Bad Professor (An Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) (46 page)

"I think we make a good pair. We're
the best of two worlds." He brushed his thumb over my lips. "You
being a humble rich girl and me being a poor boy with dreams."

"I like that a lot. Let's live your
dreams, hmm?" I leaned in for another kiss, loving him more than I should
after the short amount of time we'd been together. It wasn't a shallow
affection that would soon fade, but a deep gratefulness that he was willing to
help me see a much different world around me and appreciate the diversity of
who we were in it.

"You are my dream. Now what?" He
smiled and pulled me down for a long make out session. I didn't need to know
what was happening next. I was in the arms of the man of my dreams.

Next
could never come for all I cared.

Epilogue

Eighteen
Months Later

Val

"Oh my God, can you believe it's
graduation day?" Lucinda danced around in the line in front of me until a
professor with a sour expression barked at her to get back in line and stay
still.

I laughed and glanced back at the guy.
"Someone peed in his Cheerios this morning."

"Right? Jeez." She got in line,
but turned to face me instead of the front. "Let me see the ring
again."

I lifted my hand as butterflies danced in
my stomach. The small diamond on my hand was far less than what I would have
expected to get being raised as one of the great David Scott's daughters, but
it was fitting. It was more than I could have ever desired because of what it
meant.

"I love it," she squealed when
she noticed it. "He did it last night?"

"Yeah. It was so romantic, too."
I smiled as the memory of Tate proposing ran across my vision. "It was on
that same patch of land that I broke down on two years ago when we met."

"No way." She reached out and
took my hand, lifting the ring to her face to study it more.

"Yeah," I laughed. "He took
me out there on the bike, and my car was sitting out there broken down. He told
me that he'd tried to take the car out earlier that day and had to walk all the
way back to town. I felt like shit, but I'd warned him not to drive the lemon.
It's always acted up, you know?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised your dad let you
keep it after leaving Allison's wedding." She lifted her eyebrow and shook
her head.

"Me, too, but anyway, the car was
idle, and he reenacted every part of that first night." I laughed and glanced
back to see Amy farther down in the line and Katelyn beside her. "When I
walked around to look at the engine with him, the engine was missing, and
instead there was a small table with beautiful battery-powered lights and the
ring in the middle. There were rose petals everywhere, too."

Tears filled my eyes, and I fanned my
face.

Lucinda was doing the same thing. "I
want Sam to do that. Tell Tate to make him do that for me."

I laughed and pulled her into a hug. It
had been a long eighteen months of change, but a good eighteen months. She and
Sam had grown impossibly close, and his father had even accepted her as a vital
member of the family. I figured it wouldn't be long before they decided to get
engaged. Sam should have been in the crowd, but his plane was running late from
Boston, so we weren't sure he would make it in time. I could tell that it was
upsetting Lucinda a little, but we both knew that if there were any way at all
for him to be there, he would.

Tate and I had moved into a small studio
apartment near the campus where he was given an associate professor job while
he worked through his Masters in Psychology. He still helped at Jerry's garage
on the weekends from time to time, but most of his free time was spent in my
arms or preparing for another swim meet.

He and Martin both made the Olympic swim
team a while back, and they'd been practicing for the last year and a half for
the summer Olympics, which were coming up in the next month. I'd never been
happier in all of my life, and it was all owed to him. He taught me how to live
for my future and not my past, how to let the idea of love carry me through
some of the shit we suffered with my parents, and the heartache of helping my
sister through her divorce.

Life had been violent ups and downs, but
at the end of the day, I found my rest and reprieve in his arms.

My name was called just after Lucinda's,
and I was awarded my degree in Business and Kinesiology. I was headed to start
training with the Minnesota Lynx after spending the summer free to do what I
wanted. I would play in the WNBA as long as my legs would hold me up. Tate was
good with it, but he was crazy supportive of anything I wanted to do. Almost
too much. After that, I'd be looking for a coaching position as UMN so that I
could be near my future husband and our friends.

His mother was doing great, and I couldn't
help but notice the pride in her eyes as I walked down the stage at graduation.
She was standing next to Tate as they cheered louder than anyone else for me.
My sister was beside them looking better than I had ever seen her look. She was
dating Kade, funnily enough, and though it was awkward at first, we all grew
close within a short period and he became like family, too.

I moved back to my seat and cheered for my
friends as they walked across the stage. Anticipation of getting back to Tate
drove through the center of me, and I closed my eyes and pushed back tears.
Gratefulness was the only feeling I could separate out of the torrent of
emotions pumping through me. I almost wished my parents were there, but it was
a good thing they weren't. They'd have nothing good to say, anyway. They were
stuck in their ways, and quite upset at both Allison and I, but it was their
loss.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the
graduating class of 2017."

The crowd went wild as we all stood and
threw our hats in the air. The yells and shouts of excitement filled the air
around us, and I turned as someone tapped me on the shoulder. Tate.

"Hi, baby." His smile was
radiant as he reached out and pulled me into his arms, only to squeeze me
tightly and lift me off my feet. He spun me around once as I leaned down and
pressed my lips to his.

"I'm so damn proud of you,
Valentine." He kissed me again and breathed in deeply, sending chill bumps
along my exposed skin.

"I couldn't have done it without
you." I smiled up at him and lifted my eyebrow. "We should get out of
here and celebrate the way we do best."

"Beer and s’mores?"

"Sex and strawberries." I popped
his chest. "That so old school – beer and s’mores."

He laughed and picked me up as I yelped.
"Whatever it is, as long as I'm doing it with you, I'm in."

His mother moved up in front of us as he
sat me down.

