Dedicated to @I-Am-Nothing for being such a loyal reader! Now chapter 19! I have a feeling you guys are gonna like this one... ;)

We didn't kiss.

Apparently fate had another plan in store for us because just as we were about to cross that final threshold, my phone went off. And the true irony of it all was who it was that interrupted what would of been our first kiss.

Ben.

He was the one who had flipped out on my possible relationship with Nathan and he is the one who thwarted our attempted first kiss.

Maybe it's for the better though. I know I was certainly caught up in the moment and can only assume Nathan was too. After all, both of us still knew that anything between us was strictly off limits. No matter how damn hard it was to stay away.

We ended up walking back to our cars and driving home, both a little exhausted from all of the revelations that day.

Today was Wednesday. School had officially started back up yesterday and I was honestly a little glad for the distraction. I was able to throw myself back into my school work and photography, giving my mind a much needed break from circling, maddening thoughts surrounding my professor.

Today would be the first day I would see him after the worst lunch date in the history of all lunch dates. For the most part, I was extremely apprehensive. I didn't want him to treat me any differently just because he knew about my past. The other, much less respectable part of me, was always anticipating our next meeting and what would conspire within it.

I walked the halls of the University, my flip flips echoing off the tile flooring. Even though it hurt my pride a bit to admit this, I spent a little extra time on my appearance today. For him.

I had a tight, white V neck shirt that showed off my hour glass figure to perfection and a push up bra to accent my D cup breasts. Normal jean shorts that were a bit on the slutty side accented my tanned legs quite nicely and I let my wavy hair flow naturally down pass my shoulders. I also added a bit more make up than I would for any normal day of school.

Sue me, I want to look hot for my professor.

Rounding that final corner in the hallways, his classroom came into view. My heart started to pound a bit harder in my chest. I rolled my fingers into my palms nervously, noticing the sweat that was starting to accumulate there.

Come on, Alex. He's still your professor. Nothing has changed.

This was the final thought that ran through my head as I reached my arm out and placed my hand on the cold handle and turned it.

Like and uncanny magnet, my stare was instantly propelled in the direction of my professor. He was profile to me talking to another student. His appearance never failed to leave me panting. He was wearing a dark gray, long sleeved shirt that showed off his broad frame and clung to his arms, giving me and everyone else a perfect idea of how toned he was. He had on a pair of black slacks that form to his backside brilliantly.

Jesus, this man has a great ass.

I took a couple steps into the classroom and the student that he was talking to left back to their seat, leaving Nathan to turn himself in the direction that I was in.

He stopped instantly as our eyes met.

As if on cue, his eyes raked down my body and what I desperately wanted to believe was desire swarmed up in his sapphire eyes. Yet, before my pride had a second to indulge in the moment, those eyes of his switched and flooded with an undeniable irritation. The smile that was beginning to creep onto my lips faltered as he stomped his way over to me.

He stopped just before he reached an inappropriate distance from me.

"What do you think you're doing?" He whispered jarringly.

My eyes widened at his harsh approach. I was beyond dumbfounded at what made him react in this manner.

"What-?" My question was cut off by a deep and audible sigh from Nathan.

"Just go to your seat," he said and lowered his head while pinching his fingers together over his forehead. "And stay after class for your detention."

My mouth popped open in shock.

What the fuck?

I tried to think of something to say back to him but came up completely empty handed. He looked back up at me and my eyes pinched together at the sides out of pure confusion and I could feel the disbelieving anger welling up inside of me. So to keep from exploding in front of the entire class, I shoved my way past him forcefully and walked up to my seat next to Ben. Who I had thankfully made up with when I got home Monday night.

He had said that he overreacted. In which I replied with a huge 'duh'. He said he just feels extremely protective over me and doesn't want to see me go through what I went through with Greg ever again. Which is beyond understandable. We ended up all having a movie night and everything had fallen back into normalcy.

