The Professor

Chapter 20

NOAH

It was finally the night of my dinner date with Dalia, something I had planned for all week because I didn’t want anything to go wrong. What I hadn’t planned for though was the weather for tonight being wrong.

I drummed my fingers on the wheel as the rain that had been threatening to come down for several minutes now finally did while I waited for Dalia to come down from her apartment.

I had planned for us to have dinner on the patio because it had a killer view and also because Dalia had mentioned stargazing when I told her about it but the rain hindered that now.

A knock suddenly came on the door of the passenger side and I glanced at it to see Dalia there, beaming at me. “Hey stranger,” she said, seeming out of breath, and a responding smile immediately made its way onto my face before she entered the car while I closed the windows all the way.

She was wearing a skirt that stopped at mid-thigh and a blouse that had a deep V-neck, and when she turned to face me, it didn’t matter that I had seen her every day this week. It didn’t matter that I had seen her a couple of hours ago. She still took my breath away as I stared at her.

I sucked in a breath only to catch a whiff of the perfume she was wearing and my smile widened because it was the one I gifted her this morning. I had delayed giving it to her because I had thought I could give her something better but I ended up going with it because Javier had said I should go with a gift I think wouldn’t overwhelm her.

“What?” she asked, a small smile playing on her lips, when she realized I was staring at her.

“You’re breathtaking.”

Her smile wavered and she blinked at me in surprise. She then leaned over and placed her hand on the side of my face before guiding her lips to mine, kissing me hungrily. I moved my fingers to her hair, fisting it, and she moaned into my mouth as we both took what we wanted from each other.

Kissing her felt like I cheated my way into heaven and when we finally pulled apart, we were both out of breath. I no longer care about the rain. Dinner with her would be amazing no matter where it was.

“Are you trying to get laid?” she muttered against my lips and I raised my brows slightly as a smile tugged at my lips.

“You’re gorgeous. Stunning. Beauti–”

She cut me off with another kiss before letting out a laugh and I trailed kisses down her neck until her blouse stopped me. She laughed again when I trailed kisses back up.

“Thank you, kind sir. You also look amazing,” she said as she threaded her fingers through my hair. “I love your jacket.”

“You’re looking to get this one too?”

She had worn the jacket I gave her the night we met to campus today and I had enjoyed seeing her in it again an unhealthy amount.

“Maybe,” she replied.

I grinned, shaking my head sideways, before I started the car and began driving to my place. The next couple of minutes were filled with her singing along and dancing to the music from the car’s stereo and me laughing at, but also loving, how off-key she was. She was so f*****g adorable.

Finally, we got to my place and I pulled into the garage before leading Dalia into the living room. I had set up the record player there before I left to pick her up and the way her eyes lit up when she saw it made warmth spread through me.

“What are we going to listen to?”

“What do you want us to listen to?” I replied as I ushered her to the room the vinyl records were and she immediately walked over to one of the shelves, perusing the vinyl that stood in it. She was like a kid in a candy store as she thumbed through the albums. “Pick something to play. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” she said, her eyes still fixed on the albums, and I pressed a kiss to the side of her head before making my way to the kitchen.

Just as I began to boil pasta after prepping the crab, Terry Callier’s I’d Rather Be With You began to play in the living room and moments later, I felt Dalia’s arms come around me from behind. The way my heart fluttered at her touch made me feel way younger than I was and a smile tugged at my mouth.

“What are you making?”

“Linguine. Crab and bacon linguine.”

“Whoa!” She pulled away and moved to my right side so I could see her face and the surprise written all over it. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

I tipped my head to the side. “Is it working?”

“Depends. Do you know how to bake too?”

“Absolutely,” I replied and a huge grin took over her face.

“You have my attention.”

“Damn.” The corners of my mouth twitching. “I fumbled by not baking up a storm.”

I didn’t even have the ingredients to bake something simple right now if I wanted to.

Still grinning, she gave me a dismissive wave. “I’ll be gracious and overlook it,” she said and I let go of the spatula I was stirring the bacon with to place a hand on my chest, plastering surprise on my face.

“Well thank you, my lady.”

“Oh you’re welcome, Your Majesty,” she replied and the twinkle in her eyes as she addressed me with that term let me know that she was referring to my middle name.

“Naughty,” I muttered, leaning down to give her a kiss before the doorbell rang and she collected the spatula from me.

“I’ll take over.”

“Thanks.” I walked out of the kitchen and over to the door, opening it without checking who was on the other side because I expected it to be Caden. He had told me he would drop by before I went to pick Dalia because he left his camera here and when he didn’t, I figured something must have delayed him.

It wasn’t Caden at the door though.

Oh, f**k me.

Allison smiled at me as she ran her fingers through her wet hair and my grip on the door handle tightened. “Hi Noah.”

“No,” I stated firmly and tried to close the door but she used her hand to stop it. I gritted my teeth. “You’re on private property.”

“I texted before I–”

“I don’t care.”

“Please don’t be like this,” she said in a shaky voice as tears filled her eyes and I scowled.

“f**k off.”

“It’s Shane, okay? It’s Shane. He has lost his goddamn mind. He tried to–”

I slammed the door in her face and locked it, not interested in whatever problems she had with Shane, but as I walked towards the kitchen, she began to ring the doorbell incessantly while knocking on the door.

What the hell?! I could ignore it but the ruckus was bound to draw Dalia out of the kitchen and I didn’t want her to have to deal with this.

