by Ivy Smoak
"I do trust you." He was still kneeling in front of me.
"Then we should be celebrating today, not fighting." He sunk one of his fingers inside of me.
Oh God.
"I'm divorced." He thrust his finger deeper.
Fuck.
"I'm not your professor anymore." He slid another finger inside of me.
"James," I groaned.
He responded by slowly moving his fingers in and out of me. "We can finally be together, just like you wanted. So tell me, how else can I reassure you?" His fingers were driving me crazy.
I moaned.
He stood up and his fingers hooked, hitting me where only he could. "Do you need me to take you home and make love to you?" He kissed my neck. "Or do you want me to fuck you in this closet? Because I need my cock inside of you. I need reassurance too." He pressed his thumb against my clit.
"Fuck me. Oh God, please fuck me."
"I was hoping you'd say that," he said and bit my earlobe. My whole body tingled in response. He grabbed my thighs, lifted my legs around him and sunk his thick cock deep inside of me. He slammed my back against the shelves on the side of the closet as he moved his hips.
Yes!
Bottles toppled to the ground. A fake lemon scent filled the room. But I didn't care that we were making a mess. I ran my fingers through his unruly hair and deepened our kiss. I needed this more than I ever had before.
He began to thrust faster and harder. I tilted my hips to meet him and he groaned into my mouth. His finger tips dug into my hips.
"Harder," I moaned.
"If you want it harder, I'll give it to you harder." He carried me over to a table and pushed some of the contents to the ground. They must have been paper products, because they barely made a sound. He laid me down on the table and leaned over me. I unbuttoned his shirt so I could feel his six pack. "I'll never get enough of you," I whispered. He had said those words to me before. It was true for me too. If he wasn't addicted to me, than I was surely addicted to him. I needed him to know.
"Good. Because I'm never letting you go." He grabbed the edge of the table near my head and slid his length deep inside of me.
Fuck. I tilted my head to the side. He grabbed my chin in his hand and turned my head back toward him.
"Look at me when you orgasm, Penny. I want to see your face." He let go of my chin, wrapped his hand around my thigh, and moved his hips faster. Somehow it allowed him to go even deeper.
It was rough and intimate at the same time. He knew me. He knew exactly what I needed.
"Come for my, Penny."
As soon as I began to clench around him, I felt him fill me with his warm liquid. I closed my eyes, but he grabbed my chin again. I looked into his eyes as we both finished. I got completely lost in his eyes. No one had ever looked at me like that. I could feel his love for me. Nothing else in the world mattered when we were together.
He pulled me up to a seated position. He grabbed his pants off the ground and pulled them on. I silently watched him. I had felt so amped up and scared and worried and now all I felt was his love. I could actually feel it. There was this strange pressure in my chest. It made me want to cry again. I wrapped my arms around myself. I had been worried that this wasn't real. That was ridiculous.
He turned toward me as he buttoned up his shirt. He stopped and looked down at me. "I know that you're worried that I'm going to resent you because I had to stop teaching. But it's the complete opposite. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm exactly where I should be. Life is good here, with you. I'm in love with you." He paused. "I love you so much. I never knew what I was missing."
"I'm so in love with you, James Hunter."
He leaned forward and ran the tip of his nose down the length of mine. "Now, we're going back to the apartment. You don't need to face everyone today alone. We'll deal with this together. We'll make our decisions together. Well...except for this one. Because I really want to take you home right now."
I laughed. "I'm sorry. I just lost it today. Everyone..."
"Don't. Don't apologize. I know you needed me. That's why I was hiding in this closet in the first place." He smiled at me and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I was prepared to resign today. I should have told you before we went into the meeting. I wasn't going to stop seeing you. It was out of the question."
"I know. I think you made the right choice."
"I'm right? What?" He smiled at me.
I nudged his shoulder. "So if you didn't want to break up with me, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Nothing." He leaned down and handed me my pants. "We're okay."
"No, what was it?" I quickly got dressed.
"Honestly, I was really mad at you. I'm still mad at you. I told you to let me handle the situation this morning. You shouldn't have interfered."
"I know, but you also didn't tell me that you were planning to resign. How was I supposed to know what to do? If you don't talk to me, I can't know what you're thinking. I thought I was helping. Actually, I was mad at you too."
"I know. I'm still getting used to this." His hand drifted to my cheek. "I'm not used to having someone on my side."
"Well maybe you should get used to it. Because I love you. I'm not going to run off. I want to be with you."
"It's hard for me to believe that."
"Why?" I put my hands on the sides of his face. "Why don't you feel worthy of love? Why don't you trust me?"
"I didn't mean that. I do trust you. I'm just not used to being...I don't know how to explain it..."
"Vulnerable?" He was always prepared. He always knew what he wanted. He was always in control.
He didn't seem to like my choice of words. "Vulnerable? I'm not sure if that's the word I was looking for."
"I just mean that you don't have to be strong around me all the time. I just want you to be you."
"This is me."
