Bad Professor (An Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) (81 page)

"Sounds like it." I turned as
Kinsey to wrap her arms around my neck.

"Oh my God, Chloe. The finest boy in
the whole universe is here. He's so fucking dreamy."

I untangled her arms from around me and
brushed her hair from her face. She was sloppy drunk and the fun was about to
begin. Being designated driver sucked ass, but these next few moments would
make it all worthwhile.

"Where? I want to see the best looking
thing in Aspen." I got up and walked to the edge of the dance floor before
Janet pulled me back.

"No, silly. He just walked in. Look
at that group of guys. Hot. So hot!" Janet fanned herself and I looked
around for Cindy.

She was against the bar, leaning in
closely to Caleb.

"Figures." I let out a soft
growl and resigned myself to helping my friends have a good time. I didn't need
anything more than a good laugh and a break from the house. Falling in love
with some guy wasn't at the top of my list, and even if it was, it was a
horrible idea. I was heading home in ta few weeks and the last thing I planned
to leave behind in Colorado was my heart.

"There. With the blue shirt. Tell me
you see him."

I narrowed my gaze and scanned the faces,
finally finding a group of handsome guys. "Blue shirt...blue
shirt..."

A gasp left me as I spotted him. The twins
were right. He was the finest thing in the bar, if not the city.

Too bad he was off limits.

Finn.

Chapter
8

Finn

I spent the rest of the day thinking about
Chloe. There wasn't another time in my life that I could pinpoint the desire to
hunt some girl down just for the chance to see her again. The good thing was
that I knew she would be in Aspen for another two weeks, the bad thing was that
I didn't have her last name. There was no smart way to go about finding her.

The only option was to haunt the slopes
she'd been on as often as I could. Surely, she would show back up.

A smile lifted my lips as I finished
getting dressed and walked into the kitchen for a quick sip of water. My place
was only a few miles from my father’s, which was on purpose. He wasn't getting
old just yet, but if he needed me for anything, I wanted to be available
quickly.

My studio log cabin was far too small for
two people, but it was just me and I didn't see my relationship status changing
anytime soon. Besides, the only girl I wanted wasn't up for grabs and wouldn't
be around to change her mind, anyway.

I brushed my hands down the front of my
dark blue button up shirt and made sure my jeans and boots were clean.

"Alright. Let's go have fun being the
designated driver." I rolled my eyes and grabbed my keys, not quite sure
why I signed up for the job, but I did. My father had been more generous than
I'd expected when I told him what I'd be up to. He was letting me borrow one of
the fifteen passenger vans for the evening.

After stopping by the shop to get it, I
drove to Brian's and picked him up first. The rest of the guys were staying at
the Sheraton downtown – seemed everyone was doing better financially than me. I
couldn't afford half a night at the Sheraton, but dwelling on it was too
depressing.

"Hey, buddy. Looking good."
Brian got into the front seat of the van and popped me in the chest.

"Thanks, bro. Not too shabby yourself."
I glanced at him and nodded to the window. "Fix that side mirror for me.
Something hit it and it's crooked."

"Yeah, sure." He rolled the
window down and I floored it, causing the snow from the window and hood to fly
back, a good chunk of it hitting him in the face.

"You fucker!" He jerked back in
the van as we both laughed like teenagers.

My father swore that we were the dumbest
idiots ever, but it only got worse when we were together. He was my best friend
and the only one from our group that still lived in Aspen. We had decided years
ago that going out to look for women together wasn't at all beneficial. We were
childish when together, and they all seemed to realize that.

"Tonight should be fun." I let
out another laugh and turned toward the city lights. "Don't push any women
on me. I'm taking December off."

"Off? What the hell does that
mean?" He wiped at his shirt and pants as the snow began to melt. I turned
the heater up and reached over, pulling a chunk of ice from his collar and
slinging it at him.

He moved across the front seat like he was
going to tackle me, and I swerved the van, scaring him.

"Hey, stay over there, you
behemoth," I growled and swatted at him.

Brian had twenty pounds on me, but he wore
it well. He wasn't nearly the man whore I was, but looking good was something
he always seemed to care about.

"I'm going to get you back for that
shit. I'm going to hand out your number to the whole damn room tonight. That
should go over well." He snorted and gave me a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, I've probably been with most
of them." I let out a sigh. "This is why going to the club sounds
like a good idea until we actually do it."

"Shut up about your problem of having
too many women want you. No one is interested in that shit." He ran his
fingers through his brown hair once more and turned to pin me with a hard
stare. "Talk. What's up with you giving up women for most of December?
This a new thing, like no-shave November? I don't like it. Count me out."

"No, you idiot. I'm just tired of
waking up next to a different woman every morning." I shrugged, wishing I
hadn't brought it up.

"Yeah, that sounds horrible. How
about you take my problem of not finding one who will actually give me ten
minutes of her time and I'll beat back the ones that want you for a while. Your
arms getting tired?"

"Very funny." I stopped in front
of the hotel. "No saying anything to the other guys, just deflect for me
tonight. I'm serious about not taking a girl home."

"I'll believe it when I see it."
He got out of the van and jogged toward the hotel as I leaned back against the
seat.

What were the odds of finding Chloe? I
would break the rules for her in a heartbeat. Just the thought of her caused my
body to stiffen as need began to pulsate along my pressure points.

"Where are you, baby?" I closed
my eyes as a smile lifted my lips at the memory of her talking trash. She was
ballsy, bold, and impossibly beautiful. The fact that she wasn't interested in
a one-night stand was one of the main reasons why I couldn't shake her. I was
tired of them myself, but when that's all that made sense, what else could you
do?

* * * *

The club was new and you could tell it by
the number of people packed into it by the time we arrived. The guys piled in
behind me as we approached the bouncer at the front of the long line.

