Professor Matthews Read online

  Professor Matthews

  Lolita Lane

  Contents

  Copyright

  Professor Matthews

  About Professor Matthews

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  Stepbrother’s Baby

  About Stepbrother’s Baby

  Stepbrother’s Baby

  About the Author

  Professor Matthews

  Copyright © 2017 by Lolita Lane

  Cover by CT Cover Creations

  Photography: ©DepositPhotos

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  About Professor Matthews

  Professor Matthews was always so hard on me. Then one day he showed me he was hard for me.

  I worked my ass off in college. My goal was to graduate with highest honors and only one thing stood in my way—my thesis. If there was any other professor grading it, I would have had it in the bag. But no, it had to be Professor Matthews.

  He hates me. I don’t even know why, but he does. He’s always making me look like an idiot in front of the class. And it’s a big class too. He’s the most popular professor in school. With his pale blue eyes, that scruff on his chin, and his…well, it’s easy to see why.

  Unfortunately I totally screwed up! I needed a break, just a little time away to clear my mind, so I went to my first college party. Things didn’t go as I planned and I ended up sleeping through Professor Matthew’s class when my thesis was due. He says he’s not going to give me special treatment, but I have a feeling he’ll change his mind.

  **This steamy standalone story is full of Instalove, No Cheating, a horny professor, and a Happily Ever After.

  Chapter One

  I nudged my friend Christie with my elbow. We were seated to the side of the theater-style classroom. In front of the class, Stacey Peterson was giving her presentation about the importance of an isolated set of islands to the development of Biology and its theories.

  “You never told me why you insisted on coming to my class,” I whispered.

  “Just a few more minutes,” she said, nudging me back. “Not like I had anything better to do anyway.”

  Stacey finished her presentation and Professor Mark Matthews stood from his seat off to the side of the podium. His back was towards us when suddenly Christie elbowed me repeatedly.

  “That’s why I’m here,” she said as she wiggled her eyebrows. “For the view. He’s got the best butt on campus.”

  “Shhh,” she said as he turned towards Stacey, still at the podium.

  “Very good, Stacey,” he said. “That’s a fine observation about the environment of the Galapagos.”

  Professor Matthews smiled and nodded at Stacey as she returned to her seat in the first row. As she sat down with a proud look on her face, the professor walked to the front of the crowded room.

  Brightson Hall had two of the university’s largest lecture halls. Room 102 had three hundred seats and each of those was always filled in Professor Matthews’ classes. It was well known that his lectures would be in one of those two rooms. He was one of the school’s most popular teachers and his classes always filled fast.

  Professor Matthews was always encouraging his pupils. He seemed to genuinely want the best for them and because of that his students went above and beyond in his classes. He had a reputation for being one of the best instructors at the university. But he wasn’t just an amazing instructor, like Christie pointed out, he was hot too.

  Although he could easily pass for another student, Professor Matthews was in his late thirties. His dark hair was tousled and carefree. Sometimes, when he went too long without a haircut, it would flop down over his light blue eyes until he swept it back with his fingers. His squared jaw was always covered by a couple days worth of scruff, but it didn’t hide the dimple in his chin.

  He always wore a buttoned-down shirt and khakis, but he even made that look hot. The way the material tugged across his back highlighted his wide, muscular shoulders. And his pants hugged his firm butt in such a way that all the girls in class sat as close to the front as possible just to watch him pace the floor as he lectured.

  Professor Matthews had it all – intelligence, looks, and personality. I had a crush on him. A huge crush on him, to be honest. But who didn’t? Unfortunately, he definitely didn’t feel the same way about me. If anything it was the opposite.

  “Sarah,” he said as he turned towards me. His smile faded and was replaced by a determined look. “Give me some modern criticisms of the Galapagos studies and how they may have misled our modern research.”

  I blinked at him. Shit! Why did he have to call on me?

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, hoping he would move on to someone else. “I haven’t reached that part of the book yet.”

  “You can come up with your own,” he said. “Surely you saw some methodology flaws that we wouldn’t produce with today’s standards.”

  “I…I hadn’t really thought about it,” I said as I sank in my seat.

  “Then start thinking, Miss Hudson. You’re better than this.”

  He turned away from me and his smile reappeared. He continued asking the class questions, but nothing as complex as he had asked me. I sank into my seat further, hoping to disappear.

  Professor Matthews only ever threw the hard questions at me. If that didn’t mean he hated me, I didn’t know what did. Without fail he made me feel like an idiot. It wasn’t something I was used to. I was a regular on the Dean’s List with an almost 4.0 GPA. I never had this kind of trouble in class.