"Oh, Val, I'm so proud of you."
She pulled me into a long hug. "I wish your parents were here today, but
know that I've already adopted you as mine, so one of us is here!"

I laughed and moved back to wrap my arm
around Tate's waist. "You guys are my family, now. I couldn't be more
blessed."

"So what's next? You two want to come
out to the house for lunch?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Tate glanced
down at me as Sam bounded up next to us.

"Yeah! Congrats Miss WNBA. What the
hell? No one has my number? I had no idea you guys got engaged, either. Wow. This
day is just full of surprises."

His excitement caused my heart to race
with anticipation of all we had to look forward to. I didn't have much time to
think about it as the rest of our friends crowded around us tightly.

I turned to Tate and gave him the look.

"Getting claustrophobic?" He
lifted his eyebrow.

"Yep. Get me out of here." I
slipped my hand into his and ducked through the crowd behind him. We'd gotten
good at getting out of places and finding somewhere to hide out. The hiding out
usually turned into making out, which led to hot sex in a lot of unconventional
places, but I wasn't the girl I used to be. I was a biker chick now. I had to
be tough, ballsy, and ready to drop my panties in most places.

I smirked at the thought as he picked up
our walk to a jog. His bike was just up ahead, and the thought of driving
through the country for hours wrapped around the back of him sounded like
bliss.

"Where we going?" He handed me
my helmet and gave me a wicked grin.

"Anywhere, as long as I'm with you."
I got onto the bike as he offered me his hand.

"That's my girl. Hold on. It might
get a little bumpy."

"I'd expect nothing else from a guy
like you." I slipped my hands around his waist and cupped his package
tightly.

"So naughty, Val." He started
the biked and pulled it onto a long stretch of road just outside of the
college. I closed my eyes and snuggled against him, losing myself in the
promise of today. Tomorrow would come soon enough, but I didn't want to waste a
minute of my time with him.

Besides, forever wasn't nearly long
enough.

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VACATION

By
Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2015 Claire Adams

Chapter
1

Vivian

It was still relatively cold this time of
the year in New York. Heading to Miami wouldn’t help much. It was liable to be
cold there too. With the shifting of the seasons, spring break was stacking up
to be miserable. Not that I was in the mood to enjoy anything more than a good
book and my pjs, but my roommate wasn't going to let me back out of our trip.
She was far too excited to let anything dent her mood.

"I really don't think this is the
best idea, Casey. Maybe we could call the airlines back and see if they're
willing to move the flight just once more." I ran my fingers through my
long crimson hair and dropped down on my small bed in our dorm room. "Just
think about it. We could stay here and go to all of our favorite places. You
know you love Central Park this time of the year."

"No, Viv. This is going to be great.
You've been moping around this place since the beginning of February. We're
getting the hell out of here for a little while. It will do you some good. It
will do me some good. I'm tired of this frigid-ass weather. I need to see the
beach and pretend like one day I'll get out of here." She moved to stand
in front of me and touched my shoulder gingerly as I shifted my gaze toward the
floor. "Hey, it's going to get better."

My eyes filled with tears, though I
honestly didn't figure I had many more left in me. I'd known Jackson my whole
life, and dated him most of it. I couldn't see myself beside anyone in life but
him, and yet he felt differently. Not having the balls to tell me that he was sleeping
with half the student body at NYU, I happened to find out the hard way – by
accidentally witnessing him in action.

"Right." I pulled from her and
got up, walking to the short window that sat at the far end of our dorm room.
"I just wish it would hurry up."

"It's only been a month." Casey
wrapped me in a hug from behind and I sunk down into it. My spunky roommate had
been my best friend since kindergarten; her commitment to living life with me
being one of the only things that was sure to help me through the break-up with
Jackson.

"I know, but this was supposed to be
our trip, Case. We'd been dating for ten years on Valentine’s. That was the
reason for the trip, remember?" I pressed my hands to my face and took a
shaky breath. "I just don't know if I want to go hang out in Miami for a
week, even with you. I'll do nothing but drag you down and be a complete
killjoy. The last thing I want to do is have you upset with me because I can't
be anything but depressed right now. I'm trying to pull myself out of it, but I
just can't seem to. You're going to be disappointed and the trip's going to
suck because of me."

"That's not true. Not one damn word
you just uttered is true." She moved back and tugged on my hair. "Get
packed up. We got the tickets from Valentine’s moved to now, and we're going.
You're going to meet some fantastic hottie and have loads of great, unattached
sex."

She gasped dramatically as I turned to pin
her with a 'get real' stare. "Me?"

"Yes. You. Just think – it will
almost feel like you're a normal college girl. Having fun and living in the
moment. What? What will the media think?" She wagged her eyebrows as I
wiped the last of my tears away.

"You're dumb." And she was, but
she was right. I needed to figure out how to start living a little. My life had
revolved around Jackson and my grades for so long that having fun didn't seem
attainable.

"Right, and you're dumber. Get that
cute, little, black string bikini that you hate. It looks killer on you."
She nodded to my bed. "Grab your pillow, too. You know how much you hate
sleeping on anything but Hilda."

"It's too cold to wear a bikini. I'm
going to need a full length coat and sweats just to be able to walk
outside." I moved toward the bed and picked up my pillow, which we'd
lovingly named Hilda years ago. I was on Hilda number six by then, but our
traditions stuck – even the odd ones.

"Florida is vastly different than New
York, Viv. Check the weather on your phone, and while you're at it, check the
flight times, too. I want to run by the store on the way to the airport. I need
some gum and want to grab a couple of beach towels before we go."