When I reached my seat, I threw my bag on the desk with a little more force than intended and ended up knocking Ben's notebook off of his desk and onto the floor.

"Woah, anger issues much?" Ben asked with his eyebrows raised slightly. I groaned and let my head fall back to stare at the ceiling.

"I'm not the one with the issues," I muttered under my breath before bending down to pick up Ben's notebook for him.

"Trouble in paradise?"

I shot Ben an annoyed look as I slid into my seat next to him.

"We're not in paradise. We're not in anything. We're just student and teacher. As he just made very clear." A sudden headache was making its way through my brain. I set my elbows on my desk and started massaging my temples.

"What do you mean by that?" Ben inquired next to me, shifting his body forward in his seat.

I sighed audibly again. "He gave me a detention a couple weeks ago for running out of class and even after everything that I told him on Monday, everything I confided in him," My voice was beginning to raise as my anger, induced by the situation, was starting to make an appearance. "He just informed me that I still have to serve the detention and it has to be after class today."

I finished talking and Ben was quiet. He was quiet for quite some time actually. Enough time for me to glance over at his cream colored face and hazel eyes to see him sitting there with the most puzzled look on his narrow face.

"What?" I questioned of him when he still didn't respond. He opened his mouth a couple of times and always ended up closing it again. He put his fist to his mouth and let out an awkward laugh.

"You do know that detentions...aren't a thing in college, right?" he asked cautiously. I reared my head back a bit and laughed softly at his question.

"Uh, yeah they are. Or else Nathan couldn't have given me one," I stated confidently but the look in Ben's eyes had me questioning everything I knew to be true. I whipped around in my seat to face the guy that sat behind me in class. Ricky, I think was his name.

"Hey!" I exclaimed loudly to get his attention away from his phone. Startled, his head jumped up and his stunned brown eyes found my frantic, confused ones.

"Hey, sorry didn't mean to scare you but, um, I have a question," My words tumbled together I was so anxious to hear what this stranger had to say. "You can get a detention in college, right?"

The guy who I assumed to be Ricky laughed. He genuinely laughed and shook his head.

"Nope. And if you could, I would have like 20 under my belt." He smirked at me before returning his attention to his phone.

I had no choice but to turn back around in my seat, jaw agape, and eyes wide as they could be.

That bastard tricked me!

My eyes landed on Nathan's form at the front of the classroom, preparing papers for today's class. My nostrils began to flair in anger and ways of getting back at him starting flying through my mind at rapid speed.

"Uh oh." I heard Ben mumble next to me.

Shits about to get real.

All throughout class, Nathans lessons and wise words never made it fully into my brain. I was far too focused on the outrage I was harnessing to be able to take in anymore photography knowledge for the day.

Was I angry that he had lied to me about detentions? Yes. But that was barely the sole reason that I was as upset as I was. I had poured my heart out to this man and let him into the deepest corners of my heart and soul. What did he do with that information? Nothing. What did my purge of emotions mean to him? Abso-fucking- nothing.

No, instead he acts as though it never even happened and the moment I waltz into class he slaps a detention on me. For no reason!

The bitter taste of betrayal was rancid in my mouth. My heart felt con-caved at his lack of compassion towards me. I thought he wanted a relationship. I thought he wanted truth. I thought he wanted me.

Yet, the moment I give him a glimpse of my true self, he uses it as ammo, taking down all barriers that I had built over the years and showing that they truly meant nothing.

Him giving me a detention could not have put us farther apart. My revelation could have meant less to him and left me feeling like an utter fool for ever letting him carve his way that deeply into my life.

I had been so engrossed in my inner turmoil that I hadn't realized that students had started to disperse around me. I gathered all of my utensils that I never even put to use during class and packed them up.

"Why are you packing up? Don't you have your detention?" Ben said mockingly as he walked around my chair preparing to leave.

"Screw you and screw him. I'm not giving that man an ounce more of my time just for him to fuck with my emotions," I seethed and threw my bag over my shoulder.

