Chapter 22 Basic Math
Basic Math
Once we were inside and the door was closed, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down to meet mine. His hands found my hips and pulled our bodies together, and I sighed, melting into the contact.
This man had butterflies going wild in my stomach. I only have one day to get him out of my system, I thought as I kissed him hungrily.
“You said something about a shower?” he asked.
“Yeah. Shoes off first,” I said.
He chuckled. “Bossy.”
“Don’t forget it.” I tapped a finger on his chest, and his grin spread into that crooked smile. He could end wars with that smile.
We toed our shoes off by the door, then Jack stepped into my space and kissed me again. He tasted salty and hot with a hint of coffee, and I hummed as he deepened the kiss. We broke apart so he could peel off my pullover, leaving me in my sports bra and compression shorts.
The sweat was starting to cool on my body, and I shivered as the air hit my bare skin.
“Let’s get you into the shower.” His breath was hot against my neck, and I shivered again for a totally different reason.
Drawing him by the hand, I led him to my bathroom. He watched as I turned on the water, setting it to a scalding temperature, and the little room began to fill with steam.
When I turned back to him, he had taken off his shirt. I bit my lip as I regarded the defined muscles of his chest and abs glistening with sweat. It was truly unfair for a single human to be that beautiful.
“I told you not to do that.”
“Do what?” I teased.
He stepped forward and grabbed my chin, tilting my head back so he could look directly at me. He brushed his thumb across my lip, freeing it from my teeth. “This does things to me,” he said, brushing his lips across the corner of my mouth.
“You do things to me,” I countered as his lips slid across the other corner of my mouth.
I peeled off the rest of my clothes and stepped back into the shower. His eyes became molten when the hot spray hit me, wetting my long hair and streaming down my naked curves.
A moment later he was naked too, and standing next to me under the water. He reached around me for a bottle of shampoo, and after squirting a generous dollop in his palm, began working it into my hair.
I moaned softly in pleasure as his strong fingertips massaged my scalp. In kind, I grabbed the bar of soap and began lathering his body, starting at the top of his chest and then working my way down his washboard stomach to his thick erection.
Grasping the base of his shaft in my soapy hand, I pumped slowly down the length. Now he was the one moaning. His hands stilled in my hair, and he dropped his head back, eyes falling closed as I worked him.
“Princess, if you keep that up, this is going to be over before we even start.”
My hand stilled, still grasping him, but no longer stroking. This was pretty much all I had planned. The little shower was standing room only, with no Jacuzzi or bench to spread out on.
“Do you have a better idea?” I asked.
“Yes.”
He took the soap from my hands and leaned into the spray to place it back on the tray. Water ran down his abs, rinsing away the soap bubbles.
His hands skated down the length of my body, tracing the curves of my breasts, waist, and hips before dipping between my thighs. Two fingers easily slipped inside of me, pumping slow and deep, before slipping out to tease my clit in languid, maddening circles.
“Okay, yeah,” I said. “Your way is better.”
I held tightly to his shoulders as my legs became weak. It would be incredibly embarrassing to explain my injuries in the ER if I fell and actually got a concussion. But I had a sneaky suspicion that Jack would never drop me.
When I was right on the edge of bliss, he removed his fingers and pressed me back against the wall of the shower, claiming my mouth in a slow, deep kiss.
I hardly noticed the chill from the tiles at my back with his heat pressing against my front.
His hand traced down my thigh and lifted one of my legs to wrap around his hip so that his cock was firmly pressed against my center.
He swallowed my whimper of pleasure with a hungry kiss as he ground his shaft against my clit, creating the most delicious jolt of pleasure. A gasp escaped me and my eyes shot open when he entered me in a smooth thrust. My body was ready for him.
Jack tilted my hips as he rocked into me again and again, his pelvis grinding against my clit with every stroke.
Aroused as I was, it didn’t take long until I was coming for him, crying out his name like I knew he liked.
He found his release soon after, pressing me into the wall with his final thrusts.
The post-sex shower might have been awkward, but we managed to find a system as we finished. Jack took care to lather my entire body, touching every inch of sensitized skin from head to toe. I returned the favor, savoring the opportunity to explore him in the light.
When we finished and he had me wrapped in a fluffy towel, he snuck across the hall to get some clean clothes, while I slid a frozen pizza into the oven and tossed a bagged salad in a bowl. We ate in front of the TV watching a Friends rerun, but I couldn’t concentrate on the show.
He was still here, sitting next to me, arm propped on a pillow that read “Baddie” in pink sequins. After all the times he had run away, he finally stayed. I was glad. I still hadn’t gotten enough of him. I wanted as much as he would give.
“Did you always want to be a teacher?” I asked.
He set down his fork in his salad bowl and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yeah, pretty much. I tutored a few people in high school—in fact, I tutored your boyfriend for a while—and I really enjoyed it. I’ve always liked helping people and seeing them succeed.”
“I remember that now that you mention it,” I said. “You helped Travis stay off academic probation for football.”
Jack smiled and looked down in his bowl. “It’s funny that you can remember me now.”
