AllFreeNovel
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I’d never been afraid of anything in my life: not rattlesnakes, not the dark, not death, not even the boogeyman.
Who knew a room full of students would be my worst nightmare?
“How are you feeling?”
The appearance of Grace’s hand on my forearm somehow settled my whirling thoughts.
“I feel…fine.”
Liar!
She’d done so much to help me. Given me tips and words of wisdom. The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel like her time spent with me had been for nothing, which was why when she got home tonight she’d find a bouquet of flowers waiting for her. I had picked it out in the store—the most beautiful bouquet, with varying shades of green, which reminded me of her eyes. I could have brought them myself, but we’d stepped into new territory the night of the hotel party and I had no idea what I was doing. I was so bad at…this.
Whatever this was.
“You look hot in that suit.”
She caught me off guard with her comment. “So we’re going there?”
We’d finally given in. All right, I had given in and we’d had sex. And it had been the best decision I’d made in a long damn time.
“I figured since we…” She leaned in closer. “…bumped uglies, it’s fair game to comment on the attractiveness of the other person. So yeah.” She nodded her head with a smile. “You look hot.”
She brushed off the fabric on my shoulders and straightened the arms, taking a step back and analyzing my appearance. She’d been right. The suit was good quality…but it just didn’t feel like me. With a nod of her head, she was content with how I looked and finally gazed up, her eyes meeting mine.
Shit. I was getting an erection. Even her touching me in a platonic, professional manner was making me excited.
“You’re going to do great.” She lifted on her toes and kissed my cheek, then patted my bottom. Whispering in my ear, she said, “Break a leg.”
A loud mingle of voices hit us when I finally opened the door. We parted ways at the top of the stairs in the theater-style classroom and immediately I felt chilled when the warmth of her body was gone. I felt empty, like she’d taken something with her when she’d walked away. But I didn’t have time to contemplate that thought. Not when I had students to inspire. Not when I locked my eyes on Grace’s behind as she sashayed to the end of the room. Those hips. Those curvy, perfect-to-hold-on-to-tight hips that I’d made use of, thoroughly, just the other night.
I traveled down the steps to the bottom of the classroom, where Professor Hughes was standing talking to one of her students.
“Mr. Lockwood. Right on time.” She didn’t bother with small talk. “Shall we get started?” She leaned in, lowering her voice. “Before the students get restless.”
I looked out into the crowd and it appeared as if they were already restless. Rings and bings went off in rapid succession as students laughed and pointed at their cellphone screens.
Professor Hughes cleared her throat into the microphone. That one simple gesture was enough to get everyone’s attention; immediately the room went silent.
I found Cory in the crowd. In the front row, of course, eager and ready to listen to me make a fool of myself.
“It seems like more than half the class was motivated enough to turn off Netflix and show up this evening. Thank you.”
My mouth dropped open with her candidness. It was refreshing. Maybe she really was different than most other instructors.
“I’d like to welcome our guest speaker. The Vice President of White Lace Productions, where our very own Cory is interning this semester. Please welcome, Ben Lockwood.”
Applause filled the room. For now. Last night I’d had a dream that I’d gotten booed away from the podium.
Professor Hughes stepped aside and I took her place in front of the microphone. I searched for Grace at the back of the room and she smiled, urging me on with a small nod and a double thumbs-up.
“Hi…I…” I cleared the rumble from my throat. “Yes. I’m Ben Lockwood. Vice President of White Lace Productions. And yes, before anyone puts up their hand, we produce adult entertainment.” There were blank stares in the first few rows. Did I really need to clarify this? “We produce porn.”
Some of the blank stares had turned into uncomfortable shifting in the seats. Maybe Professor Hughes and Cory were the only non-judgmental people in this room, because I wasn’t feeling the love.
No matter. Most people didn’t love what I did for a living. Why should these students be any different? Nothing I hadn’t handled before.
“So…what do I do?” I straightened out my jacket, pulling on the soft fabric of the lapels. “I’m the creative director for the company, too. I’m doing both jobs…so I guess you could say that I am responsible for…everything.”
