Page 29 of Teach Me Your Ways

13

GRADY

The second Lina disappeared into the bathroom, the air between us shifted. All the pretense, all the careful distance I’d been maintaining—it evaporated like smoke. Cece was looking at me like she wanted to devour me, and fuck, I wanted to let her.

“You’re killing me,” I said under my breath, leaning forward across the small table.

“Good,” she whispered back, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “You started this when you invited me for drinks.”

“I invited both of you.”

“Bullshit. You invited me. She just happened to be standing there.” Cece’s voice was low, husky, and it went straight to my cock.

She wasn’t wrong. There had most definitely been an ulterior motive. I’d practically dared her to show up, and now I was paying the price. My jeans were getting tighter by the second, and all I could think about was how her lips had felt against mine, how perfectly she’d fit against me on that couch.

“This is a bad idea,” I said.

“Yep. Sure is.”

“Want another drink?” I asked.

“I do.”

“I’m gonna have to wave the bartender over. I can’t stand up.”

“Why not?” She asked the question with sweetness in her voice as she batted those long eyelashes.

I grumbled under my breath and turned to look at the woman tending bar. I held up my finger, gestured to the table to indicate what we wanted, and gave a thumbs-up.

“I think I’m a little buzzed.” Lina giggled as she took her seat. She had only had one drink, so I doubted she was feeling anything.

The server brought our second round over.

Lina’s eyes lit up. “Ah, you’re so sweet!”

She reached across the table again, this time placing her hand directly on top of mine. Her palm was clammy and her grip was desperate. I pulled my hand away and wrapped it around my beer bottle instead.

“So, Professor Stone, do you have a girlfriend?” Lina asked.

If I did, I doubted my girlfriend would be happy with you pawing at me.

Cece’s eyebrows shot up, and she took a long pull from her beer, watching me with a question in her eyes. Her lips wrapped around the opening in a way that made my brain short circuit. She would have absolutely gone down on me if we’d been in my office an extra five minutes. Seeing her lips around that damn bottle was making my cock jump.

“That’s not really appropriate, Lina,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Oh, come on, we’re just having drinks. We’re friends now, right?” She giggled again, that high-pitched sound grating against my nerves. “I bet you have women throwing themselves at you all the time. I mean, look at you.”

Cece looked like she was going to bite off the top of the bottle and use it as a weapon. Jealousy? I flashed Cece a look.

“I bet you’re the kind of professor who gives extra credit,” Lina purred, fingers trailing along the condensation of her glass. Her second mimosa wasn’t even half-empty, but she was acting like she had twenty. Slurring slightly, leaning in too close, strategically tilting her chest toward me.

I kept my hands flat on the table and didn’t flinch. “I don’t offer extra credit. I give the grade you earn.”

“Ooh, so stern,” she said with a mock shiver. “Bet you’re like that in all areas of life. That alpha thing. Dominating.”

Cece choked on her beer.

I turned to her automatically, ready to thump her back or give her my Heimlich-certified arms, but she waved me off, eyes watering as she fought back a laugh. “Sorry. Just went down wrong.” The look she gave me wasn’t sorry. It was full of wicked delight.