  I just didn’t get it. He seemed like such a nice guy, what did I do to make him hate me? And to make matters worse, I had to ace my thesis for him. He was the last thing standing between me and graduating with highest honors—Summa Cum Laude. If I couldn’t get a high enough score from him, that honor would go to…

  Samantha Fields. I glared over at her on the other side of the room. She was one of those people who rubbed me the wrong way. She was your typical know-it-all except that she was also beautiful with shiny blonde hair that made my brown hair look like mud.

  “Well, it’s common sense that something studied two hundred years ago would be revised so many times by now that it would barely resemble what it originally was. That’s just the nature of science,” Samantha said as she flashed a perfect smile at Professor Matthews.

  “Generally, that’s the case,” he said with hardly a glance in her direction. “However, the principles still ring true. I suggest putting more thought in your answers before shouting them out.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Remember that the core principles remain and are correct despite our advancements.”

  Yes! I thought as I mentally fist pumped. This was exactly why he was one of my favorite professors. Sure, he didn’t seem to care very much for me, but he never played favorites and was quick to put someone in their place when they came across as too cocky.

  It made me wonder what he would be like as a friend, or even something more. But that was just my crazy brain crushing on him again. I had to stop thinking of him like that,
it was distracting me.

  “That’s it for today. Remember, I’ll be collecting your final thesis next week,” he said. “I’m expecting to be impressed.”

  As I gathered my books, I threw a scornful glare in Samantha’s direction. I knew her answer was an effort in embarrassing me. I didn’t appreciate that. I welcomed competition, even from her, but I would have never stooped so low.

  I needed to get her out of my mind so I could finish polishing my thesis. It needed to shine and I would do my damnedest to make sure it did.

  “Especially from you, Sarah,” Professor Matthews said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

  The weight of his hand reminded me that my thesis needed to be perfect. I sighed to myself as my mind drifted to him touching me for reasons other than scolding me.

  “I’m working on it,” I said, turning to face him.

  “I know you need my grade to make Summa Cum Laude. I’m not going to hand it to you for some half-assed paper most of my students will present to me. You need to work for it.”

  I groaned to myself as I tried to keep my composure. “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  “It better be more than fine, Sarah. Don’t you dare disappoint me.” He looked me up and down, his eyes closing a moment before opening to meet mine.

  It wasn’t the first time I caught him looking at me like that. If it was from anyone else, I would have wondered if he was attracted to me. But with Professor Matthews I knew better.

  As I watched him turn and leave, my eyes drifted down to his pants where the tight material outlined his perfect butt. That firm, sexy ass made me think things I shouldn’t about a professor.

  Student – Professor dating wasn’t just taboo, it was forbidden. And with me so close to graduating I wouldn’t risk anything. Or would I? They couldn’t stop me from graduating, but I wouldn’t get the honors I had worked so hard all of these years for. Was it worth it?

  As my mind filled with dirty thoughts about Professor Matthews, I couldn’t help but wonder. If this was an alternate universe where Professor Matthews didn’t hate my guts, would I take the risk?

  He stopped just before the doorway to answer another question. His blue eyes flashed in my direction and held my gaze. My mind raced as it envisioned him undressing. The corners of his mouth slowly twitched up as if he could read my mind. Embarrassed, I quickly looked away.

  I needed to focus. I had to think about my thesis and not what I imagined Professor Matthews looked like naked. As I pushed away my daydream, our gazes locked again.

  Was he really looking at me? The thought crossed my mind that maybe he didn’t hate me after all and I smiled. Nothing in his expression changed, but just as I was pulling my eyes away from his, he winked. What did that mean? I wasn’t exactly sure, but deep down I knew he’d be worth the risk.

  Chapter Two

  My thoughts easily flowed onto the paper. I had hit my stride hours ago and knew my thesis was coming out well. I was ninety percent done, but I was starting to lose steam.

  I had been working on it for hours. I looked up from my laptop and realized my bedroom had darkened to the point that I needed to turn on the light. I hadn’t even realized the sun had set.

  I was reaching the point where I was having a hard time concentrating on what I was doing. It wasn’t until I wrote and rewrote the same line several times before I realized what I was doing. I didn’t have time to waste though. The thesis needed to get done.

  To make matters worse, my phone kept buzzing. When I first sat down to work I barely paid it any attention. I had been able to ignore it for hours, but now that my focus was gone it pulled me out of my paper even more. As my friend’s name lit up the screen, I gave in and answered it.

  “What’s going on, Christie?”

  “Checking up on you to see if you changed your mind about the party tonight,” she said.

  “You know I can’t go. I need to finish my thesis.”

  “Seriously? You’re not done yet?”

  “Almost. I’m so close I can taste it. Just another page or two,” I said as I looked over my notes.

  “Two pages? Come on. If you were on a roll you wouldn’t have answered. Let it sit for a few hours and come back to it later.”

