ROMANCE: SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Dragon Baller's Bride (Dragon Shifter Alpha Male Romance) (Paranormal Romantic Suspense) (25 page)

“
H
ello
, everyone!” I said waving to my students as we stepped out of our cars and walked to our trunks to retrieve our luggage. It had been two weeks since my encounter with Paul and the animal that had attacked me. It was still a mystery what type of animal it had been, given that I didn’t have a scratch or bite on me. However, I didn’t dwell on it. When I had woken up again in the hospital, Paul hadn’t been there as he promised and I didn’t see him the next week for class nor the week after that. I had been concerned but had other things to worry about, like the conference where we were presently.

We had been invited to the conference months earlier and several of my students were presenting their findings, including Paul. It was a three-day overnight stay in a swanky hotel in the mountains and those of my students who could get away, signed up to attend. I figured Paul wouldn’t miss his chance to present findings from his research relating to mythology from across the world, and so I expected him to arrive eventually.

There were only eight students in my class and they all had my phone number. I was disappointed that I hadn’t heard from Paul. I enjoyed the camaraderie with my students outside the classroom; I felt it improved my relationship with my students, which was important to me.

I talked excitedly with them about what the conference had in store for us. And while I did so, I kept glancing around them, looking towards the exit, assuming that Paul would eventually show up.

I didn’t have to wait for long as I heard the only other guy in my class, Corey, yell out, “Paul! What’s up man? We thought you weren’t going to make it.”

I looked in the direction Corey had turned and smiled at Paul in relief. I couldn’t help myself. He smiled back at me and then the other students gravitated toward him. Paul was so charismatic. He chatted easily with all of them before approaching me.

“Dr. Gabardi, can I talk to you for a second in private?”

“Sure,” I said feeling suddenly apprehensive. I didn’t know what he wanted to discuss, but I assumed it was about missing class.

“Is everything okay, Paul?” I said, trying to keep my voice even as the rest of the class moved towards the center check-in area and received their room keys. The conference was in what was known as hill country. The all-inclusive hotel in the country featured lots of outdoor activities and beautiful hillside views. I figured that’s why all my students had wanted to attend. I let my eyes wander across the landscape while Paul led me away from within earshot of anyone.

There was a little conference room to our right that was unoccupied, and we ducked into it.

“Is everything okay?” I asked immediately, being sure that there was sufficient space in between us. That was difficult given that he seemed to shift forward any time I moved away, almost as if we were dancing.
Stop fidgeting, Sydney. He’ll think you have some sort of nervous tick or something.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and rocked back on my heels. I tucked my hair back behind my ears and trained my eyes on him.

“I had some business to take care of out of town, that’s why I didn’t come to class. I apologize for not contacting you about it, but it came up suddenly and I had to deal with it quickly.”

I nodded and wanted to ask if everything were okay, but I didn’t want to pry. I had a habit of becoming quite awkward when it came to subjects that I felt were personal. I also wanted to avoid looking into those dark-brown eyes.

“Well, it’s good to have you back.” I said turning away and stepping towards the conference room doors.

His next question stopped me, “How are you feeling? After the other night? You hit your head pretty hard. I don’t see any signs of stitches, so I guess you’re better now?” He stepped closer to me, so close that his body was only a few inches away from my own. I attempted to back up and realized that I was up against a wall and could move no further.

“Do I make you nervous, Dr. Gabardi?” He said, a small smile forming on his face.

“What? No! I just...errr...” I didn’t know what to say and it didn’t matter; he wasn’t going to give me the opportunity to say anything, that wasn’t in his plans.

What was in his plans apparently was kissing me as he easily closed the distance between us and lowered his lips to mine.

The kiss was so gentle, so slow and sweet that I couldn’t help but kiss his back. The way his lips moved over mine as if he were mesmerized by the feel of me, made my entire body shake and then when he traced a warm hand up my side and abandoned my mouth to trail his lips down my neck and up to my ears, I could barely breathe.

He exhaled against my ear, “I’ve been wanting to do this since the first time I saw you.”

My only reply was a little moan as his hand began to work itself under my shirt and he easily found my breast and pushed my bra to the side. He started roughly playing with my nipple and I gasped.

“Paul.”

“Shhh…” he said aligning his body against mine so that I could feel his erection clearly pushing against my stomach.

I wanted him. And at that thought, my eyes flew open and I pushed him away from me.

To my surprise, he didn’t let me go, instead he took me by my hands and pulled me into the conference room’s supply closet.

“Paul! Are you crazy? I’m your teacher! What if someone sees us? This is highly inappropriate!”

