Hot For Teacher(164)

She rolls her eyes and starts to walk away. “Oh, kay! But just remember I warned you.”

Tonight we were slammed with a bigger crowd than last night. I wanted to stop so many times to watch Josh perform but was killed at the bar. I did manage to sneak over to the hallway, lean against the wall, and watch as he sang the song he wrote for me. His eyes searched the crowd and the bar area, and I know he was trying to find me. Tina asked if I could give her a ride home, and of course I agreed. It’s raining pretty heavily by the time we walk out. I’m soaked to the bone when I get home, shivering and sneezing. Shit! That would be all I need now is to get sick. I go into my kitchen and take a bunch of vitamins and after a hot shower, crawl into bed. Again, sleep doesn’t come easily, but I finally manage to start dozing off after a couple of hours, visioning gleaming blue eyes, a gorgeous smile and all things Josh.

It’s been three days of sneezing, coughing up a lung and shivering and still I’m not feeling any better. Tina has called me five times yelling at me about not taking care of myself and how she knew this was going to happen. Just what I wanted to hear. Mom has called so much I had to tell her if she didn’t stop calling me so often I would never get any rest. Then I felt bad when she told me how she hated that she isn’t here to take care of me and nurse me back to health. Damn guilt trip but I love her for it.

The pounding of my head is magnified by the pounding at my front door. I get out of bed, throwing on my robe, and sneeze all the way there. I’m shocked when I look through the peephole to see Josh standing there. I open the door quickly, grab his arm and tugging at it until he enters my apartment, his hand holding a large paper bag and briefcase. “What are you doing here? You could have been seen, hurry!” I say my voice not only groggy from sleep but gravelly and hoarse from this damn cold. I start sneezing, my hair falling down over my face, my hands covering my mouth, and then I have a coughing attack.

“Here, come sit down.” He puts his arm around my shoulder, and his voice is full of concern as he leads me over to the couch. I sit down, continuing my ugly coughing and sneezing and when I finally stop, I look up to see him standing there with one of my pillows from my bed and a blanket. “Stand for a minute.” He smiles and when I get up my head swarms with dizziness. I start swaying, his arm moving around my waist fast, pulling me close to him, and with his free hand he sets the pillow down and spreads out the blanket. “Come here, sweetheart. Lay down and I’ll warm up this soup I brought.” I don’t argue as I’m in no shape to, and it feels good to lay down but then I start sneezing again. When I open my eyes, there’s a tissue in front of me, and I grab it. I look up at him, his eyes full of worry then he leaves my sight and I hear him in the kitchen. He’s gone for a few minutes, and my eyes start to close. I’m beginning to drift off, but soon I feel his presence and open them. He sits down on the couch next to my legs and my eyes close again as he reaches over, brushing some of my hair away from my face. I’m sure it’s a knotted mess, and I know I must look lovely with my red and watery eyes and no makeup.

“How did you find me? And you’re so gonna get caught coming over here. I don’t want you to lose your job because of me.” My voice is fading in and out, and I’ll be surprised if he can even understand what I said.

My heart begins to beat faster as I watch his eyebrows lower, worry lines creasing across his forehead and concern marring his gorgeous face. “After I received your email with the assignment then you didn’t show up for class on Monday, I started to get worried. Then I looked for you yesterday at lunch under the shade tree but you weren’t there. You not being in class again today did me in. I got your phone number from your file and I called several times but there was no answer, so I went over to Randy’s Place right after my classes were done and ran into Tina, who told me you were ill.”

Crap! Now I feel bad because I made him worry. My phone rang so many times and thinking it was Mom or Tina, since they were calling endlessly, I didn’t answer.

“Do you not answer your phone or listen to your voicemails? And who doesn’t have a cellphone nowadays?” He asks with a smirk.

“Well….”

“Don’t answer that, yet. I think your soup is done.” He rises but before he leaves he reaches down, and as he feels my forehead with the back of his hand, my eyes close. His skin is softer than I imagined. I don’t know why I didn’t think it would be, but not having been with guys much, who knew? As many romance novels I’ve read, I just thought it was all make believe that a man could be so incredibly beautiful and have soft skin. My eyes reopen and watch him walk around the couch, and he’s gone again. My eyes slowly close feeling heavy and swollen from all the watering and I drift off.