  “No, you know I can’t. This is important. You know Professor Matthews is a huge hardass with me.”

  “He has a hardass, I know that much,” she said.

  “Not now, Christie.”

  “I know, I know. I’m just worried about you,” she said, her voice growing serious.

  “Why? I’m fine. I just need to get this done.”

  “You’re graduating college and you’re not even sure what you want to do. You haven’t gone out once in the past four years. You haven’t even had a boyfriend yet.”

  “What’s that got to do with anything? I have my priorities, that’s all. I’ve been focused on getting the best grades I can. Everything else will fall into place afterwards.”

  Christie was silent for a moment. “Seriously? Do you really feel that way? Don’t you ever think about relaxing, going out, and having fun? Just taking some time and not thinking about school and grades? You know, you can have a boyfriend and be really smart too.”

  “Dating just isn’t a priority of mine. Besides, I’m almost done. Graduation is just around the corner. Why are you bothering me about this now?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because this is your last chance. You said it yourself, graduation is just around the corner. That means you’re running out of time before entering the real world. Come on! This is the last big party before graduation. Besides, you know breaks are good for the brain. You’ll do better work if you go out and have some fun.”

  I looked at the last sentence I wrote, the one I had spent the last ten minutes working on. It still wasn’t right. Maybe she had a point. Maybe some fresh air would do me good. I could clear my mind and maybe then I’d be able to bang out the rest of my thesis, instead of agonizing over each line like I had been.

  “I don’t want to go alone, Sarah. I need someone I can be snarky with. You need to come with me.”

  I sighed as she continued to whine. For years Christie had been begging me to go with her to one of these Thursday night parties. Maybe it was just the break I needed.

  “Oh, alright,” I said. “You’ve talked me into it. I can’t stay all night though.”

  “We won’t. I promise I’ll get you back before you turn into a pumpkin.”

  I saved my file and rushed to make myself look good. My hair was a mess from my nervous habit of twisting it around my fingers while I wrote. And I couldn’t remember the last time I had washed the sweatshirt I was wearing. Christie was right, I had been spending too much time with my school work. I needed to unwind and take a break. Just a short one.

  Chapter Three

  The pounding of the bass was deafening. As we entered the Victorian-style house, large red cups of beer were shoved into our hands. I nursed mine as I stood in a corner of the living room and people-watched while Christie made the rounds and said hello to her friends.

  The room was dark with only a lamp in the corner for light. A large couch was the only place to sit and it was crowded. Several people sat on it, red cups in hand, looking as uncomfortable as I felt. On the corner of the couch, a couple was making out.

  Groups of people huddled together as they tried to talk over the loud music. Multi-colored lights blinked to the music as they spilled into the hall separating the living room from the dance area.

  The beer tasted awful which was fine, really. The last thing I needed was to get drunk. My plan was to get back to my thesis as soon as I got back to my apartment, no matter what time it was. I needed to be sober and awake.

  Christie ran back over to me. Her bright red hair brushed against my cheek as she threw her arm over my shoulder, making the beer slosh dangerously in the cup.

  “There’s so many people here,” she said.

  “Well it is a party.”
/>   “Shut up,” she said and playfully punched my arm. “I just can’t believe how many people are here. And it’s not even just students. Some of the faculty are here too.”

  Christie pointed through the crowd to a group of four people deep in conversation with each other. I recognized Professor Brown, Professor Jones, Professor Lee, right away, but couldn’t make out who the fourth person was.

  “Are they here to play chaperone? Or are we supposed to pretend we don’t see them?” I asked.

  “Jeez you really should have gotten out more,” she said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “It’s free booze and food with dancing and music, who wouldn’t want to be here?”

  “You don’t think it’s weird? I mean, they’re professors. Why would they be at a college party?” It seemed so foreign to me that anyone would want to be at a party with cheap beer and loud music, that I couldn’t understand why there would be professors there. How was I supposed to act? “Do they talk to students?”

  “No, they usually keep to themselves,” she said.

  The professors were just talking and minding their own business, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. Part of it was that I couldn’t believe they were at this party, but a bigger part was curious who the fourth person was.

  Professor Brown shifted to the side and I got a glimpse of him finally. He was dressed down in a heavy metal t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but I would recognize Professor Matthews no matter how he was dressed.

  A hot flush crept over my cheeks. I had to have some serious issues to like him as much as I did when it was obvious he couldn’t stand me. I couldn’t help myself though.

  “Oh! I love this song, Sarah. Let’s dance. I didn’t bring you here so you could pretend to drink a beer.”

  “This stuff is terrible,” I said raising my cup, then taking a peek at how much I had left. The cup was still almost full. “I’ve been drinking it.”