Learning the Hard Way (4 page)

She searched around the room. She must have found what she was looking for on the other side. A look of disappointment covered her face. In a brave move, she left the safety of the monitor barrier and walked by him to get to a box next to the door.

Up close to see her bare feet and long, toned legs stemming from under those tiny shorts forced Troy to cover himself with the pad he’d brought into the room. Then she bent over to find whatever she was looking for and gave him an even better show.

His gaze fixed on her tiny waist and her incredible ass, so round and firm. It didn’t help that when she walked by him, she left in her wake an intoxicating vanilla aroma that had him thinking about biting her all over her luscious body.

Think about baseball. Think about baseball.

“Sorry.” She picked something up and handed it to him. “Here’s my business card with my website information on it. It might help you in the class.”

Troy didn’t mean to stare at her, but behind her glasses hid a soulful pair of milk chocolate brown eyes. Either Troy needed to eat something or this woman made him ravenous.

He took the card, dragging his fingers over hers. The connection sent an electric charge through his body. “Thanks. I’ll check you out.” Did it suddenly get hot in there?

He shoved the card in his pocket.

“Good. You do that.” She offered him a polite smile before resuming her spot behind her desk.

“So are you leaving? I notice you were packing.” He scanned the place and saw several packed boxes. Maybe his class would be the last one she would teach.

“Oh, no. I’m just cleaning up. Apparently I’m doing too much cleaning. I can’t find things that I need.” She laughed and let out a small snort.

Even that pumped blood through his body. He liked the imperfection in her beauty.

“I love teaching summer school.” She put her hands back on the monitor. “Not all of the students are the ones who didn’t want to apply themselves during the normal school year. I’m seeing a lot more career-minded people now. Is that why you’re in summer school?”

“No, I signed up to meet women.” His bad attempt at levity melted the smile from Professor Kushnell’s face. “Sorry, bad joke. Yes, I’m heading into the second phase of my life and wanted to try something different.”

She nodded.

Troy took that moment to do something brave or really, really stupid. “Speaking of trying something different. There’s a great little coffee shop down the street that sells the best chocolate chip cookies on the planet. If you aren’t busy right now, you want to join me and maybe we can talk about the class and your expectations?”

A shiver attacked Troy’s spine as he awaited her answer. In his fantasy, he wanted her to say that she expected him to be in her office fucking her brains out twice a day and every weekend. If she wanted to wrap those long legs around him, he would let her.

Or maybe she would confess that she shared his same love of BDSM. He would love to play with this one, flog her until her skin marked up with red streaks. He could only imagine sitting in her class while he had her outfitted with vibrating panties or a butt plug. Only the two of them would know what existed under her clothing. The thought of that had his heart racing.

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “As I said before, everything you need to know about me, um, about my class can be found on the website.” She glanced at the same box she got her business card from and brought her attention back to him. “If I had a current copy of my syllabus, I would have given that to you. But I don’t. The book requirement is on the site. I’d like to think I’m a fair teacher. I’m a great listener and I enjoy a meaningful exchange of ideas.”

“I can kind of hear a ‘but’ coming.” He widened his stance as though he needed to brace himself for bad news.

“However,” she cleared her throat, “it’s not appropriate for a professor to date her students.”

Troy wouldn’t beg. He could tell she needed a bit of prompting to force her into action. “It wouldn’t be a date. It’s just—”

She cut him off. “No, thank you, Mr. Whitten.”

He offered a smile to let her know her decision hadn’t bothered him. He patted his pocket where he stashed her card. “Thanks again for the information. I appreciate it. And I sincerely hope you weren’t offended by the offer. I really just wanted coffee and to talk.”

“And that’s fine. Just know that I’m only available to my students in class, in my office or by e-mail. That’s it.” To make her statement sound definitive, she held up her hand like a traffic cop.

Troy bowed his head. “Duly noted.” When he turned, he nearly ran into an older gentleman with white hair styled in a bad comb-over.

