Bad Professor (An Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) (65 page)

"Wow." I sighed softly and
kissed her again, not wanting to break contact with her. "Come to my room
with me. Spend the night with me."

"Let's go to the hot tub at the
penthouse. Is there one in there?" She reached up and brushed her fingers
by my lips.

"Yeah. That sounds divine. No
swimsuits, right?" I wagged my eyebrows.

"Yes, swimsuits. I'm leaving tomorrow
just before lunch. If stay up all night, I'll be a holy hell wreck again, which
isn't good for anyone in my path." Her smile was radiant, and I had to
force myself to sit back and not reach for her again.

"Alright. Swimsuits, but we're
playing twenty questions. I want to know everything about you before you leave
me here to fend off these crazy people by myself for the next few days." I
licked at my lips, wanting to taste her again.

"How long are you here?" She
snuggled in beside me and let her fingers dance along my thigh.

"I leave out on Sunday. I'm supposed
to have some time with my parents before I head out for my next trip, but I'm
not so sure it's going to happen." I sat up, pulling from her as the cab
stopped in front of La Mage. "You wanna grab your suit from your room and
meet me in the penthouse?"

"Sounds like a plan." She took
my hand as she got out of the cab, her free hand slipping over my cock and
squeezing as she rose to her toes and kissed me lightly. "See you in a
minute."

I growled as she released me and turned to
watch her go. She would have to be the one to put her foot down on our new
relationship. I couldn't end anything with her. I was teetering on pushing it
toward exclusivity. Maybe once we were back in New York she would be receptive
to such a conversation.

I was without option. Her hold on me was
far tighter than any woman before her had held.

The question was whether she knew it or
not.

Chapter
21

Vivian

I didn't think to knock before I walked
into our room, but I should have. Paul had Casey against the wall, fucking her
hard as I stopped at the door.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry." I
turned my back to them. "I need my swimsuit. Or never mind. I can just not
go swimming."

"Wait. It's fine." Casey called
after me, but I didn't dare turn around. I'd seen my best friend in various
compromising positions, but it didn't mean I wanted to see it again. "I'll
get it."

I moved my hand behind my back and pressed
my free hand to my face as I held the door open with my body. She dropped it
into my hand and popped my rear.

"Have fun tonight. The room should be
free again in an hour or so."

Nodding, I moved out in to the hall and
tried to release the extreme embarrassment that rolled through me. Casey was
obviously feeling better.

I knocked at the penthouse door after
riding the elevator up with a large crowd of rowdy partygoers. They each took a
turn inviting me to join the fun, but I simply denied them politely until I was
the only one left on the elevator.

Easton opened the door after my first
knock and smiled at me. "Casey okay?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I
ducked under his arm and moved into the room. "I walked in on her and Paul
having sex. Lovely sight for a porno maybe, but not something I enjoyed."

He chuckled as I shuddered. "Well,
let the image go. No need to have you all hot and bothered when we're just
going to relax in the hot tub."

I gave him a cheeky grin and rolled my
eyes. "You're just baiting me, but I'm not falling for it. One night was
too much to forget with you. Two would kill me."

"Why do you have to forget
anything?" He moved toward me and reached out, brushing his fingers down
my arm as his eyes moved across my face.

"Hot tub. Twenty questions, and my
room is free in an hour. Nothing more. Promise me." I pressed my hand to
his chest. He was pushing forward with his desire to make more out of us than
we could be. I wanted to join in, but I wasn't playing the fool again – not
ever.

"Alright. What the lady wants.”

"That's not entirely true." I
shrugged, removed my hand from his thick chest and turned to walk toward the
bathroom. "Let me change real quick."

"I'd rather you left the bathing suit
on the bathroom floor, but if you want to wear it..." He let out a long,
playful sigh that caused me to chuckle.

"And here I thought you were a good
man. Corruption has taken a hold of you." I stopped by the bathroom door
and glanced back to catch him watching me with hunger in his gaze.

"I was that man until a goddess made
love to me last night. Now, I can't seem to pull myself out of the muck."
He put his hands on his hips and shrugged. "I blame you entirely."

I snorted. "Of course you do. Typical
male ego."

