Prologue

With a sigh of relief, I flopped down onto the bed. I was finally moved in to my new apartment. It had been a long day, but there was no time for rest because orientation for my new school was in just two hours. What happened that day created a domino effect that I wasn’t prepared for.

It was freshman orientation. The sun was beating down. I wasn’t fazed by it. I had spent long summers on my grandparent’s farm working in the hot sun. Moving through the group, I soon found myself near an attractive young woman. Before I realized it, I was talking to her. “Hi, how are you? I’m Luke; I don’t think we’ve met.”

She turns to face me and briefly shook the hand I offered. “Hi. My name is Candace. I’m great thanks. And no, I would have remembered you if we had.” She flashed me a smile and it lit up her face. “You’re new here?”

“Yeah,” I said. By now I am flustered. Her comment and the smile just seared into my mind. I realized that she was talking again. Frantic, I tried to focus.

“I’m a teacher here,” she was saying. “I’m probably the only one that actually hangs out with the students.”

We kept talking and slowly I got my wits back. When we discussed classes, I realized that I have her as a teacher for a couple of my subjects. We shared a laugh over that fact.

“Well, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other,” Candace said.

“It seems that way,” I agreed. “Maybe if I run into trouble with my work I can come to you for help?”

She laughed. “Tutoring? I used to tutor back in both high school and college. I think I can handle that.”

The rest of the day passed quickly for me. I managed to not look at her toned legs that emerged from her shorts. Later in the evening I was eating dinner with a couple of friends, but I was only halfway paying attention to them or the conversation. I was too busy trying not to think about Candace’s smile. As cute as she was, she definitely looked like a piece of candy. When my mind started to drift into the realm of possibilities, I had to remind myself that she was a teacher and I was a student, and that nothing could ever become more than that dynamic.

I saw her again, sooner than I expected. We ran into each other at breakfast the next morning in a little coffee shop just off campus. We did a little chatting, but that’s about it. After that we didn’t spend all our time together because we only saw each other in the couple classes I have of hers, and the need for a tutor wasn’t needed so early on.

Yet, as time went on, I was couldn’t keep my mind off of her. I wanted that teacher + student relationship so bad. But I knew I couldn’t have it so I distracted myself by trying to be interested in other girls. No matter how hard I tried though, my thoughts always went back to Candace because there was just something about her that I couldn’t put a finger on. What it was eventually got me hooked. And this continues to happen as the months rolled on.

What changed and really set things into motion were my grades. I don’t know if it was on purpose or not. The fact didn’t go unnoticed by Candace. So tutoring began. This pattern continued for a couple of months until I had a strange encounter. The weather had cooled off unusually early, and I was on my way to that little coffee shop just outside the campus when I encountered Candace and her roommate, Brandy.

“Hey, Luke! What’s up?” Candace asked.

“Not much, just going to grab a coffee and then catch up on my reading,” I answered. “Heading to the coffee shop too?”

“Yep,” Candace said.

Almost at the same time, Brandy shot her a smirk and said, “Nice! He really is hot.”

For a split second my brain ceased to function. Did I hear what I thought I heard? I wasn’t sure, especially since Candace was my teacher and I her student. I struggled to think up a comeback and failed. Fortunately, this lapse was covered by Candace.

“Brandy!” she squealed and smacked her friend on the shoulder. “Hush!”

It was interesting to not only see Candace’s reaction, but she blushed too. Clearly her roommate didn’t understand or care how relationship worked in a school setting. Well, they don’t work because they’re not allowed. But I decided to step in and save the day just as Candace did for me. “Well, ah, you ladies have a good time. I just remembered I had a report that I needed to get turned in. I’m about to miss my deadline.” I gave them a polite smile and hurried back to my apartment. My mind was reeling.

Safely in my apartment, I cursed myself for not being a bit smoother. “That was a stupid ass response,” I muttered to myself. I then had an intense debate with myself. Clearly Brandy spilled the beans on Candace’s feelings for me, or at least what she thought of me. Maybe it was how she described any of her students that she talked about. But then again, Candace did blush. “That doesn’t mean shit other than she was embarrassed,” I told myself. “We’re just a teacher + student, and that’s all.”

Frustrated, I climbed into bed and tried to shut my brain off long enough to get some sleep. My last thought before drifting off was that even though she had blushed, the corners of her mouth had turned up, like that of the start of a smile. Then again, she could have been trying not to smile. Besides, it was nothing more than her being my teacher and I her student.

A couple of weeks went by, and though outwardly nothing changed, I felt that there was a subtle tension between me and Candace that wasn’t there before. Sometimes I thought I saw her watching me out of the corner of my eye when in class or while being tutored. When I would look, she was looking at a different student or had her eyes somewhere else. I was never sure if she saw me watching her either.

Every so often I considered asking her out to the coffee shop, but I could never get up the courage. There was always that teacher + student dynamic that got in the way. At least that was what I told myself that it was. I even told myself that I didn’t want to mess anything up for her. I mean, she was a teacher and that isn’t something that is easy to get into. I wouldn’t lose anything except maybe I’d get booted out of college, but there are dozens more I could go to. Candace wouldn’t be able to teach penguins in a zoo if we were caught.

