The Professor's Girl | 18+ | COMPLETE |

+ chapter 8 +

A/N: Alrighty folks. A warning. Again. This book talks about kinks. We don't kinkshame here, because it's not cool. This chapter mentions "golden showers" as a hard limit for one of the characters. Golden showers = getting peed on. Now ya know. If it's a hard limit for you, coolio. It's good to know your limits. But it's not a limit for everyone, and the CONSTANT, unending comments of "ew, disgusting" gotta stop going forward.

Carry on.

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I managed to throw myself into catching up on my reading for the next several days. I took careful notes, highlighted passages and tagged pages, determined to get my head in the right place. If I was going to go into a lifetime of debt with student loans, I was going to at least make it worth my while with good grades.

I worked part time in the campus bookstore, so in between study sessions I spent the rest of my hours there. I was falling back in to a strange and unfamiliar normalcy with Jay out of my life. I had gotten so used to spending my free time after working studying with him at his mom's house that I was uncertain at first what to do with those hours. I spent way more time than was really necessary compiling reading notes and making my notebooks look aesthetically appealing with multi-colored gel pens. I was slowly learning to be myself again.

Then, far sooner than I expected, I was waking up on Saturday. It didn't hit me at first, and then I remembered: today was the day. I was going to Kahlan's house for dinner.

I spent most of the day in restless anxiety. I cleaned the entire house, threw out old food in the fridge, and even began raiding my closet and throwing out the worn out clothes I didn't wear anymore. My nervousness was suspended between two ideas: the first was my worry over actually having to sit down and have an intimate conversation with someone new. Kahlan made me feel comfortable, open. But our engagement had never gone beyond the realm of tense flirting and dark sexual encounters. What if he wanted more than I was ready for? He was a little older than me, so what if he was one of those commitment-ready types who drew out timelines for their relationships and set deadlines on when they should be married by?

The other idea was less a worry and more a giddy, nervous excitement. I was going into Kahlan's territory now, and after all his promises of what he would do to me "next time," I could hardly bear the wait. Especially after getting no release from him after that spanking in the classroom. I could get myself off, sure. But for the first time I had found a guy who could give me more pleasure than I could give myself. Thoughts of him kept me tense throughout the day, until I managed to distract myself getting ready to leave.

My phone buzzed, a text from him.

Still on for tonight? Here's my address.

It was for an apartment on the other side of town, a nicer area located near yoga studies and juice bars. I threw on a dark violet dress, a slim leather choker and a pair of patent leather pumps. As a final, devilish touch, I made sure to wear the new black garter belt and thong I had sent him a picture of previously. My nerves were shaking me up even more as I went to the parking garage to fetch my car. This wasn't a big deal. It was only a big deal if I made it a big deal. It was just a nice, simple, ground-rule laying talk over dinner.

I texted him my arrival after I had parked. The apartment building he lived in was tall and modern, a nice combination of red brick and brushed steel. There were plenty of people meandering the streets on a Saturday night, popping in the various bars and cafes. Unlike downtown, the bars here attracted a slightly older, calmer crowd. There was an actual apartment lobby and a doorman who directed me to the elevators. I entered and pushed the button for the 9th floor.

My phone buzzed.

Let yourself in, the door is unlocked :) I'm just finishing up dinner.

He was actually cooking for me? My stomach growled and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since early that morning when I had slurped down a single bowl of cereal. Stepping out of the elevator, I found his apartment at the very end of the hall. I checked my lipstick a final time, and with an irrational fear that I was about to barge into the wrong person's apartment, I opened the door.