Disappearing into the bathroom, I closed
the door behind me and changed into my black bikini. After checking my
appearance three times in the mirror, I finally resigned myself to going back
out to finish our evening together. There was nothing I wanted more than to
make love to him all night, but it was foolish to think that I could walk away
unscathed from our short love affair. I had no hope in a future together, and
that he did hurt me even more.

Was I giving up the chance to try again?

He said himself that he couldn't keep a
relationship alive to save his life due to his incessant travel. And what if he
met someone on one of his trips? What if I wasn't enough?

"You haven't been up to this point.
Why would this be any different?" I leaned toward the mirror, only to jump
and yelp as his voice came through the door.

"Are you talking to yourself in
there? Get out here. The water's perfect."

I smiled and pulled a towel from the rack
behind me, grabbing him one too and walking out to enjoy the view. His black
swim trunks only seemed to accentuate just how big of a package he was
sporting. The memory of seeing him naked and bare before me the night before
caused a shiver to run through me.

"Cold?" He asked with a cocky
grin on his face.

"Nope. Just thinking about how good
you look naked. I'm lamenting a little over the fact that you didn't let me
taste you." I shrugged and walked past him, trying hard to keep my tone
very matter-of-fact.

"Tease." He slid his fingers
over my lower back as he passed me. "That bathing suit makes you look good
enough to eat, by the way."

"Thanks. I love this one." I
followed him down the hall and out onto a small, private balcony where the hot
tub bubbled. Steam rose up from the turbulent water, and the smell of salt
wrapped around me. "This is going to be great."

"It's really relaxing. The resort is
honestly one of the best in the country. I search each visit for something to
offer as an improvement to them, and honestly it gets harder and harder to find
when I come here." He got into the water and offered me his hand.
"Have you enjoyed your room and the food?"

"Absolutely. The food is exquisite.
I'm going to write up a few pieces when I get home on it. Do you think I should
submit them to the paper in Miami as well as New York? I just realized that I might
have an easier time getting featured here where the restaurants are." I
walked into the hot water and sunk down next to him, letting out a groan as my
muscles responded to the strong jets spraying against them.

"Both. Always put your eggs in a
handful of baskets until you find your sweet spot." He settled across the
hot tub from me. "Kevin is our lead food critic, but the guy honestly
doesn't have his thumb on the pulse of what people like or want. He's a total
dick."

"Get me his job." I smiled and lifted
my arms, running my fingers through the bubbles.

"Would you be interested if I
could?" He lifted his eyebrow, the playfulness gone for the moment.

"I think so, yes. But I was just
teasing. I can find a job on my own. I have Casey working with me when we get
back to figure out the best place for me to start." I shrugged, not too
terribly concerned about it.

"Are you going to stay in New York or
are you open to going other places?" His foot brushed by mine, and at
first I figured it an accident, until he did it again, a soft petting sort of
touch.

"I love New York, so I'll probably
stay there, but I'd love to travel like you do. I'm close to my family, but not
so close that seeing them on occasion wouldn't be okay." I leaned back and
closed my eyes. "Are you going to have to travel like you are now for the
entirety of your career?"

"Yeah, most likely." The water
moved and I opened my eyes to see him shifting toward me. He settled in beside
me and pressed his shoulder to mine.

"Do you want to get married?" He
glanced over at me.

"To you?" I sat up, a little
shocked by the question.

The beautiful smile that slid across his
face caused my tummy to tighten in anticipation of hope sprouting inside of me
again.

"No, silly girl. Though I could see
that happening, but I'm a dreamer of sorts." He slid his hand over mine
below the surface of the water and played with my fingers. "In general. Do
you want to get married to someone? Is it something you think about?"

"Yes. I want to share life with
someone. Almost desperately at times." I licked at my lips and shifted my
gaze to his mouth. "Do you?"

"All the time. My mother won't give
me a moment’s rest on it."

I laughed as I came back to my senses.
"And kids?"

"She's nuts about wanting kids. I
think I mentioned that." He chuckled. "I want kids. I just don't
think my job would allow for all of that just yet."

"Maybe not now, but in the future if
you find someone that wanted to travel with you, you could just take the baby
with you, right?" I shifted closer to him, pulling his arm around my back
as I pressed a kiss to the side of his neck.

