Thank you all for the reading my story and for the wonderful reviews I've received! I'm blown away at the response. You all rock! Here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

JPov

I was ready for the weekend. The semester had just started, but I was looking forward to the summer more than my students were I think. Not that summer was easy, but it is so exciting preparing new lesson plans for my classes. I only got my PhD 2 years ago, so teaching was still new to me. Up until this semester I was teaching only the basic history classes. You know, American history, European history, the things a rookie teacher can't mess up. But this semester I was allowed to create a class that I had been pitching since I started here. I've always loved music, I play the guitar and sing, and I love how music can show you a lot about the culture and history of a county. So I created a class that would explore it. Having never formally studied it, I would be learning with the students.

When it came to the final it was necessary to have them do their own project. But I felt it was only fair if I did a final as well. They were going to be helping me learn as much as I would help them learn. I've always loved jazz, and I thought about the music of the Harlem Renaissance and how that was an expression of the times. Fats Waller is one of my favourites. I love his facial expressions. His music is great too, but the way he waggles his eyes makes me laugh my ass off. One problem though: I don't know how to play the piano. I don't even have access to a piano unless I use the University's public ones. I also didn't know any piano teachers and I didn't want to ask one of my colleagues. I didn't want to take up any of their precious time. I know that if one of them wanted me to tutor them, on top of the classes I'm already teaching, I would want to kick their ass into the next county. So I was stumped.

"Hello Jasper!" Uh oh, Bella. Bella was sweet girl; she was just… always there. Always. I would walk down a hall in the science department and she always seemed to find me. I think she has Jasper radar. She always wants to hang out. I don't mind being an acquaintance, but we'll never be close friends. Or casual friends for that matter. I also disagreed with her teaching. But this was mostly because she never taught anything. The students would have "discussions" with each other and Bella would sit back contributing nothing. I would have students from her American Literature class come to me and ask me about the history and literature. I know more about her subject than she does. I think she's really unqualified to do the job. I'm not even sure how she made it this far. Unless she harassed the board to give her the job, because that I could see. I, personally, would give her my first-born child if it would get her to leave me alone. If I had a child that is.

"Hey Bella. Heading home?" I asked. I stuck some student papers into my briefcase and grabbed my keys to lock my office door.

"No, a group of my friends are going out to eat. I was going to invite you along! You totally should Jasper." I immediately dropped my keys. Maybe if she thought I was sticking around to do some work she would leave.

"Well, I'm really not in the mood. I've got a lot of work to still get done, and I'm feeling a little under the weather today and –"

"You used that excuse last week." She interrupted. I had? Well shit, apparently she's more perceptive than I thought. What now?

"Right well, I think I'm coming down with something. Maybe I need to go to the doctor." I faked a cough, hoping that would convince her. No such luck.

"No excuses, you're coming to dinner with me." She smiled widely at me and began grapping all my papers and shoving them in my bag. I was so stunned at the audacity that I wasn't even able to say anything.

"But –"

"I'll have you meet all my friends." She grabbed my keys and shook them in my face.

"Look Bella, I just –"

"I know you'll just love them!" I'm sure this is kidnapping in some states. Should I call the cops?

Giving up, I gathered my stuff. She kept talking while I locked up my room. Like I said, she's a sweet girl, but she won't take no for an answer. What made her think that I wanted to meet her other friends? Are they as annoying as she is? She talked all the way to the restaurant. At one point she was silent for two minutes and I swear they were the best two minutes of my life. Then a song came on the radio and she talked for the next ten minutes about the music she does and does not like. Somewhere during the drive I wondered why we were taking my car when she was the one who forced me to go. Another reason I don't like Bella, she tends to use people for her own convenience.

When we reached the restaurant I tried to manoeuvre myself so that I wasn't sitting next to Bella. So I found myself sitting next to a small woman with stylish black hair that stuck out everywhere and had the most fashionable clothes I've ever seen.

"Hi, I'm Alice," She was so happy. Her smile lit up her whole face, and I instantly liked her.

"Jasper."

"You work with Bella?"

"Yeah, I'm a history professor." Alice scrunched up her nose at this. I laughed.

"Sorry," She said, "I just never liked history. All those dates and boring facts. I could never remember anything."

I smiled, "History shouldn't be about dates it should be about the people and their stories. That's why I like history. I don't really quiz my students on dates. Well, unless they aren't paying attention. Then I'll use dates to make sure they learn something."

We talked all through dinner, commenting on the other people in the restaurant, discussing the wonderful meal, and discussing our lives. I don't know how it came up, Alice just made me relaxed and I found myself talking about all kinds of things with her. I don't know how my wanting to play the piano came up.

"Oh! My brother is a piano teacher! I'll ask him for you if you want!" She jumped up a little in her chair and seemed really excited. "He's really good. He's really busy, but for me, I'm sure he can fit you in."

