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We sit in the corner next to each other and drink Asahi beer and slurp noodles.
“You acted like you didn’t notice me,” she says.
“I noticed you.” I reach my hand under the table and set my palm on her thigh. “Years of being a professional helped me school my features and get me through the class. You did notice that I stood behind the podium right?”
“That’s not unusual.”
“It is for me. I like walking around and interacting with my students, but I had a hard on for you.”
Her lush lips broaden into a smile. “Does that happen a lot?”
I wasn’t sure if she meant with her or with others, but it was time to clear the air and get the questions out of the way.
“Kat, I’ve never slept with a student, and if I had known you were my student, I would have tried to resist you.”
Her smile flops over to a frown. “It does pose a weird kind of problem. I need your class, and you’re the only one who teaches it.” She pulls the bottle to her mouth and drinks. “Maybe this is a bad idea. Won’t you get in trouble if you’re caught with me?”
“It’s not illegal or unheard of for professors to have relationships with their students. The problem comes when the grading begins, but I will grade you fairly, Katy. No special treatment.”
“None?” She laughs. “Does that mean my private tutoring sessions in your office are over?”
“Hell no. I’m beginning to think my office might be my favorite part of the campus.”
She stirs the broth in her ramen and turns in to face me. “What’s an English professor doing in Denver?”
“I needed a change.” I tell her about my girlfriend and colleague and how going to work felt like walking into a dungeon. About how I want more from my life and the people in it. How I came to Denver looking for something special, but I don’t tell her I think she’s it. I vow to show her.
“What do you want from me, Hugh?”
I thumb her chin up and tell her, “Everything. I want everything, Kat.”
After dinner, I walk her back to the apartment she shares with a classmate, and I kiss her softly on the lips.
> “Homework is online, Kat.”
She lets out a groan, and I pull her in for a hug. “You’re smart. You’ve got this.”
Before I leave, I ask for her phone and plug my number in. “I don’t want you to ditch me again like you did at the airport.”
She leans into my chest, and we stand on her front porch for a while. She pulls back and looks up at me with her gemstone eyes. “I was protecting my heart.”
“Aw, Kat. I’ll take care of your heart and your body.”
After one more languid kiss, I’m on my way.
Nine
Katy
“Your date is here.” My roommate says. I check my cherry lip-gloss in the mirror. This is our first real date in weeks. Hugh got caught up in staff meeting and bogged down with lesson planning and homework, but we’ve managed to sneak in “afternoon tutoring” in his office several times.
“What’s he wearing?” I call out from the bathroom. I peek around the corner just in time to see my roommate Hazel open the door and let Hugh in. He’s dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a button down shirt. My heart skips a beat.
Hazel turns to me and mouths the words, “Wow, what a hottie.”
I take a last look in the mirror before I show myself. My hair is loose around my shoulders, and I’m wearing a dress my sister gave me. The heels are borrowed from my roommate. Hugh said to dress nice. I hope I don’t disappoint.
My roommate disappears into her room, and Hugh and I are left to gawk at each other in the entryway.