"I think with the right woman,
anything would be possible." He turned and brushed his lips by mine.
"Are you more interested in your career or a relationship with the right
guy?"

"My career." I answered a bit
too fast. "I mean, I'd love to be in a solid relationship, but I'm
graduating in two months and need to shift my focus onto my future. I give all
of myself over in a relationship. I probably need to learn boundaries, but it's
just the way I've always been."

His brow furrowed as he tensed. "I
hate the fact that Jackson is all you know. Ten years is a really long time,
and no breaks in between?"

"Not for me, no." I moved back a
little and stood up as my body started to overheat. "It's hot as hell in
here."

"It's lust. We can pretend like we're
not both thinking about how good it would be to give ourselves over to each
other for the night, but we are." He stood up and moved toward me. "I
want you to stay with me. Don't go because of some sense of protection that you
think you have to have around me. We don't have to move fast, Viv, but don't
move away. I want to try this thing out between us. I've had more fun in the
last four days than I have in the last two years."

His words shot an arrow of fear into the
center of my chest. I couldn't agree more with his confession, but it wasn't
that simple. He would keep on with his life, and I would keep up, or he would
grow weary of me. He wasn't risking much at all, but asking me to risk everything.

"I want to, Easton, but I can't. Not
right now. Maybe when things are settled in the future." I reached for
him, pulling him into a long hug and kissing his shoulder before pulling back.
"I should go. Call me sometime when you're in New York and we'll hang out.
Promise?"

His smile faded as he nodded. "Yeah.
Of course."

I turned and got out of the hot tub as
tears burned my gaze. I needed to go then or I wasn't going to go. It wasn't
nearly as simple as he wanted to make it out to be. At least I couldn't figure
out a scenario where I won for the long term.

After gathering my stuff, I checked the
living room for him but didn't see him. I walked towards the balcony and found
him bent over, looking out across the city as rivets of water dripped down his
back and legs. I turned and walked out of the penthouse, not caring how
intensely everything inside of me screamed that I was making a huge mistake.

My heart had to come first. For the first
time ever.

I didn't sleep at all that night, and
looked like hell the next morning, no doubt. Casey was sure to remind me ten
times that I should at least call him and say goodbye as we packed up.

"I don't want to say goodbye. Lay the
fuck off of me." I turned and gave her an aggressive stare.

She lifted her hands. "Okay. Shit.
Sorry. I just know you, and you're going to regret this. It's like letting
fucking Jackson win."

"He's winning nothing, Case. I'm
asking you nicely to let it go. I'm hurting. Don't throw salt in my wounds.
Okay?" I turned back to my suitcase and swallowed the ache that continued
to rise up my chest and find residence in my throat. I was making a mistake,
but I didn't care. Hurting today to heal tomorrow sounded far more mature than
instant gratification today and being destroyed again in the near future.

"I'm sorry. I love you. You know
that." She stopped beside me and tugged at my arm until I turned and let
her pull me into a hug.

"I don't want to do all of this
again. I just want peace for a little while. I want to heal." I pressed my
cheek to her shoulder. "And I don't want to cry anymore."

"Agreed. I'll go check us out and
we'll get the fuck out of here. That sound good?" She pulled back, but
kept a tight grasp on my shoulders.

"I'll check us out. The room is in my
name. Finish checking to make sure we didn't leave anything." I moved to
the door and grabbed my purse before walking out. I didn't want Casey spending
any of her dwindling funds on anything related to the vacation, but she
wouldn't have any of it if they charged us for something.

I made it down to the lobby and turned as
the one person I didn't want to see walked toward me. Jackson.

"Hey. I was hoping I would see you
again here." He reached for me, but I backed up.

"How did you know I was staying
here?" I lifted my eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. I ignored
the familiarity that sat between us, the offer of him hugging me ushered in the
remembrance of a comfort I didn't think I could live without.

"I talked to your dad last night for
a long time. I'm sorry about your folks." He shoved his hands into the
pockets of his jeans. "Vivian, I'm sorry, baby. Please give me a chance to
make everything up to you. Please."

"Fuck off." I turned on my heel
and walked toward the long line at the checkout counter.

"Viv. Just tell me what I need to do
to start working toward us getting back together. I know you miss me. I feel
like I can't breathe without you." He brushed his hand along my upper
back, and I stiffened.