Getting Schooled (Craving #9) Read online

  When the feeling of throwing up passed, I forced myself to get up. My head hadn’t quite woken up as I made my way to the bathroom, completely oblivious to the fact that I was naked. Passing by my mirror, I back tracked and stared at myself with wide eyes.

  What happened?

  It took a minute for everything to come rushing back. Everything from meeting Hunter, bringing him back here for the best night of my life, to him leaving this morning.

  My cheeks heated up as I thought about last night. Judging by the red marks on my hips, and the several hickeys along my neck and collarbone, the both of us really enjoyed it. When I thought back to all the noises I made last night, I groaned and moved toward the shower.

  I couldn’t believe I took home an absolute stranger and slept with him. That was so unlike me! I wasn’t normally so rash—I always thought things out before doing them. And the way I acted last night…I groaned loudly again as I started the water. I acted like some crazed sex woman.

  What the hell was I thinking bringing a strange man here? He could have been a murderer for all I knew! He may have stolen something from the apartment! He could have some…disease, and I would never know!

  Leaning my head against the shower stall, I mentally kicked myself. I was such an idiot! This is why I don’t have one-night stands. I stood under the warm water for a good ten minutes going over my stupid life decisions.

  I finally made myself get out of the shower when the water ran cold. I felt slightly better as I wrapped a towel around my body. My head still ached, but all I needed was a cup of coffee and I’d feel a million times better.

  As I got dressed, I could hear my roommate and best friend, Thalia Summers, banging around the kitchen. I had half a mind to go out there and yell at her for leaving me last night, but a part of me didn’t want to do that. Because if she hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have had the best night of my life.

  With a loud sigh, I threw on some comfy sweats and a baggy t-shirt that had been my father’s and left my room. I kept my eyes peeled to see if anything was missing as I headed for the kitchen. I didn’t actually believe Hunter would steal something, but you never knew.

  Men hot as that always had issues or kinks. Sleeping with girls and stealing their favorite coffee mug or something. Wow, now I really was pulling at straws.

  “Hey,” Thalia greeted as I shuffled into the kitchen.

  “Hey,” I mumbled, immediately going to the cabinet for a coffee mug. It may be almost eleven o’clock, but it felt like I hadn’t slept at all. If I remembered correctly, Hunter and I stumbled in around two.

  “Oh, did someone have fun last night?” Thalia leaned against the counter, sipping her own coffee. “Finally?”

  “Yeah, finally.” I rolled my eyes as I made my coffee.

  “So did you have some fun?”

  “Umm….” I hesitated for a second, which she took as my answer.

  “You did!” Her eyes were wide—gone was the tired look. She looked beyond excited. “Did you sleep with that sexy man who was in the hall earlier?”

  “Wait, what?”

  “I passed a really, really sexy guy walking down the hallway this morning. Was he here?”

  “Maybe…” I sipped my coffee, avoiding eye contact.

  “You sly vixen! Since when do you do one-night stands, Tera?” The smile on her face looked like it could split her face in half.

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Girl, if I slept with that hunk of meat, I would be screaming it from the roof tops!” Despite how hard I tried, I found myself laughing with her and shaking my head. He was super-hot, couldn’t deny that one bit.

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “I’m not sure…”

  Chapter 4

  Thalia and I spent the rest of the day sitting around. Turned out Thalia spent the night with the guy she met last night and didn’t get in until seven this morning. I was more hungover, and with the help of three cups of coffee, I was feeling a lot better.

  Since it was already noon, we decided to just sit around and binge watch some shows. When it came to dinner time, we ordered Chinese take-out from down the street. With a new semester starting tomorrow, neither of us felt like going out at all.

  A new semester meant more homework, more studying, and more stress. And with this being the last semester before graduation, it was going to be even worse.

  Thankfully, when I woke up the next day, I was back to normal and ready to get this last semester over with. As I got ready for class, I mentally cursed myself for picking morning classes. Every semester I told myself not to pick any morning classes, and yet there I was. Anything before ten o’clock was too damn early.

  Thalia was smart enough to take afternoon classes, so as I got something quick to eat, she was blissfully asleep. I was tempted to wake her up, but I knew better. She would go all beast on me, and from past experience, it was never a good thing.

  Grabbing a to-go cup I kept from Starbucks, I quickly made myself a coffee, grabbed my school bag and purse, and headed out the door.

  The entire drive to campus, my mind kept wondering about Hunter. All day yesterday, flashbacks of us appeared in my mind no matter how hard I tried to stop them. Even if I did want to see Hunter again, I had no way to. He didn’t leave his number, and I didn’t even know his full name.

  I had to stop thinking about him. I had too much going on this semester to even think about dating someone. With homework, studying, trying to get an internship, and work on top of that, I just didn’t have room for that in my life right now.

  Pushing all thoughts of him and what happened between us out of my mind, I pulled onto campus. With only fifteen minutes until class started, I pulled into the first spot I saw and practically ran across the parking lot. My first class was in the center of campus, which did not help matters when I was late.

