The Perfect Guy: A Romance Novel Read online

  “It looks good on job applications.”

  Jennifer collected her papers and notes into a pile, which she stuffed into her handbag. She gave him one last suspicious glance—it was obvious she still did not trust him—before shrugging. “If you say so.”

  He hated when she did this. Her words made it sound like she believed what he said, but her body language told him that she only humored him while her thoughts ran wild.

  While his blood boiled with anger in his veins, he followed Jennifer quietly to her room. He remained by her side so that they could go to the next class together, which would be held by Whitlock and Brandon.

  James already knew what class it was compared to his fellow volunteers and the students, and he planned to use this class to his advantage. He was going to use Jennifer’s physical attraction for him in this class—it was one of his fields of expertise, after all—hopefully finding her weakness and directing him to the next phase so that he could finally begin his work. It didn’t matter what he felt deep inside. She was a job like any other, and he was going to prove it to himself and to his aunt.

  James stepped to the side when Jennifer logged in on the iPad to check what class was next, and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling when her eyes widened before her breath escaped her with a whoosh.

  Her eyes darted to where he was for a short second and then quickly went back to the iPad.

  James erased his smile and replaced it with a frown. “Is there something wrong?”

  Her head whipped his way, and she cleared her throat, all the while shaking her head a bit too fast to be convincing. “No, no! Not at all.”

  “You sure?” he pressed, like he knew any person would at this point. “You seem a bit distressed. What’s our next class?” James pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning on and walked slowly up to Jennifer. It did not go unnoticed how she took a step away from him when he came too close.

  “It’s…uh…” She cleared her throat again, but it did not help because her voice was barely above a whisper when she continued. “Sex Ed. in practice.”

  “Ah!” he exclaimed and pretended to look through the message on the iPad. “Don’t worry about that. It’s more like Bedroom Do’s and Don’ts. They usually pick a couple that they can show some of the stuff on, but it’s all very mellow,” he reassured her and he saw how she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thank God! I was afraid they were going to give us homework!” she said with a genuine laugh that felt very pleasant in James’s ears. It made his responding smile appear without him acting it.

  Jennifer’s head was thrown back and her eyes were closed, so she did not see when James leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Would that be so bad?” he asked teasingly.

  She gasped and turned her head, which caused their noses to almost bump together.

  James saw how her pupils dilated and her brown depths almost swallowed him.

  He had kissed those he manipulated before and it had all been a simple job, but this was the first time ever that he started to lean forward and close his eyes without him controlling the movement.

  Jennifer’s body responded to him, but when there were mere millimeters before their lips touched, it was as if Jennifer realized what she was doing, because she inhaled sharply and took a step back.

  The action “woke” James up and his eyes flew open to the image of a very frazzled Jennifer.

  “I think we need to get going,” she said lowly.

  She walked past him toward the door, but James was almost frozen to the spot. He couldn’t explain what had transpired between him and Jennifer, because it had never happened to him before. He didn’t know what it was, but he had to shake it off.

  He blinked a few times and took a deep breath before he turned around and joined Jennifer by the door.

  He remained in his thoughts until they reached room one-oh-six, and if Jennifer took notice of his silence, she did not comment on it. In fact, when James looked her way, she seemed to have been just as lost in her thoughts as he had been.

  Before they entered the room, James grabbed Jennifer’s wrist and stopped her. Lauren Mallory and Peter Matthews approached the room from behind them, so James allowed them to enter first.

  When Peter hesitated and glanced Jennifer’s way over his shoulder, James glared at him. It was more a part of the act that James was jealous that caused him to do this, but there was also a small fear inside of him that told him that Peter was more observant than James liked. He reminded him a lot of Jennifer, and that was a good cause to worry.

  If Peter, by any chance, saw something that passed Jennifer’s attention, he would tell her in a heartbeat and her suspicions would flare up with full force.

  “What are you doing?” Jennifer asked and James met her eyes.

  “Jenn, about what happened up there…”

  Jennifer held up her hand. “Do you really want to talk about this right now, James?”

  “I think we should. If I made you uncomfortable in any way—”

  “Please, let’s just not do this right now,” Jennifer said to interrupt him. “I can’t think about that now. If you only knew how conflicted I feel about you, you might understand, but—”

  “Then tell me! Jenn, I need to know.”

  Jennifer was quiet for a while, and then she finally exhaled heavily. “We’ll talk tonight, okay?”

  James nodded and then Jennifer turned around to enter the classroom.

  He wanted to claim that the conversation was all a part of his plan, but everything, from the moment his fingers wrapped around her wrist, had been completely out of his character. It had been as if a part of his personality that he didn’t know about had broken free and taken control over his body and mind over the course of the few seconds that the conversation lasted.

  Feeling frustrated at himself, but at the same time hoping that it would all work in his favor, James rubbed his hands over his face and inhaled deeply through his nose. Once he felt in complete control of himself again, James took slow and deliberate steps toward the door and entered the room.

