Addy And The Smart Guy (Big Girl Panties #3) (11 page)

A knock at her door shocked her to her feet. She hurried over and peeped out the peep hole. Grey stood there in jeans and a t-shirt, his glasses on, his hair pulled up in a stubby ponytail like he did when he was going to the gym or having a casual day.
 

She whipped open the door. "Your mom called," he said, handing her her phone. She ran over to the coffee table, retrieved his phone, and gave it to him.
 

"Your…your girlfriend."

His face paled, some. "I lied. I told your mom we met this morning briefly in my office to talk about mid-terms. I don't think she believed me. What did you tell Caroline?"

"Please don't say her name."

"Sorry."

"She called me a whore. I told her to fuck off, or something like that."

He laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "God. Okay. So does she know who you are?"

Addy shook her head no.

"All right. Well if you confirm my lie with your mom, then we should be okay."

"What will you tell the shrieking harpie?"

Grey laughed again. "Jesus, Addison. I don't know, I'll tell her I met someone at a bar or something. We're supposed to have an open relationship, but if she got that pissed at you, maybe it's not as open as I thought."

 
Addy nodded and thought through it all. "We should be okay, then. Just no more slip-ups."

He nodded. "I'm really sorry you had to go through that."

She just glared at him. "Goodbye, Grey."

He looked miserable. "Goodbye, Addison."

She slammed and locked the door in his face. The last thing she'd needed at her most vulnerable moment, was to get yelled at by that horrible woman and to be reminded of the fact that Grey was sleeping with her. Using his mouth on her. It wasn't fair.
 

Addy clung to her blanket, trying to watch her movie, but her vision kept blurring, and tears kept pouring down her cheeks. Stupid tears. Stupid feelings. At last, the sobs escaped, and she curled up, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to keep herself from flying into a thousand pieces.
 

CHAPTER TWELVE

Grey arrived at his office at nine as usual. It was because of his lovely teaching assistant that he enjoyed the luxury of sleeping a little later on Monday mornings. He'd always hated teaching Freshman Political Science, and he'd always hated Monday mornings. Addison had removed them both from his shoulders.

He sat behind his desk, empty and devoid of feelings. He'd agonized over Addison last night. That was in between phone calls with a yelling, sobbing, Caroline. Now, he was simply emotionally exhausted. He leaned back in his chair and stared at his desk. There was work to do and any moment he would sit up and do it. But still, he kept staring.
 

His office door was already open when Addison walked in, with a young, blond girl trailing behind. Addison slammed her books on her small, corner desk. "This is Gwen. She's unhappy with my comments on her essay."
 

Gwen, smiling and perky, took a seat in front of Grey's desk. Addy sat in her chair and swiveled around to face him.

Gwen glanced back at Addy. "I'd really prefer to have this meeting without Professor Hart."

Grey lifted his eyebrows at Addy who was glaring at the back of Gwen's head. "Um, sure," Grey said. "I can ask Ms. Hart to leave. But since this concerns her, you should know I'm likely to share our discussion with her."

"No secrets between you two?" Gwen asked, with a wink and a smile.

"Probably not about this," Grey said.

Gwen's smile dimmed. "That's fine. But I'd still feel more comfortable speaking to you alone."

Addison didn't need to be told. She grabbed her laptop bag, made a rude gesture behind Gwen's back, and left. Grey fought back a smile at Addy's immature behavior. As soon as she was gone, Gwen stood. "Would you mind if I close the door? This is a matter of some delicacy."

"I prefer to leave it open…"

She already had it closed and was sitting back in her chair. She crossed her legs, her skirt riding up high on her thighs. "Addison's had it out for me since the beginning of the semester."
 

Grey leaned back in his chair, made his expression blank, and steepled his fingers.

"I've read essays way worse than mine that have gotten better grades. Her comments are borderline abusive—"

"How so?"

"Well, just look." She dug in the backpack she'd sat next to her feet and came out with a paper. "Right here she says, 'It's clear you haven't done the assigned reading. This paper doesn't meet the requirements. If you'd like a chance at a half-grade, see me after class.' She accused me, falsely, of not doing the reading. That is an attack on my character, and I won't stand for it."

