Learning the Hard Way (8 page)

“Troy,” she continued, “this is Dr. Allenton. She heads up our psychology department.”

The woman with bright curly hair leaned forward. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” He gave her one solid head nod before resuming eating his meal.

“Troy is being very kind by joining me tonight for this academic event.” Her heart pounded the third time she’d used his name.

It shouldn’t have gotten her this excited. She’d used his name the third time on purpose.

“I didn’t mind.” He stared at her. “No offense to the ladies here, but she’s the best-looking woman in the room.”

Even Dr. Allenton sighed. “I think you may have the best date in the room.” She nudged Ava with her elbow.

“Yes, it’s about time you got out of your stuffy clothes and let your hair down,” Anson said from across the circular table.

Ava could barely look at the man. She turned to Troy. “Troy, would you like your tea refilled?”

“Troy, Troy, Troy.” Anson laughed. “I think we all get who he is.”

“Do you?” Troy glared at Anson, who quickly silenced his laughter and dropped his gaze down to his plate.

“I’m sorry.” Ava had taken this game too far. “I shouldn’t have—” She stopped as soon as she felt him squeezing her hand.

The control this man had overwhelmed her. She brushed her leg against his. Even though he sat still, touching him excited her.

“What does he do?” another colleague sitting across from her next to Anson asked.

“Who?” Ava had to get out of her head. She sat there imagining her date doing unspeakable things to her body.

“Your friend.” He nodded his head toward Troy.

“Oh.” She turned to him. “You want to share that?”

“Why can’t you?” Her coworker furrowed his eyebrows.

Ava rubbed her free hand behind her neck. “I can. I—”

“The last time she saw me, I was a bit lost and needed guidance.” Troy stared at her. “I’ve found myself. I think she’s learning who I am again.”

The connection they shared forced her to stop breathing for a moment. Who was this man? How did he get into her life? How could she keep him there?

“The quick answer is that I’m a builder.” Troy glanced at her. “I’m good with my hands.”

Ava thought for sure Dr. Allenton grunted at Troy’s response. Ava shared that same feeling. She removed her hand from Troy’s and placed her napkin on the table.

“It’s been lovely. I think I’m going to head home.” She stood.

“You sure you want to leave now?” Troy had enough implications in his statement for Ava to weigh her options.

Instead of answering, she bolted to the door. She heard Troy behind her excusing himself before she heard his heavy footfalls.

Ava circled the car. Before the driver could get out, Troy had caught up to her and opened the door for her. He followed her inside and slammed it closed. Once the car started moving, Troy activated the glass partition that separated the back area from the driver.

“Can you talk now?” he asked again.

“I’d rather not. I think I’ve done enough foolish things this evening to kill my career and the little bit of self-worth that I had.” She covered her eyes with her hand.

“I didn’t see that at all.”

As soon as Ava uncovered her eyes and glared at him, she spoke. “I’m sure you’ve figured out that the dean and I had, well, a past.”

* * * *

Ava stared at Troy as though waiting for him to say something, either acknowledge that he knew, or lie and say he didn’t deduce that from their short exchange.

“Look, your dating past is your business.” He said what he knew she wanted to hear. The man inside him that desperately wanted to date her wanted to hear more.

“We saw each other for a couple of years and he never asked me to marry him. He didn’t want me. So I come to this party with you knowing he would be here.”

“You wanted to make him jealous?” Troy’s heart sank.

Ava shook her head. “No. I wanted him to see that I’m okay without him.”

“You’re right, and I don’t think you needed me to prove that.”

“That’s nice to hear. But here I am. I ran away. I let him get to me. He sees me as a coward.” She covered her face with her hands.

“He also called you hard working. If he asks you about your early departure, tell him you had some work to do.”

She laughed with a snort. “Right. That’ll work. He also commented on my failed love life.”

“Your personal life is none of his business and should have no bearing on your job.” He moved closer to her. “Besides, you’re a vital, sexy, single woman. You’re allowed to date.”

