Just One Night (2 page)

“Yes, sir,” she breathed out. His grin
continued.

“Well, I had the flu on Tuesday and missed
class. I am having trouble understanding some of the last lesson. I
did the assignment, but I still am a little confused. I was
wondering if I could ask a few questions?”
Whew
, she got the entire sentence out without
tripping over her tongue. She was so proud of herself, but that
pride diminished quickly when she realized she was sporting a goofy
grin on her face. Her mother called it a “higher than a kite”
face.

Mr. Pearce was an attractive man with
chocolate hair, light olive skin, and a smattering of freckles on
his cheeks. He always wore a color coordinating pair of slacks,
dress shirts and ties. Sara noticed that he even wore gold cuff
links. While not necessarily muscular, as far as she could tell, he
wasn’t too thin either. He was solid, holding himself with a
confidence that made him look sexy as hell.

“I have noticed that you have been missing
class lately, young lady.” His voice drove directly through her,
making her shrink back in fear.

Chiming in quickly, “But, I do have valid
excuses for my absences, sir.”

He held up his hand, shaking his head. “I am
sure that you do. Why don’t you wait until class is over, we can
talk some more then. I will see if we can find a tutor for you.”
Mr. Pearce bobbed his head towards the rows of chairs, dismissing
her as the rest of the class filled in the seats.

“Thank you, sir,” she whispered as she
walked up to take her seat. Sara looked down on her own feet to
make sure that she did not trip in front of the entire
auditorium.

She started up the stairs as quickly as
possible, wanting to get away from the front of the room. She
couldn’t stand the thought of everyone staring at her, even if it
was just the back of her head. The constant recurring dream of
being in front of her classmates, naked, giving a speech, had Sara
gasping for air after the first flight of stairs. She stopped to
take a deep breath and felt a hand close around her wrist. “Let
go,” she hissed, turning around to see who was yanking on her. Sara
nearly fell forward when she looked right into Chris’ face. Pulling
her back down the stairs, Sara could see his shoulder bag sitting
in the front row of seats.

“Oh no, I don’t want to sit that close. I
would much rather sit farther up.” Sara insisted as she dug her
feet in, pulling back. Chris cut her off with a shake of his head
and continued to tug her down the front row.

“Well, I already warmed up your chair down
here. Sit.”

Sara complied, not wanting to make a scene.
“Thank you for saving me a seat, Chris.” Sara slinked down into the
chair, trying to make her body look as small as possible. Maybe no
one would notice her if she didn’t make too many movements.

Chris leaned over, close to her face, his
gaze pinning her where she sat, “I saved one for you last time too,
but you didn’t show up. Are you avoiding me?”

“No, I had the flu.”

“I can’t tell if that one is a lie or not,
but since you already know how I feel about lying, I will assume
that is the truth, little one.” Then he leaned further down towards
her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her neck, making her
shiver. “Are you feeling better now?” He softly brushed his nose
back and forth over her ear lobe. Sara could barely manage a nod as
the tingling from his touch started in her arms, traveled down her
torso and straight into her core. Nearly melting into a puddle on
the floor, she instinctively looked down at her feet just as a
whimper escaped her lips.

Sara could feel the tingles racing through
her body from his touch. Her stomach had done a flip-flop, leaving
her feeling slightly light headed. Every nerve in her body was
hyper sensitive now and she started to shiver. Sara could feel the
moisture seeping into her panties.

Mr. Pearce clapped his hands together, the
resounding clatter had everyone quickly quieting down. Sara willed
herself to listen this time, even though her brain was racing a
hundred miles a minute. Dear God, she really did need a man to ease
this tension in her body if a simple act of brushing her ear lobe
could make her wet.

The hour went very quickly as Sara forced
herself to retain the information being shot at the class. She even
managed to take a few notes. For the first time the entire
semester, Sara actually felt a light bulb click on in her brain.
Maybe she would be able to handle school after all. There were a
few times this past month when she didn’t know if she would make
it. There was always other things pressing on her mind. Most days
she could barely concentrate on what was directly in front of her.
If things didn’t improve quickly, Sara was going to have to concede
to the inevitable, tuck her tail between her legs and head home to
Wisconsin.

