I sigh, unsure of what happens next. “Enough about me. What about you? What have you been up to?”
“Oh,” she laughs. “Does something really come after your story? I mean, you clearly win the‘what have you been up to’talk.”
“Really, though,” I beg, “I want to talk about something else.”
“Well… this nice guy came into the diner yesterday and I’m entertaining the thought that maybe he’ll circle back and want a date.”
“A guy?What guy? What’s his name?”
I almost hear her shrug. “No clue. I’ve never seen him before. He says he owns a series of clubs and he’s looking to bring a branch here to Rugged Mountain. I guess he’s getting push back from some people, but I think it’s a great idea.”
“What kind of club is it?”
“Not sure. Guess you’ll have to come back to get the details. But I guess that’s never happening now that you’re dating your big city professor.”
I grin and shake my head. “It wasn’t happening, anyway. I told you I have job prospects here. Besides, we’re not dating. We messed around once. I’d love to meet the big stranger when I’m back in town for my party, though. You should invite him.”
“I don’t know if he’ll even be here. He seems like the drifter type.”
“Oh my God! I just got a text,” I say, glancing down at my phone. My heart pounds against my ribs. Seeing his name on my phone screen shoots an unexpected jolt into my groin. It’s wrong that he’s texting me. He must have gotten my number from the school directory. My clit thumps again at the thought of my body against his earlier, but Addie interrupts the memory.
“From the professor?”
“He asked me to meet him at the coffee shop off campus that’s a mile away. Should I go?”
“Should you go?” she scoffs. “Yes, you should go! Call me right after. I need to know everything!”
_________________________________
The fact that we’re meeting off campus tells me one of two things. Either he got into trouble, or he’s afraid he’s going to get caught. Either way, it’s bad news. Bad news that I’m not sure I can bear. I want him. I wanted him the second I walked into that classroom. And though a part of me hoped having him physically would starve off the need, it’s only seemed to make me want him more.
I’m selfish. His job is probably in the balance. We only have three weeks left of school, but I’m desperate to fuck him like my life depends on it. What the hell is wrong with me? And why does the risk of being caught send a pulsing straight to my clit?
I’m ten minutes early, so I order a half caff and sit at the table in the back of the shop, staring out at the scene of college kids rolling grocery carts to their cars. I don’t know why I think of myself as separate fromthem, but I do. They’re out partying and living it up. I’m tucked into bed by nine p.m. every night with my cup of chamomile cut fresh from my mom’s garden with a romance novel in hand. We’re not the same. So when I watch them shop, it’s interesting, like I’m peering into the lives of the creatures around me that live the same but completely different lives. I’m surprised to see how healthy everyone is buying. Their bags are filled with organic soups and weird vegetables. I thought college kids were notoriously junk eaters. I know I haven’t been shopping for ethically sourced kale for four years. I’ve been eating hot pockets delivered by a grocery service.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Gage’s deep, smooth voice interrupts my social study.
“You didn’t,” I say. “I was early. Is everything okay? I’ve been worried all afternoon that I’d gotten you in trouble.”
He sits across from me, facing the back window. “No. It had nothing to do with you, but it was a close call. She knew something wasn’t right when she left my office. Not only that, but I’m sure she could smell you all over me. In another second, she’d have smelledmeall overyou.”
His words strike against me like a match, igniting me like a blaze of fire desperate to burn.
“I’m leaving at the end of the semester, Raven. It was in the works a while ago. I know we just started our journey but… I’d like for you to come with me when the semester is over. If we can wait these three weeks out, you can graduate, I can finish work, and we can meet again afterward.” He laughs. “Even as I’m saying it, I don’t think it’s possible. The second I saw you again, I wanted back in between those legs.” He bites his bottom lip and growls low, sending a shiver through my groin that’s nearly unbearable.
I squeeze my thighs together to quell the urges, but it’s no use. How will I manage seeing him every day for three more weeks and not touch him? My clit is already on overdrive.
“Where are you going? After the university, I mean. What about family and friends? You’ve lived here your whole life, right?”
He clears his throat, and fidgets with a straw wrapper on the table. “I used to be a tattoo artist when I was younger. I transitioned into teaching because I had a love for all kinds of mediums, but the love for ink never went away. I’ve, already taken a position.” He looks down at the table, then back up again. “My parents passed when I was a freshman in college… car accident. From there, I’ve been on my own. The university was the first real family I had since Alaska, but even that has changed over the years. I guess I’m looking for that small-town feel I grew up knowing, but I couldn’t go back to Barrow. That’s too far off grid.”
The tattoo shop thing confuses me a little. You’d think a professor would make a much better living, but my dad tattoos and has a really successful shop. I guess that’s what matters. Alaska, though, makes a lot of sense. As a child of the mountains, it’s easy to recognize it when you see it on someone else.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” I say, reaching my hand out for him. Even the slight touch has my panties damp again. “Where’s the tattoo shop you’re going to work for? I hear there are tons of places here in the city. I grew up around a lot of artists. My dad owns a shop.”
Gage looks toward me, his big brown eyes like warmth and security all wrapped into one, but I fear something dark is coming. “It’s not in The Springs,” he says, letting out a sigh. “It’s a little place out in the country. The town is small, but the shop has a ton of press. These brothers are gold when it comes to advertising. They’ve had television shows showcasing the place, they do celebrity work, and they only hire the best artists.”
I’m curious to know what this place is, considering my dad’s shop is the only place within five hundred miles that touts that kind of reception.