  Walking across the open field between buildings, I was struck once again with how pretty this campus was. Washington State University was pretty with its green lawns and huge trees that changed colors in the fall. This school wasn’t my first pick, but I was glad I ended up here. They had a great teaching program, and all of my professors had been super nice and helpful.

  After I graduated high school, my dad got sick, really sick. With it just being me, there was no one to help me take care of him, so I ended up postponing school until he got better. Well…he never did.

  His prostate cancer got bad so quickly that there was nothing we could do, so for two years I stayed home, working long hours to pay the medical bills and take care of him. Before he passed, he made sure I applied to colleges again, and Washington State accepted me.

  It took a while after he passed to come to terms with it, but once I did, I immediately started taking classes. I later moved into an apartment with Thalia, who I met in my English class, and now here I was, fast tracking to graduate this year after only three years.

  I’d thrown myself into my studies ever since school started. I’d had a few short-term boyfriends here and there, but nothing too serious. I wanted to graduate and get a job before I got into something serious.

  With three minutes to spare, I quickly walked into the almost full classroom and snagged an empty seat. I hated that it was right in front of the professor’s desk, but I had no other choice. I silently prayed that the professor wasn’t some really old guy who spit a lot. My Pre-Calculus professor was this old guy who couldn’t hear worth a damn, and the first two rows always got spit on. It was beyond disgusting.

  I’d been trying for a full year now to get into this Calculus II, 1432 class, but it had always been too full. It was the last math class I needed in order to graduate.

  I was busy taking out my notebook and pens when I heard the classroom door shut. Normally when the professor walked in, conversations died down, but this was the opposite. Whispers were breaking out all around me.

  “Good morning, class.” My whole body froze as I heard that voice. My hand paused m
id-motion.

  It couldn’t be. No, my mind was just playing games on me…right?

  Very slowly, I lifted my head up. My eyes suddenly met a familiar pair of emerald green eyes. I stared at Hunter, and my stomach suddenly jumped in my throat.

  This could not be happening.

  Chapter 5

  Hunter was here. He’s here in this classroom with me, and he’s my freaking professor! Oh God, he’s my professor. I slept with my professor.

  Inwardly, I was freaking the fuck out. This couldn’t be happening. Maybe I was imagining things. Yeah, that’s it! I must have fallen asleep, and now I was imagining Hunter here. I pinched the inside of my thigh hard, hoping it would wake me up, but it didn’t. Nope, I was awake. This was real.

  Hunter recovered quicker than I did. He looked away from me and addressed the class.

  “Hello, everyone. I’m Dr. Davis, your Calculus II teacher for this semester.”

  Hunter Davis. Wow, I didn’t think his name could get any hotter. Behind me, I could hear some girls whispering about how hot he was. I didn’t blame them because he was. Oh God, was he hot. He was young and knew math! How he could only be twenty-eight and a professor at a big college, I had no clue.

  While he talked, I stared at him like a creep. I found myself sucking on my bottom lip as I noticed what he was wearing. A pair of clean black slacks gripped his long legs, and they were just the right amount of tightness to show off his leg muscles. His upper half was graced with a light grey button-up shirt. The sleeves were rolled up halfway, showing off his forearms. I’d never noticed before, but his forearms were really sexy.

  His arms looked even bigger in his dress shirt than they did two nights ago. His brown hair was styled perfectly, looking really professional. Hunter looked so…manly.

  I was trying not to show any sort of feelings toward Hunter, but I didn’t think I was doing a good job. The only plus was everyone was so interested in him, especially the women, to even notice me having a mini meltdown.

  None of this would have been a big deal if he wasn’t my professor. If he were another student, okay, fine. But it was forbidden to sleep with a professor or have a professor sleep with a student. As a future teacher, I knew the rules, and this was at the very top of the list.

  A high-pitched voice suddenly brought me out of my mini meltdown. “Mr. Davis, aren’t you a little young to be a teacher?” I didn’t have to turn around to know the girl was twirling her hair around her finger and outright flirting with him.

  “Well, hard work pays off, Ms.…”

  “Stacy. Stacy Bennett.”

  “Ms. Bennett.” My lips twitched at the way he easily shut her down. “Are there any other questions?” As he asked, his gaze settled on me. His eyes felt more intense than they did the other night.

  It was so hard to believe that he was here right now. Why, of all the people I could sleep with, did it have to be him? It was like someone was playing a cruel joke on me. The only plus side to him being my professor was no other girl here could have him, either.

  If anyone were to find out about us, he would be fired, and I was pretty sure the student would be kicked out of the program.

  Realizing that Hunter—no, Professor Davis—was already going into chapter one of our textbooks, I forced all thoughts of him aside. I needed to pass this class to graduate, and the last thing I needed was a distraction, much less a six foot two distraction with a pair of bright green eyes.

  I tried my hardest to pay attention as Mr. Davis went over the first chapter and equations; I really did. When the discussion started winding down, I looked down at my notebook to see I’d only written half a page of notes. With a quick peek at the person next to me, I saw they had a good three pages.

  So much for not being distracted.

  When Hunter finally let us go, I gathered my stuff as quick as possible and made a run for the door. I didn’t make it far before a hand clamped around my wrist, stopping me. There was no reason to turn around to see who it was. I already knew, and when he spoke, I was correct.

