Bleacke's Geek (Bleacke Shifters) (16 page)

Ken didn’t miss how Mark and Jason rushed across the parking lot to catch up with them.

“Hey, Ethelbert!” Mark called out. “Want to grab lunch?”

He didn’t bother trying to conceal his skeptical look. While on pleasant terms with the men, this was the first time they’d ever sought him out for lunch.

 
But before Ken could answer, Dewi handled it for him. “Sure, boys. Hop in. Back seat. Ken gets shotgun.”

The men stopped short beside the Saleen, their shock visible. Ken grinned as he opened the passenger door and tipped the seat forward. “Sure, boys,” he echoed, already tuned in to Dewi’s gleeful mischievousness. “Hop in.”

Mark and Jason exchanged a puzzled look before Mark climbed in first, followed by Jason.

Ken sent a questioning look at Dewi, but she just grinned at him from behind her sunglasses. “Buckle up, everyone,” she cheerfully said before the engine roared to life.

Ken suspected Mark and Jason had planned some sort of Spanish Inquisition type of interrogation, minus the torture. But Dewi’s driving left them less than willing to speak as she blasted out of the parking lot, tires squealing as she headed south toward Fowler Avenue.

“Panera Bread all right with everyone?” she cheerfully asked before cutting around two cars and whipping the wheel hard to the right to slide through the stale yellow light and make the turn onto Fowler.

Mark nodded. “Um, sure. Fine with us.” He reached out and grabbed the back of Dewi’s seat to steady himself.

Jason started to ask something when she slammed on the brakes and slid to a stop at a red light, throwing the two men hard against their seat belts. Used to this, Ken had already braced himself. He couldn’t help but laugh over the slightly green quality of the men’s expressions.

“Great car, isn’t it?” Ken commented. “It’s a Saleen, if you didn’t know.” Not that Ken knew a Saleen from a Celica, but he could parrot with the best of them.

Dewi threw him a pleased grin before taking off again in a squeal of tires when the light changed to green.

“Yeah, great car,” Jason said, reaching out to steady himself against Mark when she swerved around a slow car in the left lane.

The two men seemed more than grateful to climb out of the car when they pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot five minutes later. Dewi hooked her arm through Ken’s. “Let’s go eat, shall we?”

If it wasn’t for the sadistic satisfaction Ken got watching the never-ending surprise on his two colleagues’ faces, he would have felt uncomfortable over the way Dewi insisted on draping herself all over him.

It didn’t matter that the discomfort would have been fleeting, and he wouldn’t have minded her doing it in the least, but he enjoyed the bonus of Mark and Jason’s obvious curiosity.

They’d received their meals and took a seat at a table when Jason finally asked the question Ken knew had to be on the men’s minds.

“How, exactly, did the two of you meet?”

Before Ken could answer, Dewi took over. “Saturday night, we were both watching the Bolts game at a sports pub.” She looked at Ken with unmistakable love and adoration in her eyes. “Love at first sight.”

Ken nearly choked on his iced tea as he laughed. She hadn’t lied at all. Just omitted.

A lot.

Like the practically anonymous sex in the ladies’ room before she shot the guy.

She leaned in and kissed him. “Isn’t that right, baby?”

He smiled and stroked her chin. “That’s right.”

Mark tipped his head to the side as he studied them. “Riiight. Okay, what’s the real story? I know Ethelbert here hates hockey.”

Dewi flashed a brilliant smile at him. “I know. I was explaining the game to Ken.” She rubbed noses with him. “And we both love fried mushrooms.”

“Ken?” Mark and Jason parroted. “Since when,” Jason asked, “do you go by Ken? You’ve been Heath or Ethelbert as long as I’ve known you.”

Ken shrugged while Dewi took over once again. “I’m not about to go around calling my boyfriend by his last name. And when he told me his middle name was McKenzie, I asked if I could call him Ken.” She looked at Mark and Jason. “That is, when he’s not fucking my brains out and I’m calling him ‘oh, God’.”

That finished Ken off. He did a spit-take, managing to get the rest of his tea back into his cup without spraying it all over the table. “Honey,” he said, his voice strained, “I don’t think they want to hear about our sex life.”

The looks on Mark and Jason’s faces said otherwise.

Dewi giggled as she ran her fingers through Ken’s hair. “Sorry, baby. You know I’m pretty uninhibited.” She shrugged. “You know how it is,” she said to the other two men. “I found me a keeper, and I’m not letting him go.”

Mark and Jason appeared stunned into silence.

Ken couldn’t blame them.

When they all stepped outside to the parking lot, Ken thought Jason and Mark might decline a ride back to campus and opt to walk. They reluctantly climbed in, however, and Dewi blasted out of the parking lot.

Back on campus, Ken stood next to Dewi and chuckled as he watched his two shell-shocked colleagues return to the building. “I think you taught them to mind their curiosity,” Ken said.

She grinned. “Darn. I was hoping they’d want to go to lunch with us tomorrow.”

He laughed as he slung an arm around her shoulder and walked with her to the building. “You’re what I believe is called deliciously evil.”

