Page 80 of Hard Rock Love

Both our arms and legs were weak and shaky. He pulled out of me carefully and we collapsed onto the bed. We stared into each other's eyes, panting and not saying a word.

Once we’d caught our breath, Seth cupped my cheek and leaned over to press a single kiss on my lips, slow and lazy.

“Did you enjoy your lesson?” he asked.

“You’re an amazing teacher,” I told him.

We grinned at each other, still basking in the afterglow. I buried my face in his chest as he held me tight.

But eventually the sticky wetness became too much and we parted reluctantly.

We began to put ourselves back together, cleaning up as well as we could with tissues. I put my dress back on until Seth got out of the shower.

In the meantime, I decided to tidy up. I took the glasses of water to the kitchen so I could wash them in the sink. There was a plate on the kitchen table so I grabbed that, too, figuring I’d be a good house guest.

Next to the plate was Seth’s e-reader. I was reminded how little studying we’d been doing recently. We’d mostly been spending our few free moments just being together, watching movies, going on dates, making out, and doing other couple-y things.

I felt a pang of guilt. I was supposed to be helping Seth with his college course, supposed to be helping him study for his final exam. Instead, we’d almost completely given up on any kind of schoolwork at all, aside from a few Harry Potter movies.

Seth came out of the bedroom with a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.

“Are you cleaning up?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be doing that, you’re my guest.”

“How far have you gotten?” I asked him, picking up the e-reader and showing it up him.

Tension lined his brow.

“Ah… not very.” He took the ereader and the plate from my hands. “I’ve got you something to sleep in.”

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “We’ve been completely neglecting your studies. I’m a bad tutor.”

“It’s fine,” he said dismissively.

“I promised I’d help you pass your class, and all we’ve been doing is making out,” I said ruefully.

He cracked a small grin. “Believe me, I have no complaints.”

“But you asked for my help and I’ve totally dropped the ball. What if you fail your exam because we didn’t study enough? I’ll feel terrible.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s not important.”

“Of course it’s important. You said you wanted to get your diploma.”

“Yeah, well, priorities change.” He shrugged and turned his back to me to put the dish in the sink and run the water.

That guilt hit me again with full force.

“I know you’d rather spend quality time with me doing other things,” I said, “but I don’t want to be the reason you fail. I’m not worth that.”

“Yes, you are,” he said. “You’re worth everything.” He turned away from the sink to look at me. “But you don’t have to worry. It has nothing to do with you.”

“What doesn’t?” I asked, frowning. “Why are you suddenly so okay with giving up studying?”

“There’s just no point, okay?” he said, sounding irritable. The dishes in the sink clanked together loudly as he vigorously scrubbed them. “I told you, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“But you were so determined to ace your exam.”

“I’m not taking the exam,” he snapped.