Maing the Grade -- Part D

Authors note: Making the Grade is my fourth, longest and final story in my Hot Tails in Oak Hills series. This story has been divided into five parts for easier reading. Welcome back and I hope all of you enjoy the fourth chapter. GEV

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Jacob shut and locked the front door of his house as he stepped out on the front landing, pocketing his keys as he walked down the sidewalk to where he parked his car in the driveway, letting out a long breath as he opened the door when it automatically unlocked. He was officially done with teaching for the school year, his last class was on Wednesday and by today, Friday, he had everything out of his room that he needed to take home before the building was closed for the summer. He still had a job next year, not one member of the faculty had yet to find out about his and Madison's relationship prior to her graduation and no one ever would. He had gone back to his classroom that evening after walking her to her truck and cleaned up the broken potted plant and wiped up her blood from the desk before the custodians could ever get to his room, leaving it as neat as he always did, still seeing her there, on his desk...

He hadn't seen Madison for a week, and it was starting to get to him, granted they had talked and exchanged text messages but it wasn't the same, he needed the physical touch, wanted her beside him at night. He knew she would never go behind his back like his ex and if anything, she was hanging out with Dylan since it was their last summer together before college and he was the last person that would ever be a threat to their relationship. He was just about to slide in behind the wheel of his car, he had to unload the trunk before he could go to Riverton to get groceries, when a white Honda Civic coupe rolled into his driveway, parking on the far side next to the lawn, and he rested his forearms on the hood of his car, waiting to see who was behind the wheel.

When the driver's door opened and Madison climbed out, her purse and the manila folder he had given her in her hands, he walked around the rear of his car and over to her just as she shut the door, taking in every inch of her from head to toe as he always did. She had a pair of sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose and her hair was pulled back into a single thick braid that laid down the length of her spine, he could see a bit of black lace peeking over the scoop neck of her cropped, bright blue tank top, the curves of her breasts pushed even higher in the bra that he had bought her, several inches of her toned abdomen bare between the bottom edge of her top and the low waistband of her...

Fuck, she was wearing snug fitting denim capris that hugged every curve of her hips and ass and thighs, the bottom of the legs turned up once to show off more of her calves, the plain silver ball in her navel already on display. Her leather sandals were basically two straps crossed over the tops of her feet and flat soles, and her toenails were still painted aqua blue along with her fingernails. He stepped closer to her just as she looked up at him and he slid his arm around her waist, pulling her hard against his tense body, reaching up and brushing back a strand of hair that was too short to be confined to her braid. He cupped her chin in his hand and bent his head, giving her a quick kiss. "A week is too damn long to be away from me. Never again."

Madison looked up at him, slowly smiling as he lifted his mouth from hers just as quickly as he had kissed her. She could feel the heat radiating off his body, the tenseness of his muscles as he wrapped his arm around her, the soft scent of his soap that clung to his skin. "You're going to have to get used to it while I'm in college. And he does own jeans," she said, matter-of-factly, leaning into him as his hand wandered a tad bit lower, palming the curve of her ass. That was the first thing she noticed when she got out of her car and he started walking around the back of his, that he was wearing faded jeans that hugged his hips and hard ass and were a little loose around his thighs.

His plain black T-shirt almost had a hard time containing his shoulders and biceps--an inch of his tattoo was showing--and since he was all about appearances, if he opted for a larger shirt, it would just look sloppy. Even his black and white sneakers were spotless. And even casually dressed, he still had his hair neatly styled all except for that stubborn lock that fell over his brow, adding to the sexier-then-hell-but-I-will-eat-you-alive presence. She swallowed hard when she saw the look in his eyes, that same look he got every time he laid eyes on her after being apart for more than two days, longing and desire. "I finished filling out the application and I got my car fixed this afternoon. Were you just getting home or leaving?"