Ben looked at the floor somberly before nodding and giving me a small but supportive smile. I followed behind Ben on our way out of the classroom. I, of course, didn't expect to leave without some sort of comment from the professor.

"Ms. Merrick, where do you think you're going?" Nathan's voice rang out behind Ben and I on our way out. My steps halted and Ben sensed my pause and stayed behind with me.

"What does it look like, Professor?"

"It looks like you're trying to skip out on your detention, which would in fact only earn you another one." His voice came out smug as could be. I slowly spun on my heel to face him and sure enough, he had his world class smirk planted firmly on those annoyingly enticing lips of his.

"Well please do enlighten me as to how that would be possible since detentions don't even exist in college in the first place." I raised my eyebrows at him tauntingly. Nathans infamous smirk stumbled a bit as our eyes met and I called his bluff.

Our stares were intent on the others, refusing to buckle and let the other one win. I would say a good 20 seconds passed in silence until I felt an arm wrap around my waist and tug me towards the door.

"Come on, Alex. Don't waste anymore time on this guy than you already have," Ben said as he pulled me gently towards the door forcing my eyes to disconnect with Nathans.

"Wait," Nathan called out. "Okay fine, I was bluffing about the detention but can you really blame me? I mean, I said it as a joke at first and you completely bought it!" I turned my head back to look at Nathan who had also taken a few steps in my direction. His smile was light and joking but his eyes read another story entirely.

"I never intended on going through with it until I realized you honestly thought I could give you a detention. I was," He sighed and ran his hand nervously over the back of his neck. "I was using it as an excuse to spend more time with you," he said sheepishly and the layer over my heart formed a small but significant crack.

"Do you know how fucked up that sounds, man?" Ben broke his way into the conversation and made his way towards Nathan. I quickly perked up and jolted after him, putting myself in between him and Nathan.

"You're our teacher for crying out loud! You shouldn't be going after a student like that, especially with everything she opened up to you about the other day which I still don't agree with but she trusts you man, for whatever reason she does," I had my hands on Ben's chest trying to keep him as far away from Nathan as possible.  "and as her professor you need to-"

"I'm not your professor for fucks sake!"

Everything suddenly came to a screeching halt in the world.

My hands that were on Ben's chest clenched the material underneath.

"What?" Both Ben and I said at the same time. The only difference being that his was confused and casual. When I spoke the same question, my tone was low and deadly. The continued clenching in my stomach made it almost impossible to talk above a whisper.

"I mean, I am your professor, I am. Just only for another few weeks. Then I go back to being Mrs.Smiths brand new Teachers Assistant," he explained dejectedly.

I felt as though the platform beneath me suddenly began to crumble and dispel with no warning and I was falling into an endless pit of incertitude and I needed answers as to why. Why did he lie? Why wouldn't he tell me this before? Wouldn't this have made it easier on both of us knowing it wasn't wrong for us to have feelings toward each other?

My eyes traveled up to Ben's. "I'll meet you back at the apartment. Him and I need to talk."

Ben looked hesitant for a moment to leave me with the maddening man in the room.

"I'll be fine," I said as honestly as I could. Truth be told I wasn't even the slightest bit confident that I would come out of this room unscathed. If history was true to itself then I should prep the tissues now for another panic attack.

Against my better judgement, Ben actually believed me and left the room without another word. Just a scathing glare sent towards Nathan that promised true regrets were to come if he did anything more to hurt me.

And then he was gone. Leaving Nathan and I alone with so many unanswered questions floating around the classroom.

The silence was deafening. I had so many questions but no inkling as to where to start. So Nathan decided to start the ball rolling.

"I know what you're going to say." His deep voice echoed through the abandoned space.

"No," I shook my head slightly, my voice coming out strained and ultimately baffled. "I don't think you do."

"You want to know why I didn't tell you beforehand to make our entire relationship less straining?" He guessed but it came out as more of a statement.

