Academically Yours (Best Friends Book Club, #1)

by Jennifer Chipman

“You like her. We could tell from the way she was looking at you last night that she likes you. And she certainly let you kiss her—” I flushed. Like, my neck and ears were red, and I knew that they could see it if I could feel it.

Lovely. A grown man, basically blushing over kissing a girl.

It was all I wanted, and suddenly—all I needed. Her, just her.

This thing that was between us? I felt it, so strongly, every day—the pull to him. The magnetic attraction snapped into place the moment we locked eyes across a crowded room. And there was this feeling that somehow this was right. Like out of everything in my life, it was him that made sense to my brain. Every other decision faded away until it was just him and me standing in an empty room, sparks flying between us as his eyes caught mine.

I needed it—needed him.

I wanted to plead with the universe. Ask them—God, or the fates, or whoever was in charge—to give us our happy ending. Tell them that if this was fate, if we were meant to be, then I needed to know we would be okay. That we could be happy. Because if I let Matthew Harper have my heart, there was no getting it back.

But at least, after this, neither one of us could say we were just friends.

“Professor Harper.” “Miss Hastings?” Matthew raised an eyebrow in question at me.

His blonde hair was combed back today, just a single piece falling onto his forehead. A little single curl that I wanted to reach out and brush back.

“You.” I breathed. “Noelle…” I looked at him with a tilt of my head. “Me?” he simply asked, and I just smiled sweetly, looking up at him while batting my eyelashes. “Yes, Matthew,” I repeated. “You are my problem.”

“And do you… have a solution to this problem of yours, sweetheart?”

“Sweetheart,” he said, lips only inches from my forehead. “My little temptress. Do you know how much I think about you? I can’t get you out of my goddamned mind.”

i am so down bad

“No,” I breathed. “Tell me. Tell me how much you think about me.” “You vex me,” Matthew said, and then he crashed his lips onto mine, once again giving in to the pull we felt between us. “You enchant me.” He placed a kiss on my lips. “I think you’ve placed a curse on me because all I want is you.”

OHMY

“I couldn’t sleep,” I said, pulling back as my hands grasped the collar of his shirt. “Ask me why I couldn’t sleep, Matthew.” “Why couldn’t you sleep, Noelle?” “I would lay in my bed at night and think about you, Matthew. About your kisses. Your hands. What it would feel like when you touched me. Wishing that you were in my bed with me.” I ran my lips over my mouth. “I want you,” I breathed. “So much, Matthew.” “I told you, I’m not going to fight this anymore,” he said against my ear, before placing a kiss there. Nibbling at my earlobe. “I can’t. I can’t ignore what I feel for you, Noelle.”

And God, with his head, tilted into mine as he held my face with his big, strong hands, I thought that there was nowhere else in the world that I’d rather be than in his arms.

“Just shut up and take my clothes off,”

Because the abs on his body were not what you ever expected to see on any professor. He was beautiful and sexy and, at this moment, at least for now, he was mine.

“Not sir,” he whispered into my ear, breath hot against my neck. “If we’re doing this—and we are—it’s just us. Noelle and Matthew, not anyone or anything. Okay?”

“God, Noelle. Can you feel what you’ve done to me, sweetheart?”

s(creaming)

“Tell me who did this to you,” he said, placing his hand over me, cupping my sex as his thumb brushed over the hem of my panties. “Y-you.” I rocked my hips into his hand, needing more pressure, more contact, something. “Just you. Only you.”

“Shh, sweetheart. I got you. Let me take care of you, Noelle.”

“Now, my sweet little temptress, what do you think your punishment should be for coming to my office like this, hm?” I whimpered, and Matthew’s tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth. “Use your words, baby.”

“I’m gonna take care of you, baby. I promise.”

“Shh, sweetheart, what did we say?”

“Noelle,” he groaned. “I was just going to ask when I could see you again.” He smoothed his hand over my hair. “Not seeing you this weekend was torture.”

“Whenever you want, babe.”

“Sure,” he mumbled, one of his signature grumpy glowers taking over his face. I wanted to kiss it off of him, but I did have to go, so I settled for a kiss on his cheek,

H oly fuck. My chest was still heaving as I sat at my desk, cheeks flushed as I thought about what I had done to Noelle, right here. In my office.

Hell. I was going to hell, most definitely.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Matthew Harper?”

nothing you’re perfection

see her. Everywhere I went; even more so than I did before all of this. Everywhere I turned, there she was. Us at the library. Me rescuing her at the bar. At our gazebo. Every kiss we had shared in front of her dorm.

Not one peep—no text, no call, no Hi, Matthew, I know I had your dick inside me yesterday, but I can’t stop thinking about you. Nothing.

Me: Noelle. Did you eat anything yet today? Noelle: No. I’ve been too busy with work. Me: Where are you at? We’re going to dinner. Noelle: Matthew. Noelle: You’re not even giving me a choice?? Me: Noelle, seriously. You need to eat. I saw you at the cafeteria today. Noelle: Stalking me again, huh?

“Whatever you want, Noelle—it’s my treat.”

“Embarrassed of me now, Miss Hastings?” She pouted. “Matthew.” “I know.” I sighed. I wanted to pull her into my lap and hold her, but she was right.

“Dessert?” She asked, her eyes lighting up as she surveyed the carts around us. There was an ice cream cart, but also— “Donuts?” I laughed. “Sure, Noelle. Anything you want.” And I meant it—really. I would give her anything she wanted.

What was wrong with me? It was crazy—I had just seen her. Had just had her, yesterday, my mouth all over her body. Had just spent the evening with her, dinner before we strolled around with Snowball. Had watched her doze off on the ride back to campus. Had kissed her goodnight before she walked into the dorm.

“What’s your favorite book?” “Not a fair question. There are too many answers. You can’t expect me to pick one.” “Okay, fair enough.”

“Middle name?” “Mine is boring.” She sighed. “Marie.” “Oh, yeah, try me.” “What’s yours?” “James.” “Oh, Matthew. I do believe we’re tied for the most basic middle name,” she said, making us both laugh.

“What were you thinking about before you called me?” she asked, her breath a little shallow. “You.” My voice sounded a rougher than normal, but if she noticed, she didn’t comment on it. “I just… can’t keep my mind off of you, Noelle.”

I loved seeing her little blush, knowing it was all for me.

“Oh, I won’t be eating sweets, baby. I’d be eating you.”

“I’d bring you back to this big bed of mine, take my time undressing you, and after making sure you were immensely satisfied, I’d tuck you into my side and hold you till we fell asleep.”

God, I thought, staring at Matthew as he sat across from me, at our usual table. It was weird to think that I could even say that since we had been toeing around the lines of an actual relationship for so long, but this, coming to the coffee shop—this felt like one of our routines at this point. But today felt different, somehow, and I think it was because he asked me to come. What the hell did I get myself into with you?

“She said no,”

His hand slipped over my knee, and I could feel the possessive touch under the table—but I didn’t mind. Not when it was him: this grumpy enigma of a man, this guy who showed me so much care and warmth even when he was short and cold with others.

“Only with you?” I teased. “God, Noelle. I don’t know what I’d do if I saw you with another man.”

“You know I’ll go with you to any events you want, right? Even if I hate those kinds of events.”

Oh yeah, I planned to keep this man as long as he would have me.

Fuck. She was mine, and all I wanted to do was prove that to her. I had declared as much. Had felt it the moment I set my eyes on her. She was supposed to be mine, supposed to be by my side. The curves of her body were the thing I saw every time I closed my eyes, and God, all I wanted was to have her like that again.