Page 85 of Fundamentals of Chemistry

His hands moved to my hips again, and I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I wasn’t wearing underwear.

“True, but you kissed me back.”

Silly Jack was so damn cute. When he leaned down and brushed his lips across my forehead, my brain went fuzzy for a minute. Fuckity fuck, I was in trouble. Not that I had any intention of putting an end to any of this. That could be a Future Melanie problem.

“As I was saying,” I squeaked, clinging to the last scraps of my dignity, “the classroom and the closet are off limits.”

“Agreed.”

“In fact, we should probably try to behave in all of the common campus spaces and limit the naughtiness to our apartments.”

“Agreed. Though that one might be a little harder,” he said, sending my eyebrows shooting up to my hairline.

“Do you really want a repeat of the wrestling room?” I demanded.

His eyes twinkled with mischief, and I hit him on the chest with the flat of my palm.

“That’s not what I meant!” I said. “Who are you and what have you done with Jackson Cooper?”

I was pretty good at sex, but I couldn’t have managed to rewire his brain in the last fifteen minutes. I was eighty-seven percent sure. Though maybe the effect was cumulative? I would have to test that hypothesis later.

“I know what you meant,” he said, taking a more serious tone. “And yes, we were lucky it was only Alan. Things could have gone very differently if someone else had walked in. I’m sure we can combine our considerable brain power and exercise self-control during school hours.”

I smiled brightly and pecked him on the jaw. “That’s all I ask.”

He reciprocated, capturing my lips in a steamy kiss that had my toes curling and my body tingling all over again. I was breathless when he pulled away.

“We literally just agreed—” I scolded.

“Last one. I promise I’ll behave now.” He brushed a loose wave off my cheek and tucked it behind my ear.

“Good,” I said matter-of-factly. Then, I bit my lip as I reconsidered. “Actually, please don’t behave too well.”

Jack smirked as he pulled my lip from my teeth with the pad of his thumb.

Chapter 26

Fling

If I was going to grade us on how well we managed to behave, I would have to give us a B-minus. And frankly, that was being generous. I only managed to wait until evening before I texted Jack, asking him to sneak across the hall to my apartment. But we did successfully keep our hands—and lips—to ourselves for the next few work days.

But I was sure that everyone could see me clenching my thighs when Jack strode into the classroom the next morning to teach his section. My phone buzzed with a text from him as I walked out of the room.

Mr. Abs-hole Cooper: If you keep biting your lip like that, I’m going to pull it out of your teeth for you. I don’t care how many students are watching.

I turned back to him before stepping out the door and made sure he was looking before I deliberately bit my lip again. The last thing I saw before I ducked out of the room was his chocolate eyes turning molten.

That night, when I returned to Brookside Hall, he pulled me into his apartment before I could even get my key out of my pocket. My back was against the wall and his mouth was on mine in seconds. It wasn’t long before we shed our clothes in a haphazard trail to his bedroom.

The next night we didn’t even make it to the bedroom, choosing instead, to fuck bent over the arm of the sofa in our haste.

I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I had ever felt so needy and so sated all at once. Jack was an intensely attentive and thorough partner, single-mindedly focused on my pleasure like it was his personal mission. Argonne National Lab couldn’t have hoped to have a scientist so dedicated to hypothesis and discovery.

After a week of our relationship—or whatever it was—I was starting to have a Pavlovian response. Whenever I saw his smirk or his eyes darkening, my mouth began to water, and an ache blossomed between my legs. This wasn’t a particular problem when we were alone, as he had gotten uncommonly efficient at making me come, but when we were in the cafeteria—or, God forbid, in class—the feeling of soaked underwear sticking to my sex was most unwelcome.

Part of me wanted to have a chat with him about subtlety, as I was sure anyone who gave us a second look would be able to see the change in our body language toward each other. But then his hand would graze across my back when no one was looking, sending a shock of anticipation through me, and I simply couldn’t ask him to stop.

Risk be damned.