Grey frowned in thought. "Did you redo the essay?"

"I most certainly did not. I want you to grade it. My parents paid for a class with Dr. Greyson McDaniel, not his teaching assistant."

Grey leaned forward and held out his hand for the paper. Gwen handed it to him. "Here's the thing about these Freshman classes. The curriculum is basically the same. Meaning if you took this class with Dr. Sears or Dr. Markham, you'd be getting the same instruction, same basic grading standards. Ms. Hart taught this course last year. She's extremely devout when it comes to the syllabus and her standards for grading, which is why I don't police her actions too often. I can look at this paper for you, but the chances are, I'm going to agree with Ms. Hart's assessment."

Gwen sighed. "I just want a fair grade. If you think I didn't do a good job, then I'd like the chance to do better."

"Ms. Hart offered you that chance."

"For half the grade. That would kill my overall grade, and I've got my GPA to consider." She stood and leaned forward on his desk, her blouse open at the top, revealing her cleavage. Grey kept his eyes dutifully above her neck.
 

"Like I said, I'll look at it. But I don't make exceptions to class policy—"
 

She stepped back, undid another button on her blouse, and made her way around his desk. "Never?" she asked, with a pout on her lip and in her voice.
 

Grey immediately saw what was happening. He stood to put his desk chair between himself and her. "Ms. Morris, I assure you, that won't work on me. Please leave. I'll contact you about your paper."

"I'm sure there's something I can offer you to convince you I'm right." As she spoke, she reached beneath her skirt and pulled off her pink, lace panties, hanging them on his lamp. Then she sat on the edge of his desk and spread her legs.

He was about to tell her, once more, to get the hell out of his office, when there was a sudden knock at his door. His colleague, Dr. Markham—a crabby, schoolmarm of a woman—came in. "Dr. McDaniel, I wanted to talk to—" She froze as she took in the scene.

As he was about to assure Dr. Markham that this was not what it looked like, Gwen leapt off the desk, clutched her shirt closed, grabbed her backpack and ran sobbing out of the office. Unfortunately, her panties remained on the lamp. "I swear to God, Ellen—"

Dr. Markham's eyes narrowed as she made her final judgment. "I always knew you were a slime bag. That whole gentleman act was just a mask. I'm going to the dean."

"Ellen, she was trying to get a good grade. I didn't touch her. I've never—"

"Save it for the committee. We'll see how many other victims come forward." She turned on her heel and left.
 

Grey stood dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open. It wasn't that there hadn't been a girl or two over the years hint that she'd be willing to sleep with him for a grade. It was that none had been as aggressive as Gwen.
 

Addison came back in, beelining for her desk, not looking at him. "Did you get her taken care of?"

He had no words. Addison pulled a book out of her bag and opened up her laptop. "It won't hurt my feelings," she said, "if you want to give her an A just to shut her up. I'd have done it myself if I'd known what a pain in the ass she was going to be."

Still no words. How much trouble was he in?

"I did tell you I couldn't handle her, didn't I?" She turned around, finally. Her smirk vanished as she stood. "What's wrong?" Her eyes landed on the panties. She laughed. "Get a visit from the shrew?"

Grey hooked a finger in the leg of the panties and dropped them in the trash. "Gwen tried to seduce me. Dr. Markham walked in and thought the worst. Now she's gone to the dean."

Addison went pale. "Oh, my God."

"What am I gonna do?" he asked.

Addy took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "Just go to the dean and tell the truth. Right now."

"About you and me?"

"God, no! What are you thinking? Go tell what Gwen did. I'll back you up, the girl's a complete skank."

"Maybe this is karma." Grey was feeling a guilt so deep it threatened to swallow him.

"Karma? You don't believe in God, you don't believe in love…but you believe in Karma?"

"I believe in just desserts. Maybe I'm being punished for taking you away last week."

"That's ridiculous. Go to the dean and tell her what Gwen did. Keep it among you, Markham and Gwen…don't let this go bigger than that. You can do it, Grey."

