Learning the Hard Way (12 page)

“Did you fuck him?” the two women asked at the same time.

Ava laughed complete with snort. “Yes. Yes. Oh, God, yes.”

All of them screamed in delight.

“Sounds like he got her there and then some.” It sounded like Vonda switched her phone to speaker so that she could applaud. “Good. That was what you needed, a good stiff one for your rebound man. Now the next man you get with will be a better one.”

If only that were true. Ava had prepared herself to do one of two things the night of the party: go to the party, have a good time and not sleep with her rent-a-date, or go to the party, don’t give a damn what anyone thought of her or her date, and have sex with him. She chose the latter option, only she didn’t count on developing any feelings for him. Damn Troy for coming to her before classes started and planting the seed of his desire and stoking her embers.

“You’re quiet. Don’t tell me you’re like some teenage girl and as soon as you get some dick you’re falling in love.” Dina damn near tsked over the phone.

“I wouldn’t say love, but he did make me think.” Ava chewed on her lower lip.

“Why is that?” Vonda asked.

“Remember the sexy student I said that came to see me before classes started when I was dancing around in my office without a bra?”

“You were dancing naked in your office?” Indignation filled Vonda’s voice.

“I’ll explain later. Are you saying escort boy is your hands-off student?” Dina asked.

“One in the same.”

“And you fucked him,” Dina said.

“I think we’ve established that,” Vonda huffed. “What kind of luck is this? The one guy you chose for our girl is one of her students. I knew this was all a bad idea.”

“Be quiet, Vonda. You were on the same bandwagon to get her the escort. Don’t backpedal now.”

Ava should have refused the offer to get the escort in the first place. Deep down she’d enjoyed the sex with Troy. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted him again, in her bed, inside of her, kissing her. She also wanted him to show her more of his lifestyle.

“What are you going to do now?” Vonda asked.

“The only thing I can do. He’s my student. I’m his teacher. That’s where it ends.” A twinge hit Ava’s belly.

Come on. Get a grip. You can’t have a relationship with him. It’s not possible.

Dina rattled on about the legal ramifications of a tenured professor having sexual relations with one of her students. Vonda griped again about Dina picking a date for Ava from an escort agency.

“You really like this guy, don’t you?” Vonda asked, her voice softening.

“No. It’s crazy. It’s the same reaction I had with Richard, that same impetuous feeling. I need to grow up.” Ava shook her head.

A pause lingered before anyone spoke.

“Maybe what you need to do is be honest with yourself on how you feel,” Vonda said.

“I know what I want. I don’t need to get involved with anyone right now. I told him we can’t go further physically. He promised not to say anything to the other students or the faculty.”

“And you believe him?” Poor Dina. Always the skeptic.

“Yes. I trust him.” A man who knew how to make Ava come over and over again couldn’t have deceived her…could he?

“Hmm, trust. Great sex. Sounds like a good foundation for a successful relationship.”

“Vonda, you’re supposed to be my voice of reason.”

So much for a simple one-night stand.

* * * *

Troy could take a lot. When he broke his leg during a hike and had to hobble back over a mile through rough terrain, he didn’t whimper or complain. Dealing with difficult clients with their changing needs didn’t rattle him. Having a woman, one who had stirred his interest, and then leave him after such an incredible night had shaken him to his core.

He plopped down in his seat at the front of the class. Since Ava wouldn’t see him in her office before class and she didn’t respond to his e-mails, his only hope would be to talk to her after class. No way could she run from him here.

Ava blew into the classroom and placed her briefcase on the desk in front. Troy had expected her not to look at him like she did the first day of class. Today she was different.

“We don’t have much time,” she began. “Let’s get started. I asked you all to read the first three chapters in the textbook. Mr. Whitten, did you do the assignment?”

Troy glared at her. “Yes, I did. I had a lot time on my hands yesterday since some plans fell through.”

“Good. I hope you all are as on top of things like your classmate because I have a pop quiz for you all.” She pulled out a stack of papers to the horror of some of the students in the class.

