AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TEDDY
I met up with Mia in the library, where she had reserved a study room for us. On the second floor were these floor-to-ceiling glass-walled rooms, big enough for two to four people to sit and study together, and sound proof enough to keep out noise. But the glass also put us on display for anyone passing by.
“These walls more or less take the private out of private tutoring,” I observed on the one hand, while thankful on the next. We could get down to business and work on my research paper, while preventing any lusty actions between us. Our flirtation on the phone only drove me crazy the more I dwelled on it.
She smirked. “This is for the best, don’t you think? I want you to pass my class, after all. And this way, we’re forced to work and stay accountable. Otherwise, we’d get sidetracked talking about the past and stuff.”
“Right. And stuff. So,” I reluctantly took out my notebook and laptop and started taking notes. “Teach me everything I need to know about writing research papers.”
She walked me through step by step, everything from annotating journal articles to creating a bibliography and more, and the intense hour flew by. The only way I survived being so close to her in the small room was to avoid looking at her. My eyes locked on my laptop screen and never left.
But my nose was another issue. I turned to shallow breathing through my mouth to avoid taking in her floral-scented perfume. Even so, the scent still caught me up in heady thoughts. Especially as we neared the end of our time in the room.
I packed up my laptop and cords into my backpack. She stacked her books and a few things, ready to carry out to her car. On the top of it was a romance novel with a passionate couple pictured on the front, a far cry from the plain leather bound English lit books stacked beneath it.
I chuckled, viewing the bare-chested man and scantily clad woman on the cover caught in a loving embrace. “You know, maybe if publishers repackaged the classics to look more like that, more men would read the Bronte sisters.” I rather enjoyed the smile and chuckle this brought to her face. “I mean, think about it. Men are visual creatures, and any guy who says they don’t watch porn is lying. But take Pride and Prejudice. Slap a half-naked couple on the front cover, maybe he’s carrying her off to bed, and add some sex scenes into the story, suddenly men would pay attention.”
She was cracking up now. “Men would spend their entire time fantasizing about the couple on the cover and searching only for the sex scenes. Sorry, but your plan still wouldn’t get men past the first page and willing to discuss the actual story at length. Nice try though.”
The sun was setting, but it still lit our way to her car as we walked out. Of course, I carried her books for her, something I looked forward to every time we were together. Seriously. If it lightened her load, then it made me feel better, too.
“Teddy, I have a special assignment for you. I want you to compare 3 different classics. Find the scenes where they have a first kiss or where the women are being seduced and tell me what you think. I might surprise you, just how scintillating the words in classic lit can be.”
“All right, I’ll have a look, but there’s only one problem.”
“Like what?” She opened her car door, and I deposited her books on her backseat for her.
“If you’re saying I’ll get pretty turned on by reading these scenes of seduction, then what am I supposed to do to relieve myself after?” I smirked and opened her car door for her. She settled inside and peered up at me with eyes wide.
“I-I don’t know? What do you usually do to, um, relieve yourself?”
I kept one arm on the frame of her door, and the other on the hood of her car and leaned in closer to her. Finally, I inhaled her scent and wanted to capture it in a bottle for my senses only. “I’d call a girlfriend and hope she could help me out, lend a hand or two.”
“Oh. I wasn’t aware you were dating. You haven’t mentioned—”
“I’m not. I guess if your lit books are as appealing as you say they are, then I’m in for a long hot shower tonight to relieve—tension.”
Oh, the color rising on her cheeks, rosy, appearing even over the tan of her skin. She blinked a few times. “So, you’re not dating anyone?”
“No. Are you?”
She shook her head. I crouched down between her and the door, putting me at eye level and didn’t back away from staring her right in the eyes. I reached in and fingered a lock of her hair that had fallen out of her bun.
“So . . . Do you have any plans for this weekend? Can we meet up again?”
She took in a sharp breath and turned the key in the ignition. “You know that’s not possible.”
“But if it was possible. Could you see yourself with a guy like me?”
“Of course, Teddy. But why would you say a guy like you?”
I shrugged and dropped it. Besides, it would never happen. I always had the feeling her folks thought little of me, or of Cruz, their own son, for that matter. They probably thought I’d never be good enough for their daughter and were probably right.
Mia suddenly straightened, and I followed her line of sight. Dean Perez walked by on the way to her car. “Mia? Everything okay here?”
I stood up and in a loud voice said, “Thanks for the tutoring today.” Then under my breath, “Really, Mia, thank you.”
I left, kicking myself all the way to the car. I pushed things too far and shouldn’t have. What was it about her drawing me in? After all these years, after thinking of her as nothing more than a little sister. But there was more between us. I felt it growing. But would she allow herself to feel it, too?
