Page 1 of Learning Little Lizzie
CHAPTER 1
“Have you heard anything about our new professor?”
Eliza Bennett shook her head at Harmony’s whispered question. “Nope. Not a peep. But I hope he’s at least cute.”
When Harmony gasped, Eliza couldn’t help but giggle at the shocked sound. “What? If we’re going to have to sit through fucking algebra, the least they can do is give us a hot guy to stare at.”
“Just don’t go getting any ideas.” Wincing slightly, Harmony shifted in her chair. “Hooking up with a Rawhide-U professor isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Since Harmony’s Daddy was indeed a professor at Rawhide University where both she and Eliza were currently enrolled, Harmony was the voice of experience. But Eliza just rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I’m not looking to settle down with any of the men here. They’re all so strict.”
“You could use someone strict, if you ask me,” Harmony muttered. “Keep you out of trouble.”
Tossing her dark ponytail over her shoulder, Eliza grinned. “Wouldn’t being with someone strict just mean I’d be in trouble more often, not less?”
Not that she minded being in trouble. In fact, it had become almost like a game to see what kind of punishments the bossy-types at the Ranch would come up with for her. But a strict Dom would try to keep her from having any fun, and that would never do.
Life was too short not to enjoy it to the fullest.
“You know what I mean.”
But before Harmony could expound on the virtues of having a strict Daddy ruling over her life, the door to the classroom opened. Butterflies fluttered in Eliza’s stomach as she got her first glimpse of their new professor.
He wasn’t just good-looking. He was downright gorgeous.
“Hello, Professor Silver Fox,” Eliza murmured under her breath, inspiring a burst of giggles from Harmony and a few of the other students around them.
Professor Hottie turned and pinned them all with a glare that had other parts of Eliza’s anatomy fluttering along with the butterflies in her stomach. As she’d already noted, he was the very definition of a silver fox, with a head full of shiny gray hair and a closely trimmed beard in the same shade. Even his eyes were a dark and stormy kind of gray. Add in the exquisitely tailored three-piece suit and leather messenger bag over his shoulder, and he looked every bit the gentleman Dom.
Yum.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Professor Samuel Eaton, and this semester I will be your guide into the fascinating world of mathematics. I trust you all completed the workbooks I assigned over the summer, so after you pass those forward, we’ll begin with a quiz to gauge where the class is at as a whole.”
Shit. She’d completely forgotten about the workbook, even though Harmony had reminded her about a dozen times over the course of the summer. And she’d meant to do it, she really had, it was just that as soon as Harmony was out of sight, the reminder about her homework seemed to disappear right along with her.
Besides, who assigned homework over the summer? A sadist, that’s who. Unsurprising, given that he’d chosen to teach classes at a BDSM ranch.
Eliza shifted uneasily in her seat as the rest of the class dutifully pulled their workbooks from their backpacks and passed them forward to the front as instructed. While she enjoyed a little humiliation play as much as the next submissive, being caught off guard like this was more embarrassing than she cared to admit.
Especially when she looked up and found those piercing gray eyes locked on her.
To her relief, Professor Eaton didn’t comment on her lack of preparedness before collecting the workbooks from the rest of the class.
And then he pulled out a stack of quizzes.
Seriously? A pop quiz on the first day? More evidence of the man’s sadistic nature.
Grabbing a pencil from her bag, Eliza tried to focus on the questions. But it was clear that her forgetful nature was once again going to bite her in the ass. There were maybe two questions out of twenty she felt somewhat confident about answering, but the rest went completely over her head.
Fuck.
By the time the buzzer went off, indicating the end of the test, Eliza was feeling a bit sick to her stomach. She couldn’t afford to fail another class. Master Derek had already been very clear about her future at the University if she did.
“Pencils down.”
Stomach still churning, Eliza placed her pencil on the desk and passed her paper forward along with the rest of the class. At least she wasn’t just sitting there with nothing to hand in this time.
Small blessings, she supposed.