"No, I could do that. I think I'm just going to take lessons from the music department." I just had a feeling that I would be imposing myself one this poor guy. I didn't want to be a burden to anyone. Although that is why I initially didn't want to take lessons from the music teachers.

Alice pouted – fucking pouted—at my statement. I don't know why she cared so much. Was her brother desperate for money?

"You would love my brother. He's a great teacher! He's also really nice. He's just a wonderful guy. I think you would really like each other!" Wait, when did this become about his personality? Was she setting me up? I didn't even tell her I was gay! She's an impressive little imp. I wasn't really in the mood to be set up. But I didn't want to see Alice pout. I had known her only an hour and for some reason I really wanted to make her happy.

"Well, I guess if he says it's okay. But only if I'm not an inconvenience."

The widest grin broke out on Alice's face and her eyes sparkled with what I can only describe as triumph. "Oh good! I know you'll just love him. I'll call him and ask him. Give me your number and I'll let you know."

We exchanged numbers and before I knew it, we were all saying goodbye. I drove Bella back to campus so she could pick up her car, then I drove home. After grading several papers I read for an hour and went to sleep.


It wasn't until the next week that I heard back from Alice. I had an appointment with her brother, Edward, on Monday. I found myself excited about the lesson. I wondered if she really was trying to set me up. She barely knew me, I rationalised, why would she try to set me up with her brother. I didn't think about it until Monday. I was probably reading too much into it anyway.

I drove to his house looking forward to my first piano lesson. The fourteen-year old boy in me was looking forward to calling myself a pianist. Who am I kidding? The 28-year old boy that never grew up was looking forward to it too. It's a funny word. I snickered a little thinking about it a little. It was probably best that I got it out of my system before I was in front of the professional and insulted him. It wouldn't be the best first impression.

I pulled into the driveway and admired the house. It was a Cape Cod style house painted white with green shutters and the most beautiful bay window in front. I could see a piano through another set of windows.

I got out of my car and walked up the driveway. I knocked on the door and waited, but no one came to the door. I shifted my feel a little, looked around me, then checked the house number to make sure I was in the right place. I waited for three minutes without anyone answering. Fed up, I knocked again, making sure I was louder this time. Maybe he didn't hear me. Finally I heard footsteps so I stepped back from the door and waited.

When Edward opened the door I was momentarily rendered speechless. Edward was hot. No, not hot, that didn't seem to cover it; Edward was perfect. His bronze hair—what dye colour did he use to get that? — was messy and reminded me of Alice's wayward hair. Apparently it was a family gift. He was tall and lean, which was wonderful cause I love a guy with muscle, but not bulky. I wanted a guy that I could hold in my arms, one who could hold me. I saw myself holding Edward, allowing my hand to fan out over the planes of his chest, one had travelling down his muscles, lower and lower until— fuck, now I was hard.

"Can I help you?" Fuck yes you can! I blessed Alice, wherever she was. Maybe I should buy her a gift basket. Remembering where I was—and that I hadn't said anything yet—I blushed a bit and hoped that he wouldn't figure out where my mind had been.

"Um, yeah, I'm Jasper. Your, um… new student." Brilliant Jasper. At least try to sound like you're educated. You're a college professor for Christ's sake. Stop fumbling with your words.

"Right, of course. Come in." He let me into his house. It was as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. His house was modern, but homey. I sat down on his sofa and he got me a beer, which I consider a great start to a beautiful relationship.

We talked about my class for a while, and I was pleased that he immediately understood what I was trying to accomplish. It would make it a lot easier if we were on the same page.

As we spoke I silently observed him. When he smiled the corners of his eyes would crinkle in the cutest way, he peeled the label off of his beer bottle, and he kept bouncing his right leg. I wondered if he did that because he was nervous or if he just had a lot of energy. I wanted to learn more quirks about him. I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to touch his eyes and smooth out the lines, then let my hand drift across his smooth, strong jaw, before reaching around to the back of his neck… I had to stop doing that. I wouldn't be able to work with him without jumping him if I kept this up.

Before I was ready to stop watching him, he grabbed my empty bottle and led me to his music room. I sat on the piano bench and stared at his ass while he looked through files of sheet music. Okay, maybe I could look at him as long as I didn't fanaticise. I once again found myself thanking Alice for this. After discussing our mutual annoyance with one Bella Swan it was time to start my lesson.

It started off easily, but the fingering took a while for me to get used to. And just as my erection had gotten under control, Edward touched me. It was innocent, I think. But I was messing up the fingering and getting really frustrated. Edward would tell me what to do, but it just wasn't clicking in my head. Then he decided to show me.

"Here Jasper, this way." He covered my hand with his own, each of the fingers lying perfectly on top of mine. He pressed one of my fingers down on the key, one after another. When our fingers crossed over the others to reach a note we were almost holding hands.