Anything else I had to say was swallowed by his lips as he didn’t waste any time picking me up and holding me up with his chest as he brought my legs up to wrap around his hips. My back was against the wall; his chest was pressed against my breasts.

I knew I should have protested. I know I should have told him no, but that would have been the exact opposite of what my body wanted. This time it was me reaching for the buttons of his shirt as I feverishly ran my hands across his hard chest and kissed his throat.

“Dr. Gabardi, I didn’t know you had this in you,” he said jokingly as he pulled my shirt off and tossed it.

“I would rather have you in me,” I said wantonly.

He grunted and shoved my hand to his crotch. I hastily unzipped his jeans and stuck my hand inside, reaching for his straining member when suddenly I heard voices from the other side of the door.

“Oh my gosh, Paul. Isn’t this the conference room for the welcome ceremony?” I whispered in horror.

He wasn’t listening; he was too busy staring at my nipples. I crossed my arms over my chest and he groaned in disappointment.

“Paul!” I hissed. “Help me find my shirt, please! People are coming!” I know I sounded panicked and that was because, frankly, I was panicking. I was in a supply closet with my student, semi-nude. I could see it already plastered across the school paper; tenured faculty member caught topless with student seven years her junior. I would be seen as the predatory older woman! My cheeks flushed at the thought. I was getting myself worked up.

Paul didn’t seem the least bit concerned as he extracted my shirt from on top of a box of tissues. I hastily slipped it back on and then looked down at his pants.

“Your pants are still undone,” I said and without thinking I reached forward and started fixing them. He groaned and didn’t try to help at all, I realized that the groan was in pleasure and sent him an annoyed look once I saw the smug smile on his face.

“What?” He asked teasingly, and I gave him a mean look and zipped up his pants quickly.

“Hey! Watch it. You almost made me a eunuch.” He whispered in an accusing voice.

I ignored him and tiptoed towards the door. I opened it just a little and peeked out. My heart could have plummeted to the floor. It was too late. People were already coming in and filling up the chairs.

I groaned inwardly and outwardly blamed Paul, “There are people out there! See what you did? We’re going to get caught.”

When I looked over my shoulder at him, he didn’t look the least bit concerned; instead he was rubbing his palms across my backside, clearly enjoying himself.

“Paul!” I said and decided to just shut up. I was starting to feel like an admonishing kindergarten teacher instead of the college professor that I was.

I decided then and there to just be quiet and hope we weren’t found out. Apparently Paul had other plans.

It was easily the longest thirty minutes of my life. I could hear the guest speaker and the polite laughter of the crowd. I knew the guest speaker; he was the department chair at a prominent college in the area. He was also extremely uptight and no-nonsense. I cringed at the thought of him finding us.

I just couldn’t believe I’d gotten into this situation. Here I was in a supply closet, hitting at the hands of my student who now had his hands again under my top.

“Stop it!” I hissed at him for what felt like the hundredth time.

He whispered, “I think we should take advantage of the moment.”

“No. I don’t think so.” I whispered back trying to sound stern.

He took that moment to press his lips again against my neck and pull me back towards him. I couldn’t help my instant reaction as I ground my hips against his still hard member, my back leaning against his chest.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” I breathed out as he massaged my nipples through my shirt.

“Do you really want me to stop?” Paul said and I wanted to say no. Instead, I said nothing at all. I guess Paul took silence as consent as he let his hand slip between my legs.

Suddenly, I found my voice again, “Actually, yes. You probably should stop.” I was wet. Very wet and for some reason I was embarrassed that he turned me on so much. The whole situation was embarrassing me, in fact.

As if sensing that, Paul abruptly dropped his hand and said, disappointment clearly in his voice, “You’re probably right. Some other time, I guess.”

He brought his cellphone out of his pocket and said, “Well, according to the agenda, this will go on for at least another thirty minutes. What do you suggest we do until then?”

The glow of the light from his cellphone illuminated his face before he closed it and I was reminded of how beautiful his eyes were and I finally noticed that his lips were full, lips that had been on my body only minutes ago.

Stay focused
, I reminded myself. I said to Paul, “We shouldn’t do anything. Let’s just sit here and do nothing. Deal?”

I instantly stuck my hand out in the darkness, but I couldn’t see very well. Paul groaned and I realized that I had completely missed his hand and had instead run into his crotch.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

He chuckled, “Don’t apologize. I liked it.”

I sighed to myself: This was going to be a very long thirty minutes.

