Page 14 of Savage Seduction

“Here at USC, I’m mainly taking classes for further development. I’m the newest junior curator at the museum, but I have more to learn if I want to keep advancing.”

“Nice. Should I be calling you Doctor?”

“Only if you want me to call you one?” I love hearing myself referred to as a doctor by someone else who appreciates the effort it took to reach that level of schooling.

“Fair enough… Max it is then.”

“I never thought I would be back in school to begin with. It seems like I’ve been in and out of the classroom for most of my life. I went through the police academy years ago… even ended up with a degree in criminal justice with an emphasis in forensics. Then after I left the force, I received my PhD in Paleoanthropology. Since then, I’ve been taking other courses in Art History and Archeology.”

“Wow. That’s incredible. You’re full of surprises today. Why the big career change?”

“It’s a really long story, but honestly my real love has always been art and history. I guess I was influenced by my abuela’s brothers. They were cops. I looked up to them and tried to follow in their footsteps. But now, my ultimate goal is to become a museum curator somewhere in the city and continue researching all of the world’s most interesting and unanswered questions.”

He nods. “Impressive.”

“Like I said, that’s the long game. There are many years between where I am now and my goals, but it’ll be worth it… to do what I love.”

“It’s an amazing feeling to get up every day and go to work, doing something you enjoy. Makes it seem less like work.”

“I take it you are in that position?”

“Lucky for me.” He nods and takes a few seconds before he continues. “Which class are you testing in today?”

“Art History. The worst part about the test is it’s all fill in the blank. Impossible to really guess if you don’t know the answers. From what I’ve been told, there will be a series of images presented, we will need to identify them and the date they were created. Then the second half of the test is an essay. The professor presents images, and a series of questions related to each image. We then have to vomit out everything we know about the paintings, artists, and symbolisms within the works until our time runs out.”

“Sounds tough.”

I nod and let out a sigh.

“From my experience, tests like that are made to intimidate you. A sheet full of blanks… no options to choose from when you get stuck? Here’s the thing though, it’s straight memorization. You’ve been given the information and you no doubt have studied all of it. There’s no judgement calls to be made except for the symbolic stuff. There’s not questions like, pick the best option and from what I already know of you, you can think logically and come up with something related to symbolism. One tip from when I went through Art History 101… if it could remotely be a penis… it’s a penis.”

I laugh.

“You’ve got this. I have zero doubts.”

“I noticed that about the phallic symbols… it’s like the more repression during the time period, the more penises popped up.”

Ben laughs. “There’s an inappropriate joke in there, but I’m going to leave it to the experts.”

I smile. “Good idea. Anyway, the professor definitely provided all the answers during class and reviews.” I relax back into my chair. “I do actually feel somewhat better… thank you.”

“Somewhat better, for the win. You’re welcome. Trust me, I’ve been through way more tests than I care to remember. It seemed to get better as I went because I settled into a routine for test taking.”

“You’re not only cute, but you’re also smart too,” I say with a smile.Why can’t I stop myself from flirting?I look away but am drawn back in by the way Ben’s suit pants cling to his muscular legs.

He watches me with a smile and my belly flutters as I see Ben’s face register my flirtatious comment. The twinkle in his eyes solidifies our shared feelings.Come on, doc. Tell me again how awesome it was to see me this morning.

“I can’t believe my luck, running into you here today,” Ben says. “Literally the best thing to happen to me all year.”

There it is. I feel the same way, doc.“You’re very sweet, thank you.”

It looked like Ben wanted to say something, but then he cleared his throat and looked away. I was making him nervous, and I loved it.

“Dude, I have been looking for you everywhere,” London says as she hurries over to us. Her tall, slim frame is dressed in impeccable taste, designer jeans and a cute fluffy vest. “I thought we were going to meet up and quiz each other for the…” She turns her gaze to Ben and stops her rebuke, instead slicking down her right eyebrow with her index finger. The way London straightened up, cocked her hip, and then arched her perfect eyebrow signaled she liked what she saw.

“I’m so sorry, London. My friend Ben offered me some coffee… and you know how much I love a good latte.”

She puts her hands on her hips and looks around the room, a dramatic pause accompanying each turn of her head. “What about this dump screams good latte to you?”

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