"Did that help?" Huh? Did what work? His hand was still on top of mine and at the moment that was all I could focus on. My body was aware of how close we were, and my stomach tightened at that knowledge. I turned my head to look at him and found that he was looking at me with an intensity I certainly felt. I could lean in, it would only be a few inches, and then my lips would connect with his. He's gay right? Alice wouldn't try to set us up if he wasn't. Unless I'm reading this wrong and she was just being nice and helping me out.

Uncertain, I turned back to the piano, "Yeah, yeah that was helpful." My voice came out in a whisper. Edward's hands swiftly pulled away from mine.

"Good. We're done for today," He said coldly. I couldn't place his tone. Was he mad at me? I looked at the clock and noticed that we were already fifteen minutes over. How had time moved so fast?

"Oh, well thank you. It was a great lesson." Edward nodded and briskly cleaned off the piano music.

"I'll make you some copies of the pages you need to work on, but this week you should go out and buy the book."

"Fine." I was offended at his tone. He was acting really rude and I had thought we were getting along really well. Better than 'well' actually.

"Same time next week?" He asked me. He handed me the copied pages.

"Yeah, if that works for you." He finally looked at me, and his face softened slightly.

"That works perfectly for me." He led me to the door and opened it for me. I stood on the step and looked up at him.

"Goodbye Jasper, I'll see you next week."

"Goodbye Edward." Then he shut the door.

I drove home thinking about nothing but him. Even with how he was acting towards the end, I was looking forward to next week. I couldn't wait, in fact. I was actually looking forward to a fucking Monday and was resenting that the weekend was preventing me from seeing Edward again.

I looked at my cell phone and noticed that I had missed at call from Alice. Curious about why she would be calling me, I immediately called her back.

"Why are you calling so soon?" She said as soon as she picked up the phone.

"What do you mean? Technically I'm late. My lesson ran over." I heard her sigh of exasperation and a bit of muttering that I couldn't make out.

"So what do you think?" She asked. Not knowing exactly what she was asking me, I decided to play it safe.

"I think that Edward is very talented and will be able to teach me everything I need to learn. Thank you for asking." The huff that I heard over the phone immediately confirmed my initial idea. She was trying to set us up. And I was pissing her off. I pictured steam blowing out of her ears like in the cartoons I use to watch on Saturday morning.

"About Edward, you ass, what do you think about Edward?" She practically yelled into the phone. Well, that was uncalled for. I decided to mess with her a bit.

"Oh Edward! Why do you want to know?"

She huffed, "I don't think you know me well enough to tease me, Jasper."

"I don't know you well enough to tease you but you know me well enough to set me up, huh?" Definitely steam out of the ears.

"Just answer the fucking question. Did you like him?"

"He's very nice," I finally relented.

"And?" She pressed.

"And," I thought about Edward, "He's very handsome."

Alice shrieked, "I thought so! I knew you would like him!"

"Well, yeah, I like him. But I don't think he liked me. He acted really weird at the end of my lesson. We were getting along really well and then… something happened," I didn't want to tell her about him touching my hand. That was something private and I wanted to keep it for myself, "After that he was really weird."

"Well, don't pay attention to him. He'll love you, I promise."

"Look, Alice," I sighed, not really knowing how to let her down gently, "yeah, I liked him and he is gorgeous. But I'm not really looking for a hook-up. I want a relationship."

"I know you do. That's why I introduced you to my brother." I was quiet for a moment. I was thrilled that Alice, for some reason, trusted me enough to want me to meet her brother. I just wasn't sure if something would come out of it, especially with how he acted towards me. I certainly lusted after him, but that wasn't enough.

"We'll see how it goes. I'm home now so I gotta go."

"Fine, but Jasper, just think about it. I think you would be good for him." She hung up, leaving me to wonder what she meant by that.

I threw my things on the kitchen counter and opened the refrigerator to find something to eat. Everything was for the microwave. I love cooking, but it's hard to justify getting all those pots dirty for one person. I missed being able to cook for another person. I settled for some rice. After watching TV, I got ready for bed.

Lying in my bed, staring up at the dark ceiling, I thought of Edward. He was gorgeous, that was sure, but there was something else about him. Until the end of the lesson, he had been kind, funny, and charming. He was someone I would genuinely want to know and I could see myself in a relationship with. Did I mention he was fucking perfection?

I pictured his beautiful face in my head and slipped my hand beneath my boxers. I palmed the bottom of my length, imagining Edward's tongue travelling the same path. I groaned at the feeling and as my imagination took over, my hand became Edward's mouth. He sucked in the head, his tongue dipping into the opening to gather the precum that leaked out. I groaned again, fisting my other hand into my hair. Edward lifted his head, his green eyes bored into mine before he smirked and suddenly his mouth was engulfing my length, creating the sweetest heat I had ever felt, his head bobbed up and down, the friction causing me to thrust into his mouth. Before I knew it, I came all over my hand. As soon as my breathing slowed down I went into the bathroom to clean myself off.

I had never cum that hard, and a part of me was ridiculously happy. The other part of me though…

Fuck, how was I supposed to work with him now?