Page 45 of Betting on the Bad Boy
“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 allweekend 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.
