Learning Curves
THE STUDENT IS READY…Graduate student Madeline Watson can't believe the university rejected her human-mating-rituals study, hinting a good girl like her can't handle the racy subject. Okay, so maybe she has a few gaps in her mating knowledge. But she's changing that by propositioning campus bad boy Cal Turner. With his expert instruction, she'll learn the finer points of desire…and how much fun it is being bad.BUT IS THE TEACHER?Mechanic-turned-teacher Cal has to shake a reputation that's been a lifetime in the making. Which means he can't risk a public fling with Maddy…and he can't refuse her oh-so-tempting offer. But he could give her private lessons–just the two of them–studying the art of seduction. Until their passionate sessions overheat the classroom and Cal's left wondering who really is the teacher.
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Madeline Seduces a Man, Part Two, was about to begin
She slid across the front seat to squeeze close to Calâs side.
Their thighs converged, hip to knee, bringing her barely-there stockings into contact with his denim-clad leg. A rush of heat blazed through her making her more determined to seduce this bad boy.
She whispered softly in his ear, âDonât I get a second-date kiss?â
He refused to meet her hot gaze.
She grazed her lips against the scratch of his cheek, stole a quick taste of his warm skin.
He let out a low whistle. âHoney, you donât know what that does to me.â
âI wish it did more.â
He turned to her suddenly. âDo you mean that, or are you just tempting the hell out of me as some kind of social experiment?â
âI want you, Cal.â Maddy trailed a fingertip down his cheek. âI want to see how fast we can go from zero to sixty in that back seat of yours.â
Dear Reader,
What good girl doesnât occasionally dream of letting her inner wild woman run free? If youâve ever entertained the idea of really letting your hair down, I bet youâll like reading about sociology scholar Madeline Watson, who canât wait to undertake the study of human mating rituals for her dissertation. Too bad the university thinks upstanding Madeline has spent too much time in the ivory tower to undertake such an earthy subject. Now she needs to shed her good-girl image in a hurry, and she knows just the man to help her!
I hope you enjoy seeing how Madeline leads the campus on a steamy, wild ride that turns their lives upside down. Learning Curves is set at my alma mater, the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Although I didnât have quite as much fun there as Maddy does, I loved every minute spent at that venerable institution in pursuit for my masterâs degree.
If you like Learning Curves, donât miss my first Harlequin Blaze title in February 2002, Silk, Lace & Videotape. Visit me at www.JoanneRock.com to learn more about my future releases or to let me know what you thought of my story. Iâd love to hear from you!
Happy Reading!
Joanne Rock
To Dean, for ensuring weâve always taken the road less traveled. Thank you for the adventure!
Contents
1
âIF YOUâRE FREE Saturday night, would you mind initiating me in the rites of womanhood?â
Thunking herself on the forehead, Madeline Watson slumped down on a bench outside the business departmentâs faculty lounge to wait for her quarry. All the come-on lines she concocted were too stuffy. Head in her hands, she stared down at her penny loafers and wished sheâd paid more attention when other women discussed their dating adventures. Why had she spent the past ten years with her nose buried in books? She had no idea how one went about propositioning the sexiest man in townâor any man for that matter.
Wouldnât it be simpler to invest in a killer red dress and a pair of stiletto heels?
She cleared her throat and tried again. âWhat would you think of taking our relationship to the next level?â A nearby giggle alerted her to the new wave of students tromping through the University of Louisvilleâs echoing marble corridors on their way to evening classes. Great. All Madeline needed to cap off this hideous day was to have a student report her for trying to pick up imaginary men in the hallway.
The embarrassment would be well worth it if her proposition worked, however. No man had ever sent her hormones into overdrive the way Cal Turner could with one lazy smile.
The door to the faculty lounge swung wide and Madeline plastered her back to the wall as if she could root herself to that very spot. A handful of university professors poured through the door, balancing heavy textbooks, steaming cups of coffee and overstuffed briefcases. Their sudden appearance forced Madeline to recall that the object of her quest was no imaginary male. Cal Turner might look like a fantasy, but those drool-worthy pecs were as real as the grading curve.
Madeline rose, praying she wouldnât lose her nerve to face the lone man who would be left in the lounge in a few minutes. She nodded to the handful of professors she knew from her years on staff as a graduate assistant, but most of the coffee-clutching crowd was business faculty, a breed far removed from the social sciences department that Madeline called home.
The old Mae West line ran through her head as she waited. âHowâd you like to come up and see me sometime?â But that one didnât really apply to herâ¦she lived in a one-story house just outside of downtown.
She needed something modern. Something direct and aggressive to go along with her quest to be more daring. If she was ever going to get the dissertation review committee to sanction her study of human mating rituals, she had to prove to them there was more to her than just a buttoned-up intellectual. A fling with the most notorious ladiesâ man on campus ought to do the trick.