I
t was
the next day and I still couldn’t look Paul in the eye without blushing. We had managed to get out of the supply closet without anyone seeing us, and we had each gone our separate ways so that no one would suspect anything, but I still felt self-conscious. I’m sure my students had noticed that I wasn’t there. And I’m sure they noticed that Paul hadn’t attended the opening ceremony either.

The only saving grace I could think of was that at least they didn’t know where we had been instead. I’m sure they just assumed we had been talking privately regarding Paul’s presentation or something. At least, that’s what I hoped they thought. When I saw them the next day, they didn’t let on that they had seen something or suspected anything, and I had given a sigh of relief. And much to my relief as well, Paul kept his distance and didn’t say much when we were around the others. I went out of my way to be sure I wasn’t alone with him, but it wasn’t that hard, he seemed preoccupied with his presentation that was on later that day.

I had a panel discussion that I was going to help moderate in the afternoon, and I expected at least one of my students to attend. My session was pretty full and I sat at a table in the front that was off to the side as there was already a moderator present, but I wanted to be there just in case I was needed. I was surprised to see Paul in the audience. I didn’t think he was into quantitative research, which is what the presentation focused on. He was seated towards the back of the auditorium where the session was being held, so I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to ignore him.

I sat my cellphone on the table and was engrossed in the discussion when my cellphone beeped. I looked down at it wondering who would be calling me now. Besides my parents and my best friend, I didn’t get many calls. I didn’t recognize the number, but checked the message, annoyed that my attention was off the discussion at hand. I was a statistics nerd and loved talking about it so the interruption of my cellphone was definitely unwelcome.

Annoyed, I checked the message and almost dropped my phone.

“I thought about our closet session all night,” was what the text message said.

I looked up immediately in Paul’s direction, and he shot me a knowing look and a small smile. I felt myself blush and hastily exited the screen, putting my phone on vibrate. My phone vibrated in my hand.

“Did you think about me?” Read the next message.

I looked again in his direction, but he seemed to be now listening to the speaker. I took that moment to text back. “No!”

I watched him as he looked down at his phone, read the message and looked back up at me with another small teasing smile. He was enjoying himself.

“Are you wearing any panties?” Was his next text and with chagrin, I realized that this text aroused me. My body instantly reacted. And before I could text back, another text came through.

“I can see your nipples. You’re aroused.”

I looked down and realized that because my nipples were large, the top did little to hide my clear sign of arousal and I wished at that moment that the ground would open up and swallow me.

I tried to be subtle and crossed my arms over my breasts, willing my boobs to get the message that they weren’t allowed to show my excitement at Paul’s words.

I kept my cellphone in my hand and looked around to see if anyone else noticed that I was texting. I hoped they didn’t, but I couldn’t be too sure.

“Move your arms. You’re ruining the view.” Came the next text. I ignored it.

“I’m hurt. You’re ignoring me.” I looked in his direction and he again was pretending to pay attention to the speaker. Apparently, I was the only one in the room who knew that he was doing the absolute opposite.

“Stop texting me.” I mouthed to him across the room, when he finally made eye contact with me.

He looked at me innocently and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. I turned away, determined to ignore him. I subtly looked over the crowd and then at the panel, hoping no one noticed that I was half-arguing and half-ignoring text messages from my student.

“You’re so sexy when you’re angry,” said the next message, and I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

“Dr. Gabardi, you seem to disagree. You’re the expert. Perhaps you have a different view of things?” Said one of the presenters. All eyes turned in my direction.

I was caught off-guard, but thankful that I had kept up with most of the conversation so I smoothly answered and everyone nodded in agreement, clearly impressed with what I had to say. I felt self-satisfied when I was done and would have pat myself on the back if I could. Apparently, I had no problem thinking on my feet or sounding intelligent when I needed to. If only I could apply that same confidence to dealing with Paul, I thought to myself.

Speaking of Paul, he waited a few minutes after I was done speaking and texted, “I think your intelligence might be your sexiest feature.”

I smiled then, I couldn’t help it. It was such a flattering comment and it was scores ahead of comments about my nipples.

My phone didn’t vibrate again during the presentation and as the moderator wrapped up, I glanced in Paul’s direction, but he wasn’t there. I hadn’t noticed him leaving and wondered when he had disappeared. I knew his presentation was next and I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.

With a little smile on my face, I arrived at his discussion and took a seat towards the back. He smiled at me when he saw me and nodded in my direction in acknowledgment. I smiled back and as he was about to get started, I sent one text message.

“I’m wearing panties. And they’re wet.”

He visibly gulped and I felt a moment of power, as I crossed my legs, sat back, and smiled. This was going to be a great presentation.