Now it was on one particular night that that domino effect really took a tumble. It was largely out of boredom that I went to a special program on campus. In order to curb pregnancies and other things of campus, a little program over the use of safer sex practices was put on. I figured I’d go to at least get a little laugh over the crude jokes some of the students would crack when given the opportunity. It happened in high school, and knowing some of the students there, it would happen that night too.

So I went and listened to the program. I wasn’t disappointed. The crude jokes were tossed out left and right at every opportunity. Now what surprised me was that Candace was one of the teachers putting the program on. This was a plus because it gave me the opportunity to watch her without her even knowing it. Watch isn’t the word I should use, because stare at her the whole time was what I did.

Afterward, the audience was invited to go down to grab a goody bag full of things like condoms and talk with the teachers should we have any questions. Kevin, one of my good friends and total antic, had inflated a condom to make a balloon sword and was challenging another student to a duel. I of course laughed at that when I found Candace in a conversation with a couple of teachers. Since most of the students seemed to have not matured since their days in high school, nobody was asking questions. So gathered together were Candace and the teachers discussing different practices from the program.

I walked close enough just in time to hear Candace say, “Okay, so one of my gay friends back in high school told me to use plenty of teeth if you give a guy head.”

“Really?” one of the male teachers said. “No! Just hell no!”

Behind me I heard Kevin yelp. This was ironically punctuated by a loud bang as the condom sword exploded. All eyes from the group of teachers turned. Even though I wasn’t part of the joking around I was like a deer in headlights. I couldn’t take my eyes off Candace. While the other teachers rushed over to put an end to the other student’s antics, Candace didn’t move. She stood watching me.

Maybe it was the distraction Kevin caused, maybe it was the topic of the night, or maybe it was something else entirely, but I didn’t give a damn anymore. I stepped up to her and said, “I can’t believe I’m saying this and I don’t know about the thing with the teeth, but if you were ... you know ... wanting someone to practice with...”

Candace smiled at me. It was a shy smile, but it somehow promised a lot of things. “Okay,” she said. She reached out and ran her fingers down my arm and nodded. “My apartment is just off campus. Would you care to see it?” But instead of waiting for an answer, she just started walking for the exit.

I, of course, didn’t need to answer. I just followed her.

She got into her car and I into the passenger seat. Nothing was said as they cruised off campus and the few blocks to her place. She parked and got out without saying anything still and I followed. I paused briefly when we got to her door. She turned and asked me, “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” I answered and followed her inside. I paused again once inside.

“So, now what?” she asked.

“Um, I guess I really didn’t think this through,” I admitted, thinking about the consequences, more for her than myself.

Candace smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ve been tutoring you for a couple of months, so no one will think of this as anything other than that.” She seemed to have known what I was thinking and I couldn’t help wonder if she had done something like this before, maybe even with the roles reversed. Then she says, “I’ve honestly never been in a situation like this before.”

I smiled shyly back at her. “Me either,” I said.

Candace moved closer. “Then kiss me.” Her hand pressed lightly against my chest before moving up to rest on my shoulders. I reached for her waist, slowly. Our lips met softly, hardly touching at first. My hands moved to the small of her back, drawing her in closer as we moved deeper into the kiss, applying gentle pressure. I pulled back slightly and Candace moved to follow me. The kiss became hungrier, my lips parting to catch her lower lip, her lips parting to cling to mine

It was amazing. I hadn’t kissed anyone since high school. My girlfriend and I broke up because we were going to different colleges and the relationship, we knew, wouldn’t last long distance. I spent the summer focused on making extra cash, and then I hadn’t been with a girl since meeting Candace that first day.

I drew a hand upward, tracing a line from the small of her back until my fingers rested between her shoulder blades. Candace moaned softly into my mouth, her fingers glided along my neck to entwine in my hair. She pressed against me and I felt her mouth soften and then her tongue brushed against my lips. I, of course, reciprocated, tasting her before joining her in relishing the sensation of our tongues touching, like an electric buzz on every taste bud.

As one, we broke off for air but we did not release our embrace. We stood still there for a moment, foreheads pressed together. I couldn’t believe the feeling. I mean, I have kissed plenty of girls, even fucked a number of them, but this ... this was...”Wow,” I said. “That was...”

“Luke?”

“Yes?”

“Just shut the fuck up and kiss me,” Candace demanded.

I wasn’t about to argue with her. As our tongues danced, I moved my hands downward. One went to cup her taut ass through her pants, the other slipped under her blouse to travel along her spine. Candace’s stance widened as she curled a leg partway around mine. This only encouraged me more as I massaged her ass and moving my hand to a new target. I fumbled with the clasp of her bra twice, but the third time was the charm. With a gentle snap the thing came undone. Candace gasped slightly and broke our kiss to plant a trail of kisses along my jaw and neck. I groaned and kissed her temple and the tip of her ear, brushing aside her hair with my nose.

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