24. Faith
CHAPTER 24
Faith
I sat at my desk in the small office I shared with Murph. Not my ideal office mate, but adjunct faculty didn’t have much say in which tiny, windowless box they got assigned. I needed to prepare lecture notes for my next class, but instead, I had opened up my latest steamy work-in-progress on the screen.
My night with Dante had unlocked a treasure chest of words from inside me, and over the weekend I found myself struggling to type fast enough to capture the story that flowed out of my fingertips onto the screen. What was it about him I found so inspiring? The ruggedly handsome good looks? His talented fingers?
When we first met, he’d claimed he had a gift for hitting the right spot. He hadn’t been lying. But beyond the incredible, inspiring sex, he stirred up something inside me, something I wasn’t sure I was ready to acknowledge.
My cell phone rang.
“Hey, Steph.”
“It’s new release day, Faith. How’s my favorite author? Any plans to go check out the bookstore this morning and see Carnal Knowledge on the shelves?”
“Come on, you know I’m incognito.”
“When are you going to give up on that and embrace it? People love you. Your books are doing really well, and this latest one... whew... the gals in the office read it over the weekend and said their husbands wanted me to pass on their thanks. Steamy stuff, girl.”
“Thanks. I just hope it clears enough to pay my rent for the next couple of months.”
“I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem. Based on the reviews from your street team, it should be your best-selling book yet. They’re all raving about it. Of course, all of them want to meet you. We’re doing an author event in April in Chicago. That’s not too far from you. Any interest?”
“I can’t. You know I’ve got to keep it a secret. My job, my family… my future depends on it.”
Steph sighed. “If you change your mind?—”
“I won’t. I’ve got a post ready to go for the blog. I’ll send it over later today. Do you have any graphics you can add to it?”
Early on, Steph had come up with the brilliant idea to use an avatar as my profile picture. That way I could stay undercover and still have a way to connect with my readers.
“Yeah, I’ll see what we can do. Good luck today, Faith. I’ll keep you posted as the numbers roll in.”
“Thanks. Talk to you soon.”
I disconnected as the door crashed open and Murph stuck his head into the room.
“Hey, Faith, how was your Thanksgiving?”
I quickly switched screens. God forbid he catch a glimpse of my work in progress. He hung his coat on a hook behind the door and climbed over a stack of papers and books, flopping down in the chair behind the desk across from me.
“Oh, it was fine. How about yours?”
“Great.” He set his coffee down and reached into his backpack for his laptop. “So is your application for taking over Middleford’s classes ready?”
“Yeah, I worked on it over the weekend. I’m going to turn it in today. How about you?” I searched the pile of papers spread across my desk. “I know it’s here somewhere.”
Murph slid a big envelope from his bag. “Ready to go.” He chewed on a fingernail while his computer booted up.
I continued to move papers around on the desk. Ah, found it. I placed the envelope on top of my keyboard so I wouldn’t lose it again. “Whew, thought I lost it for a minute. Here it is.”
Murph nodded. “So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the poetry slam at The Roastery next Sunday night?”
I glanced over at him as he spit a piece of fingernail toward the trash can. Ugh. Not a chance in hell. “Oh, I don’t think I’m going to make it. Thanks though.” When would Murph get the hint?
“I didn’t mean with me. There’s a big group of us going, and I just thought you might want to come.”
“We’ll see. I have a lot to do before winter break. If I get all my work done, sure, I might stop by.” I fumbled for my earbuds. Maybe I could block him out with some tunes.
Before I got the cord untangled, a knock sounded at the door. We didn’t usually get a lot of visitors during office hours, maybe an occasional undergrad looking for some help with an assignment, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.
“Come in!” Murph yelled.
We turned toward the door as Dante poked his head through. I let out an exasperated sigh. My stomach lurched at the sight of his stubbled cheeks, and I absentmindedly rubbed my hand along my jawbone where I still had a tiny bit of beard burn from our recent encounter. I’d been reliving our night together all weekend and had even written about it. The last thing I needed was to see him in the flesh.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” Murph rose halfway from his chair and leaned across the desk for a manly handclasp/backslap kind of thing.
Dante grabbed Murph’s outstretched hand while his gaze darted from Murph to me. “Hey, Murph. How’s it going?”
“Great, just great. I was just telling Faith here about my break. How was yours?”
I kept my head down, intent on my blank computer screen. Go away, go away, go away!
“It was okay. Thanksgiving was great. The rest of the weekend I just worked at the bar.”
“Cool. What do you need, man?”
“I was hoping to talk to Faith for a minute.”
My head shot up. What could he possibly want from me? No matter how great the sex was, as far as I was concerned, it was over. “I have to teach in a few minutes.”
“It will only take a second.”
“Oh yeah, what’s going on?” Murph gave Dante a suspicious look. “Do you need to speak in private or something?”
“No. Murph, stay put. Whatever Dante has to say, he can say it here.” My eyes challenged him to say anything personal in front of Murph. He wouldn’t dare.
“Fine, if that’s how you want it.” Dante let his bag drop down to the desk. “I just wanted to return this.” He reached in and pulled out my red lacy bra. “You left it the other night?—”
“Oh, my god. Don’t you think you could have given that to me in private?” I ripped it out of his hands and wadded it up as best I could, stuffing it in my top desk drawer.
Dante calmly zipped his bag back up and slung it over his shoulder. “I tried.”
“What the fuck, man? I thought we had a deal?” Murph launched himself halfway out of his seat.
I pushed past Dante out into the hall, stumbling toward the bathroom. An army of angry hot tingles marched up my neck and spread across my face. I needed to splash some cool water on my cheeks. Unbelievable. I took a few deep breaths to calm the wave of anger rising in my gut. It wouldn’t take long for Murph to tell everyone what happened. Gossip spread like wildfire through our department.
I hid out in the bathroom for about ten minutes, giving them enough time to get lost. When I got back to the office, they were both gone. Thank goodness. Reaching into my desk, I pulled out the bra and shoved it into my backpack.
Dante’s face flashed through my mind. Every milliliter of blood in my body rushed to my head as I recalled the look he’d given me when he plowed into me on the bed. My heart pounded, and I squeezed my legs together as my body remembered how he’d felt plunging deep inside of me.
No longer able to concentrate on work, I threw my things into my bag and decided to head to the classroom early. I could drop off my application on the way. Now if I could only find it again. As I rummaged through the pile on my desk, I saw a sticky note on the keyboard of my laptop.
Headed to class and figured I’d drop off your application for you on the way.
Later,
Murph.
Crap. At least I’d sealed the envelope so he couldn’t read it on the way. With him gone, that was one less confrontation I’d have to worry about in the immediate future. I turned off my laptop and slid it into my bag.
I’d have to deal with Dante later. Right now, I had another crisis to handle. My mother’s plane would be arriving soon. The fallout from the bomb Dante just dropped would cause some ripples. After everyone figured out my relationship with Claire, I feared I’d be doing disaster recovery from tsunami-level waves for months.