Disasterology 101 (11 page)

“As you may have noticed there was no attendance list on the door tonight, the reason for that being some people registered in this class thought the professor might be daft. Last week a few of you signed your names, but didn’t stay for the class. That’s unacceptable. So from now on, you all will sign the list ten minutes before we’re ready to wrap up for the night.”

The deep, accented voice sounded a little muffled but very stern.

Books were set on the desk. The chair was rolled back.

A soft snap was quickly followed by a fabric swish. He was taking his jacket off, and Kevin couldn’t resist anymore.

He glanced at Cedric out of the corner of his eye. Tonight he wore a long sleeved, form-fitting purple t-shirt, dark wash jeans and white sneakers with purple trim. The scarf with the skull design around his neck looked expensive as hell, and it was so high it almost covered his mouth. Cedric made no attempt to remove it. Kevin wasn’t surprised. One need not be a genius to figure out Pretty Thug got freaked out by germs, and fall colds with their accompanying sneezing were all over the place.

Cedric took a marker and eraser out of a drawer, walked up to the whiteboard screwed onto to one of the walls and, somehow, managed to ignore the whispers and giggles that followed him.

“Tonight we’ll be discussing the design process and construction drawings.”

Kevin looked around the room when Cedric started writing on the board. Was it his imagination or were the few females in the class a whole lot more made up tonight? Even the two young girls that had been checking out Kevin the first night had eyes only for the professor this time around. Not that he could blame them. Cedric was … Jesus…. He was beyond hot. He was damn pretty, and his quirkiness didn’t do a thing to dampen his appeal. If anything it made him more endearing in Kevin’s eyes.

The thought that Kevin seemed to have the taste of a nineteen-year-old when it came to men amused him at first, then it made him want to cry. Kevin was having a hard time understanding why, out of all the guys he’d met lately, it had to be the youngest and most inconvenient one to drive him out of his mind with desire.

“Are you done interrupting the class?”

Cedric’s voice was hard, and he pierced the two giggling girls with his chocolate-colored eyes when he turned around.

“Sorry….”

“Wasn’t my intention….”

Cedric looked all over the floor then, probably to make sure all backpacks were situated where he said they should be. Or so Kevin assumed. After all, Cedric’s instructions the first day were pretty clear and firm.

“Page twenty-four of your textbooks, everyone.”

Kevin quickly glanced at Cedric’s desk. His own books were once again perfectly aligned about three inches from the edge. When it came to his organization rules it was obvious the guy wasn’t kidding around. If he needed another reason why he shouldn’t get involved with him this had to be it. Cedric was a little compulsive about order and Kevin’s life was chaotic right now, to say the least.

Taking a deep breath he tried to prepare his mind and body for the two hours of sensory overload he was about to suffer from looking and listening to the guy.

He was afraid he would be too distracted by Cedric to be able to concentrate on what he was about to teach, but surprisingly enough, it wasn’t hard. The guy most definitely knew his craft and within minutes Kevin was lost in the world of design.

Cedric took time to explain things in ways that would make sense to everyone. He didn’t mind repeating himself as many times as necessary, and he was able to engage the class. By the time the first break came around Professor Haughton-Disley had all the students wrapped around his little finger, and Kevin had a new appreciation for him.

Kevin had always had a thing for architecture. He was a big fan of the structures Greenbriar built all over the world, and it had just dawned on him that eventually, some of them would be Cedric’s designs. Had circumstances been different Kevin would’ve loved to talk to him about his job.

Instead he was about to turn him down.

Kevin decided to do it during the second class break. He didn’t think it was appropriate for him to approach Cedric while the class was technically still in progress, but he couldn’t deal anymore with the heated—albeit brief—looks Cedric kept casting his way. And he especially didn’t want to wait until everybody had left. He didn’t trust himself. If they were alone and that pretty young thing decided to kiss him again, Kevin might not be able to resist.

Cedric left the room during the first break, but for the second he told the students he’d see them in fifteen minutes and stood in front of the board. He was still facing it when Kevin approached him. It was the weirdest thing. He wasn’t writing. He wasn’t even moving. He just stood there and—

“Are you counting?”

“…twenty-four…twenty-five…twenty-six….”

He surely was. That was the second time Kevin had seen him do that. And Cedric didn’t stop to answer. He just held up his left hand, a clear sign he didn’t want to be interrupted, and continued counting until he reached thirty. Then he turned around, and damned if he didn’t look as if he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“You should be out with the rest of the class,” Cedric muttered, not quite making eye contact with Kevin. “I didn’t mean for anyone to witness that.” He didn’t explain what “that” was, and Kevin didn’t ask.

“We need to talk.”

“We’ll talk after class.”

Cedric tried to walk by him. Kevin didn’t let him pass. “We’ll talk now.”

“You’re too close.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can’t have you breathing on me like that. Not when I haven’t prepared for it.”

“Does this have anything to do with your issue with germs?”