He fed off her strength. He nodded and drew himself up. "You're right. This isn't a wildfire. I can handle this."

"Good. Go on."

He grabbed Gwen's paper and made his way to Dean Erika Richter's office. Dr. Markham was already there. Grey didn't wait, but barged in and took the seat next to Ellen. "Gwen wanted an A on her paper. She's been balking all semester, insisting that I grade her work myself, rather than allowing my assistant to do it—"

"Is this the same assistant that you're having an affair with?" Erika asked.

Grey's jaw dropped. "I..I beg your pardon?"

"I've had a call from her mother asking me to look into the possibility of the two of you having an affair."

"Based on what?" Grey asked, his voice cracking. "For God's sake, Erika, I've adhered to propriety almost above reason. I don't call female students by their first names. I keep my office door open all the time."

"Not today, you didn't," Dr. Markham muttered.

"Gwen closed that door because she intended to seduce me. I have had students come on to me before, but she just got out of hand faster than I could manage the situation."

"Her panties were hanging on your lamp."

"She hung her goddamn panties on my lamp!" He squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to calm himself. Then he looked at the dean. "Erika, this isn't fair. Anyone could accuse me of anything they wanted, and I'm guilty until proven innocent. I beg you to recognize my flawless record, my character as you know it, and dismiss these accusations."

"Gwen is claiming that you harassed her."

Grey's heart sank but he held his head up. "Of course she is. But I didn't. She harassed me. It's her word against mine, Erika, I mean what do you want me to say?"

Erika leaned back and massaged her temples. "Ellen, what exactly did you see?"

"She was on his desk with her skirt up and her blouse open, her panties hanging on his lamp."

"Where was he?"

Dr. Markham hesitated before grudgingly answering. "He was standing behind a chair, the chair between him and her."

"And what was he doing?"

"Nothing, that I could see. He was froze to the spot when I walked in."

Erika nodded. "Thank you. If you'll excuse us?"

Ellen stood and left the office. Erika waited until the door clicked shut. "You've never brought drama into my life, Grey."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Is there anything going on between you and Addison?" This question, asked from one friend to another, was harder to lie to. He wasn't sure whether to tell some of the truth or none of the truth. His hesitation made the decision for him. "I see," Erika said.

"No," he said, "you don't. Nothing's going on. I…I think very highly of her."

"Are you attracted to her?"

Again he hesitated. "Yeah, okay? I'm attracted to her, but I have been for years, and I've kept things professional in spite of it."

"Is she attracted to you?"

"I really wouldn't know. I don't allow our conversations to veer into personal territory." The lie flowed smoothly from his lips, but it left its impression on his conscience.

"That's wise." She nudged her pen from side to side on her desk. "Of course you're not going to be penalized for having feelings. But her mother called me this morning. She said your phones got switched?"

"Addison must have set her phone on my desk, and when she left, she grabbed mine instead. Simple as that."

Grey waited for Erika to digest the information.
 

"How's Addison's thesis coming?" she asked.

"It's complete. She's editing, but it looks fantastic."

"I want you to get a second opinion on that before she goes to the board to defend it, okay?"

"I've always been hard on Addison, always pushed her to do better. I promise you, my feelings haven't—"

"Just do it," Erika said. "For my peace of mind."

Grey kept quiet and nodded once in acquiescence.
 

"As to everything else, I have to meet with Gwen. Hopefully we can stamp this out before it becomes an issue. But if she chooses to bring her parents into it, we'll have to launch an investigation."

"It would be a waste of time and resources."

"I agree. I'll do my best to dissuade her from taking further action."

"Thank you, Erika. I'm really sorry for all of this."

"Doesn't sound like it's your fault. Just keep your head down and try to avoid further drama."

"Will do."

He made his way back to his office. It was an effort to keep his eyes up. He wanted to lower them and crawl into the shadows.
 

The love affair with Addison had occurred in the light of day. Their lovemaking had been intense and passionate, but also pure and righteous. They'd played like children together and taken each other with virginal fascination and joy.