"I'm on my way to Riverton to get something for dinner tonight and if you're staying over, I need to get you snacks, too," Jacob said, taking a step back from her and opening the passenger door on his car. He couldn't help but smile as she got the biggest smile on her face and hurried over to his car, sitting down in the seat and swinging her legs in. He shut the door and walked around the rear, seeing but ignoring his neighbor one house down that was staring up the road at him. The old man was practically blind and couldn't see ten feet in front of him, harmless, and probably wishing he had a younger woman than the old bitty he was married to. He shook his head and slid down behind the wheel, pulling the door closed and reaching over to push the ignition button as he fastened his seatbelt, the engine revving as it started.

He looked over at Madison as she settled into the leather seat beside him, adjusting the position of her seatbelt and the seat itself until she was comfortable. The last person that had sat in that seat was... there was never going to be another person beside him except for her. He reached for the protective case that held his prescription sunglasses and quickly exchanged his regular glasses for the tinted ones. "Ready," he asked, and when she nodded her head, he shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway, slowly driving through the housing community towards the exit gate.

Madison looked over at him as he maneuvered the powerful car down the hill to the exit, slowing down to a crawl as the sensor detected his car and the gate slowly opened, speeding up and driving through the unbarricaded space and down the slight incline to the main road. She turned her gaze out the tinted side window, watching as he turned onto the road that took them to the southbound entrance of the interstate, taking the turn a little faster than he probably should, shifting in her seat as he pushed the car up and over the posted speed limit in a matter of a few seconds, moving from the right lane to the passing lane as he did so, flying past a smaller car like it was sitting still. She felt his hand as it slid across her thigh, the heat of his palm warming her skin through her jeans and she smiled out the window as he tucked his fingers under her leg, casually keeping his hand possessively nestled there as he drove down the interstate at a steady speed, his thumb lazily caressing back and forth.

She rested her arm on the center console, laying her hand on his strong forearm, like it was meant to be there the entire time, gazing over at him as he drove, the tips of her fingers softly caressing his skin. "My parents were surprised about the scholarship and grateful, too. They were going to have me wait until they could set aside enough money for my first term, which would've meant I would have lost my place in the program. And with my dad getting his job back, he was going to start putting part of his check into an account for me and when I told him he didn't have to worry about that anymore he got this surprised look on his face that I will never forget. This past year has been hard on him, and I think it was a relief more than anything."

Jacob briefly looked over at her, gently squeezing her thigh as he maneuvered the car down the interstate, quickly backing off the accelerator when the guy in the other lane decided he wanted to try to cut him off to pass the slower car in front of him, and once the other car slid back over where it belonged, he pressed his foot down, speeding past the slower moving Chevy, daring the driver to try to keep up with him as he got further and further away. He kept his attention focused on the traffic even though his thumb was lazily sliding up and down the soft material of her jeans, but he still had a feeling that she hadn't said anything to her parents about him, not out of embarrassment, but because their age gap was more than they could probably handle. Or maybe it was because he had been her teacher. Or she was just afraid of what her dad would do to him. Whatever the reason was, she needed to get past it and just tell them before they found out from someone else and was twice as mad. At the speed that he was driving, they were halfway to Riverton and he wanted an answer from her before they got there in the next few minutes. "You still haven't told them about us, have you?"

Madison was quiet for a while, looking down at his forearm as she slowly traced the vein that distended his skin. "No," she said softly. She shifted in her seat, looking out the side window, pulling her leg away from his grasp, but he wasn't having any of that and she knew it as he dug his fingers into her leg, not hard enough to hurt but with just enough pressure to keep her where she needed to be, close to him. She shifted back towards him, tucking her foot behind her calf, resting her knee on the center console, trying to ignore his hand as it slid up and down her inner leg from the middle of her calf to the middle of her thigh, no sliding higher, no intimate touch, just his hand on her leg while he drove. She didn't know if she should be mad at him for always wanting to touch her, or mad at herself for craving his touch. She dropped her hands to her lap, looking down at her painted nails and then over at him, at his tense jaw that couldn't be hid behind his stubble. "I will, soon, I just don't know when or how. It's not like you're one or two years older than me. It's going to be a shock and I have to ease them into it. Have you even told your mother?"

