One Plus Two Minus One by Tess Mackenzie Page B

him.
    “ Hey,” she
said. “Don’t worry about
that.”
    He looked at her.
    “ You don’t
have to,” she said. “Hold me afterwards
and all that shit.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    She pushed
him off. “I do. It’s too hot.”
    He kissed her.
    “Don’t do that either,” she said.
    He rolled over onto his back and looked the
ceiling, breathing hard.
    “ And hey,”
she said, while she was criticizing. “Don’t talk so much about me being your professor, okay?
It’s kind of creepy.”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    They took
turns in the bathroom. Him first, because
he had the rubber on. “Out there,” she said. Pointed. “Closed door
across the way.”
    She sent him
to the main bathroom, not the ensuite. It
wasn’t really thought out, but it felt right once it was done. She
didn’t want him hearing her pee that close by, didn’t really want
to hear him either, but most of all she didn’t want him in her
space. Guests went into the main bathroom, it was kind of a public
place. Since she’d been living here she’d been the only person in
the ensuite and she’d got used to not sharing.
    She heard the
flush and the delay after was long enough he’d probably washed his
hands. She got up and went herself, was
quick because she didn’t completely trust him, half expected him to
be gone, but when she came back she found him sitting on the bed.
He watched her come back.
    She perched
beside him. She found this moment a bit
awkward. Basically making small-talk to prove you cared about his
mind and therefore weren’t a total slut. Or while you waited to see
if he could get it up again.
    Ethan started
looking around her room. In the wardrobe,
in her drawers. He didn’t get up, but he didn’t need to, because
she wasn’t that tidy. The wardrobe doors were always open, as were
two drawers of the dresser. He was peering.
    “Stop it,” she said.
    “I’m not doing anything.”
    She had a
pile of books beside the bed. He rolled
over, picked them up.
    “Stop.”
    “I just want to look.”
    The books
were all work ones, all dull and too advanced for him to
understand. Mostly in maths you read
papers on your computer. Very occasionally someone printed an
actual book, and she took those home to read at night. He looked at
the spines, then rolled over and put the whole pile down again. He
stood up and started wandering around the room.
    “ Hey,” she
said. “Watch it.”
    “I’m just curious.”
    “Why?”
    “ Why
not? I’ve already seen the worst.” He
looked at the vibrators on the floor.
    “How do you know that’s the worst?”
    He looked at her.
    “I’m just saying, there could be whips and a
gimp mask in the hall cupboard.”
    He looked out towards the hall, almost
interested.
    “ Nope,” she
said. “Fine, poke around in my life.” She
lay there and watched him.
    He looked at her underwear, and said, “You’ve
got some nice stuff.”
    “Yep.”
    “Do you wear them to lectures?”
    She looked at
him for a moment. “Yep.”
    He looked in
her wardrobe. “I remember some of
these.”
    “Careful.”
    He grinned,
pointed to a dress. “That goes
see-through when the light’s behind it.”
    “I know.”
    He sat beside
her and kissed her some more. Kissed her
face, her neck, then slowly tipped her over, laid her down so he
could kiss all down her back, down her spine, to her
ass.
    “ What are you
doing here?” she said. “I mean really.
I’m too old for you.”
    “I’ve had a terrible fucking crush on you for
a year.”
    “I can’t decide if I should believe you.”
    “You should.”
    “ I
can’t. I haven’t yet. It’s pissing me off
a bit.”
    “Just believe me.”
    “Why should I?”
    “ You’re
smart. I like smart.”
    She was a bit
surprised by that. “Not that I’m your
professor?”
    “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about
that?”
    “Just this once.”
    He slid off
her, sat beside her. “Not really,” he
said. “Kind of, but not really. If you’d just been someone