Waiting for Love ((Waiting) Book 2) (2 page)

      Hailey and I slowly make progress working our way through the crowd and up to the large polished oak bar. Angie, our favorite bartender, is working and she smiles when she sees us.

“Tequila shots?” Angie inquires, leaning both of her forearms on the bar. I nod my head and smile because this is our customary way of starting our night out. We down them as soon as she places them in front of us, not bothering with the salt and lime. We’re on a mission to get a buzz on and the sooner, the better. Hailey orders another round and we knock them back immediately. The back of my throat is burning from the tequila and a wave of fatigue has washed over me. I always have this initial reaction when I drink. It makes me tired but it only lasts for a short while. I hope the alcohol kicks in soon. I always dance better when I’m buzzed.

     I grab Hailey’s hand and yank her to the dance floor. I start to shake my hips and I make these weird pouty faces that I can’t seem to help. It’s like my hips and feet can’t move to music without my mouth getting involved. I’ve tried to stop it from happening but it screws up my rhythm and then I just look like I can’t dance. Hailey swears the guys love my “dance expressions,” but I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Either way, they’re unavoidable. I start to loosen up and I’m actually a pretty good dancer once the alcohol kicks in and shuts down what few inhibitions I have.

     We’re out there for a little while when I notice Jeff, talking with some friends and watching me. He’s looking pretty hot tonight as he leans back against the bar as if he doesn't have a care in the world. His low-slung jeans are worn in all the right places and a well fitted black tee shirt hugs his muscular pecs. He places his empty beer bottle down on the bar and starts to walk toward me. Holy crap he looks sexy. As he gets closer, I can see the desire he’s feeling for me shining in his eyes. I’m feeling a little tingly in all the right places just from looking at him and also from the carnal thoughts of how this night will most likely end. The music slows down as he reaches me and he gently takes my hand, pulling me into his arms. He smiles like he has a secret and I quirk my eyebrow at him in response.

“Why do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary?” 

“I’m just glad you’re here. I figured you would be and it paid off. I’ve been thinking about getting you naked all day.”

“This must be your lucky night because I’m ready for you to get me naked.”

Chapter Two

September 2012

     This morning is my second day of Professor Hanlon’s class and I wasn’t about to take any chances on not making it there on time. When I went to bed last night I set the alarm on my cell phone in addition to two other clocks, one of which, I borrowed from Hailey. I didn’t want a repeat of Monday so I set the alarms to go off early enough for me to have a shower and take my time getting ready. I let my hair air dry as I get dressed in skinny jeans and a gray ribbed Red Sox tank top. I put some mascara and lip gloss on and slide my feet into my two dollar, blue rubber flip flops from Old Navy. I’ve had these things for four years now. I definitely got my money’s worth out of them and I’ve used that fact to justify spending too much money on other purchases. My dad was upset when he got the credit card statement that included the purchase of my Michael Kors bag. I argued that I’m walking around in two dollar sandals so it all evens out, but I don’t think he fell for it. He won’t do anything about it, though because I’m his baby. My dad is a big ole softie and I’m his only daughter. I know I’m spoiled, but I don’t abuse it for the most part and I really am appreciative of all that I have. I’ve always been grateful for growing up with financial stability and never wanting for anything. I drive a brand new car and I have a roof over my head, all provided by my dad. My mom passed away when I was only a few months old so I never had a consistent mother figure in my life. My dad filled both roles as well as he could and my four older brothers picked up the slack. After being raised in a house full of men, it’s understandable why I often gravitate toward guys in social settings and I’m at my most comfortable being surrounded by them.

    Hailey is the only female relationship that I’ve given a chance to grow, but she’s very similar to me in that respect. Her other best friend Marcus and she have known each other pretty much their entire lives. He goes to school in California on a full football scholarship. He was supposed to come to Beacon with us and when Hailey found out he wasn’t, she was heartbroken. They still keep in touch and see each other during the summer months on the Cape, but the long distance put the kibosh on any romance that may have finally been brewing between them.

      As I’m walking down the sidewalk toward Creedon Hall, the building where my creative writing class is held, I see Jeff getting out of his truck. I pause at the bottom of the stairs and wait for him to catch up.

“Hey, Jeff.” I smile as I say his name.

“Good morning Shelby. I’m glad you made it on time today.” He winks at me before opening the door. He holds it open for me and gestures with his hand for me to go first.

“Thanks,” I reply as I walk through. I appreciate it when a guy has good manners like Jeff does. He’s got a lot of great qualities about him and will make some girl very happy. It just won’t be me. Sometimes when we’re together, I wish that he and I could be a couple, but it would never work. We’re way too much alike.