"Ouch," he said, chuckling, playfully squeezing her leg. He wished she would wear skirts so he could touch her bare skin, but it was his own fault, he said he wanted her to be comfortable and she was when she was wearing jeans, and it was probably easier for her to kick someone in pants then it would be to do it in a skirt so she wouldn't have to embarrass herself by showing more skin then she had to or constrict her full range of motion if the skirt was too tight. And when she wore pants, she paired it with those tight cropped tops that drove him crazy, showing off her toned little abdomen and whatever charm she had dangling in her navel. He turned on his blinker, looking in the rearview mirror as he moved into the other lane, easing off the accelerator as he aimed the car for the off ramp, slowing the car down as the light at the end of the ramp turned red. He looked over at her, reaching up and caressing the side of her face with the back of his fingers. He was just as guilty. "No, I haven't, but then I don't see her every day and I only talk to her a couple times a month and it's not like you're one or two years younger than me..."

She slowly smiled. He was in the same situation that she was, only his mom was

a lot

older than hers. "See what I mean. You have to ease her into it. We would both be giving our parents a heart attack. Light," she said, noticing that it had turned green before he did, his attention was too focused on her to notice. She straightened in her seat, looking out the windshield as he turned the car to drive over the overpass, his hand going right back onto her leg when he settled in with the flow of traffic, even though Riverton was much more populated than the smaller town and there were more frequent stops, he still had to touch her, his attention focused on the road as his thumb caressed the inside of her thigh. She was glad she hated wearing skirts and dresses because if his hand was on her bare skin... her heart was already beating a tad bit faster from his subtle caress. "I almost forgot. I still have your credit card. The mechanic didn't give me any problem, probably thought you were my dad or something." She reached for her purse, setting it down on her lap and unzipping it to dig out her wallet. "And I put gas in my tank. I hope you don't mind."

He glanced over at her, the corner of his mouth curling up in a smile. From the time he had given her his card until now, there had been no charges on his account, she used it for just what he told her to. She could have gone to lunch with her friend, gone on a shopping spree and he wouldn't have cared but no, she just got her car fixed and filled up her gas tank. And that was the sole reason why he contacted his credit card company to have a card issued in her name, she didn't do any frivolous spending. She had no idea how much money he had locked away in trusts and foundations, how much he had coming in each month that was deposited into an account that was separate from the one he used daily, and he wanted to keep it that way for just a little while longer. He looked down at his card that she held out to him, quickly shifting his gaze back to the car in front of him. "Keep it for now. Yours will be here next week and you're supposed to be using it."

"Jacob," she said, looking over at him as he rolled to a stop behind the other cars that were sitting at the red light. Was he testing her? All this time and she could have treated her friend to a lunch that wasn't from a fast-food place or a food truck, she could have gone and bought that new pair of sneakers she had her eye on for the past couple of months, but no, she did what she was told to do, just fix her car. And she had a card coming in the mail with her name on it? Unexpected and unbelievable at the same time, but then she didn't expect anything less out of him, after all, she was his and he was going to take care of her and part of that meant she wasn't going to have to worry about anything. She put the card back in her wallet and dropped her purse back onto the floorboard. "You didn't... You don't..."

He reached up and caught her chin in his hand, holding her head still as he leaned closer to her, looking at her over the top of his sunglasses, and knowing she could never look away from him, his gaze held hers behind the tinted lenses of her own sunglasses. "Don't argue with me, babydoll, you know what it will get you," he said, his tone a little rough but his eyes not so much. "And you know I have more than enough money to take care of your needs and desires." When she nodded her head and leaned a little bit closer to him, he closed the rest of the distance and kissed her, darting his tongue between her parted lips before closing his mouth hotly over hers, sliding his tongue deep into her mouth, swallowing her moan, not paying any attention to the flow of traffic or the signal as it changed, until the vehicle behind them laid on their horn. He drew the tip of his tongue over the roof of her mouth as he lifted his head, giving her one last kiss before straightening in his seat and pushing his foot down on the accelerator just as the horn sounded again, moving the car forward as he ran the pad of his thumb across her wet bottom lip, feeling her smile, before he dropped his hand back down to her leg. "You'll learn. Sooner or later."