“Excuse me.” He steadied himself by putting a hand on Troy’s shoulder. “Am I interrupting? I want to talk to you about something important.”

The man must have been important. Professor Kushnell picked up a black sweater from her chair and put it on. Why hadn’t she done that before during their conversation? The thought of that had Troy smiling. He would go home and imagine the scenes he could have with her.

“No, sir. He was just leaving.” She stared at him. “See you next week.”

Troy gave her a sloppy salute. “See you later.”

He had to hand it to her. Despite being the sexiest woman he had seen in years, she did stick to her guns as far as her expectations. She probably would be a great ethics professor. Too bad he would never find out what she would be like as a girlfriend, a lover, or a play bottom.

For now, he would have to admire her teaching skills. In his imagination,
he
would be teaching
her
a thing or two. The way he ended it with Meredith, a good imaginary relationship might be what he needed. Less drama.

* * * *

First Ava had a surprise visit from one of her new students and now an impromptu meeting from the current head of her department. What kind of bad luck did she have to get these people visiting her on her off day?

Ava wrapped the sweater tight over her chest and wished in her head that it had been long enough to cover her shorts. Who knew that a prominent detective would venture out in short shorts like these? Or maybe Ava’s butt had more cushion, as the kids would say, than Dina’s. To explore that theory, Ava started to crane her head back, but stopped when Dr. Wunderlund spoke.

As though the trek from his office on the other side of the sixth floor exhausted him, he removed one of her packed boxes from the chair across from her desk and plopped himself in it, raising dust in the air. She would have to remember to remind the cleaning staff to dust her furniture as well.

“Whew. What a day.” The rotund man retrieved a graying handkerchief from his front shirt pocket and dabbed his forehead.

“It has been quite a morning.” Now that Dr. Wunderlund had seated himself, Ava felt comfortable enough to sit down. She crossed her legs out of habit, then pulled herself close to her desk to hide her lower half just in case her shorts rode up higher and exposed her business.

Her colleague glanced at her packed boxes around his feet. “Going somewhere?”

“Um, no. Just tidying up, packing the spring semester material before summer school starts. You know how that is.” Ava noticed her fingers drummed on her desk. She pushed her hands flat to keep them still.

“Good. I would hate to see you go. You’re one of the best in this department.” He smiled his normal smile that showed off all of his gums and none of his short teeth.

“That’s encouraging, sir.”

“It should be. I’m sure you’ve heard that after this upcoming term, I’m going to retire.”

Ava thought about feigning surprise, but Dr. Wunderlund had always been a straight shooter with her. She owed him the professional courtesy to return that same level of candor.

“Yes, I have heard that. You’ve had a wonderful career, Dr. Wunderlund. You’ve shaped some of our most talented students at East Coast.” To not make the man seem old, she would leave out the fact that she’d learned from him during her undergraduate years.

Dr. Wunderlund waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Don’t eulogize me just yet. I’m sure the pompous assholes here will do enough of that during my retirement party.”

Ava had to blink at his use of the term “assholes” to describe the dean and board members.

“I like you, Ava.” He pulled out a silver flask from his pants pocket. “Drink?”

She shook her head in both disagreement and surprise. “No, thank you. And you shouldn’t be imbibing that here on campus either.”

Her colleague took two substantial swigs before glaring at her and replacing the drink container back in its original resting place. “It’s the only way I can get through the day now. Trust me. You’ll do this and more to stay centered.”

Out of respect, she lowered her voice in case someone walked by her office. “I don’t think drinking an alcoholic beverage on school grounds can be excused simply because of a taxing day.”

“Then you’ll take up your drug of choice to cope. If it’s not drinking, it’ll be something else. Maybe it’ll be crossword puzzles. Besides, what I know about these people around here, they’re not going to get rid of me before my official retirement date.”

She glanced at the place where he tucked his flask. “So you want something on me before you go?”

Dr. Wunderlund cocked his head. “Please. Setting people up is not my style. Jump down from your high horse, Dr. Kushnell. I didn’t come here to discuss my behavior. I came here because in you, I see great potential. I think you would be perfect to take over my spot.”

