“I don’t know about that,” he says. “I’ve had pizza in Rome. And New York.”
I roll my eyes. “New York can suck it.”
He grins at that. “Okay, fine. Rome was still good, though.”
“Can’t say, I’ve never had it.”
“Maybe I’ll take you there sometime. Get you the real pizza experience.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Pizza experience?”
“Sure, we’ll do it up. Pizza all over the city.”
“Sounds great to me.”
He grins, steps closer. There aren’t many people around, and out here, off campus, we’re a little more anonymous. It’s still dangerous for him to be walking too closely to me, or really, to be walking with me at night at all, but I don’t care.
He doesn’t seem to care, either. He throws me a look, this little smirk. I know what he’s thinking. I’ve been thinking the same thing.
We duck into the first bar we find. It’s a little dive spot and pretty empty, but it’s warm and there’s beer on tap. He orders two and we grab a booth toward the back.
“So, this is the life of an undergrad,” he says, looking around.
“More or less,” I say.
“I didn’t really have this experience back in the day.”
“What was it like for you?”
He shrugs a little. “Hard work, mostly. I didn’t feel like I had time to have fun.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Guess so. I’ve had plenty of fun later on, though.” He laughs softly. “What about you? How come you’re not out partying?”
“Just doesn’t appeal right now, I guess.”
“You were hoping to run into me, weren’t you?”
His eyes sparkle with amusement.
I glare at him. “Hardly. You gave me all the difficult tasks.”
“You can handle it.”
“Probably, but I’ll have to work my ass off.”
“Good. I can’t play favorites, even if you are my favorite.”
I hesitate, not sure how to take it. “Well, whatever, that’s why I was there.”
“You should go out and party.”
I wave that away, sipping my drink. “I don’t need to party anymore.”
“You sound so old.”
“I’m very mature.”
He smirks slightly. “I know you are.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean, Professor Turner?”
He grins. “You know damn well what it means.” He leans closer to me. “I keep thinking about you, up on that desk, legs spread…”
I bite my lip and shake my head. “Don’t get started.”
“You don’t want to hear it?”
“I really want to hear it, but we’re in public. Someone might hear.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You should, you dirty old man.”
He laughs softly at that. “Not so old, you know.”
“Please. You can’t keep up with me.”
“I could outdrink you any day.”
“Prove it.” I grin at him, eyes gleaming.
He considers it for a second, but shakes his head. “Another night, little Clara.” His eyes drift over my shoulder and he sighs. “Looks like our time together is getting cut a little short.”
I frown, cock my head. “What’s wrong?”
“Sorry,” he says, standing. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay?” I frown as he quickly walks away, heading back toward the bar.
I turn and watch as he approaches a man I don’t recognize. They smile, shake hands, and Jason sits down next to him.
It takes me a second to recognize the Dean of Monray, Roman Flores.
I sink down into my seat. Holy shit. What the hell is he doing in a dump like this?
I wait a few minutes before getting up. I head back to the bathrooms and luckily there’s an emergency exit. I pray that an alarm won’t go off as I shove through it, walking out into an alley.
No alarm goes off. I leave the bar and head back to campus.
That was close. Jason handled it nicely, really calm, and that kept me from freaking out. But still, that was really close. We could’ve been caught together, and there’s no mistaking what we were doing.
Every second I spend with him outside of class is dangerous. I need to keep that in mind going forward.
But that danger… it’s what keeps me coming back.
And the way he makes me feel.8JasonThat was so fucking close.
The next day, I do my best to ignore Clara in class. She sits in her normal spot and looks so fucking sexy: tight jeans, tight sweater, hair loose around her shoulders, lips pouting the way she does. I can’t help but glance at her over and over throughout my lecture.
When class is over, I grab my shit and get out of there before I can let myself talk to her. I want to, fucking badly, but almost getting caught by Roman last night has me spooked.
He didn’t seem suspicious. I told him that I was alone there, just getting a drink and getting to know the local town. Apparently, he goes to that spot to escape his wife and kids once in a while, and we were unlucky enough to be there during one of his infrequent excursions.
We got a couple of drinks, had a nice talk, and I left. Clara was nowhere in sight, so I can only assume she managed to sneak away.