Temptation

28

"Hi, Professor Hunter."

He grabbed my face in both his hands, leaned in, and kissed me deeply. We were supposed to discuss us, but instead all I wanted to do was rip off all his clothes again. He pulled away far too soon.

"Good evening, Penny." He tilted his head, motioning for me to get in the car. "We should get going. We have a reservation." I slowly stepped back and got into the car. He closed the door behind me.

He sat down in the driver's seat and we sped off into the night.

"Where are we going?"

"Someplace where we can be alone."

His words sent chills down my spine. "But I haven't had anything to eat." He made me so nervous.

He had a funny look on his face. "Yes, I'm taking you to dinner."

I was a little confused, but I decided to wait and see. I always loved surprises. "So you wanted to discuss what you meant by just this once?"

"I meant what I said."

"Oh." I turned to look out the window. We were on I-95, cruising by all the other cars. The trees were a blur. I felt like I was going to be sick. "I don't understand why you asked me to dinner then."

"Because I've changed my mind."

I tried to slow my breathing. "Why?" I turned back to look at him.

He took his attention away from the road for a second. "Because I can't stop thinking about you, Penny."

I gulped. "I can't stop thinking about you either." We drove in silence for a few moments. I couldn't believe this was happening. "Did you grow up around here?"

"No. I'm from New York."

"What made you come here to teach then?" I was reminded of Melissa saying that he had gotten fired from his last job. Had he worked as a professor in New York?

"I needed a change."

"Did you live in the city?"

"Yes."

"I understand why you needed a change then."

He laughed. "Not a fan of New York City?"

"Everything is so loud and busy all the time. And everyone seems so depressed on the subway."

"I wouldn't know, I rarely rode the subway."

"I'm sure the taxi's aren't much better. And there's not enough grass."

He laughed again. "Well it is very different from here. Is this where you grew up?"

"I live about an hour away. Well, an hour from school. I don't really know where we are now."

We pulled up to a huge building. There was a tennis court to the right and a pool beside it. Behind them I could just make out a golf course in the dark. A valet quickly came to my door and opened it for me.

"Welcome, madam," he said and put out his hand for me to grab. No one had ever called me madam before. I took his hand and he pulled me out of my seat and closed the passenger side door. Professor Hunter stepped out of the car and the valet walked over.

"Hello, Mr. Hunter," the valet said with a huge smile. "I've heard so much about you."

Professor Hunter handed the valet the key. "Thank you." Professor Hunter walked over to me and put his hand on the small of my back. He escorted me into the building.

My heels clicked on the white marble floor. The biggest chandelier I had ever seen hung above us. A woman with her breasts pushed up to almost her chin walked up to us. "Mr. Hunter. Your table is ready." She seemed nervous to be talking to us.

We followed her down a hallway and entered an elegant restaurant. I wasn't dressed nearly fancy enough. Most of the women wore lace dresses and the men were in suits like Professor Hunter. It felt like they were all staring at me. But as we made our way to the back of the restaurant I realized that they were staring at Professor Hunter. I didn't blame them, he was so handsome. But I felt a little jealous.

The woman showed us into a private room in the back. There was a roaring fire and an elegant loveseat to one side. In the middle of the room was a table with a beautiful flower arrangement in the center. A bottle of wine and two glasses were already on the table. Oh no, they are going to ask me for my I.D.

Instead of questioning my age, the woman said, "Your waiter will be right with you," and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I turned to Professor Hunter. "Where are we?"

"My country club."

Memberships for country clubs were usually extremely expensive. I hadn't realized that Professor Hunter was wealthy. That was probably why he never rode the subway. Professor Hunter walked over to the table and pulled my chair out for me.

"No one's ever pulled out a chair for me before." I sat down and stared at him as he sat down across from me. I was experiencing a lot of firsts tonight.

"Then you haven't been dating the right people."

Dating. Were we dating? "And I've never been to a country club before. Do you come here often?"

"This is actually only the second time that I've been here."

"Oh, so you just joined?" That explained why people were staring. They had never seen him before. They were wondering who the new person was.

"Yes. Earlier this week actually."

Just at that moment the waiter walked in and hurried over to the table. "Good evening. My name is Jerrod. It is my pleasure to be serving you tonight, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter."

I was about to tell Jerrod that we weren't married when Professor Hunter gave me a mischievous smile. Jerrod started telling us about their daily specials but I couldn't stop staring into Professor Hunter's eyes. Jerrod uncorked the bottle of wine and poured us each a glass while he was talking.