Read Bad Professor (An Alpha Male Bad Boy Romance) for Free Online Page A

my petite friend.
    "Yes,
you are," Lexi smiled, "and you know what else you are, Ethan? My
partner."
    "What?"
I cried.
    "Just
trying to help with that whole comfort zone thing," Lexi said as she laced
her arm through Ethan's and left me standing alone.
    "Fine,
I'll just go alone," I called.
    "Sorry,
the instructor says everyone needs a partner. I'm the only one left," Ford
said. He handed me one of the two harnesses he was holding. "If it makes
you feel better, we get to go first."
    The
nimble strength of his fingers as he helped me into the harness added a whole
different tone to my jangling nerves. Ford stood just inches away, close enough
that his shadowed chin caught a few tendrils of my hair. He brushed them
carefully back into place. His touch was so soft that it was impossible for me
to feel it all the way to the soles of my feet, but I did.
    "Last
chance to back out," he said.
    "No
way in hell," I grumbled and grabbed hold of the rope with both hands. Ford
and the instructor hoisted me high up to the first platform.
    "You're
just nervous because now you're the dork partnered with the teacher," I
whispered to myself on the treetop platform and waved to Lexi far below. "If
this doesn't count as out of my comfort zone, then Professor Bauer is
insane."
    He
was insane. The whole student group cheered as he opted to climb the tree
instead of catch a ride to the top. I couldn't see much from my angle, but Lexi
was fanning herself and shooting me thumbs ups.
    "Sorry,"
Ford said, only slightly out of breath. "Can't let the students think I'm
an old man."
    I
clung to the tree trunk but offered him one arm. He shook his head and hauled
himself onto the platform before springing to his feet. The crowd below
cheered.
    "Good
job, professor." I couldn't take my eyes off him.
    Ford
was jaw-dropping in just an undershirt and jeans. He'd shed his college logo
button down below and the white, short-sleeved shirt did nothing to hide the
taut strain and flex of his chiseled muscles. Standing so casually on the edge
of a dizzying drop, Ford looked more like a superhero than a college professor.
    "Army
training," he explained when he saw my eyes were riveted to his biceps. "Haven't
broken the habit yet."
    I
refused to let him see me drooling over his rock-hard physique. This ropes
course and a perfectly worded article were all that stood between me and a
better grade. I inched around the tree trunk and swallowed hard as I looked out
across the ropes course. Two parallel ropes, one over the other, stretched from
our platform far across to another one. In between seemed to be nothing but
open air.
    "I'll
go first, if you want. Or we can go together," Ford said. "Hold my
hand?"
    I
snorted. "You don't think I can do this? I'm going first."
    I
grabbed the higher rope and inched onto the lower one. Moving hand over hand
and sliding my feet first apart and then together, I moved out past the tree
branches. Everything was fine until I felt Ford's weight bounce the ropes.
    "You're
doing great, Clarity; keep going," he called.
    I
couldn't let me catch up with me. The temptation to grab onto his agile and
strong body would be too much and we were literally hanging, fully exposed
above a group of Landsman College students.
    "Slow
down, if you want," Ford said. "This isn't a race."
    My
inappropriate attraction to him drove me faster along the ropes. I hit the next
platform and kept going, as if the devil himself was chasing me. I didn't slow
down until my safety line, secured by carabiners, got tangled at another
treetop platform.
    "Here,
let me help," Ford said. He stepped onto the small platform and reached
his arms around me.
    I
peeked out around his shoulder and realized the rest of the college students
were far behind. In my anxiety to keep an appropriate distance between me and
Ford, I had somehow separated us from everyone else. Despite the chill in the
air, the trees still held reddish and gold leaves, secluding us from