  “Miss, could you stay behind and talk to me for a moment?”

  Chapter 6

  My teeth grinding at the word “miss,” I forced myself not to snap at him. I wanted to yell no and leave, but with several eyes on us, I just nodded.

  “Sure thing, Mr. Davis.” I turned to face him, glaring at his gorgeous face. He should have let me go. We could have continued on pretending we didn’t know one another and let the other night fade away.

  I stood awkwardly off to the side as students slowly left the classroom. I noticed a few girls staying back and openly looking at Hunter as they whispered to one another. I rolled my eyes and looked away.

  Eventually, they left, leaving Hunter and me alone. He had moved to lean on the side of his desk while everyone left. The way he was leaning made it look like he was posing for a magazine. I almost wanted to look if there were any cameras by us to capture his picture.

  “So…you’re my student.” He broke the awkward tension first.

  “You didn’t tell me you were a professor here at Washington State,” I bit out.

  “Well, I was a little distracted that night.” The smirk that grew on his face made my cheeks turn red. “I was actually going to try to find you, but here you are.” His eyes raked up and down my form.

  I wasn’t wearing anything sexy, just a pair of dark skinny jeans and a simple t-shirt. But the way he was looking at me made it feel like I was standing there naked instead of fully clothed.

  “No, stop.” I shook my head. I was not going to let myself fall into his little trap. “Let’s forget the other night ever happened, okay? We were both drunk.”

  “I wasn’t drunk.”

  “Well, I wasn’t of sound mind.” We both knew I was lying. I may have had a few drinks, but I wasn’t anywhere near drunk. I knew what I was doing when I invited him back to my place.

  “You made plenty of sounds when my head was between your legs.” I gasped at his words. “Something quite similar to that.” The taunting little smirk he sent me let me know he knew exactly what he was doing.

  “Hunter, no. You’re my teacher,” I hissed.

  “So?”

  “You can’t sleep with students. It’s forbidden, and we both know that.” When I said the word forbidden, I noticed his jaw clench. It shouldn’t have turned me on, but damn, it did.

  “Did you say forbidden?” I visibly gulped as he pushed his big frame off of his desk. I knew I should have moved away when he came toward me, but my feet were glued to the ground. Hunter came to a stop inches from me, his chest grazing mine with each breath.

  I gazed up at him, my breathing ragged. Despite the voice in my head telling me I shouldn’t do this, I found myself silently begging Hunter to kiss me. Having him so close was causing my head to spin and my legs to weaken.

  “Things that are forbidden are usually the best things.” Hunter’s voice went low and husky. It sent chills down my spine, and unconsciously I bit my lower lip. “Don’t do that.” A hand came up and pulled my lip away from my teeth.

  “I don't know about you, but knowing that this is forbidden makes me want you even more.” He still held his grip on my lip with his thumb and forefinger. His eyes were an even brighter green as he stared down at me, lust clear on his face. “I know you feel it too, Tera.”

  Maybe it was the way he was looking at me or knowing that this was taboo, but I suddenly grabbed his face and brought my lips to his.

  Chapter 7

  The kiss between us wasn’t soft and sweet. No, it was rough and passionate. At first it caught Hunter off guard, but he wasted absolutely no time and grabbed my waist, tugging me hard against his front.

  He nipped at my lip, wanting access, which I gladly granted. The kiss made every inch of my skin feel alive. My hands moved from his face to his neck, tugging the hair at the base. I was rewarded with a groan against my mouth.

  Hunter’s grip on my waist tightened almost painf
ully, his fingers digging into the slight bruises I still had from the other night. It was now my turn to moan into his mouth. Hunter’s tongue circled mine, and it was enough for me to press my body harder into his.

  Hunter suddenly grabbed the back of my thighs and lifted me up effortlessly. My legs automatically wrapped around his waist, our lips not once leaving each other’s. My hands left his head to trail down his arms, feeling his biceps flex underneath his shirt as he carried me.

  I didn’t realize he was moving toward his desk until he placed me down on the hard surface. It was equal height to his waist, and I could still feel his hard length pressing between my legs. His lips finally left mine and moved down my neck.

  Throwing my head back, I gave him better access to my throat. I was panting heavily, and my entire body felt like it was on fire. All I wanted was for Hunter to take me right there. The way he was licking, biting, and sucking on my neck was making my toes curl. No guy had ever made me feel this way.

  My past boyfriends just went through all the motions, never once caring about my needs. Just one night alone with Hunter and I knew that wasn’t the case with him. It was yet another thing that drew me to him.

  Pushing the corner of my shirt down my shoulder, Hunter growled. I opened my eyes and looked down to find him staring at the hickey along my collarbone. It had now formed into a deep purple.

  “I did that?”

  “That and half a dozen more,” I whispered, sounding out of breath. The corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk. Of course he took manly pride out of giving me multiple hickeys.

  Before he could continue on down my chest, the fire alarm went off. The sound blared through the classroom, making me jump and cover my ears. The fire alarm surprised Hunter, and he fell forward onto me.