7. Koi
I took a sip from my Dory mug and turned my attention back to my computer screen. For the most part, the study sessions that I held over the last few weeks during my study hour must have helped, because everyone except for three students had passed their exams.
A knock sounded at my door, and I jerked my attention away from my work.
My stomach rumbled, and I looked at the time.
It was eight minutes after two. I needed to get ready to pack it up and head home.
It was a Friday, and those days were lighter in terms of class loads.
I only had one class and always got to leave early on Fridays.
I sighed, hoping that this visitor wouldn’t delay my time too much.
“Come in.”
The doorknob turned slowly. It opened and revealed six feet, six inches of pure chocolate perfection.
I shouldn’t have had the feelings that I did for Salem Gates, but he was so gorgeous, sexy, and attentive.
Not to mention that the brother was extremely smart as hell.
I had no business thinking about him that way.
I needed to get my head together. I should have learned from my first experience.
How ironic that my reputation had been smeared, and I almost lost my job for being accused of flirting with a student whom I never flirted with.
And now here I was with an actual student that I had flirted with on occasion, was extremely attracted to, and I’d had sex with before.
“Mr. Gates, what can I do for you?”
He closed the door firmly behind him and stalked to my desk with that sexy ass swagger of his. If the man wasn’t fine and handsome, he was also bowlegged, which added another layer of panty-melting hotness to him.
“I needed to talk with you about the paper that I turned in last week.”
My countenance fell from the welcoming smile that I had previously worn. Those were the exact words that Kyrie Charles spoke when my troubles with him first started.
Here we go again , I thought, sitting back in my chair.
I crossed my arms in a huff and felt my armpits growing sticky as fear churned in my belly.
I glanced nervously at the door. I debated whether I should open the door again.
I needed a witness with us. But then I thought that it wouldn’t matter anyway.
The damage had already been done. I had met with him in a coffee shop, and I had told him my history of malicious allegations.
I knew he probably hadn’t liked his grade. He usually earned A’s in my class, but I had given him a B on his debate paper. I had trouble assessing his paper fairly, but I believed in the end that I was extremely fair.
“What about it, Mr. Gates?” I asked after I slowly exhaled and pressed my lips together.
My stomach churned, and I regretted opening up to him.
I thought that I could trust him, but clearly, I couldn’t.
He was just one more person who had taken advantage of my trusting nature.
My brother, Mason, always told me that I was too gullible and trusted everyone too easily. My sister, Primrose, called it na?veté.
“I was thinking about some of the points that you made in the paper, and it gave me a different perspective. You were right about gender in the workplace and how it plays a role based on the position you hold. I was looking at it from an entirely different angle, thinking about how you need to speak up when you face discrimination, but I didn’t consider the retaliatory aspect.
That’s not something men usually have to endure, so we take it for granted.
“I know that you have your lessons planned out, but I thought it might be beneficial for the rest of your male students to be exposed to some of those points. What do you think about letting us take over one class period and having a debate session? Take the best students from each of your classes, the best female and male representatives, and let us debate the questions you posed in my paper.”
My arms loosened, and I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought about that. He hadn’t come to say what I feared at all. Relief flooded through me.
“I think it’s an excellent idea, Salem, but I will challenge you with coming up with the debate questions. It cannot be all the points that I highlighted in your paper. Rather, focus on the one you believe is most important and create a challenging, thought-provoking topic from that one.”
He beamed at me as he stood. Lowering just enough to place the tips of his fingers on the edge of my desk, he leaned in. “May I ask you for help if I need it?”
I smirked and pushed my chair back so that I could gain some space between us.
“No. You’ll do just fine on your own. I trust you. On another note, I won’t be attending the classes anymore. I thought that you should know. I didn’t want you to pop up and notice my absence.”
“Why not?”
“I just honestly think it’s for the best. When I met with you at the coffee shop, I was toeing the ethical boundary lines. I could have gotten in trouble for that.”
“It was just a cup of coffee, Professor. I didn’t make you cum.”
My fingers jumped to my cross, and I tugged at it. I cleared my throat and replied. “I don’t want it to be uncomfortable for either of us.”
Salem’s tongue made a slow appearance as he licked his lips, his eyelids grew heavy, and his voice low, dripping with sex. “I told you that I’m not, and I don’t want you to be either. You shouldn’t ever let anyone run you away from whatever you’re passionate about.”
“I agree, but what if someone had walked into that coffee shop and seen us together?”
“You could have told them you were having the pleasure of having coffee with a student. But genuinely, what happens in your private life away from the college is your business, and no one else’s.”
“It actually is. I have a commitment to this college and my students. Sometimes, I feel like after all that’s happened, I’m walking on eggshells all the time.”
I hated that my eyes watered so easily, but they did. I huffed out a breath and grabbed a tissue from the box of tissues on my desk. I dabbed at my eyes, but Salem grabbed the tissue and finished the job himself.
“You’re so fucking emotional, baby,” he whispered as he dabbed at my face.
“Thank you, Mr. Gates. But I don’t think that you should be doing that,” I declared and snatched the tissue from his hand and tossed it into the trash.
Salem cupped my face and turned it toward his. “Drop the Mr. Gates shit, Professor P. It’s Salem. Or do I need to find another way to teach you to scream my name?”
