Hump Day - Ch. 2

“Tab?!” Her nickname was all Sebastian could gasp out over the sudden emotional lump in his throat. With hungry eyes, he perused Tabitha’s appearance in the formfitting blue jeans, sapphire-colored V-neck top, and blue trainer boots she wore.

Although Tabitha was still slender and athletic-looking like Flo-Jo, the famous track star, the last ten years had added more volume to her curves in the best way. Now she really had a supple hourglass figure like the African-American side of her family, where full-bodied women like her mother were in abundance.

Tabitha’s figure wasn’t the only thing different about her now. Her natural wheat-colored hair was currently blond, causing her to look more like the Caucasian part of her family from the neck up. Or at least like Halle Berry in the comedy movie BAPS.

Tabitha seemed equally shocked to see the man who’d broken her heart all those years ago. Her shock was soon replaced by anger. What couldn’t Sebastian be bald, fat, and ugly by now? What did he have to look so good in the charcoal-colored slacks, ecru mock turtleneck, and shiny black shoes he wore? Worse, why were all of Tabitha’s senses going into overload the longer she looked at him?

“Seb, what are you doing here?” she asked, using his nickname, as well. If her backpack wasn’t still holstered across one shoulder, Tabitha would have surely dropped it by now, thereby breaking the new laptop computer she recently purchased. Where was all of her police training now?

Quicker to recover, Sebastian put the eraser down and patted his hands free of debris. The whole time he never stopped looking into Tabitha’s sapphire eyes, watching how they turned deeper blue with fury. It was clear that she was still mad with him for choosing to leave Leeward all those years ago.

Sebastian expected Tabitha’s anger and had a bit of his own to dish out. After all, she could have easily come to him once her mother had the baby. He’d written her with his address when he got settled. But no, Tabitha chose to stay there in that backwoods town and waste her time and energy on a hopeless cause. If everybody made the wrong choice, it was her.

“I’m here teaching a class, Tabitha,” Sebastian replied curtly, using her given name now. Fully recovered from his shock, he refused to indulge in any intimacies from the past. Doing so might spell emotional danger for the both of them.

“Don’t tell me you’re teaching this class. My class?” Tabitha’s eyes were wide with horror now. As she spoke, she put her backpack atop of the first sturdy desk on the third row.

“Yes, I am. I just can’t believe those rednecks up in Leeward finally decided to let you advance up the ranks so that you could even be in this class,” Sebastian replied. “I’m curious, how long you did you stay a sergeant after I left?” he added smugly. Sebastian knew exactly how to get to her, even though he wasn’t sure yet why he still wanted to.

As expected, his arrogant comments instantly struck a fiery nerve within Tabitha. Why else would her hands immediately clench into fists at her sides? It was obvious that she wanted to punch him or at least dropkick him for his remarks, but like the good police officer that she was, she restrained herself.

“It doesn’t really matter how long it took me to get here. All that matters is that I’m here now; ready to learn whatever you have to teach me. So teach me, you big jerk!” Tabitha said super-calmly. Then she plopped down in the seat of the desk she stood by and folded her arms defiantly across her chest.

Tabitha hadn’t come all this way to be dissuaded by her ex-partner/ex-lover. There was too much riding on this. In fact, she was going to glean every bit of information Sebastian had to offer, ask hundreds of questions, and make him work his cute patooty off to earn the top dollar that he was no doubt being paid to teach this class at such a prestigious institution. So what if that same cute patooty was filling out the pants he wore very nicely today.

Instead of being angry about Tabitha’s fiery attitude, Sebastian was highly stimulated by it, which was why he moved to the rectangular-shaped oak desk in the northeast corner of the room by the window. He had to put some distance away from them.

Even still Sebastian didn’t regret the provocative words he’d used to stir Tabitha’s fire up hotter. That’s the kind of spunk that caused a woman like her to make love for hours, regardless of the fact that she was a cop and was used to being physically active for long periods of time without getting out of breath.

And the way Tabitha quickly adjusted to Sebastian’s new status in her life, even embracing it as if the whole thing was her idea in the first place, had him recalling other times she’d been so adaptable. Incredibly enjoyable other times.

One time in particular, Sebastian suggested that they take a leisure walk in the tall wheat fields of his parents’ land. Halfway across, they found a small clearing that his father had made days earlier. Sebastian made another suggestion at that point, one more sensual in nature.

He stifled a moan in memory of how quickly Tabitha complied with his spontaneous request to make love to her right there on the spot. Sebastian stole a quick glance her way to see if she’d heard his moment of weakness. When he saw Tabitha busy unpacking her backpack, he sighed in relief and looked out the nearby window to tame his riotous thoughts.

As Sebastian noted the green grass on the ground below, his rebellious mind again turned to that day in the wheat field. A day when the ground had been browner in color.

In his mind’s eye, Sebastian remembered how Tabitha looked lying beneath him on the ground. Her hair, which had sported its natural color back then, had lay sprawled deliciously above her head, its tint blending in with some of the wheat grains around them. And those eyes…Tabitha’s sapphire pools had stared lovingly up at Sebastian the whole hour he made slow love to her.

So enraptured with the woman beneath him, Sebastian didn’t even stop when a small plane flew overhead well within clear viewing range. The thought of stopping didn’t actually occur to him until a soft rain began to fall. When Sebastian prepared to take a brief intermission so that they could seek shelter, Tabitha surprised him by rolling on top of him. Then she proceeded to extend their lovemaking time for another thirty minutes, oblivious to how wet they were getting out there in the elements.

Sebastian will never forget how beautiful Tabitha had looked with her damp hair plastered to her head, her back arched, and her body straddled atop him in true cowgirl style. When that fervent encounter had ended, he remembered thinking that he’d finally found the woman that he wanted to grow old with. My, how things had changed.

Hearing another student enter the classroom instantly snapped Sebastian out of his memory daze. The arrival of yet another student caused him to remember the purpose of today’s meeting and to endeavor to quickly get himself together.

Clearing his throat, Sebastian took a deep breath to flush the remnants of anger and desire out of his system. When he was thoroughly composed again, he stood up and began to address his incoming students.


© 2006 by Suprina Frazier

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