J

We make it another week without our secret leaking to the powers that be.

Another week of watching Lisa play her role as Ms. Manoban during my third hour study hall.

Another week of me visiting Barrett after school each day to share edibles or share a joint.

Then I get my period.

Yay me.

I spend my after-school hours during period week at home getting high and eating chips while watching TV. I inherited my mom's awful periods.

Yay me again.

What I've discovered is that I don't have a needy girlfriend. Lisa seems to love spending time with me, sexless time, but when we can't be together, she's focused on her dad, the ranch, or school responsibilities. It's a fascinating experience dating a true adult. I'm handling it surprisingly well.

"I'm done." I announce after fifteen minutes of silence in Lisa's office.

She looks up. "Done?"

I sigh. "With the thing I had going on last week."

Wrinkles line her forehead as she shoots me a funny look. "You mean your period?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes."

"Oh. Well …" se studies me. "Congratulations?"

I snort. "You're such a nerd."

"How are your grades?" Her hands do their awkward fumbling over the keyboard, then he pauses. "Straight A's. Good job, Jennie."

"Does that earn me a reward?"

She leans back in her chair, fingers laced behind her head. "Such as?"

Damn … She's so sexy.

Lisa narrows her eyes in suspicion, and most likely a little distrust, when I move from my chair to the door. "Jennie … no."

I lock the door anyway.

"I could get fired for having a student in my office with the door locked."

"If you get caught. You know everyone knocks. They don't even try to open the door until you respond." Prowling toward her, I slip off my denim jacket. "Remember that night at your house … on the stairs?"

She shakes her head. "Not here."

"Carpe diem, Ms. Manoban." I slide off my fitted neon yellow tee, revealing a black lace bra.

Her throat makes a slow dip as her eyes flash to the door. Her nerves are palpable.

I kick off my flashy gold sneakers and unfasten my ripped jeans and shimmy out of them, luring Lisa with my flirty grin. Her lips part and I want to taste them, tempt them, and drive them so crazy they can't help but devour me.

"Jennie …"

"Miss Kim." I sit on the edge of her desk. She rolls back in her chair just enough to accommodate me. "Today I'm Miss Kim, and you are Ms. Manoban."

Her gaze homes in on the apex of my legs as I plant each foot on the arms of her chair.

"The thong is new. You like, Ms. Manoban?" I lean back on my hands, tossing my dark hair over my shoulder.

The indecision on Lisa's face has a way of slicing into my heart. She's twenty-four. No twenty-four-year-old should have to bear the weight of the whole world, but she does.

"You know…" I slide my finger under the thin strip of material and pull my thong to the side "…forbidden can be sexy."

Geez. It's like she's watching someone kill a litter of puppies. So much anguish. I press pause on the sexy scene I planned out in my head this morning.

Easing off the desk, I straddle her lap, framing her handsome face. "We live in a cage, and I hate it. The rules. The constant looking over our shoulders."

"The rules are there to keep bad things from happening," she says.

"The rules reward those who conform. They stifle independence, creativity, and freedom."

She shakes her head. "Without them, you would have nothing to break."

I blink several times. Lisa grins.

The world doesn't understand us. They don't understand that someday I'm going to make babies with this woman, and sitting on her lap, half-naked behind the locked door, is not wrong or forbidden.

It's basic.

It's simple.

It's us—Jenlisa.

It's life.

"What's going through that head of yours?" She searches every inch of my face.

"I'm imagining what our kids are going to look like?"

Well, shit … there goes her smile.

"Don't." I rest my forehead on hers, closing my eyes as my hands slide from her neck to her shoulders and down her chest. "Don't think about everything that stands between now and the future. Just … for the next fifteen minutes pretend that you can have absolutely anything in life you want." I feather kisses down her cheek to her ear and whisper, "For fifteen minutes, be limitless with me."

Warm hands rest on my hips as hungry lips claim mine. My fingers slide up her face, finding their favorite place in her hair. She releases a sexy growl when I tug to deepen our kiss. Greedy hands find their spot palming my ass—hard—scooting me closer. Like kneading dough, she squeezes it, pushing and pulling to work me over her erection.

I like out-of-control Lisa. Unraveling her is an experience like no other. Lips, jaw, neck, shoulder—her mouth can't decide what it craves the most. "Our babies…" her lips pull into a grin against my neck "…will have fierce cat-like eyes, and they will be rock stars."

