Free Words of Lust by Lise Horton Page A

sitting on his porch came to him. He imagined her on a warm, sunny day, walking down the path he’d just finished, that slow intoxicating sway of her hips, and wondered if she’d like the country. His place was in a rustic area with few other cottages on the lake. He’d taken a date with him one weekend and she’d hated it, refusing to set foot in the lake because she whined it was icky. She complained about the bugs and had been astounded he’d expected her to rough it without amenities.
    He hoped The Professor was as sensual as he thought, because his place was made for her. She seemed to enjoy food and nature, and she sure as shit enjoyed sex. That kind of woman should like his place in the woods. She’d mentioned a cottage in the Hamptons, but they were a big place and he had no idea if they had one of those multi-gazillion-dollar beach houses or a little cape somewhere off the beaten track in the Pines or Amagansett. The former were generally populated by folks who liked things plush and comfy. He wanted to watch her walk barefoot, with that incredible hair blowing in the wind. Maybe in the soft summer rains that turned the dirt road muddy, then they’d come back and make love in the cabin on the massive king-size bed. Afterward they’d swim naked beneath the stars.
    Crap. The woman was definitely getting to him. And faster than he could believe. She was a surprise on many levels, not just her age, though he’d been thrown for a minute. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter, because she was obviously more mature than any of his siblings, and except for Gia, they were all older than she was. He planned on finding out a lot more about her and he’d make the right moves so he didn’t scare her away. It was incredibly appealing that she was so open and amazing, and he was determined not to blow it.
    * * *
    He got home after some serious traffic had backed up at the GW, stiff from sitting in the truck for nearly two hours. He took a hot shower and threw some pasta in a pan, carved up some vegetables and sautéed them quickly before eating a huge plateful and drinking a beer. He’d called his mom to tell her he was bringing Serafina for dinner and he knew from her satisfied cat-ate-the-canary tone that Gia had been telling tales. For which he would get his revenge. He called Cara to see how she was feeling, and to make sure there were no new dire developments with her complicated pregnancy.
    Lastly he decided to call Serafina. Permanent hard-on aside, he wanted to find out how her day was, and tell her about the work he’d done.
    She hadn’t given him her cell number, so he called on her landline. It was nearly ten, but he figured she’d be up working on the new class she was going to be teaching.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey, Professor.”
    “Nick.” She sounded delighted to hear from him.
    “How’s your day been?”
    “Oh, well, fine. Good. I did some work on my doctoral presentation and got a lot done on the class work so I’m feeling comfortable about Monday. My own three classes are completely full, though, so I’ll be drowning in papers pretty soon. I may ask the dean for a TA to help, but they’re rare animals these days.”
    “I’ll cross my fingers you get a teaching assistant of your very own, then.”
    “How was your day?”
    He launched into a brief description of his property and the cabin and what he’d been up to that day, listening carefully to judge her responses. She seemed genuinely interested and told him a little more about her parents’ beach house out on Long Island.
    “It wasn’t a huge Hamptons place. Just a homey little cottage far enough back we didn’t often worry about hurricanes. It was wonderful to fall asleep at night to the sound of the ocean and sit out on the sand watching the sun go down.”
    “Sounds great. Expensive but great.”
    “Actually my parents set up a trust to handle the costs, taxes, upkeep, that kind of thing, and I inherited some money from my