Well shit. Maybe he did know what I was going to say.

I eventually turned in his direction and his painfully handsome face came into my view.

"And?" I prompted him to answer his own question, exasperation edging into my voice.

Nathan took a step closer to me, drawing in our proximity. "Mrs. Smith told me not to. She said that if I told everyone I was just the Teachers Assistant filling in for her while she was gone, no one would have respected me as much as if I just told them I was their replacement professor for the time being. I was going to start the job of TA a few days after I started as your professor but Smith had to go on maternity leave before they could find a suitable replacement. She vouched for me and said it would act as my internship course for the University. I wanted to tell you...I just..."

"Just what?" I questioned as he trailed off. He's not getting out of this explanation that easily.

He growled deep within his throat and folded his arms across his chest, being sure to keep his stare far away from my prying eyes.

"I guess, in my own messed up mind, me not telling you that I was the TA was the final straw keeping our relationship from crossing the line. I tried so damn hard to resist my feelings for you for the first month that I felt as though I would be giving up and putting to waste all of the sleepless nights and countless other things in my life that came to a halt when you entered it. I know it's stupid but-"

"You're damn right it's stupid! You do realize that all of that senseless effort we put into pushing down our feelings and all of the urges for each other could have been completely avoided if you had told me?"

Nathans face suddenly snapped up to meet mine head on. His eyes were wide and his lips dared to quirk up just the slightest.

"You just said you have feelings for me."

I mentally backhanded myself so hard I felt the feeling reverberate throughout my body. I hadn't realized it while I was saying it, but he was right. I had just admitted that I had feelings for Nathan. Out loud.

Fuck.

"Yeah, so," I said as I shrugged my shoulders as nonchalantly as I could. Nathans lips twitched up an inch further so now half of his mouth was uplifted into the sweetest looking smile.

"You've never admitted that before this moment," he said as though he had finally caught me in a word trap and he couldn't have possibly been happier. Nathan started making his way gradually over to me. His movements were slow but calculated, his eyes trained on mine. Yet, the stubborn side of me still wouldn't let this one go. I side stepped his movements and went around him and towards his desk settled in the front, middle of the room.

"So? What does that change? Yeah, I have feelings for you. I've had feelings for you since the first time I met you!" At this point I'd started pacing back and forth behind his desk. My emotions were becoming too much for me to handle in this small space.

"No matter how hard I tried to hate you after finding out about Silvia, I couldn't bring myself to do it. And then you broke up with her and I assumed that meant you wanted to be with me and I still said no because you were my teacher but no! You were even lying about that! The one thing you could have said that would have had me falling into your arms, you kept a secret!" I ran my hands up into my hair and stared at him head on, probably looking every bit like the mad woman I felt like.

He didn't seem phased by anything I had said though. He stood stoic with a look on his face that I found almost impossible to decipher. And it infuriated me.

I groaned. "You are the most frustrating man I have ever met, do you know that? Every time I see you I don't know whether to slap you or... kiss you."

I sighed and let my hands drop to my side out of exhaustion. My rant had reached its peak and I was left staring at Nathan, my eyes still wild with aggression. I was panting slightly now, my chest rising a bit more heavily than normal. Nathan refused to react to my outburst though. His eyes danced around my face and over my body. His brows were creased downward as his emotions starting coming to the surface. He rested his hands on his hips and still said nothing.

"What?!" I exclaimed in the silence. He ripped his wandering gaze off of my frame and settled on my own hazelnut colored eyes. His breathing intensified and his face contorted and what ever internal battle he was having with himself was cut short.

"Fuck it."

And that was the last thing that I heard before Nathan took a few determined steps towards me and his large hands grasped onto both sides of my face and his lips were pressed on mine.

The action was so unexpected that my hands reacted on instinct and pushed against his chest, effectively removing his lips from mine and shoving him a couple steps back.

What just happened?

