Academically Yours (Best Friends Book Club, #1)

by Jennifer Chipman

Lord. She was so beautiful. And if I could be looking at her, why would I want to look at anything else?

The split-second realization hit me like lightning: everything mattered to me when it came to this girl and making her happy. It was like it hadn’t even occurred to my brain that there was anything I could do except to make her smile.

I was enthralled with every conversation, every meaningless story, every grin and giggle that she gave me.

After yesterday, at the zoo… I didn’t think either one of us wanted to lose this connection between us. I couldn’t help it. Everything felt so right with her hand in mine.

I had this urge—to want to cook for her, to see that look on her face as she ate my food. To take care of her like that, the way she deserved. I knew it was possessive, the way I felt for her, but I couldn’t help it.

“Noelle.” I laughed. “You’re so…” Beautiful. Enchanting. Incredible. Sexy. Honest. Loud. Ridiculously and unabashedly you.

How did I explain to her that her presence had always had some sort of magnetic pull on me? Like she was the sun, and I was destined to orbit around her for the rest of my life. And maybe I just needed her sunlight in my life. You’re like the sunshine, I wanted to tell her. And I can’t help but want to be around you and absorb every bit of it.

She beamed, and God, I loved seeing her smile directed at me. Just from my truths revealed to her.

“You are quite incredible, Noelle; do you know that?” “Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded,” she murmured under her breath, and I knew, right then, that she hadn’t been told how special she was enough, and I vowed to do everything in my power to make her believe it. To make her see what I saw in her. A strong, brave woman who was doing everything she could to pursue her dreams.

And I knew then. I was obsessed with her and every bit of her being, and it was all I could do to hold myself back. No matter how much I felt this spark between us. Because I wasn’t going to rush it. I wasn’t going to let myself ruin this. I couldn’t risk losing her.

“I don’t know what you’re doing to me,” he whispered, one of his other fingers coming up to my hair and wrapping around a strand. “How could I not care about you, sweetheart?”

Oh, this girl. She was definitely after my heart. And if I wasn’t careful, I was pretty sure I was going to give it to her.

Noelle gave me one of her warm smiles, and I was so happy to have it all for myself. To have her all to myself, even if it was just like this.

“Have you had anyone you’ve been interested in here?” “On-campus?” She nodded, popping another forkful of the red velvet cheesecake in her mouth as I bit my lip. “Just one,” I said as our gazes connected. She licked the icing off the fork. “You might know her,” I said. That got her attention, and her eyes narrowed. “She’s about… uh, this tall, and has gorgeous fiery red hair, and the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know.”

“But I just need you to know that there’s no one else. Okay?” she bit her lip. “And there hasn’t been… in a while.” Did she look nervous? Hell, I didn’t want to know what ‘a while’ was for her, because it had been forever for me. I placed a kiss on her forehead. “There’s no one else for me either, sweetheart.”

Kissing her—ah. Kissing her made me feel like everything was right in the world.

If I could be kissing her… Why would I bother doing anything else?

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.

“Oh. Well, you see, Professor…” I smirked at him and played with the hem of my skirt. My very, very short skirt. “I seem to have a problem, and as it turns out, only you can solve it.” He raised an eyebrow and rose off the desk to take a step toward me. “And what might this problem be?” He trailed off, looking straight at me. We had grown closer over the last two months, and after all of those possibilities of something, all of that want, well… I was tired of fighting this. “You.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.” “Touch me,” I begged. I needed him to touch me, to whisper sweet nothings into my ear, and to rock into me until I came. I didn’t just want it, God, I needed it. “Please touch me, Matthew.”

“Matthew, please, I’m so close—” He pulled away, thumb stilling as he looked up. “Shh, my good girl, we don’t want everyone to hear you when I make you come.” I

“Shh, my sweet girl. You’re gonna take me so well, I promise,” he soothed, stepping towards me, running his hands over my bare shoulder. “I’m gonna take care of you, baby. I promise.”

“I’m going to fuck you now, Noelle, and when I do, you’re going to be mine, okay? So, you can’t charm anyone else with those big brown eyes of yours—cause I’m the only one who gets to see you like this, who gets to feel your pussy clenching around me, hm?” I

“So big,” I moaned. ‘S—fuck, Matthew.” “You’re taking me so good, pretty girl,” he said, “like you were made for me.”

I had to make her realize she couldn’t live without me, just like I had realized I couldn’t live without her.

But she was mine, wasn’t she? She felt like mine. Any time I wrapped her up in my arms, the world felt calm. Like everything was going to be okay. Like as long as I had her in my life, the sun would keep shining down on my face. It would be fine. It had to be. Because there was no way I was going to let her go.