"I know. I just mean, you don't have to be scared of showing me every side of you."
"The only thing I'm scared of is losing you."
"You're not going to lose me. I'm sorry. I was upset that you made the decision to quit without me. And then I thought you were going to break up with me. And it was hard being in class without you. I don't know if I can do it."
"Let's forget all the noise for right now, okay? Let's just enjoy us. We finally get to be together, Penny." He turned on the light so that I could see him.
He had that just fucked hair that I loved so much. He finished buttoning his shirt.
I looked around at the closet. It was a complete mess. "James, do you think maybe we should pick some of this up?"
"Eh, I don't work here anymore. Let's get the hell out of here before someone finds us." He grabbed my hand and opened up the door a crack. He pulled me out after him and we ran hand in hand through the hallway. Classes had started and no one was around.
A few students walking along the green turned to look at us as we ran to his car. He opened up the door for me and I quickly got in. He closed it and ran around to his side. As he turned his key in the ignition he leaned over and kissed me again.
There had been so much stress in our relationship. It finally felt like we were allowed to be happy. We were acting like two teenagers in love. And that's how I felt. When I was next to him, I felt like anything was possible.
"Truth or dare?" he asked and looked at me.
I looked into his eyes. He was giving me a challenging look. I didn't want to go back to his apartment. I didn't want to ever have to face reality. I wanted to get as far away from here as possible. "Dare."
PART 3
Chapter 22
Wednesday
It seemed like with every mile we drove away from the University of New Castle, James grew more and more relaxed. I couldn't pull my eyes away from his face. I was still processing the fact that he had quit his job. For me. Every few seconds he would turn his head to look at me and his smile would grow even brighter.
"What are
you staring at?" he finally said.
"You."
He rubbed his thumb against my palm.
"What now?" I asked.
"Well, do you have a passport?"
"No. I've never needed one." I really wish I had a passport.
"You've never left the country?" He turned to me again. He seemed to think I was joking.
"I have. I've been to Canada. But I didn't need a passport."
"That's because going to Canada doesn't really count as leaving the country. So where have you been? I want to take you somewhere new."
I turned and looked out the window. "I haven't really been that many places." I watched the colorful autumn trees passing by us in a blur before turning back to him. "I've pretty much stayed on the east coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. Oh, I've been to North and South Carolina. And New York of course." I squeezed his hand. "And Florida a few times to go to Disneyworld."
"Disneyworld?" He smiled at me.
"Yeah, I love Disneyworld. Everyone loves Disneyworld. Don't look at me like that."
He laughed and turned his attention back to the road. "I wouldn't know. I've never been."
"You've never been to Disneyworld?"
"No."
I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Well, maybe you should let me take you to Disneyworld."
He laughed. "This is my dare. I'm taking you somewhere. Not the other way around."
"So, where are we going then?"
Instead of saying anything, James put on his turn signal and took an exit that I was all too familiar with. It was the same exit I'd take if I was going home. I thought we'd be staying on I-95 until we got to the Philly airport.
"Aren't we going to the airport?" I asked. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
"We are. I just wanted to make a quick stop first."
Oh God. Not my house! "I don't know. I haven't decided if I want to make that speech on Friday yet. So we can't go anywhere that far I guess. And I forgot that I really should be studying for my Stat test. You know what? Let's just turn around. Let's spend the day in your apartment. Don't we have to get stuff ready for your brother anyway?"
"Ellen will get everything ready for Rob's visit."
"I forgot, I think I have a psychology test tomorrow too. Oh geez, we better get back."
"You chose dare, Penny. Who backs down from a dare?" He drove down Concord Pike and put his turn signal on again.
No, no, no! "You know what? I actually think I've been around here before. There's this cute little diner right down the street. I'm starving. Do you want to stop and eat?"
He lowered his eyebrows slightly. "Penny, you're a terrible liar."
"What? Psh. Professor Hunter..."
"You really should stop calling me that." He turned into Windy Park.
My neighborhood. I took a deep breath. "How do you know where I live?"
"Oh, is this your neighborhood?" He looked over at me and raised his left eyebrow.
"James, pull over."
He continued to drive down the street and stopped at the stop sign before turning onto Smith Lane.
"James!"
He turned the corner and pulled to a stop at the bottom of my street.
"Penny, you'll be lucky if your parents don't already know. It'll be better if they hear it from you. You said you'd call them..."
"And I will call them. I can't do this in person."
"You can."
"James, I can't." I dropped my head back on the headrest.
"We need to do this. Today."
The way he said we made me feel slightly better. But not better enough to tell him to drive up the street to my house.
"You don't have to do it alone. I'm going to be with you. I'll even do most of the talking if you want."
"I feel like that'll make it worse. I need some air." I opened up the car door and stepped out into the sunshine. It only took a second before he was standing beside me. He didn't say anything. He just leaned against the car and stared at the manicured lawn in front of us.