"Finn. My man. What's up,
brother?" The large meat-head guarding the front door extended his hand
and I shook it. His father was a good friend of my old man's. It paid to know
people.

"Hey, Jeff. Any way we get out of
standing in this line? I left my jacket at home and my boy Jared here is down
for his bachelor party." I tugged Jared up to the front with me, the poor
bastard already too drunk to stand.

Jeff chuckled and opened the door.
"Only for you. You know it's the ladies who usually get this
treatment."

I moved back and shuffled the five other
guys in the door before me. "Well, I've been with most of them. That
count?"

"Lucky bastard. Get inside before I
change my mind." He patted my back as I walked in and took a quick
inventory of the room. Large dance floor to the left, bar to the right, very
few seats, loud, sexy music, and pulsating lights.

Yep.
It's officially a night club.

Brian snagged the only remaining table in
the place, and I glanced toward the bar before looking back at the guys.

"What are we having? Bucket of
beers?"

The all grunted their replies and I walked
off, not caring much what they wanted. I was buying the first round, and it was
going to be the cheap stuff. It was the quickest way to get someone else to
pick up the tab for the rest of the night. I had no shame and certainly wasn't
spending my last dime on a bunch of drunk guys.

"You're not spending it on a woman,
either," I grumbled to myself and stopped by the bar before turning around
and catching the eyes of a pair of twins who were having far too much fun dancing
together.

I politely declined when the thinner of
the two motioned for me to join them. Some guys were good with more than one
woman, but not me. I was too much of a selfish bastard. I wanted to leave the
girl I was with panting for more.

"Whatcha having, buddy?" The
bartender pushed a bowl of peanuts in front of me and smiled.

"Bucket of your cheapest beers. My
friends are already tanked."

"Sucks." He laughed and I nodded
in agreement before tempting myself by looking back out to the dance floor.

A pretty blonde next to the twins caught
my attention as I waited for our drinks. Her back was to me, but the way she
rolled her hips left her ass jiggling subtly in her tight skirt and I couldn't
help but watch attentively. She needed a man up behind her, taking the brunt of
her movements.

I sucked in a deep breath and turned to
pay the guy before carrying my bucket back to the table. It would be better for
me to steer clear of the dance floor. I had a few moves of my own and didn't
need to be pulling them out if I were planning on going home alone, which I
was.

"The cheap beer? You bastard."
Brian pushed at my shoulder, and drank half the bottle he grabbed.
"Actually, that's not bad. Reminds me of high school."

"Which was a long time ago." I
lifted to my toes and scanned the crowd again for the blonde. A smile touched
my mouth and my pulse sped up. "No fucking way."

Chloe.

"What's up?" Brian pushed his
hand against my shoulder as he lifted to his toes. "You see someone we
know?"

"Someone I wanna know." I turned
and took a beer from the buckets, draining it in a few gulps and walking out to
the dance floor. I dropped the empty bottle in the trashcan and slid past the
twins. "Excuse me, ladies."

Chloe kept her back to me as I moved up
and slid my hands over her hips, pulling her back a little and rocking against
her. I pressed my face against the back of her hair and moved in tandem with
her, breathing in slowly to taint my lungs with her scent.

Her fingers dug into the back of my
thighs, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

I pushed my luck a little and ran my hand
over her stomach, spaying my fingers and pressing backward to lock her against
my body. She would know without a doubt that the man behind her was turned on,
but most guys in a club were. The smell of sex was everywhere and inhibitions
were usually left at the door.

She pulled away a little before glancing
over her shoulder.

"Hi, baby." I smiled.

She spun in my arms and slid her hands up
my chest and over my shoulders before licking at her mouth seductively.

"Have we met?" Her voice was
soft and sensual. She was playing the same game she did the day before, but I
couldn't care less.

She moved down, rubbing herself against me
as her eyes closed.

I gripped the back of her head as the
music turned into a beat with a pulsing throb that had the crowd locked into
seduction. "So beautiful."

"Me or you?" She opened her eyes
and the light caught her perfectly, leaving her to look like something out of
my wildest fantasy.

"You, honey. You." I moved down
and pressed my lips to the side of her neck, kissing softly until I reached her
ear. "You didn't let me give you my number, Chloe."

"Oh, so you remember my name."
She stopped dancing and turned, leaving her face so close to mine that I could
feel the warmth of her breath on my lips. She was the seductress here, and I
was holding on for dear life. Every cell in my body screamed for me to seal the
deal and kiss her – hard.

"Of course, I do. How could I
forget?" I glanced down at her mouth and moved in for the kiss as she spun
away from me.

"Not interested, playboy. Find
someone else."

I didn't realize how much I wanted her
until she moved to the center of the floor, dancing with her friends and
leaving me to watch. My breathing was off kilter, and for the first time in my
long life, I yearned for something that I couldn't have: her.

After forcing myself off the dance floor,
I rejoined my friends and let out a long sigh.

"The girl of my dreams is on that
dance floor." I ran my fingers through my hair, not quite sure I had it in
me not to go back after her and throw her over my shoulder like the caveman I
was starting to feel like.

"Go get her, man!" one of the
guys yelled and lifted his beer. "You're Finn Fucking Warner. You get any
girl you want."

I looked over at him and laughed as the
guys all hit their bottles together.

Any
girl but the one I suddenly want. Karma's a bitch.

"What are you waiting for, dude? Go
get her." Brian patted my back. "The blonde who was pressed to the
front of you, right?"

"Yeah," I responded a little
more breathlessly than I wanted.

"She's all yours, dude. Finest chick
in this bar. Go show us how it's done." He pushed at my shoulder and I
nodded, walking back toward her with determination.

Enough with the games. I didn't have much
time with her as it was.