It felt like pure sunshine every time she smiled, every time she shared it with me. Even getting to see it, getting to witness it… I was simply happy to be there in the moment with her.

I wanted more than just lingering stares and accidental brushes of our hands and a few kisses underneath the stars. This redhead who filled my thoughts and whose small smile I hadn’t been able to get out of my brain since the first day of classes—I wanted all of it with her. I wanted a lifetime of kisses. A lifetime of laughter.

I liked taking care of her. I didn’t care if it fulfilled some primal possessive urge in me to make sure she was fed, cared for, and happy—I just needed it.

“You know what makes me smile?” She shook her head. I leaned in closer. “The way I’ve been inside of you, but you still blush over the smallest things.”

Was it possible for someone to blush harder? This girl could completely, one hundred percent, dominate me in the bedroom—and I would let her— but sweet words?

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. And yet—I missed her, already.

“If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?” “In your arms,” Noelle said with no hesitation. “Really?” “What were you thinking about before you called me?” she asked, her breath a little shallow. “You.” My voice sounded rougher than normal, but if she noticed, she didn’t comment on it. “I just… can’t keep my mind off of you, Noelle.”

“First thing I would do,” I said, as I sat up a little straighter, “is make you dinner. Because I’m a gentleman.” She snorted. “Oh, the protective asshole act again?” “Noelle—” “Shush,” she admonished, “I like it. Keep going.” “Then I’d eat dessert.” “Dessert? But you don’t like sweets.” “Oh, I won’t be eating sweets, baby. I’d be eating you.”

I would wait however long she needed before she was ready for this. For us. Because she was my girl—had been for a while, really, and I wanted… everything from her.

I want to see you. Come, please? Only if you promise not to keep my underwear again. I can’t promise that baby. Steal another pair, and I’m going to make you buy me more. I’ll buy you whatever you want, sweetheart, as long as I can get you in my arms again. Romantic today, huh, Matthew? I like it.

I wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go. I wanted to scream from the rooftops that she was mine, all mine, and no one else could ever have her.

“I can’t—” I stopped. I can’t what? Want her, need her, be completely enthralled by her? But I didn’t even care anymore. “I can’t let you go, baby,” I said, and it was the truth, the whole truth. Mine. She was mine. “I’m not going to leave, Matthew. I—I want this.” She shut her eyes, and I brushed back a piece of hair from her face. “Good. Because I want you. I just want to make sure you’re ready… because I just can’t bear to be without my girl.”

I told her I wanted her in my bed—and I meant it. I wanted her in my house, wanted her in every aspect of my life, always, because she was mine. Because this possessiveness I felt for her wasn’t going away. I just needed her to realize everything I could give her first.

“Oh, Matthew, I do think you’ve found the way to my heart. I hope you know you’re ruining me for all other men.” “Yeah, that’s the point, baby.”

“I really like you, Noelle. So much. I like your brain.” He placed a kiss on my forehead. “Your heart.” A kiss on my chest, over my left breast. “Your smile.” His lips finally found mine. “Your body, your curves.” His lips found my shoulder and he lingered there for a moment. “I especially can’t get those thighs of yours out of my mind…” His hands trailed up my skirt, towards my bare skin. “I want you. All of you. Always.”

I had fallen for her intelligence, her sharp tongue, her quick wit. I had fallen for her mind and body, and there was nothing I wanted more than to show her how much I cared for her. Because fuck, I did care about her. So much it almost scared me.

“You taste so good, baby. I could spend all day between your legs.”

“You feel so fucking good, Noelle. I love your body so much.” I couldn’t help myself as my hips rolled up into her, sending a wave of pleasure through me as I thrust even deeper inside of her. “Feel so good inside me,” she gasped out as my hips thrust up again. “So deep. Your cock fits in me so perfectly, Matthew.”

“Fuck, Noelle, you’re killing me. I love your tight cunt. Like you were made for me. You fit me so well, Noelle.”

“I want you to come inside me, please,” she said, a little breathless, “I want you to come so hard that I feel your cock pulsing inside of me.” “Fuck. Noelle. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than inside you, sweetheart.”

I was gone for her. So completely gone for this girl. And it was definitely, one hundred percent Noelle’s fault. Because she had sucked me in and made me feel all of these things for her, until I ended up wanting her in a way that was so unlike me.

I saw you, and something in my heart stopped. My soul said it’s him, and no matter what I do, I just can’t forget about you. Like I… I was meant to be with you.”