Her words overflow my heart, dripping down … staining my soul with the most beautiful promise.

Grinning, I close my eyes and let my mind follow that dream. The artist in me paints it with vivid color. The hands of my imagination sculpt every tiny detail.

Lisa eases down the straps to my bra while her lips brush along the swell of my breasts. She stops, pulling back an inch while lifting a single brow at the condom that I shoved into my bra this morning.

Relinquishing a sheepish grin, I lift my shoulders. "A girl can dream."

Blink. Blink.

I hold my breath, waiting to see if Lisa can truly be limitless with me. She's going to clam up on me and say no. I deflate a little.

"Well, let's see if it fits."

My gaze shoots to hers. "The condom on you or you inside of me?"

Her grin doubles on a soft chuckle. "Both."

I crash my lips to hers. "I love you. I love you. I love you," I mumble without moving from her mouth.

Lisa squeezes my breast with one hand and her other hand snakes between us. I moan as her fingers play between my legs, getting me very, very wet. "Baby?" Her heavy breaths fall against my cheek. "It kills me to rush this, but …" She slides two fingers inside of me, twisting, stretching, and readying me for her.

"We have to hurry," I finish her thought with my own breathless words.

Lisa nods. I rip open the condom wrapper as she frees her erection. My hands shake, nearly dropping it on the ground.

She glances up at me with a half smile. "Should I do it?"

Fire plumes along my cheeks. I shake my head, forcing my hands and mind to focus. "I've got it." I press it to the swollen head of her cock.

"Other way," she says.

"Oh … okay." I flip it the other way and try to roll it down over her length, but it doesn't want to cooperate. I rub it between my thumbs and middle fingers. "Shit!" I freeze.

We stare at the torn condom.

"My fingernail got it."

"Get another one." She bends down and sucks in my nipple.

My eyes fight to stay open when her mouth on my breast sends a jolt of pleasure straight between my legs. "I-I don't have another one."

She lets my nipple pop out of her mouth, eyes aimed up at me. "What?"

I shake my head. "Just one. Don't tell Juni. She insists on at least a twelve-pack."

Exhaling, she drops her forehead to my chest. "I'm so fucking hard and the stupid bell is going to ring in…" she glances up at the clock "…seven minutes."

I climb off her lap and kneel between her legs.

"Jennie," she says in a husky voice filled with warning.

I rub my lips together as she strokes herself a few times.

"You're going to tell me no, aren't you?" I give her my most disappointed frown.

Eyes hooded, she draws in her lower lip with her teeth while her hand squeezes her cock, making slow, hard strokes. "I'm going to tell you you're down to five minutes, so don't lick it like one of your lollipops, suck it in hard and deep like the last drag of a joint." She keeps her gaze unwavering as one corner of her mouth curls a fraction. It's so wicked and so fucking sexy.

Honestly, the way she hisses when I take her as deep as I can, I don't think she'll make it thirty seconds.

Two minutes.

She makes it two minutes. It's pretty impressive under the circumstances.

With three minutes to spare, we piece ourselves back together.

"You have to take this and throw it in the trash at home. Not in my office. Not in the restroom. Not on school property. Don't forget and leave it in your purse. Don't slip it in your pocket. And for the love of God, don't use it as a bookmark. Okay?"

I take the ripped condom and wrapper, squinting at her while I slip it into my bag. "You read a lot of fiction. I, too, heard rumors about a condom shoved into Moby Dick, but that's a bit too amateurish for me."

She opens her desk drawer and retrieves a lemon drop, pops it into her mouth, and closes the drawer. "Go be a good student. I have work to do."

I grab her tie and yank her down to my face. She grins. I grin. And I kiss her, sliding my tongue into her mouth just as the bell rings. She pulls away, rubbing her lips together then pausing.

My exaggerated, toothy grin shows her her lemon drop trapped between my teeth.

"You suck." She opens her drawer for another lemon drop.

I unlock the door and turn the handle. "You know it. Like the last drag of a joint." Glancing back over my shoulder, I blow her a kiss.

"Jennie?"

I stop halfway out the door. "Yeah?"

Her gaze inspects the hallway behind me for a quick second before those blue eyes land back on me. She mouths, "I love you."

Dead.