I sighed and leaned against the car too. "Who uses a dare to make their girlfriend disclose their illicit affair to her parents? You're super lame. How about you dare me to give you head at that diner I told you about a minute ago? Or maybe we can join the mile high club on an airplane?"
He pressed his lips together.
"Please don't tell me that you're already part of the mile high club."
"Stop trying to change the subject." James put his arm around my shoulder. "I'm not going to force you to tell them. If you really don't want to, that's your decision. It would make me feel a lot better about everything though."
"Unless my dad punches you in the face."
James laughed and looked down at me. His expression grew cloudy. "Wait, do you seriously think that's going to happen?"
"I have no idea. I usually don't upset my parents. Disappointing them isn't exactly something I do all the time. I'm a little out of my element. And I've never even brought a boy home."
"Luckily I have tons of practice with disappointing parents. I'm not even sure if my parents love me."
His words made me wince. "That can't possibly be true."
"I don't think it's far from the truth." He looked down at me. "I'd really prefer if your parents didn't hate me. That's probably asking too much given the situation. The sooner we tell them, the sooner they might be willing to forgive me though."
"They won't even be home for several hours," I said. His parents hadn't taken him to Disneyworld or given him juice boxes. And they had forced him to marry someone that he didn't love. They were clearly horrible. I wanted my parents to love him. I almost felt like he needed my parents love. But I was worried once my parents found out that he was my professor, they'd hate me and him.
"Okay. How about you give me a tour of your hometown? Unlike you, I've really never been here before." He smiled at me. "And if you still don't feel like telling them in person by the time they're supposed to come home from work, we'll leave. They won't even know we were here."
"Oh, Penny! Is that you?"
Crap. I turned around and saw Sally Bennett, the neighborhood gossip, coming toward us. "Hi, Mrs. Bennett."
She gave me a hug and then looked over at James. "And you must be the new boyfriend I've heard so much about?"
James' looked taken aback. "Hi, I'm James." He put out his hand for her to shake.
"Pulling Penny away from her classes are you? Her parents won't be pleased to hear about that. But your secret is safe with me." She finally let go of James' hand.
Ditching classes with him was going to be the least of my parents' worries. I wasn't sure why Mrs. Bennett had said our secret was safe with her. No secret was ever safe with her.
"So what are you two kids doing here?" Mrs. Bennett asked.
"I was just showing James where I grew up. A little tour of town."
"Well that's fun. You're parents are going to be so thrilled that you're visiting. I think having an empty nest doesn't suit them very well. I was thinking about giving them one of my cats. I know you already have a cat, but trust me, two is better than one."
I laughed. "I'm sure they'd really appreciate that." Maybe Mrs. Bennett coming over and handing them a cat would take away some of their anger toward me.
"Did you know that I used to babysit Penny when she was a wee little thing?" Mrs. Bennett said, ignoring my statement. "The thing that stands out the most was that it was almost impossible to ever get her in the tub. She was always so feisty. I always thought it was the red hair."
What the hell, Mrs. Bennett? My face had to be completely red.
James laughed. "She's still pretty feisty."
It was Mrs. Bennett's turn to blush. "Oh my." She lightly touched James' arm. "Well I don't want to interfere with the tour. I'll let you two kids get to it."
There wasn't much of a choice now. Mrs. Bennett told everyone everything. My parents would know I was in town as soon as Mrs. Bennett got hom
e to her phone.
James looked down at me. "Not a fan of baths, huh? I never would have guessed that. We always have so much fun in the shower."
I grabbed his car keys out of his hand and walked past him.
"Hey." He grabbed my wrist. "What are you doing?"
"You wanted a tour."
"I'll drive." He held out his hand for the keys.
"You won't be able to see anything I show you then. Can't you give up control for just a few minutes? I want to show you something." I walked around the car and opened up the driver's door. James was a lot bigger than me. I went to grab the lever to adjust the seat but there were only buttons. So fancy. I pressed one and my seat got even lower. I couldn't even see over the steering wheel.
James laughed as he sat down in the passenger's seat. "Here." He leaned over me and pressed a few buttons. As the seat rose, he placed a kiss against my lips.
I grabbed his chin. "You should probably put your seatbelt on, James."
He lowered his eyebrows slightly and sat back in his seat. As soon as his buckle clicked into place, I put my foot on the gas.
The car jolted forward. I did a very jerky u-turn as I adjusted to the sensitivity of his gas and brake pedals.
"Maybe I should drive," James said. He was gripping the armrest and looked incredibly nervous.
"I got this." I smoothly drove us out of the neighborhood and back onto Concord Pike.
"So is Wilmington one of those small towns where everyone knows each other?" James asked.
"If you haven't noticed, all of Delaware is like that."
"I have kind of noticed that. It's very different from New York."
I laughed and pulled the car into a parking lot next to a park. We easily could have walked here from my house, but I didn't want to leave his car parked outside, just in case my parents came home for lunch. "Well you should be comfortable today then. No one ever really notices me. So today we can pretend like we're in New York." I handed him his keys before stepping out of the car.