Page 129 of Academically Yours

He quirked an eyebrow, and then the textbook was page down on the floor underneath us and I was pulled back onto his lap, this time straddling his strong thighs. “Oh, my wicked girl?” Matthew nipped at my ear. “What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking… what if you quiz me.” I said, running my fingers up his button-up shirt. “And for every question I get wrong… you get to take off an article of clothing.”

“And for every question you get right?”

“I think a kiss sounds like a good reward, doesn’t it?”

The grin had fully spread over his face now, and he tugged on a loose strand of hair before leaning back towards my ear. “I think,” Matthew started as he ran his hands up my back, “those terms can be agreed to.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm,” he said, nipping at my bottom lip. “I think your proposal sounds very agreeable, Miss Hastings.”

“Alright, Professor Harper. Do your worst.”

He laughed. “Where should we start…” He picked my textbook up off the floor and began thumbing through it.

An hour later, I was a little breathless from all of the kissing and left in only my bra, having just lost my panties, and I found that, surprisingly, it was a fantastic way to study. Why was I even surprised? This was us.

“So what happens when I take that bra off of you?” Matthew asked, looking at me with a coy expression.

“Hmmm… well, I can think of something…” I winked.

“Are you admitting defeat?”

“Never,” I whispered, picking up the book again. “Now ask me another one.”

He did, and I answered it wrong on purpose, which Matthew knew—I didn’t know how, but he just did—and he gave me a smug smile as his hands wrapped around my back and unclasped my bra, all in one fluid motion.

“I think that’s enough studying for tonight,” he mused. Then he was picking me up and carrying me—naked—in his arms, one hand on my back and one under my legs. “Now, I have more important plans with you.”

I hummed, “Oh yeah? I hope part of those plans include me undressing you, because it’s awfully unfair that I’m naked and you’re fully clothed.”

“Oh, don’t worry, little fox,” he smiled like the big wolf that he was. “They do.” He kissed my forehead, kicking open the door to the bedroom before depositing us on the bed.

And then we enjoyed ourselves—a little too thoroughly, and not one more bit of studying got done that night.

~ ~ ~

“Can I tell you something?”

We were lying on the couch, limbs intertwined, when Matthew’s question broke the comfortable silence we’d cocooned for ourselves. I gave him a nod as I wondered where he was going with this. What secrets we hadn’t already told each other.

“I didn’t want to be there that night.” I gave him a questioning expression, and he elaborated. “The night we met. The other faculty members dragged me there. I didn’t want to go,” he laughed. “I never would have imagined that I would have met you there.”

And I think I understood, even more than he realized.

“Can I tell you something?” My cheeks were blazing as my thoughts ran ahead of me, a thousand miles per hour. He brushed a lock of hair off my face. “I didn’t want to be there that night either,” I giggled. “Hazel was the one who insisted I come. The inclusion of brownies might have sold me.”

Matthew laughed, and I snuggled further into his side. “So, brownies? That’s what got my future girlfriend to go to that damn mixer?”

I nodded, very solemnly, like this was a profoundly serious fact. “Very good brownies.”

Matthew smirked at me and stuck his tongue in my ear, ignoring the little shriek I gave as we rolled around on the couch and he landed on top of me, caging me in with his body and his arms.

“But we found each other.”

His smile was bright enough to fill a whole room. Brilliant, just like the first snowfall that coats the world in a glorious, dazzling blanket of white. Some people might think he was cold or withdrawn, but they just didn’t know him like I did. They didn’t know that he had just needed a bit of warmth to find himself again.