No doubt this was a retribution for Troy’s actions. Since when was good sex punishable?

Ava sat a stack of papers in front of Troy, glaring at him for good measure. Thank goodness he had actually read the chapters. Whether or not he remembered the information since the only thing on his mind was Ava and her incredible body would be a different story.

Even after the test, Ava kept riding Troy throughout the class, asking him questions and concentrating her focus on him.

“I don’t know what you did, but you had better straighten up and fly right,” Maggie whispered to Troy after the class.

No, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He would get to the bottom of her new attitude and why she left him yesterday morning.

At the end of class, Ava didn’t make herself available to students. She jetted out of the room, but Troy wouldn’t let her go that easily. He packed his backpack and raced behind her. Instead of taking the elevator, he scaled the stairs to the sixth floor.

He arrived on the floor just as Ava walked into her office. When she turned to close the door, he stood in the doorway, blocking her.

“We need to talk.”

“I’m very busy, Mr. Whitten. I don’t have time to—”

He pushed his way into her office and closed the door behind him. “Why did you leave?”

Ava sought sanctuary behind her desk. “Lower your voice. These walls are thin. I told you earlier that morning that I couldn’t stay. Besides, your job was over.”

“I am not an escort. I did it to help out a friend.”

From the look on her face, he knew she didn’t believe him. The look matched the one Meredith gave him whenever she’d questioned him about his female clients. The thought that Ava could be that judgmental hit him like a punch in his gut.

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“And I’m being truthful when I say that I don’t want to continue any relationship beyond what we did at your home.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“So you ran like a little girl.” He dropped his backpack onto the floor.

The statement triggered an unexpected response from Ava. She brought her fists to her hips, ran from behind her desk, and squared off in front of him. “I’m not a coward. I had things to do that day and I didn’t want to sit around waiting for you. You don’t know me.”

He moved in closer. “I know that you’re scared. So am I. I also know that you’ve been hurt before. So have I.” He put his hand to the side of her face. His thumb stroked her cheek. “I know that I can’t stop thinking about you. I hope to God you feel the same way.”

Ava stared at him. He could have sworn he saw a tear cresting on her bottom lid. He cradled her face.

“I can’t do this. Not again.” She shook her head. “And not with you.”

“Richard. He was a student?”

She nodded. “He dropped my class in order to go out with me because he knew I wouldn’t date a student. Then he humiliated me.”

“I won’t do that to you. I’m staying with the class no matter how hard you ride me.”

As though his words triggered it, she held his waist. “Can I?”

“You
can
do anything.” Troy smiled.

“Fine.
May
I?”

He shook his head. “Unless you have condoms in your purse, I don’t have any on me.”

“Oh.” She peered down.

When Troy did the same, he saw her nipples jutting forward in her body-hugging top. No way could he leave her unsatisfied. “Is there a lock on your door?”

She nodded. Troy turned and flipped the locking mechanism for her office door. In a slow and easy motion, he pulled up the hem of her skirt then lowered her panties to the floor. When her skirt was pulled up to her waist, he instructed her to sit on her desk.

Like he had done it a million times before, he parted her thighs and slipped in between them. His fingertips danced along her smooth inner thigh as his mouth sought hers. He kissed her in a soft and gentle fashion as his middle finger circled her clit. As soon as he slipped his finger inside of her hot pussy, she grabbed his shoulders.

It didn’t take her long to start grinding her hips to fuck his singular digit.

In her ear, Troy growled, “I want to be inside you so much right now. You’re so sexy.”

The more he spoke, the more Ava moved until she had to hold onto him to keep from falling off of the desk. His heart pounded so hard he thought people in the hallway would be able to hear it.

Probably to ensure that no one heard her, she kissed him hard and moaned into his mouth. After only a few times being with her, he recognized the signs of her impending climax. Her body trembled. Ava drew in her lower lip and chewed it. Her breathing labored.

The hell if Troy’s finger would get all of the satisfaction. He dropped to his knees and covered her clit with his mouth while he let his finger retain its piston motion inside of her.

