said with a chuckle. Such beautiful eyes! Eyes that could eat you up if they looked at you right. “So, around five-thirty?”

“Yeah, great. I have to go now. See you then!” I turned before he could speak again and all but ran to my front door. I wanted to get away as fast as possible before I gave him any more reason to doubt my mental abilities. Wait until Amanda finds out, I thought as I closed the door and sank back onto it. She’s going to scream!

I went to my couch and stretched out, still smiling as I remembered the way he smelled. I knew the cologne but couldn’t think of the name. I closed my eyes, remembering it, remembering him. I relaxed as I sank deeper into the cushions, my tension easing away.

That’s when he walked into the living room, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and stared down at me.

“I’m sorry, Tara. I just, fuck, I need to taste those lips of yours!” He sank down onto the couch over me, pushing my glasses away as his lips captured mine, soft against soft, but hard, so fucking hard. I opened my mouth to him as well as my thighs, and moaned deeply as his tongue swiped over mine, coaxing me to play with him.

He moaned in kind—a low sound of need—as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I pulled his dark shirt from his pants, tearing the buttons off the shirt in my need to feel his taut skin. He felt smooth. Hard muscle covered in the softest skin I’d ever felt.

He lifted me at the same time as pulling my shirt away, revealing the lacy bra I’d bought earlier in the week. Black lace and little more, it only served as a cover but he growled when he saw it. His eyes flashed to mine, hot and hungry as he licked his bottom lip.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, his head moving down to push the lace away. I cried out as his tongue circled around my nipple before closing over it. He left me gasping as pleasure rocked through me, the tugging sensation an exquisite pleasure bordering on pain. He moved away for a moment, kissing me swiftly, before he moved back down. His hand went down to my jeans, slid beneath the loose waistband, seeking out my heat.

“Open for me, let me inside.” His tongue swirled over my nipple, and my hands sank into his hair, not wanting to let him go. “Open, Tara.”

I responded to his demand by letting my legs fall to the couch, my open eyes staring as he tongued my nipple in slow circles. I felt so bad, and oh so fucking good. I liked it when he made demands and let him know I was more than willing to respond.

My fingers trailed through his hair, sliding down to his broad shoulders. His fingers found my liquid heat, and then they found a spot only I had ever explored before. I cried out as his fingers traced circles over it, butterflies taking flight as the heat burned in my abdomen, a pleasure that made my toes curl.

“Galen,” I whispered. Something was building inside of me, some pleasure I thought would drive me insane. Then his fingers slid lower, slicking over the opening he found there. I wanted to feel those thick fingers slide inside me, to fuck me hard and fast, and I gyrated my hips, my breast pressing into his mouth as he gave a low chuckle.

“You need it don’t you, girl? You want my cock so bad. You can’t be this wet and not want it.” His lips moved, taking my other nipple as his fingers plunged into me. My nails dug deeper into his shoulders as I started to ride his hand, my hips moving of their own will.

The orgasm hit me hard, deep—deeper than anything I’d ever managed to give myself. “Galen, fuck! More!”

It was all I could manage as my walls clenched around his fingers; my back arching as my head fell back, exposing my throat for his lips. “That’s it, Tara, come for me.”

I wanted to do so much, try so many things I’d only seen others do on TV or read about in books. I wanted him naked and between my damp thighs. I pushed at his pants, the material disappearing quickly as he came back to me, settling between my legs. Hot, hard flesh met my hand as I reached for him, ready to guide him into me. I gripped him, testing his hardness, before I looked into his green eyes, now a stormy color verging on gray.

“Take me, Galen. Make me yours.”

He looked down into me, into my very soul, his lips sealing to mine as he began to move, to tease my folds.

“Tara.”

I moaned as he said my name, and slid my hands into his hair once more.

“Tara! Girl, wake up or I’m leaving! What is wrong with you! Wake up!”

“What?” I opened my eyes, lost for a moment, looking around for the man on the verge of fucking me silly. “What are you doing here?”

“Homework? Ring any bells? Girl, what were you dreaming about? That smile on your face is just plain dirty!” Amanda stood over me, her blond hair long enough to tickle my nose. I brushed it away and sat up.

“Let’s just say I’m going to kill you if you don’t ring the doorbell next time. Dang! I was almost…” I caught myself, looking over at her guiltily.

“Mm, one of those dreams huh? I’ve had some of those myself lately. Come on, go wash your face and make me some coffee. I think we’re going to need it tonight.” She pulled me up laughing.

I really might have to kill her.