“I see that now.” She slung her book bag across her shoulders. “I guess I’ll be back by three.”
“Yes, I suppose you will, Miss Miles.” He watched her walk out, remembering their evening, how he kissed her, how incredible she tasted—like the sweetest of wine, and how much he knew he liked her. She was both smart and dazzling, attributes he had never experienced with just one woman. He hadn’t expected that dazzling woman to greet him in English Comp. He moved the pile of papers aside, feeling a migraine coming on. He hoped the rest of the semester wouldn’t go as badly as the first day of class.
* * *
The cafeteria doors opened and Tim walked out carrying two cups of coffee and a bagel. Her eyes followed the sexy young man with light-brown hair that shined golden highlights who had made her night two weeks ago seem magical. Jacob didn’t exist, and who was left in his place? A man she really didn’t know and wasn’t sure that she had wanted to know, despite the fact that she adored him beyond reason. But who was he, really? She didn’t know the answer. She now thought she should have had some clue before sleeping with him. Everyone makes mistakes on occasion, not to say that he was a mistake. However, he sure as hell was going to find out who she was.
It was 2:55. She had decided to give him a little time to drink his coffee to get composed before she traipsed in there lowering a bomb on him. At exactly 3 o’clock, she walked in. “Dr. Polaris you said it was okay to…”
He hadn’t looked up, but knew her voice. He had hoped she would get skittish about the meeting and decide to not come, yet there she was. He looked up putting on the best smile he could muster. “Sure, Miss Miles, come in. Just finishing a little lunch; I hardly get a chance to have anything on the first day.”
“Coffee and a bagel is lunch?”
“It is today.” He wiped the whipped cream off his hands. “Now. To the matter at hand. Please have a seat.”
While he finished the last of his bagel, she sneaked a look at him. Few men were considered pretty to her, but he was at the top of the list. Woman could fall for him solely on the basis of his looks. He looked rich, too, as if he had been born with a tennis racket in his hand and a lake in his backyard. She had definitely fallen victim to Timothy Polaris’s looks and charms.
He finished one cup of coffee and lifted the lid from the other. “One thing puzzles me, Miss Miles.”
“What would that be, other than my behavior on July twenty-third? By the way, that was not really me.”
“I don’t mean that. I didn’t have a bandage on the night I was with you. How do you know about this bad-boy image I seem to have?”
“You told me. I thought you were a contractor. They often get hurt on the job. I didn’t know you were a professor.”
“I know you didn’t.”
“I assumed Timothy Polaris would be like all the other instructors here, older and ordinary looking.”
“Is that how college professors are supposed to look?”
“Apparently not all of them; there was a bandage that night. You probably forgot.”
“Really? Where?”
“Your lower left hip. I saw it when you stripped for me.”
“Indeed, you’re right, and it was fun, lots of fun. I get in jams often, Miss Miles. I take hits everywhere, it seems. The Entrapment has turned out to be the biggest jam yet. Not that you were a mistake but…”
“That’s the main reason I’m here. As I said before, the woman you were with that night really wasn’t me. I don’t make it a habit of going home with strange young men.”
“I liked who she was. She was intriguing, extremely beautiful. But you’re right, smart women don’t normally do that. I could have been anyone, and you could be dead by now.”
“But you’re not just anyone, are you?”
“Apparently not.”
“That night wasn’t my smartest moment. I wanted you to know that I…I was out of sorts, getting rid of a boyfriend who was holding me back, getting the scholarship. I was celebrating everything, it seemed. Then I got crazy. I saw you, well, you know the rest.”
“I do, and as I said, I enjoyed your company very much; however, if you’re here to further this relationship, then I’m afraid I’ll have to decline, despite the fact that I don’t want to. My habits have a way of running away with me.” He moved in closer to her. “Brandi, this could get both you and me into some serious trouble. What I do with my nightlife has never gotten me in hot water, but this was close. You understand?”
“I agree. What I…we did was foolish. Winning the Seymour Scholarship has been my goal since I learned about it. As you well know, it’s hard to get and easy to lose.”
“I’m well aware of the Byron Seymour Scholarship. You had to have been on your toes to have won it.”
“I’m the first African-American woman to get it, and the fact that I might have done something to jeopardize my keeping it scares me.”
“Losing it for any reason would be devastating.”
“I just wanted to clear things up with you so you wouldn’t think that I was just some stupid girl chasing after you. I want to further my education, so you really don’t have to worry about me trying to make trouble for you.”
“That’s good to know.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I hate to admit this to you, but no man has ever made me feel that wonderful, that feminine. It was glorious. You took me to paradise, and I didn’t want to return. I’ve never known anyone like you, and I do cherish that.”
“Indeed, it was paradise. I don’t regret being with you that night either, despite where I work.”
“My body still shivers at the thought of you.” She watched as he rolled his sleeves to the elbow, exposing hints of those well-muscled arms that had held her close that night. The way his eyes had looked so deeply into hers made her want him that much more, again and again. He was perfect, almost.
“You were like no other woman, Brandi. It took me a half-hour to get the nerve to approach you. When I saw you dancing, all I wanted was for you to dance with me, under me, on me, all night, all morning. I never thought you would be here with me now. It scared me when I saw you in class today.”
She wanted to approach him to say something to make him feel better about the situation, but knew it would not solve anything, only would make matters worse. If Timothy Polaris were to touch her one more time, she would give into feelings she knew could ruin them both. “I would never tell on you, never. I promise you that. But why did you have to lie about being someone else? I don’t think that was necessary.”
“It was necessary. Saving my ass around here is always necessary. As I said before, my nightlife has not caught up with me until now. Madison probably doesn’t give a good damn what I do at night. Bringing students home and having something go wrong in a relationship—well, that could cost the university. Could be a scandal if it’s the wrong student.”
“I’m not the wrong student.”
“I’m not saying you are. My point is that it takes a lot to get a teaching position here. Also, I didn’t graduate Princeton with two degrees at the age of twenty-three to have my career go down the toilet over an affair.”
Cool words, Mr. Tim. I’m sure I feel on top of the world now! She suppressed hurt feelings his words caused. “Believe me, I understand what you’re saying. I feel the same way.”
“It’s hard to stop doing something you’ve been doing for years. I lost my marriage…” Bringing up his crappy past life was painful to hear…and inappropriate. He sat on the corner of his desk. “The fact of the matter is this: My life is my life, Miss Miles, and…”
“You may call me Brandi.”
“Fine, but not in front of anyone. There are things that just can’t end overnight, Brandi, although they should.”
She had gathered something about an ex-wife from his conversation that night. But asking him what happened in that marriage could turn him off even more, causing him to think she was trying to get to him somehow. That she didn’t need.
“I believe you won’t cause a ruckus, Brandi, so don’t worry.” He sat back, and stared at her. “Both times you’ve entered my life when I least expected it. Had I only known the other night…”
“You wouldn’t have slept with me, right?”
“Right.”
“I wanted to be with you. Only that night you weren’t Timothy Polaris, were you?”
“On any given night, I have no idea who I am.”
“I know who you are now, and I really like him. I liked ‘Jacob’, too. He was sweet to me.”
“That’s the only way to behave around a woman.” She was definitely a woman to him, but a very unwelcome woman. At that very minute, his only thought was to take her back into his arms and finish what was cut all too short. Her eyes said that she was feeling the same way. He couldn’t do that to a student. He worked to give students his best, and that’s what he wanted to give her. Suddenly he felt he couldn’t live up to the job—suffering from want of her. He took her delicate hand into his. “Look, Brandi, we really shouldn’t discuss this anymore. I can’t be with you because relationships and I don’t work.”