Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I dipped chicken cutlets in seasoned cornstarch and shallow-fried them in a pan. When I flipped them, his eyes widened.
“They didn’t stick at all! How do you know it was time to turn them? Look how perfectly brown they are.”
I glanced at him and smiled. “I have a lot of practice, and you wait until they are no longer clinging to the pan. That’s part of how you know they’ve browned enough.”
“I like watching you. I’d like it even more if you were naked.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you see this spitting oil? I’m not standing in front of a hot stove naked.”
“How about in nothing but an apron?”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You’re gorgeous.”
Why did his compliments affect me like no one else’s? “I’m glad you enjoy it.”
“I don’t know how you expect anyone to listen in class. All I can do is stare at you and think about what it would be like to take you out of one of those suits. The way you roll up your sleeves and show your slutty little forearms is obscene. If you wore your glasses, somebody would faint.”
I knew I was attractive. I worked hard at it. I had to stay in shape to be sure I could save myself or any family members in the line of danger, but Alex was taking it too far. “Rolling up sleeves is not obscene.”
“It might not be for some people, but for you, you might as well strip naked.”
I rolled my eyes. “That would get me fired almost as quickly as fucking you.”
He sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want me to leave?”
“I told you, you’re staying the night, and I’m trying to show you how to cook some decent food right now.”
“I know, but I don’t want to get you fired.”
“I’m trusting you to keep this secret.” And I hoped to hell I hadn’t misjudged him.
“Why would I say anything about being with you? First of all, it would mean I wouldn’t get fucked by you again. Second of all, you’d kill me or send someone to do it. If you can threaten a bully like Randall to where he nearly cries every time he sees me, then I know what kind of danger I’d be in if I broke my promise.”
Normally, he’d be absolutely right. If someone endangers me or my family, I make sure they pay for it. If that means they need to die, then that’s what it means. But I couldn’t hurt Alex, not like that.
Send him away? Maybe. Make him swear he’d never been in my house, never touched me before? That I could do. But hurt him? No. No more than I could hurt one of my brothers. That realization was fucking scary as hell.
I pushed that thought away, not ready to analyze it yet, not with Alex here watching me. Later, I’d have to examine how far gone I was over my student and what the fuck I was going to do about it.
Keep him here. Lock him in your bedroom, make him your toy.
That was definitely not the right answer.
Alex watched as I added seasonings to doctor the premade sauce I was using and prayed for forgiveness from my mother. She would never have used sauce from a jar, but I was in a hurry.
“How do you make it into chicken Parmesan?” Alex asked.
“I browned the chicken on both sides, but it’s not cooked all the way through. I’ll put it in this dish, top it with sauce and cheese, and pop it in the oven. While it finishes cooking in there, I’ll make the pasta.”
“That’s a lot of steps.”
It never seemed like it to me. “It’s really not complicated.”
“My level is making toast or really shitty scrambled eggs.”
I grimaced. “There’s no excuse for shitty scrambled eggs. You need to practice.”
“Not much chance for that. We have our meals made for us at the frat, and I don’t have my own kitchen.”
“Well, you can use mine to practice.”
“Somehow, I don’t think I’ll want to practice cooking when I’m over here.”
I snorted. “We can’t fuck all the time.”
“You would really have me over here just for cooking lessons?”
“If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it fully. If all I liked about you was that you were a hot fuck, I could find that somewhere else. This is something else, Alex. You made me want to break all my rules, take every risk.”
His eyes went wide. “I never thought you would… I mean, I thought I could seduce you. I could offer myself. I thought you’d enjoy a little gay virgin frat boy. But you… you actually…”
“Like you? Yes. Believe it or not, that’s possible.”
He huffed. “I wasn’t sure it was possible.”
I didn’t like him talking about himself that way. “You have friends.”
“I have frat brothers and acquaintances.”
“Dammit, Alexander. You can be so much more than that.”