  Jennifer stood by one of the walls, talking with Leah and Jessica. Peter stood next to her as well, but when he saw James walk inside the room, he started to make his way toward James and Riley instead.

  “All right, if everyone could just find their seats, we can begin,” Brandon, a small black-haired woman, said while Whitlock was placing a sheet of paper on each table. “Since you all were in Professor Whitlock’s class earlier, you’ll know what to do in this one,” she continued. “We’ll start this class with a discussion. I want all of you to write down the biggest turn on and turn off in the bedroom. Now, some of you might disagree, but the key to a long-lasting relationship is a healthy sex life. Without it, the passion will wither and die eventually. And how can we maintain a healthy sex life?” Brandon held out her hands, palms up, and waited for the class to answer.

  “Communication,” the students answered automatically. It wasn’t the first time they got that question. It was all drilled into their heads now that communication was the key to everything.

  “Exactly,” Brandon said with a smile and held out her hands for the leftover papers that Whitlock offered her.

  James held out Jennifer’s chair for her and then leaned as close to her as he possibly could while she wrote. He wanted to know what turned her on and off. It was important information for the next part of his plan.

  When he plays with my fingers

  No kisses

  Before Jennifer could see that he was looking—it was supposed to be anonymous, after all—James leaned away and waited for it all to begin. He could definitely use what Jennifer had written.

  The talk began when all the papers had been collected and read out loud. Most turn-ons were exactly what James had expected. It was obvious which were written by women and which were written by men. The women wanted soft and loving physical touches. They wanted foreplay, for men to worship them, while the men wrote
how it was a turn on when a woman touched herself in front of them or things similar to that.

  It was the turn offs that sparked the discussion, though, but James was still waiting. He knew what was coming up and he was waiting for the same window that the professors were waiting for.

  “How should we do it, then?” Eric Yorkie asked when the list of what men did wrong started to become very long. The women in the class had become very vocalized and passionate once they had warmed up and the discussion was in full bloom. Eric’s question made the room go silent.

  “An excellent question, Eric,” Brandon said after a few seconds. “However, it will be hard to answer that question theoretically. I think the best way would be to show you.”

  “And how will you do that?” Jessica Stanley asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Well, first of all, I need a pair with a male volunteer.” James did not show it, but he was grinning on the inside. He already knew that Brandon would pick him and Jennifer. He had made sure that Esme made it clear to her professors that he and Jennifer were to always be picked if there would be physical touches involved.

  The professors sort of suspected what James was since they saw him come back to the program over the years, but they had learned to not ask questions. If Mrs. Kellen allowed him to come back, they were certainly not going to comment on it as long as he did not disturb the classes. So far, he had only contributed to them.

  “James?” Brandon said and James turned his head in a manner as if he was surprised she had chosen him.

  “Yes?”

  “Would you and Jennifer mind?” she asked with a small smile that was just a tiny bit tense in the corners, but James wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed.

  James looked at Jennifer questioningly. To anyone else it would look like he gave her the choice, when the truth was that she had absolutely no say in the matter. However, it helped him to gain more of Jennifer’s trust.

  Jennifer shrugged and together they stood up and walked to the front to join the professors.

  Whitlock crossed his arms and appraised James for a second, which he did not like. The man was perhaps a few years older than him at the most.

  “Do you feel that you can satisfy women?” Whitlock had the nerve to ask, and because James had to play his part, he lowered his head as if he was embarrassed, but he was gritting his teeth all the way.

  “They’ve never complained at least,” he said toward his feet, and a few of the guys in the class whistled. James gave them a timid smile in response.

  “Well, then show us how you would seduce a woman normally, and after that, we’ll discuss in class what you did right versus what you did wrong.”

  “In front of everybody?” Jennifer asked with wide eyes. James knew that she was afraid her attraction for him would cause her to get carried away. They both knew what his touch did to her.

  “Don’t worry, Jenn! Think of it as a rehearsal of a play,” Brandon said in an attempt to calm the woman who had started to breathe faster.

  “There’s a reason I didn’t pursue a career as an actress,” Jennifer mumbled low enough for James to be the only one to hear. He placed a hand on her shoulder in a very platonic way and squeezed reassuringly.

  Jennifer inhaled deeply and turned to James. “All right then. Where do you want me?”

  The man in James painted up many scenarios where he would use those words in a very different manner, but the manipulator was a bit more dominant inside of him, so instead of making a few of his fantasies come true, he gestured for Jennifer to stand just like she was, facing the class.

  She relaxed her shoulders and clasped her hands in front of her.

  In a show of trying to control his nerves, James closed his eyes and simply breathed for a few seconds, and then he walked up to Jennifer to stand behind her.

  Carefully, he moved her long hair so that it fell over her left shoulder and exposed the right side of her neck, and equally as carefully, he leaned forward so that his nose touched her bare skin.

