I drew my brows and stood. “That’s the only reason?”
“Yep. Love it,” she said, toying with me. Everything about her from her chin-length, gold-spun hair to the tip of her polished blue toes made my veins ache. I wanted to possess her. Her silver-blue eyes bled me and often. It was damn near physically painful to be so attracted to her. The warmth I felt when I was with her was something else entirely.
“If you really want to learn, I’ll teach you.”
“Really?” My heart began to race at the appearance of her smile. Nothing affected me quite as much as the sight of it.
“We can start tonight after dinner. I’m going to teach you exactly as I was taught. There are strict rules.”
“I’m up for it. I learned the alphabet for sign language in grade school. I still remember it.”
“That will help,” I made my way toward her and saw her falter slightly when she read my posture. “You’ll have to do your part, study on your own, and use the workbooks.”
“I will, I swear. We have a few deaf renters come in once in a while…” she subtly smiled in an effort to hide her anticipation as I drew closer. “I can’t wait to be able to talk to them. Oh, and I can sign to Ella next week!”
“It takes time to master this language like any other and there’s slang to learn too.”
“Okay.”
I could feel the rattle in her posture as I slipped in behind her and leaned in a whisper. “It could take you months to be conversational.”
“Bring it on,” she said as her skin heated beneath my fingertips.
“After.” I pulled the peeler from her hands and set it on the counter.
“After.” She repeated, leaning against me and slipping her hand between us to brush it over my ready cock.
“After.” Turning her in my arms, I covered her mouth with my own.
After turned into a couple of hours of rough exploration by my nutty professor. The man was a God in the sack and though some days were filled with the painful effects of his aftermath, I couldn’t stop myself from my new addiction. He was a thorough lover with endless imagination. I smiled as I waited outside my front door playing with Disco. Ian demanded that we conduct class just as he would anywhere else and had been adamant about treating me as he would any other student. Restless with anticipation, I waited the five minutes he asked for to ready himself for our first class.
When I walked into the house, I saw he had rearranged the furniture putting his dry erase board where my coffee table usually sat.
“It’s getting hot out—”
My sentence was cut short by Ian’s stomping on the hardwood floor and the shake of his head.
I took his cue and zipped it. He pointed to the couch as he stood next to the board that read “My name is Ian.”
Once seated, he waved at me in greeting and I waved back. I could see a repressed grin lay idle on his lips before he wiped it away and replaced it with what I assumed was his teacher mask. He lifted his hands and signed.
Confused, I shrugged. He looked at me expectantly and signed again.
I gave him wide eyes.
Ten minutes later, we were in a lock of wills. He kept placing his hand to his chest, then crossing closed pointer and middle fingers on each hand before rapidly spelling out a word. I’d been working on that word the whole time because it was all of the language I knew but his fingers were moving so fast from letter to letter I couldn’t read it. The last letter was an N. I was sure of it. A light bulb went off and I jumped in my seat excitedly with an “Oh, damn, how did I not get that!?”
Ian stomped his foot again and shook his head, eyes narrowed.
He signed the same phrase, this time slower so I could follow.
My name is Ian.
This time I lifted my own hands repeating his movements.
My name is Koti.
He nodded and made a quick sign, which I assumed was the word good or yes.
Over the next hour, we remained in silent conversation as I stayed puzzled half the time before I began to catch on. By the time class was over I’d learned to introduce myself and ask, “How are you?” Also a few basic signs, how, who, why, when and where.
“That was pretty good,” he said as he erased the board.
“That was incredible! You learned sign language this way?”
“Yes, my teacher was a deaf woman named Billy, and she was incredible.”
“It seems impossible to learn this way, but it’s really kind of amazing.”
“She could read lips and talk, but speaking was forbidden in her classroom.”
Excited, I jumped on him, he laughed at my unexpected enthusiasm and caught me easily, gripping my ass and holding me close to him. “I love it!”
“Really?”
“Yes, so much. I can’t wait for more. Do we have to stop today?”
“Yes. It’s easy to forget the signs. I want you to practice them all night and all morning. It may seem trivial to you, but you’ll understand why later. Okay?”
“Is this like the Karate Kid, where you make me wax on, wax off and then show me some kick-ass moves?”
Ian chuckled. “Something like that.”
“Well, I’ll make you proud, sensei.”
His eyes shone with something that resembled adoration and my heart warmed with the hope of it. “I suspect you will, puffer fish.”
Our matching grins disappeared as he leaned in and took my lips, kissing me with a lazy and seductive tongue.
“About what I said the other night while I was smashed.”
I gave him a side-eye. “You actually remember that?”
He winced. “Some of it?”
I shook my head. “No more. No more fighting, no more misconception, no more judging, speculating, worrying, none of it. I’m having a great time and so are you. That’s all we need to know. Let’s move on already.”
He let out a breath of relief. “Music to my ears.”
“Same here. Let’s leave it at the egg comes first and have some more fun.”
“What if I said the chicken came first?”
“Well then, I would have to burden you with coming up with proof, professor.”
“I have no proof.”
“Then we can debate about it during our swim like adults.”
“Swim?”
“Let’s go swimming and after,” I waggled my brows, “we can after.”
“Aren’t you hurting?”
“I’m good. Actually, I’m great. I’m growing into a huge fan of sex after years of being on team abstinence. Also, sex between us requires little communication which, if we’re honest, we seem to suck at.”
“Good point,” he said, smiling down at me. “But I think we’re getting better.”
“Agreed,” I said, as he let me on my feet.
“I’ll get my suit on.”
I took his hand and moved toward the front door. “That won’t be necessary, professor.”