The expression on Ava’s face softened. “Ten years. In that time, I’ve gone out with two men.” She glanced at him. “Three.” She curved her body around to give him her full attention. “I brought an escort to a work function.”

“No one knows that but you.” He wished she wouldn’t allow that thought to enter her mind.

“And you.” Ava pointed at him.

“I told you I’m not going to say a word. I won’t even hold it against you if I flunk out of your class.”

She laughed without a snort this time. “What you must think of me right now.”

“You want to know what I think?” He rested his hand on her knee. Troy decided to keep talking before she smacked his hand away. “I think of you now what I thought about you the first time I saw you dancing in your office.”

She covered her eyes again. Troy held her hand and brought it down so that she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

“I think you’re sexy, smart, and a woman who knows what she wants.” His thumb brushed over her thigh. “By the way, counting this date, I’ve been with three women in the last ten years, too.” That wasn’t a lie. Troy didn’t do the love-em-and-leave-em routine that Gross loved so much. He thrived on commitment.

She shook her head. “I find that hard to believe with what you do.”

He had to think about her statement for a moment before it hit him about his situation for the night. “Oh, this is my first night doing this.”

“So I’m your first.” Ava nodded and smiled. “You seem so in control.” She ran one hand over the other. “I like what you did.” To illustrate what she meant, she circled the tip of her finger over her palm.

Troy’s felt his cock throb as he watched her simulate his move. “It’s unfortunate that you didn’t follow the rules.”

“I didn’t say your names five times during dinner.” She screwed up her lips like she tried not smiling. She placed her purse on the seat behind her. “So you see kissing me as a punishment?”

Troy shook his head. “I thought you would see it that way.” He sat still and let her come to him. “You don’t?”

Ava shook her head.

Damn. Now Troy wished he had had the coffee. He needed something to pour into his lap right now. As much as he wanted this woman, could he really cross the line? Could he have sex with his professor and remain in her class?

Troy framed her small face in his hands. He stared at her for a while before he did anything. At this point, he still remained in control. His next move could shift that power.

Beyond his will, he pressed his lips against hers. The softness of them enamored him before he discovered how sweet her mouth tasted.

He couldn’t remember if he slid his tongue in her mouth first or if Ava was the emboldened one. He couldn’t taste any of the fish she’d eaten for dinner.

Out of instinct and need, he cupped her breast through her dress. At that moment, Ava broke from the kiss. She looked down at his hand, then up at him.

When she held his hand in hers, his heart pounded harder and faster than before. This would be the moment she would slap him in the face and call him a filthy bastard.

To his surprise, she held his hand away from her body long enough to pull down the top of her dress with the other hand. Then she replaced his hand on top of her naked breast.

Troy had no time to savor the feeling of her firm orb in his hand with her hardened nipple brushing his palm before she arrested his lips again with hers. This all had to be a dream. No way in the world could he have the incredible luck of kissing and fondling this sexy woman.

In a swift move, Troy wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap so that she straddled him. In her tantalizing dress with the slit that went up to her throat, he knew she wouldn’t have a problem getting her leg around him in the garment.

“No, we shouldn’t.” Ava tugged down on the dress that covered her pussy.

“We should do whatever the hell we want.” Troy fisted her hair and brought her close to him.

He hoped he kissed her hard enough and with enough passion to make her forget their pre-assigned labels: professor, student, escort.

More than with Meredith, Troy wanted Ava. If he could have just one night, it would make his year.

Ava’s scent, that intoxicating sexual aroma, filled the back area of the limo. Troy slid his hand up her leg until he reached her hot pussy. His fingers brushed her satin panties, causing Ava to shriek and push back from him.

She held his wrist. “I don’t—”

“Trust me.”

Troy pulled aside the crotch of her panties and slid his middle finger inside of her. Not only was she hot like lava, her pussy dripped with her essence. When his finger dove into her, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket. He felt her hips undulate.

Troy latched his mouth onto her breast, circling her nipple with the tip of his tongue. Hearing her moan almost made him shoot a load in his pants.

