Chapter Two
Reagan managed to waitto freak out until she’d left the classroom. It was awful to walk through the halls and struggle against the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes. She couldn't be his student. He couldn't be her professor. She didn't know what she was going to do.
She rubbed at her face as she entered her next class. She had to pull herself together and pay attention to her math professor. Instead, she spent the next forty-five minutes hyper-focused on what she was going to do for the remainder of the semester. She could request a transfer, surely. She could drop the class entirely if she had to, and simply take it another semester with a different professor.
Her evening didn't go any better. Her roommate was the worst person she’d ever met. Lydia was a miserable human being that complained about everything. She wasn't accepted into the college she’d wanted, and she hadn’t gotten into the dorm she’d chosen. She hated the wall color, the size of the room, and she made no secret of the fact that she hated Reagan. It was all Reagan could do to make it through the evening. She curled up in her bed and looked through her notes from the day while she ate a sandwich and Lydia bitched about the lack of space for cooking.
Reagan slept fitfully, her dreams interspersed with her one night with Hudson and the dean of the school confronting them in front of the entire university. Needless to say, she was not refreshed when she woke in the morning. She rushed out the door with barely enough time to stop for a coffee and a muffin. She ate as she walked, making it to lit with three minutes to spare. She made a point of going all the way to the back of the room and slumping down in her seat before pulling out her notebook.
When Professor Clark walked in, Reagan couldn't help but notice how hot he was. His beard was gone, leaving his jaw covered in scruff, his hair smoothed back from his forehead but still too long over his ears. He appeared to like sport coats, and he was wearing one again that day over a button-up and jeans. She couldn't see his eyes from the distance between them, but she remembered how they resembled coffee the way she drank it; with a touch of cream to lighten the intensity. She almost snorted as she remembered that she’d compared his voice to coffee the night they met. Apparently, she had a coffee fetish.
She squirmed in her seat as he began the lecture. He was so damn hot she couldn't even peel her gaze from him as he paced in front of the whiteboard. His jeans clung to his thighs and if she tried hard, she could make out the outline of what was underneath. She recalled exactly how big it was, since he’d impaled her with it, but that was when it was hard. Every time he paced away and turned back, she imagined what he’d looked like naked.
When the student directly in front of her raised his hand, she slumped so far down she was practically on the floor. Hudson glanced up at the student and let him ask his question. It wasn't until the kid shifted that Hudson saw the person behind him trying their best to melt into the floor. He found it rather odd because it couldn't really be comfortable. He spoke to the student whose name he didn't know, and then he realized something very important.
The student behind the one speaking was most definitely Reagan. His one night stand girl, the one he couldn't seem to forget, was fucking sitting in his classroom. Surely fate wasn't so cruel as to place temptation precisely within his reach when he knew he had no right to reach out and take it. God, she’d been so receptive to everything he’d done to her that night. She was vocal and eager, two qualities Hudson craved in a lover. She’d let him take her so roughly, allowed him to use her body for ultimate pleasure, and all she’d wanted in return was to walk away the next day. It wasn't supposed to be more than that, just a truly fantastic fuck between two strangers. He’d said goodbye with the intention of never seeing her again, but she’d remained on his mind and in his fantasies. He’d spent too many showers using visions of her to jerk off, and there she sat. Within reach, but out of bounds.
Reagan thought the boy in front of her would never stop speaking. She could feel it the minute Hudson spotted her because her whole body flushed red and she grew too warm. Their eyes met and she couldn't look away. They stared at each other while the student in front of her went on and on about the syllabus. Hudson finally turned away and coughed into his fist before turning back and pointedly looking straight at the boy. He answered him to the best of his ability while his mind spun out.
He would have to talk to her after class. There was no other choice than to try to clean up whatever mess he’d inadvertently made. His career was important to him, and he wouldn't let anything get in his way, not even the woman he thought of a hundred times a day. He managed to get through the rest of the class, glancing at his student list as they all hurried to pack their things and leave. He found her last name on the roster and called for her.
“Miss Hughes, please see me before you leave.”
He hadn't even looked at her, and she wondered what he was going to say. She’d had twenty-four hours to attempt to process what was happening, and though she’d done a miserable job of it, it was more time than he’d been afforded. She moved slowly, waiting until the classroom cleared out before making her way down the steps to his table.
“When is your next class?” His words were tight, controlled, and barely forced out through his teeth. She wondered if he was angry with her.
“Fifteen minutes, down the hall in two-thirty-three.”
“Please, accompany me to my office for a moment.”
She watched him as he picked up his briefcase, his jaw locked tightly. “Sure thing.”
He led the way out the second door and down the hall where all of the professor’s offices in that building were clustered. He unlocked the door and stepped aside, closing it and locking it behind them once she'd entered.
She faced the room and spoke when she heard the lock click into place. “I don't know what to do other than pretend we don’t know each other.”
“You didn't plan this?”
She spun at the venom in his tone. “How could I possibly have planned it? Do you think I somehow had the license plate number of all my professors and somehow targeted you when you were on the side of the road? Are you serious?”
“No.” He ran his hand over his head, messing up his perfectly smoothed hair. “I don't know what to do. You and I can't be seen together in any way that could be construed as unprofessional. We are strictly teacher/student.”
“You’ll get no complaints from me. I wasn't planning on pursuing you or anything. I was just as shocked yesterday to see you walk in.”
“You could have come to me yesterday.” His gaze bored into her, and she shifted uncomfortably.
“I was in shock. I’ve never had a one night stand, and when I saw you I totally panicked. It’s not like I ever expected to see you again.”
“Well, we need to not see each other outside of that classroom.”
“Of course. I understand.”
He moved away from the door in dismissal, and she unlocked it and practically ran down the hall to make it to her next class in time. She hadn't expected him to be happy to see her, but she hadn't expected him to be hostile, either. She worked to keep the tears that threatened at bay. For the second day in a row, her choice to sleep with Hudson had her on the brink of tears.
Hudson sat heavily at his desk after Reagan left. It was stupid of him to insinuate that she’d somehow planned their encounter. Of course it was a coincidence; they happened to be on the same road because they were heading to the same university. He was twisted up inside from battling his feelings. He’d wanted nothing more than to bend her over his desk and slip inside her enticing body. She had an hourglass figure and long blonde hair that he remembered was thick and soft when he’d wrapped it around his fist. She had a full mouth, her lower lip bigger than her upper, which gave her a pouty look. He hadn't crossed the line into asking her to wrap those lips around him, but he’d wanted to. Her ass was round, her breasts full, and right then there was almost nothing he wanted in the world more than to see her naked again.
He didn't know what was wrong with him. He’d had his share of women, and his type was the complete opposite of Reagan. He liked tall brunettes with a slim figure, and here was this young woman that was short and voluptuous stealing all of his thoughts. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay away from her, and that was very bad. He was strictly forbidden from dating any of his students. He’d been right to tell her they couldn't have anything more. Just because she was already a gnawing ache in his belly didn't mean he would act on it.
