Office Hours: A Student and Professor Story

Almost Sweet Professor

Not entirely due to her choice, she was sitting on his lap at the dinner table. He'd tied her hands, leaving her unable to grab food from the table and making her have to depend on him to feed her little pieces of rotisserie chicken and portobello mushrooms. At least he wasn't being stingy; her belly was nearly full of the mouthwatering food. If he'd tried to be withholding, she would've kicked him in the groin.

"Want some champagne?" he asked, pouring some of the bubbly liquid into a glass flute.

"You're giving your underage student an alcoholic beverage?" she asked, aghast.

"Do you not want some? It's Dom Perignon."

"Dom Perignon? Isn't that shit like 500 dollars?"

"This is only 200 dollars."

"What a bargain," she muttered.

"Do you want some or not?" he asked.

"How do I know you haven't slipped a drug into the drink?"

"Darling, as you have said many times, I'm blackmailing you into sex. Why would I feel the need to drug you?"

"I don't know what goes on in your nasty mind."

Rolling his eyes, he picked up the flute and took a sip. After he obnoxiously swished the liquid around in his mouth before swallowing, he said, "Are you still worried about the drink being drugged?"

"No."

"First, you're worried that I might be a serial killer, and then you think I'm a date rapist."

"Better to be paranoid than to be dead," she retorted.

"Christ, do you want some champagne or not?"

She thought about refusing him, but then a voice in her head asked, When are you going to have other opportunities to try some 200-dollar wine? "Yes, I want some." Then she added, "Please."

He placed the flute to her lips. She sipped. Disappointment filled her. "This costs 200 dollars? I can't tell the difference between this and a 6-dollar bottle of Andre."

"You have the palate of an unsophisticated toddler."
"And you're a sucker for overpriced labels."

Shaking his head, he finished off the champagne. Then he said, "Mara."

"What?"

"If I promise you that I won't tell Dean Oliver about your plagiarism no matter what, would you still be willing to see me?"

She blinked. "Well, I would kind of have to see you. You're my professor and all, and Introduction to Philosophy is unfortunately a gen ed requirement."

"No, I mean would you still want to carry on with this...relationship if you didn't have to?"

"Um, no. You're my fucking professor and you blackmailed me into this arrangement."

"You can't deny there is a spark between us," he said, kissing her and making her taste champagne.

On the verge of breathless, she whispered, "Yeah, but you're a fucking asshole."

"A fucking asshole who makes you wet." Then he added, his voice softer, "For what it's worth, I was never going to go to the dean. I wouldn't want to give lectures on dead white guys without seeing your beautiful bored face."

"Then why...?"

"I wanted you. I've wanted you ever since you introduced yourself on the first day of class and had the nerve to say you were only taking this class because you couldn't get into Intro to World Literature."

She remembered that. She'd wanted to slap herself, thinking she'd totally screwed herself over. But the words had just spilled out of her mouth. "That made you want me?"

"It was refreshing to hear after hearing several variations of 'this philosophy book totally changed my life even though I understood maybe like 5% of the content.'"

Wryly, she asked, "Am I supposed to be swooning now?"

"Maybe," he said, untying her hands.

"You're a bastard and you're my professor. I shouldn't—I can't—be with you."

"Does that mean you're going to leave then?"

She stared at his infuriatingly handsome face. Multiple times, she'd been tempted to slap it. She moved her unbound hands. This is your chance. Go. But something made her stay on his lap. I shouldn't want him. But she did. Very, very much. "God fucking damn it," she said before taking his face and kissing him.

A corner of his mouth curved up. "I'll take that as a no."

"Oh, shut up." But a smile was on her lips as he placed his mouth on hers.

***The End***

If you liked this book, then check out the next books in the INDECENT PROPOSALS series, LOVING THE CHASE & TAKEN BY THE CASINO OWNER, available at e-book retailers everywhere for only 99 cents each. You can also read them for free with a Scribd or Playster subscription :)

Love, 

Isla