Despite her earlier protests, Ava moved faster and faster. “The driver.”

Troy let go of her nipple long enough to answer her. “Can’t hear us.” He slipped a second finger inside of her.

At that moment, she screamed. No way the driver could have missed that sound. The exclamation could have shattered the darkened glass surrounding them. She ground down hard on his digits, her body trembling as her pussy clamped down on his fingers.

Just when Troy didn’t think Ava could get any more beautiful, he watched her come. With that tease, he needed more. He had to taste her.

Troy slid his fingers out of her and into his mouth. Her salty goodness satisfied his taste buds. “More,” he growled.

In a controlling move, he pulled her off of his lap and sat her next to him. Then he got down on the floor of the limo between her legs. He hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties to pull them down.

The limo slowed to a stop. With great reluctance, Troy stopped moving and looked out the window. He saw his house, then heard the driver getting out of the vehicle.

Still between her legs, Troy said, “Come in the house with me. I can take you home.”

Ava adjusted the top half of her dress. “No, I can’t.”

Faster than stepping into a cold shower, Troy’s erection softened in a nanosecond. Had she been teasing him during the ride home?

Ava’s hand dove into her small purse. “Do you have a cell phone?”

“Sure. Why?” Did this lovely woman want to do phone sex now?

“The driver works for a relative of a friend of mine. I don’t need him reporting that we did something after the party. I’ll call my phone with instructions on how to get to my house.”

“No.” Troy pulled off her panties then snatched her phone from her hand. “If you want either one of these things, you’ll come in the house with me.”

He sat next to her and adjusted his clothing. The smell of sex would just have to stay in the air.

“Stop playing around, Mr. Whitten.” Ava reached for her items but Troy kept her back with one arm.

“I’ve told you what you need to do.”

The door opened and Troy moved over to it. “She’s coming with me.” He held her hand.

Initially she resisted, staying seated in her spot. After taking her so far in the car, she couldn’t want to go home now, not yet. Then she scooted over toward him.

Troy looked at the driver. “This is our last stop.” He pressed money into the driver’s hand. “Thanks for the service.”

The driver slammed the door and mumbled something about it being an early night. God willing, Troy’s night had just begun.

Still in her red gown, Ava paced in Troy’s house, amazed at the strength in her legs considering he had rendered her boneless just moments ago. Vartinucci had done that to her earlier that night for a different reason.

He’d made up a part of her past, along with Richard, that she wanted to erase from her history. She didn’t want to pull Mistake Number Three with Troy. Her mind and heart couldn’t take the pain.

“Please give me back my phone and I’ll call a cab.” She held up her hand.

Instead of giving her phone back, he held her hand and led her down a hall. “Why didn’t you ask for your panties back?” he asked during the trek.

Ava swallowed. Why hadn’t she asked for her undergarment back? Did she secretly want him to keep a memento of their failed date?

He twirled the red, shiny garment around his finger. “Want me to keep them?”

“You’re crude.” Yet, she liked it.

Troy slipped off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair in his sparsely decorated bedroom.

As he took off his bowtie, he sauntered to Ava. “Do you want me to keep talking dirty? Does that turn you on?”

She blinked. “Okay, we’ve gone too far with this. You’re my student. I’m your teacher.”

He tossed his tie onto a dresser then undid the top few buttons on his shirt. “I’m a man. You’re a woman. What goes on here stays here. I do have to make one confession before we go any further.”

She swallowed hard. It had hit her that her impromptu actions landed her in a house with a man she only knew as her student and nothing else. If he did something to her, would anyone know how to find her? Dina the detective would know. Vonda had arranged the transportation, so she would know where Troy lived. She shouldn’t have anything to worry about…she hoped.

“What is it? Are you married? Have kids? Run a meth lab?” She couldn’t imagine what he could say to her.

“I’m a Dominant. I enjoy pushing people to their limits.” He didn’t crack. He didn’t smile.

Out of everything she thought of, she didn’t expect to hear that from him. To break up the tension, she laughed. “Very funny.”