Sara had a wide smile plastered across her
face as everyone started to file out of the auditorium. Chris held
his hand out to her as he began to walk down the row of chairs. He
noticed her hesitation, pushing to wait for her. “You’re grinning
like a Cheshire cat, baby. What’s up?”

Sara’s grin quickly faded as she realized
that she was wearing her emotions on her sleeve. She began packing
up her papers and pens back into her backpack, ignoring Chris’
question. She didn’t want to try to explain her feelings of
inadequacy or all her problems to anyone right now.

Chris continued to stand there with his hand
held out. “Come on, let’s go get something to drink at the cafe
around the corner. We can work on the assignment together.”

Sara started to reach for his hand without
even realizing what she was doing. Quickly pulling her hand back,
she started to stammer. “Sorry, I have to meet with Mr. Pearce now,
I was confused on this whole owner’s equity thing, but I actually
think I got it now after this lecture.” She started to slide out
the other side of their row, so that she could get to the front of
the classroom, and at the same time, avoid walking out with Chris.
Not that she didn’t want to go with him, God help her she did. But,
she also knew that if she went anywhere with him, he would expect
to have an actual two-sided conversation, and that was near
impossible for Sara. Sounding like a moron was more her style and
she didn’t need that embarrassment right now, especially not in
front of Chris.

Chris shrugged, walking towards the front
door of the auditorium. Instead of passing through the door, he
leaned against the door frame. While Sara stared at him curiously,
she became aware that she was no longer moving. She had stopped mid
stride when she realized that Chris was going to wait for her. “Oh
hell,” she muttered under her breath. Sara peeked back over to the
front of the auditorium where Mr. Pearce was waiting for her. He
was perched on the edge of his desk with his legs crossed at the
ankles.

Sara continued to creep towards Mr. Pearce
as he strummed his fingers on the desk impatiently. She looked down
at his incredibly long fingers. Sara wondered if he played piano.
Her mother had always said that people with long fingers had piano
fingers.
Those strong, lean fingers would also
be great for other things too
, Sara thought as she
studied all of his features. Looking back up to his face, Sara
realized that he was waiting for her to speak.

“Mr. Pearce, I think I have a better grasp
of the subject matter after this lecture. May I have an extra day
to finish the assignment and then I will be caught up again?” Sara
breathed out all too quickly as she looked down at her shoes.

“That would be fine Sara, you can turn them
in at the next class and I will still accept them. Mr. Lake would
make an excellent tutor, if you are so inclined.” Mr. Pearce nodded
towards Chris waiting in the doorway.

“Oh, um, I think I have it now, but thank
you, Mr. Pearce,” Sara replied quietly.

“I would appreciate it if you would take my
recommendation for a tutor with a little more gratitude Ms.
Lonneman. Chris is an excellent student and would be able to teach
you a few things that will help you to get farther in this
class.”

Chris walked down the steps toward them both
and put his arm around Sara’s waist. “I’d be glad to work with her
Dominic.”

A little shocked that Chris was on a first
name basis with their accounting teacher, Sara was even more
stunned that Chris was standing so close to her, holding her this
way. He started to turn them both towards the door to leave.
Needing to be free from his grasp, Sara started to wriggle. Chris
clutched at her tighter as he led her out.

“Are you afraid I am going to lead you into
a lion’s den?” Chris teased her as they walked out into the
hallway.

“No.” Chris held the door open and Sara
veered past him into the cold autumn air. “Do you and Mr. Pearce
know each other really well? I didn’t realize it was acceptable to
call a teacher by his first name.”

“I have known him for a few years,” he
answered with a sly grin. He stopped them both, spun her around in
his arms so that they were pressed together. He leaned down,
brushed his day old beard on her cheek, making his way towards her
neck in slow motion. She could feel his breath on her ear again and
the familiar tingle started in her arms, migrating down her
body.