F
orty-minutes later
, Paul wrapped up his session. I clapped with the others. It had been really interesting and I had enjoyed it. Paul was one of the better presenters that I’d had the pleasure of hearing, and that wasn’t me being partial. The rest of the crowd hadn’t said a word as he spoke. He commanded the audience’s attention with his presence and held it with his words. I was sure that I was the only one who actually had a physical reaction to his voice, but there was an almost hypnotic quality to it that made you lean in and want to listen.

I left while he answered questions, but the entire time, I could feel his eyes on my back, following my every move. I headed to the next session, hoping to catch up with some of my other students when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I was already smiling as I reached for it.

“How about dinner tonight?” I had a skip in my step as I replied. “You’re on.”

He texted back a smiley face and I couldn’t help but actually laugh out loud.

Later that evening he called me and we made plans to meet up at a restaurant in a small town about twenty-five miles from where the conference was being held. Although our relationship wasn’t exactly prohibited, given that my university didn’t have a policy that prohibited students and professors from dating, I still wanted to be careful. Our relationship, or budding relationship as it might be, would still be frowned upon even if it wasn’t specifically prohibited by university code.

I had to admit, I was excited as I drove towards the restaurant where we were scheduled to meet. Besides the fact that I was ridiculously attracted to Paul physically, he also intellectually stimulated me.

I didn’t have anything really nice to wear on our date, so I was glad when he mentioned a place that was pretty casual. I donned on my best pair of jeans and a pretty top. It was a light pink lace blouse, and it made me look sexy, but still tasteful. I then put on a pair of heels. In terms of makeup, I went for a very natural look with just a little mascara and lip gloss. I didn’t want him to think that I was trying too hard. Whatever that actually meant, I thought with a smile to myself.

I pulled up and parked my car. I saw him leaning against his car, casually waiting for me in the parking lot. I thought again how sexy he was. Looking at him, I was glad I went with jeans and a blouse. He wore just a plain blue button-down shirt and a pair of jeans as well. He didn’t smile when I pulled up and got out of the car. Instead, he just stared at me intently, as if trying to memorize everything about me.

I didn’t speak either, letting my eyes roam over his body freely.

“Are you done undressing me with your eyes?” I asked him.

“Almost,” he said raising one brow and looking really focused. I laughed and he smiled then and took my hand. He kissed the back of it as he escorted me through the entrance. I felt a tingle of heat go up my spine and my heartbeat raced as his lips pressed against my flesh.

When we were settled at a table, I took a moment to look around at the restaurant he had chosen. It was definitely rustic and resembled a log cabin. I saw massive ovens in the rear of the room and my mouth watered at the scent of meat cooking that permeated the air.

He looked around to where I was staring and then looked back at me, “Tell me you’re not a vegetarian.”

“Actually, well-”

“Oh no, I’m sorry. I should have asked first.” He said clearly frustrated with himself, and I decided to let him off the hook easy.

I shook my head, “You’re so gullible. I’m not a vegetarian. I’m a huge carnivore. Honestly, I can’t even remember the last time I had a salad. Give me a hamburger instead of arugula any day.”

He shuddered, “Arugula. I can’t stand the stuff. It’s right up there with bean sprouts and tofu in my opinion.”

I mockingly put a hand on my chest and said, “A man after my own heart. We must be soul mates.”

“I think so,” he said those words softly and from the intense look of his eyes, I wondered if maybe he actually meant it.

I quickly changed the subject, hoping to stick to lighter topics. I realized I didn’t know much about him, so I started there.

“Where are you from?” I asked as our waiter came back with our drink orders.

“I grew up in Canada actually, near Vancouver.”

“Really? I would have never guessed. Did you move here just for school?”

“No. I’ve lived in the U.S. for a while. I’ve traveled a little bit all over.”

“Which places did you like the most?”

“The warm ones,” he said, and I had to smile, even though I felt as if he were being deliberately vague.

We grew quiet as we looked over our menus. I wasn’t disappointed at all; there were so many options to choose from and everything sounded appetizing.

When we finally ordered, we relaxed a little more and I told him about my parents and growing up in Texas. I found it interesting that he liked Texas so much especially given where he was from.

“So life here suits you is what I’m hearing?”

He nodded, “I do really enjoy living here. I plan to go for a PhD though, so I don’t know where I’ll eventually end up.”

I tried to keep the smile I had earlier plastered in place. He planned to leave. I couldn’t get upset with him about that. He wanted to further his education. At least he was upfront about that, so now I knew not to get emotionally invested. I just worried that it was too late. Because I feared, against my better judgment, I already had.