“Oh, God!” Ava closed her legs around Troy’s head.

If he was going to die by suffocation, this was a good way to go.

A knock sounded on her door just as her body settled down. “Are you all right in there, Dr. Kushnell?” the female voice on the other side asked.

After a couple of deep breaths, Ava managed to respond. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m meeting with a student right now.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.”

Troy gazed up at her.

“You’re really bad, you know that?” Ava smiled.

“I guess you mean bad in a good way.” Troy stood.

“The very best way.” She slid down from her desk and had to grab his shoulders to steady herself. “As much fun as this is, I don’t know if we should keep doing this.”

“But you still want to, right?” He reached down and picked up her panties. When she didn’t answer, he filled in the blanks for her. “Let’s make this arrangement. I’m not going to drop your class. I came to school for a reason and I intend to reach my goal. To make sure I stay on the straight and narrow, why don’t you reward me?” He picked up his backpack. “If I pass a test or an assignment, you come see me. I’ll teach you more about my lifestyle. If I fail, we won’t see each other. Sound like a plan?”

“No.”

Troy stopped moving at her single-word response.

Then she continued. “If you pass assignments and tests, you’ll get special calls or e-mails. If you pass the entire course, I’ll consider seeing you again.”

“Always on your terms, huh?” He shrugged. “Fine. I get to dominate you during calls.”

“What does that mean? You can’t do what you did to me over the phone.” That didn’t stop Ava from being curious about it.

“You would be surprised at what I can do.”

Ava watched Troy clean off his juice-covered finger with her white panties, then he shoved the panties into his jeans pocket.

Ava laughed. “By the end of the semester, I won’t have any underwear left.”

Troy kissed the tip of her nose. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

She pulled her skirt down and straightened out her blouse.

As he held the doorknob, he glanced back at her. “If that’s the only way I get to have some contact with you, so be it. The end of the semester is in four more weeks. I guess I’ll be studying my ass off until then.”

He opened her door and strolled out.

This new plan would give him enough incentive to do well, at least in Ava’s class. Perhaps if she saw his effort, she would see he was nothing like her last idiot boyfriend. He could only hope.

“So?” Gross asked over the phone. “You pissed, man?”

Troy sighed. Even though Gross took more time than he originally promised, an extra two weeks to be exact, how could Troy be mad at his friend? If it wasn’t for Gross’s strange favor in the first place, Troy would have never gotten close to Ava.

“No, I’m not pissed.” Troy glanced at his watch. It was almost time for his special call from Ava. “I will be if you don’t get off the phone, though.”

“Why?”

“I’m waiting for a call.”

“From who?”

Frustration started to build in Troy. He balled his hand into a fist. “What the hell are you, two years old? What’s with all of the questions?”

Gross didn’t let up. “You met someone, didn’t you?”

Troy rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe.”

Faster than Troy had given Gross credit for, his friend put two and two together. “Oh. Did you hook up with your client?”

Troy’s silence screamed his answer.

“I knew it. I knew it. And you busted my balls for doing the same thing.”

“I’m going to bust your head if you don’t get off my damn phone.” A beeping sound signaled an incoming call. “I got to go. Talk to you later.” Before Gross could get out another question, Troy clicked over to the other call. “Hi.”

“Good evening, Mr. Whitten.” Ava’s voice oozed through the phone like honey.

“You know it drives me crazy when you call me that.”

She chuckled without her usual snort, which he missed.

“So if you’re calling me this week, that must mean—”

“You passed the mid-semester exam. Actually you had the highest score in the class.”

He pumped his fist in the air. “Cool. Don’t tell Maggie about the score thing. It’ll crush the poor girl.”

This time when Ava laughed she released her trademark snort. Hearing that produced a laugh from Troy.

“I got a good grade. You’re calling me.” He braced his free hand on his thigh. “That must mean that you’re naked, right?”

Silence.

He sighed loud enough that she couldn’t mistake his disappointment. “Ava?”

“I just got home from work.” She did have a harried tone to her voice.