The Professor (8 page)

"
T
hen what happened
?" Charlie gaped at me from the vid-chat screen on my laptop.

"Then he held me for a while, kissed me on the forehead and followed me home in his car so that he knew I got home okay."

"Holy shit."

"I know, right?"

"What did Sasha say?"

"We haven't had a chance to talk yet. I mean I texted her that I got home all right, it was really snowing hard last night. But the rest, I'll fill her in when I see her."

"Yeah. So wait. Why'd he use the bottle? Does he have like, an unusual prop fetish or something?"

"No," I laughed again. "He was trying to avoid touching me."

"Good lord why?"

"Because he has this rule." I tried to explain to her, did the best I could with what I understood of the Professor's convoluted and complicated "rule."

"Uh, huh. So he basically pulled a MacGyver then. Turned a bottle into a dildo, to get around this rule of his. He just MacGyvered that shit."

"Yeah, he MacGyvered the fuck out of that shit."

"Damn," Charlie shook her head slowly, "that's hot."

"Yes." I agreed, I was getting aroused again just thinking about it.

"But wait, then he was all cuddling you. What's up with this
rule
?"

"Yeah well consistency hasn't been his strongest trait so far."

"Uh huh." Charlie rolled her eyes.

There was a knock at my apartment door.

"Oh, hang on a sec." I rose, walked to the door and peered through the peephole.

Smiling, I opened the door wide and welcomed in the delivery guy. He walked to my table and set down two large flower arrangements. One bouquet of two dozen deep pink roses, and one elegant pink orchid potted in a planter of silver and black damask.

Charlie hooted and yelled from across the room.

"Holy shit, Janie! Two bouquets? Throw that pussy in the air. It'll turn into sunshine! Goddamn!"

"Shut the fuck up, baby sister!" I called to her sweetly. "So sorry about that," I apologized to the delivery guy, as I extricated a card from the rose arrangement and read it.  

I
t was signed simply
~T
and for a moment I was confused. Then I remembered that his first name was Thomas. Thomas.

Well hello, Thomas, so nice to meet you. Can't wait to see you again.

"Yeah um," the delivery guy spoke, breaking me from my reverie. "No problem. Hey I'm supposed to give you this too, but I need to take it with me when I leave so can you um, go ahead and read it?" he handed me a plain brown envelope. I opened it and withdrew a stapled set of papers. A yellow post-it was attached to the first page. I read the post-it, removed it, and then flipped through the other pages of the document. When I'd finished with them, I slipped the document back into the envelope and handed it to the delivery guy.

"Thanks. Here you go. Hang on and I'll get you a tip."

"No need," he replied, "that's been taken care of. Have a great Thanksgiving."

"You too," I said, and walked him to the door.

"Come on, come one, come on. Fill me in!" Charlie yelled from the laptop as I locked the door. "This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me. And actually that's really sad, because it's not even happening to me it's happening to you so let's not dwell on that. What was in the envelope?" she wailed.

"It was a health record," I said, walking over to her. "A physical exam. From a few weeks ago. The Professor's."

"Huh?"

"It shows he has a clean bill of health. Every possible STD, tested and accounted for. All negative."

"Okay, that's cool. But what the fuck? Ooooh," she said, realization dawning.

"Yes," I held up the yellow note that had accompanied the document, and read it aloud. 

 "
J
esus Christ on a cracker
, Janie. I just
can't
with this guy. And listen I'm glad you'll be getting a sample of his DNA because then we can clone him and make a mint. Because let me tell you, every woman I tell this story to is going to want a copy of their own."

"Yeah," I said, "probably. But I've got dibs on the original."

"Well yeah, you saw him first," Charlie continued rambling, her words fading into the background as I drifted off in thought. I had seen him first she said. I'd seen him. I looked at the flowers on the table, my two beautiful arrangements, one showy and proud, the other romantic and reserved and I saw the nature of our acquaintance reflected in those two contradictions.

"No, he saw me first," I said, interrupting Charlie's rant. "He saw me."

"Huh?"

"He saw
me
Charlie," I smiled. "He sees me," I said again, tears welling in my eyes. "Me." I clutched the yellow note to my chest. "He really sees me."

"Oh, Janie," she said, smiling at me sadly. "Honey, be careful."

T
hank
you for reading
Becoming Jane – The Professor
. I hope you enjoyed it!

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f you’d
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T
he next book
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Becoming Jane
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A
lexis Adare lives
in the American Southwest with her lovely husband, cheeky teenager and entirely too many animals. When not writing, she can be found reading, gaming, or watching the latest thrilling episode of whatever HBO series is currently dominating her fancy. She drinks
a lot
of tea.

W
hich British actors
inspired Professor Grayson? What kind of music is on Jane’s iPod? What on earth is going to happen next? Answers to these questions and more can be found at my website.

Find me online - I’d love to hear from you!

C
opyright
© 2014 by Alexis Adare

All rights reserved.

Published by Geek Girl Books

http://www.GeekGirlBooks.com

Cover and Book design by Brigid Ashwood

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Alexis Adare

Visit my website at http://www.AlexisAdare.com