“Yep. I’ve been called worse, though.” She snuggled more tightly against him and slipped one of her hands into his back pocket as they walked.

Chapter Nine

Ken didn’t have any other classes to teach that day, but he had a ton of papers to grade, as well as the three—make that four—student conferences. Dewi curled up in the other chair across from him while he tried to work.

Tried being the operative word. Her presence proved more than distracting.

After five minutes, he gave up and looked at her. “I can’t work with you sitting there.”

She grinned. “Why not?”

“Little Miss Innocent, are you? Because—” He closed his mouth as he spotted John Scoggins and Pete Smith slowly cruising past his open door.

He stood, rounded his desk, and shut the door. When he spoke again, he lowered his voice. “Because I can’t stop thinking about fucking your brains out. That’s why.”

Her playful, wolfish grin grew wider. “And that’s a bad thing?”

“Yes. When I’m trying to grade papers, it’s a very bad thing.”

She stood and wrapped her arms around him. “Then hand in your resignation this afternoon. We can spend the next few weeks in bed.”

Despite his cock hardening at the thought and his balls agreeing wholeheartedly, he nixed the suggestion. “I don’t want to just up and quit. I worked hard to get where I am. I have a reputation to consider, believe it or not. I’ve always prided myself on being conscientious, a hard worker. Upping and quitting like that is neither of those things. Yes, the idea of spending a couple of weeks in bed with you is wonderful, but I think I’d end up in the hospital if we did that. Or in a coffin. I didn’t know you could fuck yourself to death, but I’m really beginning to think we could.”

Dewi rested her head against his shoulder. “I understand,” she grumbled. “Doesn’t mean I don’t wish I could change your mind.”

He laughed. “It won’t be that long.” He started to say something else when someone knocked on his door. After untangling himself from Dewi’s arms, he turned and opened the door again.

Two female students from his first class of the morning, a blonde and a brunette, stood there.

“Hi, Dr. Ethelbert,” they both said in unison. After briefly glaring at each other, the brunette continued. “Um, do you have a minute?”

He sensed Dewi standing close behind him, tensing, a nearly inaudible growl rolling from deep within her gut.

“What is it?” he asked without asking them into his office. He noticed the blonde scowled when she spotted Dewi standing behind him.

“We, ah, have a couple of quick questions about the class this morning.”

He crossed his arms in front of him.
None shall pass.
“Okay, shoot.”

Come to think of it, I hope Dewi isn’t armed.

The two coeds stared at him for a moment with blank looks on their faces. “What?” the blonde asked.

He hoped they didn’t hear his disgusted sigh. He knew Dewi had, because her fingers crept around his waist, her arms slowly encircling him. “What were your questions?” he asked.

The blonde had apparently taken over the talking as the brunette stood there staring at him. “Um, can we come in?”

“Sorry, no. I’m extremely busy and already have four conferences today. If you wanted to schedule a conference for tomorrow afternoon, we can do that.” He lifted his foot and gently tamped Dewi on the top of her foot when he felt her territorial rumble start against his back, where her cheek was now pressed.

“Down, girl. Don’t eat the students.”

Her rumble turned into a silent chuckle, the feel of her shaking as she tried to keep silent vibrating through his back.

The brunette found her voice. “We can’t come in now?” Her plaintive tone struck him the wrong way, although he felt Dewi had settled down behind him.

“Sorry. But I believe I have two o’clock open tomorrow, if you’d like to schedule a conference then.”

The brunette looked like she wanted to burst into tears. He wished he could remember their names, but he had so many students he frequently couldn’t put a face to a name, especially if he had no one-on-one contact with them. “Our sorority is having a party tonight. Could you come?”

He tamped Dewi’s foot again as he felt her tense behind him. “Look, Miss…”

The brunette finally realized he wanted her name, apparently wounding her pride even more. “Jackson. Amber Jackson.”

“Miss Jackson, I do not fraternize with students taking my classes. I’m sorry. It’s a very strict rule I adhere to, not to mention the university frowns upon it.”

“But we’re a sorority, not a fraternity,” the blonde chirruped.

Behind him, Dewi didn’t bother holding back her gales of laughter.

He soldiered on, undeterred. “And even if I could see students socially, I still wouldn’t, because I’m in a committed relationship. If you have a question I’ll be happy to answer it or schedule a conference. Otherwise, I have a lot of work to do.”

Both girls’ faces fell. “Never mind,” the brunette said, turning on her heel and nearly bolting down the hall.

The blonde, realizing she was alone, turned and followed.

He closed the door with a sign of relief and leaned against it.

Dewi wore a broad, beaming grin. She draped her arms around his neck. “Committed relationship, huh?”

He pulled her to him. “Very. To an incredibly sexy, not to mention territorial, woman.”

“You can say that again. To the territorial, I mean.”

“But you are very sexy.”

It looked like she was struggling not to blush. He lowered his mouth to hers for a kiss that, once again, hardened him. Unfortunately, he knew he didn’t have time for a quickie and would have to tough it out until he could get Dewi home.