Page 3 of The Professor: Ep. 1

It was the last day of the semester. Half the students didn’t even show up today, but I came in because I wanted a copy of my essay. Except Professor Kane hadn’t written anything. No evaluation. No comments. No feedback whatsoever. Just a cryptic note.

“God, he looks good in those jeans,” Nikki mused quietly, her focus on our professor.

“I know,” I replied, just as softly.

Professor Maddox Kane was young. Hot. And entirely unattainable.

Why?

Because my father was his boss.

Well, and there was the whole profession thing. Students and professors weren’t allowed to dabble with one another. But that didn’t stop me from fantasizing about what the man would look like without clothes.

His jeans were practically molded to his firm ass, making it easy to visualize him without the fabric. He had strong things to go with the muscular backside, and shoulders that suggested he spent a lot of his free hours at the gym.

If only I could find out where he went to sculpt that physique. I’d love to watch.

“Any questions?” he asked, his deep voice making me tingle all over.

“Only one that matters,” Nikki whispered.

I hid a smile behind my hand as his light gray eyes scanned the auditorium. His full lips quirked at the edges as he shook his head.

“All right. Today was mostly about returning your papers and offering some suggestions for those of you continuing on with the advanced course next semester. As the majority of you only need one of these classes to fulfill your requirements, I’ll go ahead and cut this short. If you have any questions, though, you know my email.” He grinned at the room. “Enjoy your break.”

A chorus of gratitude followed his early dismissal, followed by a few sighs from the females in attendance. Well, mainly Nikki. “I’m almost inclined to take the next course just to stare at his ass for another fifteen weeks,” she said, then looked at the C+ scrawled across the top of her paper. “But I don’t think my GPA can handle another hit.” She glanced at my paper. “How’d you do?”

I shrugged. “B+,” I lied. I didn’t want to show her the note. Not until I understood what it met.

She snorted. “Who knew you enjoyed health economics?”

“My dad is the Dean of the Public Health College,” I reminded her. Not that she’d forgotten. My familial ties were well known among my sorority sisters at Kappa Gamma Phi.

“Uh huh,” she drawled, gathering her belongings and tossing them in her backpack. “Are you going to the party at Alpha Chi tonight?”

I pinched my lips to the side. “Can’t. Dad has his annual holiday party.” All the professors and their spouses or dates would be in attendance. And he would want to parade me around to each one as his pride and joy.

Just like last year.

And the year prior.

It made me feel like a kid, not a twenty-one-year-old adult.

“Scholars and academics over hot frat boys?” Nikki pretended to consider. “No, thanks,”

You weren’t invited anyway, I almost said. Instead, I replied, “It should be over around ten or eleven, so I’ll try to come by afterward.”

I uttered the words more to pacify her than to promise anything. Honestly, all the studying this week had left me exhausted and I was looking forward to a night in my old bed. However, I wouldn’t admit that out loud.

“Want to grab some Paddy’s for lunch?”

“I need to finish up a few things around here first,” I replied, thinking about my paper. “But I’ll catch you at the house later before I head over to my parent’s house.”

She giggled. “No, you won’t. I’m going over to Alpha Chi early to hang out with Bryan.”

“Hang out, hmm?” I knew what that meant. “Well, have fun.”

“I always do.” She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and blew me a kiss. “Ciao, Bella.”

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