Anger pulsed through my veins as I marched back to the door and threw it open. “Allison, I will call the f*****g cops if you don’t get the f**k away from my house.”

“I–” She looked taken aback by my outburst. “I–I can’t drive in this weather.”

“You drove here in this weather,” I replied, glancing at her car which was in the driveway.

“It wasn’t–” She jolted as a loud clap of thunder filled the air. “Can I at least stay till the rain stops?”

My gaze fell to her bump for a brief moment and a muscle in my jaw twitched as I was reminded of what she and Shane did. “No.”

It might be a bit harsh but nope. No way. Even if Dalia wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have let her set a foot in here. There was a supermarket down the road, she could wait for the rain to stop there.

“Noah, please.”

I shut the door and waited next to it for several moments in case she decided to ring the doorbell or knock again but thankfully, she didn’t.

“Noah?” Dalia called out.

“I’m coming.” I sucked in a breath before walking back to the kitchen and I went straight for Dalia, hugging her from behind while she added the minced garlic to the skillet.

“Hey,” she said as I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her coconut shampoo, and I didn’t need to see her face to know that she was smiling. That was all it took for the anger that had built up in me to disperse.

“Hey.”

I began to lick and nip at her neck, making her breaths come out in short pants, before dragging my tongue up to her earlobe. When I took it in my mouth and pulled on it with my teeth, she let out one of those moans I loved to hear and my blood immediately rushed south.

“Don’t mess with me in front of the stove.” Her words came out ragged and I pressed my hips against her ass.

“But I want to.”

She snorted and held out the spatula but instead of taking it from her, I clutched onto her hand holding it and trapped her in place between both of my arms. “Who’s naughty now?” she muttered and I responded by kissing her neck.

This is nice.

As I started the sauce, using her hand gripping the spatula to stir, she asked, “Do you think you missed your calling by not becoming a chef?”

The corner of my mouth turned up. “I wanted to be one once.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. One summer during high school, Javier and I worked as waiters in a restaurant.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“It’s not for the faint of heart. My dad’s friend was a chef then so when I told my dad I wanted to be one, he sent me to him.” I smiled at the memory. “A week with him was enough to change my mind.”

She dropped her head back, letting it rest against me, and laughed. Hearing her laugh made my smile widen and it felt like my face was going to split from it..

I loved hearing her laugh.

It had quickly become my favorite thing after all the time I’d spent with her this week and during that time, we talked a lot. For example, she’d talked about her family, an old funny incident that happened at one of the campus Friday night barbecues, the beach and how much she loved it. The subjects were random and we had talked about whatever popped into our heads and I loved every f*****g second of it.

I loved being with her.

Dinner was ready minutes later and I had kept Dalia hostage till it was done. We made our way to the living room with me holding our plates and Dalia holding the wine and wine glasses and as I set the plates on the table, she said, “Let’s watch a movie.”

“Which?”

She sat on the floor while I walked over to the TV to turn it on before going back to her. “Should we watch horror?”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes and no,” she replied as she opened the wine bottle while I sat next to her. “No, because I’d just keep on replaying the scary parts in my head while I’m trying to fall asleep and will be too scared to sleep. Then I won’t let anyone in the house sleep either.”

I chuckled. “You stay with Tamika?”

“No. Weston.”

“Oh.” …Wait, what? My brows snapped together and blood rushed to my ears.

“It does seem like Tamika lives with us because she drops by all the time–”

“Just the two of you?”

She looked up from the glass she was pouring wine into and raised her brows while discomfort grew in my chest. “Huh?”

Asking again seemed ridiculous as I stared at her because she didn’t even know what was going through my mind but I had to know. “Is it just you and… Weston?”

“Yes. Evie has been staying with us for a couple of weeks now but she’s moving out soon,” she replied and I gritted my teeth.

You’ve got to be f*****g kidding me.

Weston always had her full attention whenever they were together – they even looked and sometimes acted like a couple – and when she was with me, he occasionally came up in our conversations. I didn’t question their relationship because I felt it might sound accusatory but possessiveness burned in me when I saw them together.

Now that I knew she lived with him, it tripled.

I swallowed and picked up the remote, not wanting to say something stupid. “What movie do you want to watch?”

“I haven’t watched the human centi–”

“No,” I cut her off, returning my gaze to her, and her eyes twinkled from withholding laughter at my reaction. Javier had made me and Taylor watch the first one with him and I had nightmares for a week. “No,” I repeated.

“Fear Street then?”

“Better.”

****

“You can just stop here. I need to get something from there,” Dalia said, pointing at a*****e on the right

and I pulled up in front of it.

I could see her apartment building from here and the fact that she was staying with Weston came to mind for the nth time this night, making unease swirl in me as I stared at it. I tightened my grip on the wheel and faced her.

I could ask her right now. I mean, part of me was already telling me that I’d be stupid to think their relationship was strictly platonic so I could just ask but the fact that it would sound accusatory still remained valid.

“What’s your apartment number?” I asked instead.

“Three-oh-four,” she replied as she unfastened her seatbelt. “You wanna drop by someday?”

“Maybe,” I muttered and she leaned over, placing the softest kiss on my lips before I grabbed her hand, tracing her knuckles with my thumb. “I want to go on another date with you.”

Her eyes lit with surprise, bright and clear. “You’re forgoing the three day rule?”

“Is that a yes?” I asked and she beamed like the goddamn sun, making my heart take a pause.

Perhaps she and Weston are really just friends.

“Yes, but I’m planning this one.”

“Oh…” I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “I’m looking forward to it then.”