BARE SOULS: A STEAMY TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE

CHAPTER 35 | HARPER

I couldn't figure him out. A few weeks before he pushed me away and I thought our little adventure was over. But ever since that night when I slept at his place for the first time, it seemed like he was a totally different man.

I was far from complaining thought. He was always looking after me, always touching me, always so tender and soft. Always so demanding. And I? I was just so willing. Because whatever he wanted, I wanted too.

He seemed to open up a bit. Little by little, I felt like I gradually evolved from the student he was teaching, to the girl he was sharing more and more with and I loved it.

I was trying my best to protect my heart because, no matter what it seemed to be, there was really not much between us beside incredible sex. At least from his point of view. To me, he was slowly but surely gaining more importance in my heart. And that was dangereous.

Because this guy, as sweet and charming as he was, was sure going to break me.

But for as long as it lasted, I wanted to make the most every single moments.

Christmas break was here and I was somehow expecting to spend a lot of time around him. However, I had forgotten that even though it was a break for a student like me, to him, it was more like extra time to grade the exam papers. So his schedule was kind of full.

My head was full of him. Not a day, not even an hour, went by without I thought of him and felt the need of his touch.

I never felt that way with anybody before. I never felt like my body could even react the way it did. Whenever he was touching me, or even just speaking to me, my head was spinning, goose bumps appeared on my skin and I felt like I was flying.

Could I call this feeling love when I didn't know much about him? Could I call it love when there was nothing more than sex between us?

Nothing more than sex... That's how it was supposed to be. However, sometimes, especially when he was holding me in his arms while sleeping or when he was kissing me, unstoppable, I had the crazy illusion there might have been something more. Something that never happened while I was kissing Levyn. Something that could only happen with Zane.

Ever since the beginning of the Christmas vacation, I avoided all calls or texts that were not from him. Whether it was Candace harrassing me to go out, or Levyn harassing me for me to pick up his calls... The only one I wanted to hear from was Zane.

But Zane never called. He simply texted me a few days before Christmas to tell me about how busy he was going to be during the holidays. Oh well... So what if I didn't go out at all during my vacation? So what if I stayed home everyday, hung to my phone? Nothing else mattered than knowing when we would be able to spend time together again.

I was far from stupid though. I knew telling him all that would have freaked him out. I knew too well he didn't want for me to get attached. So I knew I should act as detached as I could in order to keep him interested in me.

Concealing my emotions was never a hard thing to do for me anyway. So as long as I could still feel his heat, I was fully satisfied.

Aunt Lorie and Uncle Mark, as every year, had planned to host a Christmas party on the 23rd at our house. As usual, it was going to be a boring event in which I would not take part. I usually went out with Levyn on that night... We'd eat out in a fancy restaurant before heading to a fancy hotel where he'd have booked a room where we'd spend the night.

I used to love that night better than any other nights of the year. Because I had Levyn all to myself. That was his Christmas gift to me every year... And I used to love that. But this year, I wanted a different gift... From a different man.