I looked away from him, trying to hide the smile that wanted to come on my lips.
“It’s not Professor P. Pisces was for you for that night only.”
“I think I like Professor P.”
“Why?”
“It can mean so much more than Pisces.”
“Like?”
“Professor Pussy. Professor Popping her Pussy. Professor Pleasure. But I like Professor Pussy the best,” he grumbled and kissed the corner of my lips. “I can almost taste it on my tongue. So damn delicious.”
My core throbbed with need, and my nipples hardened as I fought to regain control. My body was betraying me so badly, desperate for another touch from him, a kiss, and his dick inside of me.
“How about we keep this professional?” I whimpered.
“That’s not gon’ work for me, Professor P.”
“Why not?”
“You keep trying to lump me in with these little boys running ’round here, and I ain’t that.”
“No, I’m trying to maintain a professional demeanor. I told you my story.” I pulled away from him and moved a few steps back.
“You did, but see, I’ve got one problem with that, Professor,” he stated, walking closer to me. I backed up only to bump into the edge of my desk.
“What’s that?” I hated how my voice trembled.
Salem reached out a finger and tipped my chin up so that I was looking into his eyes. I knew that I should have removed his finger, stepped back, looked away, or something. But I felt powerless in the moment. I was literally weak, and my body slumped until my ass was seated on the edge of my desk.
Salem released my chin, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up again.
“That nigga was a kid. I’m a grown ass man, Koi .”
I licked my lips.
“How . . . how old are you?”
“Twenty-five,” he answered with a crooked grin.
“Still too young for me. I don’t date younger men.”
“But you fuck ’em?”
Ohh shit! There went my pussy again, gushing like a waterfall. “I didn’t know.”
“And you didn’t care while you rode and sucked the hell out this dick, baby girl. How old are you anyway?”
“Thirty,” I whispered with that same damn tremble in my voice.
“Good. We’re both of consenting age,” Salem replied and leaned in.
Salem’s lips brushed against mine. I could smell the mint on his breath, and I relished the taste of him.
Slowly and unconsciously, my mouth opened to him with a will of its own.
The minute that I felt Salem’s tongue in my mouth, I pushed my pelvis forward and ground against him.
His thick erection pressed against me, and I recalled every memory from that night.
I wanted and needed more of that, more of him.
Then I came in my panties. I couldn’t believe that shit.
I was thirty freaking years old, and I came in my panties over the simple sensation of a man’s tongue in my mouth.
Not just any man, but the only man I had found attractive in some time.
The one man that I needed to run in the opposite direction from.
The one man who was forbidden for me to touch, kiss, or have because he was my student.
It did not matter his age or our past. It was a matter of ethics and professional boundaries.
I could lose my job for this, but I relished the kiss and the way his tongue and lips worshipped my mouth.
What was even sexier was that he never closed his eyes.
He kept his gaze trained on me, willing mine to stay on him as he sucked my tongue, as he licked my lips, and as he pecked my lips sweetly.
He wanted me to see what he could do with that beautiful mouth and that long, thick tongue.
Salem wanted me to watch him pleasure my body with something as simple as a kiss.
Only it wasn’t. He opened his mouth wide and used his tongue to lick inside of my mouth in a way that was extremely suggestive and made me think about the part of my body that had already released.
I whimpered just as a knock sounded at the door. It rattled the shit out of me but brought me back to my senses.
I pushed him away quickly, straightened my skirt, and smoothed my hair.
Salem smirked and replied, “You look fine, and I mean that in every way.”
He took a couple of more steps back, moving to the door.
“You should be apologizing.”
“For what? Taking the steps to make it known that I want you and plan to have and keep you?” He shook his head. “Nah, I ain’t apologizing. And if that little whimper you released was any indication, I can tell that she thanks me too,” he replied and thrust his chin at my crotch.
A warmth crept up my face, and I knew that I was blushing. He chuckled. That always seemed to bring him amusement.
“See ya later, Professor P.” He popped his lips when he made the “P” sound, taunting me about his earlier words.
Just before he opened the door, he turned back and gave one warning. “I won’t be satisfied until you’re on ya knees again, choking on this dick.”
“I don’t choke. I have no gag reflex,” I immediately replied sarcastically.
The knowing look in his eyes and the cocky smirk made me realize that I’d played right into his hands. Damn.
“I know,” he replied with a wink and pulled the door open.
I forced a smile to my lips just as my student, Nathan Searles, stepped inside. I prayed that I looked calm outside because I was anything but inside.
After the series of broken relationships I had experienced throughout my twenties, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t get involved with any men anytime soon. I needed my thirties to be free of drama.
I thought about the men I had been with through the years, starting at eighteen with my first boyfriend, Reginald, who loved women and couldn’t stick with one.
Patrick had become my stalker. Darell had bullied and gaslighted me to keep me under his control, and Terry had ghosted me.
When I thought I had found my footing with a more mature man, Dominic, it turned out that he was physically abusive.
He was the final one, the one who made me decide to take a break from men. I had had enough of men.
For some odd reason, I was always drawn to dark, abusive men and risky situations. I couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with me. Now here I was, attracted to another risky situation that I knew could never end well for him or me. It was better to let it burn before it burned me.