Despite losing a bit of respect for him when she saw him drinking in front of her, Ava beamed at his assessment.

“However,” Dr. Wunderlund held up his index finger, “there is one thing. As a department head, you are expected to participate in as many school functions as possible.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I’m the sponsor of the university’s wine-and-cheese parties.”

“You mean the one that’s held on campus during school hours?” With a self-satisfied grin on his smug face, he patted his drinking vessel still hidden in his pocket.

“It’s held across the street in the campus’s meeting center and they’re done as late as possible. It’s not my fault that the school schedules evening classes that get out at—”

“Before I leave here, you’re going to learn one thing, Dr. Kushnell.” He shifted himself in his seat. “Nothing is black and white. As an ethics professor, you should know that.”

“But as an ethics
professor
, I need to teach my students right and wrong.” The responsibility didn’t make her feel haughty. She liked teaching.

That statement got the large man to bolt from his chair. He loomed over her desk. “No. Ethics is not about right and wrong. Ethics is about good choices and bad ones based on a set of constructs in an environment. Here’s an ethics question. You come across two houses burning. You know in the one house is a group of small children. In the other, is an elderly woman. You have enough time to go into one dwelling to make a save. Where do you go?”

“The children’s parents should be in that house with them, so they would save their own children and I would save the elderly woman.” Her heart started to beat hard after he posed his scenario. Her hands became sweaty.

Dr. Wunderlund shook his head. “Both parents work third shift. The oldest child is sixteen so they rely on him to watch his younger brother and sisters. So what do you do?”

Now her head throbbed. “I would call the fire department if no one else has. I’m not trained to—”

Dr. Wunderlund leaned on her desk. “The kids are in the second floor looking out of the window right at you, crying and screaming. They want you to help them.”

“I could be endangering my own life. It’s not a matter of ethics. It’s sound reasoning.” She wrung her hands together as though being interrogated.

He took a step back. “So you would leave the five to die, is that what you’re saying?”

“I would make the fire department’s job even tougher if I ran into any of the homes because then they would have to worry about saving me.” The logic seemed sound.

Dr. Wunderlund shook his head. “Think about this. The decision to do nothing versus the one to take action.”

She cleared her throat. “I’m not one of your students, Doctor. You mentioned something about a function.”

He headed to the door, then turned. “Yes, there’s an awards ceremony for all department heads and the dean in two weeks.” He reached into his other pants pocket and pulled out an invitation. He threw the card on Ava’s desk.

She allowed it to sit there, face up and upside down. She wouldn’t touch it until he left.

“I’m not going to go. It would really grind their gears and get them thinking about your potential if you showed in my place.”

Ava’s heart pounded as she reached for the invite.

“It’s formal dress. It’ll be at the new art center downtown.”

She stared at the gold lettering over the linen card.

“So you’ll go?” He leaned against the door jamb.

Ava broke her stare from the card to glance at him. “I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t think. Go.” Dr. Wunderlund started to walk away.

“Should I bring a date?” She really hadn’t considered bringing a date until a different man, someone other than Richard, popped into her thoughts this time. The reason she decided to go out with a student—well, an ex-student—stemmed from a bad past encounter with a colleague.

“I’ve been married forty years and my wife has yet to attend a work function with me. Not necessary. Stand strong alone.” He winked and headed to the elevator.

On the one hand, the prospect of going to this university party tickled Ava in her stomach. She would know firsthand what it would be like to be a department head. Going to the party would have her confronting all sorts of demons from her past.

Stand strong? Sounded good. With the humiliation of Richard’s infidelity so fresh, and the idea of seeing a past failed relationship face-to-face, getting a date seemed like a great idea.

Now that she no longer had Richard, she had been dateless. Wait. What was she thinking? She never
had
Richard. Richard had had her and Dina and Vonda and a whole host of other women. For that reason alone, Ava was owed a good time. She couldn’t let her past get the better of her, that she couldn’t date anyone else after him.