“How did you know I have an issue?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Kevin couldn’t hold his sardonic chuckle back. “I don’t get you. I really don’t. You can’t handle me breathing near you, but you can—” He glanced at the door to make sure they were still alone. “You’ve kissed me and stuck your tongue in my mouth, and for some reason that I can’t even understand you want to have sex with m—”

“You want to have sex with me too.”

“That’s not the point,” Kevin growled. “How the hell are we going to manage sex if you can’t handle my germs?” he finished in a very low voice. “Anal sex is a messy thing, you know?”

“It can be a little complicated but there are ways around it,” Cedric said, glancing at Kevin from under those long, thick lashes of his. Kevin’s throat was suddenly so dry he had to gulp several times. “I know my limits, and it isn’t the same when I’m the one making the moves.”

“How is it different?”

“This is not the time or the place to discuss this.”

“It’s going to have to do.”

Cedric shook his head and moved toward the door. “Come with me.”

Kevin followed him to the floor’s emergency exit and up the stairs, all the way to the roof. Good. They had a little privacy. He felt much better knowing there wouldn’t be any accidental witnesses.

The moment the roof door closed behind him Kevin repeated his question. “So how is it different?”

“I have control.”

“That doesn’t explain how it’s different.”

He shouldn’t be asking this. Considering he had no intentions of being with Cedric, it was information Kevin didn’t need. But he couldn’t resist.

“You’d have to cooperate.”

“In order to cooperate I’d have to understand what the he—”

“There’s a time limit for things,” Cedric mumbled.

“What does that mean?”

Cedric shoved his hands inside his pockets and paced in front of Kevin. “And there are things I’ve never tried to do... that I’m afraid I’ll never be able to do.”

“What things?” Kevin couldn’t remember any other time when he’d felt as exasperated as he did at that moment. “Come on, Cedric. How’s a man supposed to score with you if he doesn’t know the rules?”

Cedric didn’t answer. He didn’t move for the longest time, and didn’t seem to be breathing either. “Thank you for coming back to class, by the way,” Cedric finally said, his words followed by a tug of his lip ring. His had to be the pinkest, most tempting tongue in existence. “But you should know I would’ve called had you not been here tonight.”

Kevin sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Please don’t do that.”

“Don’t call you?”

Kevin nodded. He’d never be able to resist Cedric if the guy decided to actively pursue him. “This has to stop.”

“There won’t be any disciplinary actions against us, Kevin. I checked. Neither Greenbriar nor MCC will care if they find out we’re having sex. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’m…not… I’m not having—” Kevin shut his mouth, counted to five and started again. “I’m not having sex with you.”

“You just said you are.”

“
What?
” Kevin quickly reviewed their conversation in his mind, but came up with nothing. “When did I say that?”

“You asked about the rules,” Cedric clarified. “You wanted to know what it takes to score with me.”

“Okay….” Kevin took a deep breath and released it quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“I
can’t
have sex with you.”

“You took a shower.”

“That doesn’t mean I was planning on having sex.”

Cedric glared at him. “You shouldn’t have taken a shower.”

“Had I known you would jump to the wrong conclus—Jesus!” Kevin took several steps back when Cedric leaned forward and sniffed his neck. “What are you doing?”

“You took a shower and now I can’t smell your sweat. Not that I can deal with it all the time, but once in a while is fine. As long as you run and take a shower right away. I like to see you sweaty and a bit dirty. Makes you look even sexier. ”

Kevin stared at him. Opened his mouth and then closed it again when he couldn’t figure out what to say. He rubbed his face with his hands and paced a little before coming to a halt in front of Cedric.

“Are you saying I stunk before?” He finally asked through gritted teeth.

Cedric slipped his tongue through his lip ring and tugged at it. Kevin’s misbehaved dick stirred inside his jeans. “You look upset.”

“No shit.”

“You didn’t smell at the sex shop, but the first day of class you did. Only a little, though. I wouldn’t even say you stunk, but you did smell. I could smell you. Drove me crazy, I have to say. I wanted you so much I almost threw you over my desk. I don’t remember being harder in my life. See, I have a very sensitive olfactory sense. Anything out of order and I break out in a sweat. Sometimes I even throw up. But I smelled you and I got hard and that’s why you can’t say you won’t have sex with me.”

Kevin was speechless. Amazed by the amount of information coming at him and completely confused by it. He was also charmed out of his wits by Cedric’s quirky behavior and his courage to continue to talk even though he looked as if he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him.

“So what are you saying?” Kevin asked after a few seconds of hard thinking. “That we have to have sex because you could smell me?”

“Because you didn’t make me gag right away.” Cedric moved so fast he was on top of Kevin before he could even register they guy had moved. When Cedric snatched Kevin’s hand and pressed it against himself, all thoughts escaped Kevin’s mind. “And because even when you’re being bloody contrary, I can see you want me and you still manage to get me hard.”

Kevin was momentarily paralyzed. By Cedric’s proximity, by his deep voice with the snobbish accent, by the weight of the guy’s cock in Kevin’s hand… by the desire shining in Cedric’s dreamy brown eyes.

“You’re my teacher,” he said under his breath, closing his fingers on the delicious hardness he wished he could suck right now.