Free Bad Professor (An Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) by Claire Adams

No talking about the holiday until you promise you
will help me with this application. I need to pick the perfect cover letter,
the best examples of my writing, and recommendations. And I don't want to wait
until after break because everyone else will. I want to stand out and show them
I'm dedicated. Besides, we never do anything for Thanksgiving."
    "That's
what I want to talk to you about," my father reached for my hands. "We've
been remiss with our holidays the last few years."
    "I
don't mind. I'm not a child anymore," I reminded him.
    He
squeezed my fingers. "Even more reason for us to take the time to
celebrate. You need to let yourself be a kid again, even if it's just during
the holidays. You're much too serious, Clarity."
    I
narrowed my eyes but knew I would never win this fight. We had it almost every
day. My father thought I was too serious, too focused, and that I was going to
miss out on my life. I thought he was sentimental and pinning his abandoned
desire to paint on me. We'd go ten rounds about what we each thought the other
should do, and then let it blow over until the next day.
    "How
about we make a deal?" I asked.
    My
father let go of my fingers and steepled his hands together. "Ah, a deal. Does
it include you finding a creative outlet and letting a little more balance into
your life?"
    I
swatted at him even as I thought about the scrap of paper in my back pocket. "Nice
try, but we're skipping the lecture today and going straight to
negotiations."
    He
laughed and sat back to cross his arms and give me a regal stare. It didn't
quite work with the remainder of his red hair still fuzzy from sleep and his
bathrobe tight over his belly. "Fine, I'm listening."
    I
grinned. "I will help you cook a full Thanksgiving meal, decorate the
house from autumn leaf garlands down to a cornucopia centerpiece, if you help
me complete my entire application for Wire Communications."
    "Turkey,
stuffing, gravy, the whole works?" he asked.
    "Even
acorn squash with nutmeg," I promised.
    My
father's eyes twinkled. "Throw in one original poem and it's a deal."
    "No
poem, no short story, just the entire Thanksgiving experience."
    "Fine.
Deal." My father stuck out his hand and we shook on it. "Now what's
this about a short story."
    "Dad!"
I laughed but shifted so I could feel the folded paper in my back pocket again.
    #
    The armchair was half-hidden
behind the archive stacks in the basement of the library. Above it was a
porthole window, a trace of the old building before the new addition. That was
why the tiny alcove was an anomaly in the architecture and the perfect place to
curl up and work on my secret project.
    The
scrap of paper was now taped on the inside of a spiral bound notebook. Page
after page was crossed with a slashing X as I had written and rewritten the
beginning about eighteen times. I wanted it to be perfect.
    Each
word felt like a tiny puzzle piece that had to be turned and fitted precisely. I
loved agonizing over them and watching beautiful sentences form.
    The
best feeling, though, came from the moments when the pen took off and I filled
half a dozen pages with inspiration. My mind soared and I felt the smile on my
lips even though I was all alone.
    Every
time my phone beeped to remind me of the time, I felt like I was coming down
from a great height. Gravity was heavier as I trudged up the stairs and crossed
the courtyard that joined the library with Thompson Hall. It was my new routine
to work on my secret project until it was time for Ford's class. If it had been
any other class, I would have skipped it and stayed in my little library
alcove, scribbling away forever.
    No
one knew where I disappeared to, and that was part of the thrill. I hadn't told
anyone, not even Jasmine or Lexi, and I certainly was not going to please my
father with news of my creative endeavor. If he knew I was writing a short
story, he would yell it from the rooftops.
    "Did
you find that link I sent you about traditional story structures?"