  He felt how she shuddered and then swallowed thickly, and he had to hold back his pleased smile. She was affected, but she was holding back.

  With closed eyes, he ran his nose along the length of her neck, down over her shoulder and then back where he inhaled the scent of her skin, and her hair, deep into his lungs.

  “You smell so good, Jenn,” he whispered low enough for her to be the only one to hear the seductive words. The words were not a lie. He did think she smelled good. There was nothing artificial about her smell and he couldn’t put a name on what she smelled like. It was just pure Jennifer.

  James heard how her breath quickened; he could even feel it through her back how her lungs expanded more violently than before.

  His hands, which had been placed on her shoulders, traced down along her arms toward her wrists, returned back up and stopped on her upper arms. There, he tightened his hold on her ever so slightly and pulled her back against his chest.

  He couldn’t explain why, but something inside of him told him to replace his nose with his lips. He placed feather light kisses in the spot where her neck met her shoulder and then just underneath her hairline. It affected him to a point. His heart started to beat faster, and he felt the urge to take it further than was appropriate, but he reined himself in. Jennifer was still a case that he had to finish. His personal feelings could not take a part in it.

  Jennifer’s hands had gone limp and were now hanging loosely at her sides, so when James’s hands began to travel down again, he could freely thread his fingers through hers.

  Even though James wanted to keep his personal feelings out of it, he couldn’t stand to be so cold and keep her in the position she was in. He wanted her to face him so that he could look into her beautiful brown eyes, so while he released one of her hands, he used the other one to turn her around.

  She wasn’t looking at him. She was stubbornly looking at her hands, which were clasped in his. His warmth was radiating from his palms, to her hands and up her arms. Shivers ran down her spine in waves and she was fighting hard to control her breathing.

  James was also looking down at their joined hands, but his mind was on how their breaths mixed in the air between them, and how he could still smell her.

  He started to raise their hands to his mouth and he tenderly kissed her knuckles. Jennifer finally looked up at him, and when he met her gaze, his insides squeezed almost painfully.

  She was so beautiful in that moment. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed, and her lips slightly parted. The want from earlier, when he wanted to lean forward and kiss her, hit him with full force, and he was just about to do exactly that when they were interrupted.

  “Thank you, that will be enough,” Brandon said, and both James and Jennifer blinked several times so that they could come back to reality.

  James did not listen to the rest of the class, and he doubted Jennifer did either. Both were deep in their thoughts, but James was also starting to feel a bit panicked.

  His plan with the entire “seduction” was to get Jennifer more willing to do what he said, but it had all backfired on him terribly.

  CHAPTER 14

  THE REALIZATION

  I didn’t look at James again during the rest of the class.

  I was afraid that his too-perceptive eyes would see exactly how much I’d been affected by his touch. It felt almost as if he would be able to see the perspiration underneath my arms and on my neck.

  I would have to change all of my clothes before he and I had any kind of talk—maybe even take a shower.

  I continued to avoid him when the class ended, and he followed me to my room. When I glanced his way, he seemed to be deep in thought. It didn’t look like he had made a conscious decision to come with me, it had just happened.

  Then I cleared my throat once we were inside, and he startled a bit. He looked at me with inquiring eyes. “I have to take a shower before we talk. Would you mind waiting?”

  It took a few secon
ds for him to respond, and even then, it was a silent one. He simply nodded and slowly sat down on one of the sofas.

  I studied him hesitantly before slowly turning and making my way to the bathroom. There was something up with him. He was acting strange—distracted and unfocused—and it unnerved me a bit. It was yet another side of him I hadn’t seen before, and I wondered how many were left.

  A sigh of relief escaped me when the warm water cascaded down my back. It felt good to wash away the stickiness that covered my body, as well as a bit of my shame. I couldn’t explain why I felt ashamed of my feelings. I guess it was because it felt like I was betraying myself in a way. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way for the guy, but I was.

  So far, it had stopped at physical attraction, but since the night he told me about his sister, everything he did made a new mark on me. It caused me to be even more cautious, and I snapped at him more often, calling him out on bullshit I wasn’t sure even existed. It was all just an attempt to keep him at arm’s length because he was slowly weaseling his way closer to me and my heart.

  I hated his obvious need to control things, his know-it-all behavior, and his bipolar ways, but he was also charming and funny. I loved his sarcasm and the total chemistry between us.

  Was I in the wrong to fall for a man like that?

  I thought about what he had done to me in class today as my hands traced all over my naked body.

  I tried to swallow down the thickness in my throat, but it did not help as the familiar ache between my legs grew stronger with every second.

  The hands touching me were no longer my own—they were his.

  I moaned when they came in contact with my breasts. The soap on them acted like a lubricant and the usually pleasurable feeling was at least ten times stronger.

  I could feel him behind me, his lips kissing my neck just like he had done earlier, and when I shivered, his grip on me tightened, causing me to be pressed against his chest.