“I would like to get to know you better. I
would really like to get that cup of coffee now.” She was on the
verge of sagging into his arms as he held her. She was a little
disappointed that he didn’t say something a little more sexy like,
“I would like to get to know every inch of your
body better. Let’s go back to my place and I will show you how much
I want to work with you.”

She trembled as the thought passed through
her brain along with the image of Chris slowly undressing her,
brushing his beard across other parts of her body.

His low laugh virtually sounded like a
rumble of thunder, the sensation of which Sara could feel in her
own chest. Feeling light-headed with lust and afraid her legs would
give out, Sara wrapped her arms around Chris’ waist to keep from
falling backwards.

Chris lightly pulled his body back from
Sara, pressed their foreheads together. “I’m not even going to ask
you what that thought was. Your body is telling me enough.”

Sara felt a chill run down her spine from
the words.
How did he know what she was
thinking? Was he a psychic?
She started to shake from
the cold outside, realizing that Chris had stepped away from her.
Immediately missing his warmth, she wrapped her arms around herself
as her teeth chattered in her head.

“Come on little one, let’s get you something
warm to drink,” Chris urged as he led her to the cafe. Thank God it
was only a block away, she shouldn’t be this cold, this chilled,
she was used to much worse. It wasn’t even close to winter in
Colorado yet, and actually was a beautiful fall day. So why then
was she shaking?

T
heir time in the cafe
surged by as Chris filled Sara in the missing pieces to the puzzle
in the complicated world of accounting. They already had three
coffees each, but nothing of any sustenance. Sara heard her stomach
snarl at her, waiting would no longer be an option. Chris stopped
working on his assignment, shook his head and smiled, then raised
his arm to motion for the waitress. She bounced over, batting her
eyelashes at him.

“Could you get us two cheeseburgers and
fries, please?” Chris said to the waitress, shooting her his
crooked grin.

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” turning away with
a noticeable sashay of her ample rear.

As Sara’s audible groan escaped her lips,
she looked across the table to find that sexy crooked smile of his
and one eyebrow raised, “Jealous, little one?”

Did he just call her out
and want an explanation of her feelings?
At a loss for
words, Sara began rubbing her thumbs against the tips of her
fingers, something she hadn’t done since grade school. There was no
way for her to explain what was going on inside her brain, her
emotions were a jumble. Part of her was attracted to Chris, but yet
he had pushed her beyond her boundaries so many times and he was
way out of her league. He was dangerous and exciting, so much more
than what she was used to. But the longer they sat together, the
greater the desire she felt. There was a longing there, that kept
pushing her to bridge the gap between them and find some common
ground.

Eyes fixed on the table in front of her,
Sara shook her head from side to side to deny her jealousy. “She
was just so transparent,” looking up to meet Chris’ eyes, “I’m sure
that the check will come with her phone number written on the back
of it.” Sara’s eyes drifted down to the table once more, scanning
over the menagerie of accounting homework.

“I’m sure it will too, but there is someone
that I have my eyes on right now,” Chris teased as he reached over
and tilted Sara’s chin up to look at him. “Although, she doesn’t
seem too eager to give me her phone number.”

The contact between the two of them sent an
electrifying tingle straight to her insides. Sara’s emotions begin
to swirl even faster and she could hear the blood pounding in her
ears. Her skin began to overheat, causing a thin sheen of sweat to
coat her upper lip. There was no denying the attraction that she
felt for Chris, but Sara held on to a bit of fear towards him.

“You’ve never asked for it. But you’re
right, I don’t do a lot of socializing aside from my pets at my
apartment. I have too many obligations back home for me to get too
involved here in Colorado.”

“Where is back home?”

“Wisconsin. A little town called Amulet, way
out in the middle of nowhere. My mom and sister run a dairy farm
there. I go back to help out as much as I can.”