      We continue along the hallway until we reach the same classroom we were in just two days prior. Jeff opens the door and as we walk through, I notice that today there are plenty of vacant seats. We make our way across the room toward a table by the windows. He has his hand on my back as we’re negotiating our way in a single file formation through the rows. I place my stuff down at the seat furthest from the window and let him have the one next to it. Once I’m seated, I find myself glancing up to see what Professor Hanlon is doing. He’s staring at me and his gaze is so predatory my body is physically reacting to it. There’s a flutter of arousal burning in my core as I clench my thighs together under the table. We haven’t even touched yet and there’s something passing between us, an awareness, an attraction, whatever name you want to label it with…it’s powerful. I’ve never had such a visceral reaction to any man before and it’s intimidating and confusing. Guys don’t usually make me uncomfortable or unsure of myself and I don’t like being in this situation at all. I’m going to have to make sure I keep my distance from Professor Hanlon. A guy like him probably wouldn’t be interested in someone like me anyway. I’m sure he’s attracted to the model type and someone closer to his own age. It really doesn't matter, though, because I never plan to find out.

***

      We’re two weeks into the semester and it was much less of a struggle for me to wake up on time today. I’m not really a morning person, but I am a creature of habit. Once I settle in and get used to my new schedule, it’s smooth sailing for me. I’m running early enough this morning to grab a cup of coffee at the kiosk on campus. The line is long and it has me rethinking my decision. I glance down at my watch and notice that I still have fifteen minutes until my creative writing class begins; plenty of time to satisfy my caffeine craving. As I wait to place my order, I become aware of someone standing behind me. In my periphery, I notice it’s a male and he clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of personal space. His chest has brushed against my back, at least, three times and I can feel the warmth of his breath on the bare skin of my neck as he exhales. I want to turn around and tell him to back off, but instead, I grit my teeth and convince myself to ignore him. I move forward as much as I can without crowding the person in front of me and I get a brief moments peace before he’s brushing against me. Only, this time, he doesn’t stop with a simple touch...this time, he remains there, pressed along my backside. His body is giving off a massive amount of heat and yet I inexplicably break out with goosebumps all along my arms. The customer in front of me steps forward to place their order and I breathe a sigh of relief as I place some space between the stranger and myself.

“Good morning Miss Tyler.” I jump a bit from the unexpected voice whispering huskily in my ear. It may only be the second week of class, but already I recognize that voice and it belongs to Professor Hanlon.
Shit.
I stiffly shift my stance and pivot to face him, my back poker straight. His eyes slowly skate over my form, lingering on my chest, before raising back up to meet my stare. As our eyes connect I swear the hair on my arms stands on end and I’m fighting the insane urge I have to kiss his delectable lips. He leans forward, moving slowly toward my mouth and just as it seems like our lips will connect he shifts to the side. His lips make contact with the lobe of my ear as he whispers.

“It’s your turn now.” It takes me a moment to grasp the meaning behind what he said and I’m embarrassed that he could clearly see the effect that he has on me. I place my order, throw the money down on the counter, grab my coffee and quickly make my escape.

***

      My mind wanders as I’m sitting here in the standard chairs the university provides for every classroom. They must choose the least comfortable ones they can to discourage sleeping. It’s hard to believe we’re already nearing the latter part of September. Hailey and I have barely had a moment to do anything other than school work and we’ve decided that we’re making time for fun this coming weekend, no matter what. 

      It seems like most of the girls signed up for this class to stare at Professor Hanlon. Now that his lecture is over there’s a whole lot of giggling and whispering going on in the rows of seats behind me and it’s both distracting and annoying. I actually need the credits from this class for my English major. Academics have always been important to me and I always make studying and getting my work done a priority. Speaking of doing well in all my classes, since I’m sitting with Jeff right now, there’s no time like the present to ask him for his assistance with my math classwork. I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to fall behind and if I don’t get some help, it will be too late. I lean over so our shoulders are touching and glance at Professor Hanlon to make sure he isn’t looking. There are lots of whispers going on throughout the different sections of the class so I don’t see how it could be a problem as long as I’m quiet.

“Hey, can you help me with my math homework sometime soon?” Jeff looks over at me and nods his head, licking his bottom lip.

“When are you available to come over?” He asks me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Why does is it have to be at your apartment? Why can’t we meet at the library or for coffee?” I ask and nudge him with my elbow. He leans in closer, putting his lips against the shell of my right ear.

“I’m going to tutor you in math and then I’m going to tutor you in the language of love.” I can’t help the giggle that escapes from my mouth. I throw my hand over my lips to keep the rest of them in and I use my other hand to smack him on his arm.