Both of our chests were heaving up and down at an increased pace. My eyes were wide with disbelief. His face remained exceedingly dark, handsome, and full of want, even though I had pushed him away. His eyes were hooded, conveying to me all of the sinful things he would do to me if I just kissed him back. A jolt of undiluted desire pulsed through my body and I felt the atmosphere in the room change. Nathan must have felt it too because before I could comprehend what was happening, we both closed the distance between us and crushed our lips together.

Our lips molded together as perfectly as I had imagined they would. His lips moved in perfect sync with mine, stirring up so many emotions inside of me that I lost count. I couldn't ever recall, in my entire life time, being kissed like this. Our lips moved with a desperation and heat that I had never experienced before and I was quickly becoming addicted.

Nathan's arms folded around my waist and held me tight against his body as though he would never let go. My hands roamed up into his hair and tugged on the locks in between my fingers grasp.

Nathan groaned and I felt it vibrate through his chest that was pressed so firmly against my own. He started to move us backwards, never breaking our lips from one another's.

My back connected with the white board behind us. Nathan's hands that were around my waist drew up to grab my hands from around his neck where they had settled. He unlatched them and thrust them up against the white board and above my head.

He had all of the control over this moment now and I loved it. My core began to throb with every passing moment.

I daringly nipped at his bottom lip to see how he would react. He tightened his grip on my hands, lacing our fingers together and then began to grind his hips into mine excruciatingly slow and hard. A moan that was far louder than I intended it to be, released from my throat and echoed through the room at the feeling of his large member pressed firmly against my core.

I think he liked it.

Suddenly the most heavenly sensation occurred when his tongue ran across my bottom lip. Without hesitation, I opened up for him and cried out again when our tongues met and I was finally able to taste him.

Nathan was sweet with a hint of coffee thrown into the mix. I loved it more than I ever could have dreamed I would.

Nathan's hands released my own above my head and came down to cradle my face as he deepened our kiss. His thumbs ran gentle circles over my skin, leaving a trail of tingles wherever he touched.

Slowly and against my will, he started to draw his lips away from mine. A whimper made its way through my lips at the loss of contact.

Nathan still held my face close to his, our bodies still pressed up against each other's. My hands came down to rest on the soft material of his shirt that covered his waist.

Our eyes bore into one another's. Nathan's eyes eluded a happiness that I don't think I'd ever seen them wear, a soft smile graced his lips.

"If this is how detention is gonna be from now on, I think I'm gonna like it," I said nodding my head slightly, still a little breathy.

Nathan let out an incredibly sexy chuckle and his deep blue eyes sparkled.

"You know, the only reason I asked you to stay behind today was because of this outfit of yours," he said as he pushed himself back a few inches so he could blatantly check me out, his eyes roaming over my entire body. A blush rose up on my cheek and a sly smirk formed in my lips.

"Oh yeah?" I questioned, my voice dripping with pride and seduction. Nathan's hands dropped down to my hips and squeezed teasingly.

"I practically had to force myself to not throw everyone else out of the classroom, lock the door and do all sorts of inappropriate things to you."

The familiar pulsing in my body started up again. I looped my pointer fingers through the belt holes in his pants and pulled his body back into mine.

Our bodies met once again. Nathan's toned body was touching every inch of mine and I was memorizing every plane, every arch, every bulge of his perfect figure.

"And what sorts of things did you have in mind?" I asked brushing my lips against his intimately.

Nathan moaned deep within the his throat and brought our lips back together.

We stayed this way until his next class was supposed to begin and students were starting to accumulate outside his classroom door.

This day ended quite differently than it started out.

As it so happens, we did kiss. Finally.

They kissed!!! Finally! Lol it took them long enough! Also so major bombs being dropped about Nathan. What did you guys think? Did you like how their first kiss panned out? Let me know please! You know I love all of the feedback I can get! Comment/ vote if you liked it! :)

Ps: You guys rock.