“I remembered you before,” I said quickly, jerking up straight.
“No, you didn’t.” His gaze held me frozen like a tractor beam.
I turned so I was facing him more directly. “Before doesn’t matter. I remember now. You were brilliant. At the top of every class. But you never really said much.”
“Not to you, no.”
My brow furrowed. “Did you have a problem with me?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Quite the opposite.”
I paused to consider that—the opposite of a problem.
Had Jack liked me? Like—like me liked me?
But that didn’t make sense. If he liked me, why did he never talk to me?
And if he liked me, then why would he have been so upset to see me at the beginning of semester?
He must mean something else, and I was determined to figure out what.
Then he spoke again, breaking my train of thought.
“Did you always want to be a teacher?”
“No, this is kind of recent,” I answered slowly. “I didn’t know what I wanted for a long time. I sort of floundered after leaving Newbury.”
“How recent?”
He looked curious, not accusing, so I felt okay answering.
“About two years. I was about halfway into the chemistry program at Columbia when I decided to add on the education certificate. Then I saw in the alumni newsletter last spring that Stephens was retiring, and it seemed too good to be true. I always loved Newbury. Plus my family approves of the school—we literally have the library named after us—so I thought maybe they would be okay with me teaching if it’s here. ”
He nodded and a small smile tipped up the corner of his lips. “I always loved it here too.”
“Is that why you wanted to come back?” I set my plate aside.
“That’s a part of it, but there was more to it.”
The silence felt heavy between us. “And…” I prompted.
“And there was nothing for me in New York. My girlfriend left me for another guy. I couldn’t stay in our apartment, so I had to find what I could afford—which wasn’t much.
I was miserable. Burnt out. Depressed. And then a year ago, Alan told me there might be a spot opening up at Newbury.
He’s worked here for a while and knew about Stephens’s retirement before it was announced.
Coming here seemed like the answer to all of my problems. I’d get out of my roach-motel sublet, finally earn enough to get out of debt, and be back around people that appreciated me. ”
My dream of coming back to teach at Newbury suddenly felt shallow. While Jack and I were both here to take control of our lives, his reasons were much more raw and real than mine. I was trying to impress parents that I tried to avoid. And he was just trying to live a decent life.
Furthermore, he was doing all of this without the safety net that I took for granted.
I had cut way back on my spending after I moved in with Silvia, but I still had my platinum card. Without a steady income, I used it more than I liked to admit for the essentials, like rent, groceries, and skincare. And Columbia—the tuition bills were always paid without me having to lift a finger.
The card was gone now, but I still had a little cash savings. And most importantly, I didn’t have any debt hanging over my head.
The piece of privilege gave me options, options that people in Jack’s position could only dream of. I could go anywhere. My name still opened doors. The most Jack could hope for was to pay off his debt and maybe get tenure.
“And then you got here and found me in your way,” I said.
His face fell. “It’s not like that.”
“It looks exactly like that from where I’m sitting. Coming to Newbury solves all of your problems, makes your dreams come true. No wonder you were so upset to find me here. If I were you, I’d hate me too.”
Jack carded a hand through his hair as he regarded me. “I don’t hate you,” he murmured. “I could never hate you.”
“But your dream—”
“My dream isn’t going anywhere. I can want more than one thing.”
His hand cupped my cheek, and his eyes bore into mine, dark pools swirling like autumn leaves in the wind.
My breath caught in my chest, even as my heart began pounding like a drum.
He was so beautiful and so intense—and all of that intensity was directed right at me.
I was his dream.
One of them, anyway.
But he wouldn’t let himself have me. He was convinced that his wants were provisional, that he could only have one or the other.
There was even the possibility that he would end up with nothing.
He had grown up with some privilege, but nothing like I was used to.
I wanted so badly to help him see that he didn’t have to choose.
He leaned in further still and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was slow and deep, lacking urgency, but filled with a weight that hadn’t been there before. There was passion, but also something like longing.
When he pulled back, I took his plate off his lap and set it on the coffee table. Then I climbed over him, my thighs straddling his, and took his face in my hands. I kissed him sweetly, my hands sliding down to rest on his shoulders.
“I know we said last time was the last time,” I said, “but it hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet. So, it’s still technically the same day, and that means it all counts as one time.”
“Is that so?”
“Technically, yes.” I feathered kisses down his neck. “If you do the math…”
“I’m not sure I’m following you.”
“Well, it’s pretty simple. The football game ended at 9 p.m., and we didn’t make it back here until after eleven. And since a day is twenty-four hours, then anything that happens before 11 p.m. this evening all counts as one. That’s just math.”
Jack’s brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he considered my fuzzy logic. I tried not to smirk in triumph as I felt his erection growing against my thigh.
“I think I get it,” he said. “You’re saying we still have five more hours before our one night is technically over.”
My face burst into a toothy smile. “Exactly! You can’t argue with math.”
“I would never…” he chuckled.
I silenced him with another lingering kiss. We had five more hours until our Cinderella moment, and I intended to make the most of every minute before we had to go back to being rivals.