Madison looked over at him. Just what did that mean? She'd learn? She had a feeling deep down inside of her, but she didn't say anything. She waited until he had moved into the turning lane, driving through the green arrow to turn down the busier, five lane avenue that ran the length of the city before she goaded him. She shifted in her seat, tucking her foot under her calf again, resting her elbow on the center console and dropping her chin into her palm, staring at him over the tops of her glasses as his hand went right back to caressing her leg. He was focused on driving, keeping up with the flow of traffic as he tried to maintain his speed in the sports car. She knew she was playing with fire again, and it created such hot flames between them. "What if I want to argue with you? What if I want to see just what it will get me? How naughty do I have to be," she questioned, slowly drawing the tip of her finger up the inside of his thigh from his knee to the crease of his thigh, watching as his cock jerked under the denim pulled taunt over his groin. Her finger never quite reached the top of his thigh, his hand left her leg to quickly grab hers, stopping it from wandering too far. She pulled her hand from his, straightening in her seat and pressing her knees together against the door, looking out the side window. "You can touch me, but I can't touch you?"

"Not while I'm driving, Madison," he warned her, crossing the opposing lane when it was clear, turning into the parking lot of the grocery store, rolling down the first parking aisle till he got to the end where there were no other cars parked, pulling into an empty spot and putting the gearshift into park, killing the engine with a push of a button. He reached for the case that had his regular glasses in them and took them out, holding the earpiece between his teeth as he put away his sunglasses, slipping on his clear lenses, watching her the entire time. He reached over and took hold of her chin, turning her head so he could see her face, watching as she pushed her sunglasses up on the top of her head, those baby blue eyes of hers gazing at him so intently, tinged with a hint of sadness.

A smile slowly came to his face. "I can control my urges when I'm around you, when I touch you, I did it every day for several weeks, but when you touch me, I get rock hard and I'm not going to wrap ninety thousand dollars around a light pole because you want to be a brat. Save it for home." He slowly lowered his gaze to the swells of her breasts that were pushed up against the neckline of her tank top and he reached up, tugging her top up just enough to cover the black lace that was peeking out, hiding her undergarment from everyone's gaze, caressing the smoothness of her skin with the back of his finger. "And I'm the only one that gets to see you in your bra and thong," he whispered, kissing her temple before moving away from her and opening his door, climbing out from behind the wheel.

Madison felt her heart slam in her chest when he brushed his fingers over the top of her breasts to tug her tank top up, looking down at his hand as he slowly drew the back of his crooked index finger over the curve of her exposed skin, softly caressing her. The bra and matching thong he had bought her was sheer black lace and practically pushed her breasts up to her chin and she thought about wearing a T-shirt to cover what he and God had given her, but where was the fun in that, besides the weather was starting to warm up and her cropped tops were cooler. Ever since he had first kissed her, it was always Maddie or babydoll, he only called her by her given name when he was irritated with her one way or another and giving him an erection while driving wasn't the wisest thing to do. "Okay," she whispered, nodding her head when he kissed her temple, her gaze moving to his hard ass in his jeans when he got out of the car, and it took every last ounce of willpower to keep from reaching over and giving one cheek a firm squeeze.

And to know that his cock got harder than a rock when she touched him... She picked up her purse and popped the latch just as he caught the top of the door, opening it the rest of the way for her, and she looked up at him as she climbed out of his car, into those eyes that made her stomach knot up and a sudden ache to form between her legs, her own urges trying to get the best of her. If he just wasn't so damn hot. She slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder, feeling his hand slide down the inside of her arm as he laced their fingers together, keeping her close. "Did you have to park so far away," she teased him as he shut the door, looking across the expanse of the parking lot at the front of the store.