Page 37 of Private Tutoring
HARMONY
Iwoke to a heavy arm thrown across my stomach and a delicious warmth at my back. A long groan and a stretch brushed my toes over a hairy leg. Last night’s activities burst across my mind, and I lurched into a sitting position with a gasp, dragging the covers up to my chin as I took in the sight of all three men in bed with me.
My cheeks burned when I realized what I’d done and that I had no possible escape route without waking at least one of my professors. I clasped the covers tighter. I was so screwed.
Sunlight peeked through the blinds covering the window to my right. Another gasp left me breathless. “Shit.” I looked to my left, then my right. “I have to go.”
Stephen raised his head, then let it flop back onto the pillow. “It’s barely six.”
“You don’t understand.” I shook my head while nudging him with my foot. Roberto and Matthew were behind me, their bulk prohibiting me from leaving the bed in that direction. “I never went home last night.”
“That’s a problem?” Confusion wrinkled Stephen’s brow. Combining that look with his rumpled hair made me wish I could languish in bed for a few more hours.
No way. I nudged him again, then resorted to scrambling over his legs when he continued to lay there. “Sorority rules.” I grunted when he palmed my hip as I crawled over him. “Part of our pledge is to pick our career passions over men.”
“And that means you’re not allowed to sleep anywhere other than the sorority house?” Matthew raised his head. “Sounds more like a cult than a sisterhood.”
I snorted in response. He wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t already thought myself. “Yeah, well. It’s not like I’m feeling too bad about breaking the rules. All it’s done is made every girl in the house hornier than they’d be if we were allowed to have sex more often.”
“Pretty sure you can’t regulate someone’s sex life.” Roberto rolled onto his elbow and watched me rush around as I gathered my clothes.
I held the bundle of fabric to my chest and took in the scene. When would I get to see all of them like this again? No better time to ask than now. “When can I come back?”
“Tonight?” Stephen flopped onto his back, a light smile playing around his lips. “Whenever you want.”
I nodded, my dry throat refusing to let me speak, and darted into the bathroom.
Half an hour later, fully dressed and as presentable as possible, I kissed them all goodbye and headed to the sorority house. I needed a story in case anyone caught me coming in. Eyeing my bag in the back seat of my car, I solidified my alibi and rehearsed it the entire drive.
No one stopped me when I walked through the front door. If anyone had noticed my absence, they didn’t notice my return either. Leighona and a few others stood around the kitchencounter eating bagels and laughing over a story Jessica told in her high-pitched voice.
My relief carried me up the stairs and into my room. I showered and changed in record time, then barged back down the steps and out the door just in time to make it across campus for my early morning math class with Stephen.
Sunshine lanced through the tree branches at the quad, and the sight of Delilah sitting on one of the picnic tables slowed my frantic run to a jog and then a walk. She slid off the table, frowning and looking me over. “What happened to you last night? Did you even come home?”
A choice stretched in front of me. Tell her the truth or lie through my teeth and hope she wouldn’t see through me. It wasn’t really a question of what I had to do. I’d promised Stephen and the others that I’d keep our secret…even from my best friend.
I swallowed hard. “Of course I did. It was super late.” I patted my bookbag. “I fell asleep in the library. I was trying to study for our test.”
She nodded, but her lips pursed in a disapproving frown. “We’d better get to class.”
I fell in step with her, grateful for her trusting nature and my ability to tell a fairly convincing lie. Students clustered around us, the whole group barging through the double doors and into Professor Harding’s class. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning when I spotted him standing in front of the board. His hair had been tamed, the silver strands slicked down at the sides. He wore his usual attire, but it was the way he turned when I entered the class, almost like he felt my presence, that caused my heart to leap into overdrive.
I sank into the nearest seat on the front row and concentrated on setting up my laptop and notebook. My skin did that tingling thing again, my scalp prickling with awareness.
The weight of Delilah’s stare brought my head around, but Stephen started class before she had a chance to ask more questions.
“All right. Settle down and let’s get started.” Stephen uncapped a marker and wrote an equation on the board. “Who finished their homework last night and can tell me the answer to this problem?”
A couple hands shot into the air.
I kept mine in my lap. It took all my effort to keep my composure when his gaze slid over me. The brief flash of attention warmed my cheeks. I really had to figure out how to keep that from happening.
Delilah tapped her fingers on the keyboard. Her knee bumped mine when I didn’t look over. “Harmony.”
“What?” I asked without moving my head as I wrote the equation in my notebook.
Stephen walked the class through the steps for solving it, and for the first time, they made sense to me.