“You are so freaking cheesy, it’s painful,” I whisper at him from behind my hand. “How did I know you would try to barter sex for helping me?” I shake my head in feigned disgust as I hear Professor Hanlon address the class one last time.

“You guys can go now. I want to see your poems on Friday and I want to feel your emotions when I read them.” A collective groan goes up over the hellish homework assignment. Poetry is not my strong suit that’s for sure.

      I’m putting my notebook and pen away when I hear Professor Hanlon call my name.

“Shelby, I’d like a word with you, please.” I roll my eyes and finish zipping my bag and mutter fuck under my breath.

“You wanna grab coffee as soon as you’re done here? We can compare schedules and figure out what will work best for tutoring times.” Jeff pauses as he waits for my answer.

“Shelby, I don’t have all day, a word, please.” I grit my teeth and tell myself over and over again to calm down when what I really want to do is to tell him to fuck off.

“Go get coffee and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I put my bag on my shoulder and smile at Jeff. He flashes me a quick wink as he walks away. The classroom is now completely empty except for the professor and me. I make my way to the front of the room, stopping just shy of his desk. I stand there waiting for him to begin talking and he rudely ingnores me as he continues writing on some piece of paper.
Screw this, this is bullshit.
I’m about to turn and walk away when he finally begins to talk.

“Shelby, if you keep being disruptive in class, we’re going to have a serious problem.” My mouth falls open with a gasp of outrage.
What the hell is he talking about?
I cross both my arms over my chest before I begin to speak.

“You clearly must have me confused with someone else. I wasn’t the least bit disruptive in your class or any other class, for that matter.”

“I know what I heard and it would be in your best interest to stop the incessant chatting with Mr. Walsh and focus on your work.”
I can’t believe this asshole.

“Wow, you are delusional as well as obnoxious. I didn’t address Jeff at all until the very end of class when everyone else was talking. But I guess you didn’t bother to pay attention to all the giggling and whispering that was going on in the peanut gallery. Instead, you’re going to single me out? Yeah, I don’t think so…nice try, though.” I don’t usually speak so disrespectfully to my professors; I find the words flying out of my mouth before I can stop them. He’s such a dick, I can’t seem to help myself.

      I turn my back on him to walk away but before I take a single step, he’s out of his chair and around the front of his desk. He grips my wrist and pulls me back, spinning me around to face him. Both of his hands are gripping my upper arms and even though he’s standing toe to toe with me I have to look up in order to make eye contact. He towers over my five-foot-five-inch frame and the wide breadth of his chest is impressive. I want to place both of my palms on it and slide them slowly down over his stomach, exploring every single defined abdominal muscle. My fantasy of having my hands on him is interrupted when he opens his mouth and more of his assholishness comes out.

      “I won’t tolerate being insulted by you in my own classroom.” He grits his teeth as he finishes.

“What about outside of your classroom? Is it okay for me to insult you then?”
I just couldn’t help
myself.
He opened the door and I had to go there. I rarely miss an opportunity to use sarcasm, even when I find the person attractive.

      He looks kind of angry now and I’m rethinking the answer I gave him. It probably wasn’t the best idea. It was a little like poking an angry bear. He squeezes my arms tightly, almost to the point of pain and unexpectedly pulls me tightly against the front of his body, before closing his lips over mine. I gasp with surprise giving him an opportunity to slide his tongue in to tangle sensually with mine. His hands move from my arms and he tightly clenches his fingers in the sides of my hair, holding my head in place as he continues roughly devouring my mouth. I’ve never been kissed so hungrily before. Every nerve ending in my body feels sensitized and I’m hyper aware of all the places our bodies are touching. His kiss has destroyed my self-control and now I’m shamelessly wiggling my hips against him. I tease his tongue with mine and bite his bottom lip to see if it’s as plush as it looks. When I discover it is, I continue to nibble on it until I somehow regain enough self-control to pull my mouth from his. I turn around and in my haste to get away, I almost fall over as I run out of the classroom.
What the fuck just happened?

      The more distance I put between the two of us, the better I feel and by the time I make it outside of the building my composure is somewhat restored. Once I’m on the sidewalk, I pause and take a deep breath of the fresh September air. The caress of a gentle breeze washes along my overheated skin as I start to navigate my way along the heavily cracked sidewalk. I’m moving toward the coffee café where Jeff is waiting for me and as I walk, I’m replaying what just occurred with Professor Hanlon on a continuous loop in my mind. I can’t even fathom what just transpired. It seems surreal and dreamlike certainly not based in any reality I’ve ever known.
How did that even happen?
I press my palms to my heated cheeks and hope that my face isn’t still flushed with desire.