Professor Quinn shrugged. “The assistants I’ve had in the past had all completed the class before coming back. They were individuals who I knew could keep up with the load. And it’s only your second week, Miss Ashcroft.”
My eyes narrowed on him, and fury bubbled beneath the surface of my skin. I took a step closer, and his posture shifted as if affected by my encroaching presence. His nostrils flared.
“I’ve already gotten through it,” I bit out.
His stupid, handsome face twisted with confusion. A brief victory that spurred me closer.
“What do you mean?” He huffed, smoothing his mask back into place.
“I read them all.” Another step and I had to crane my head back to keep our eyes locked. He towered over me, but I rose to meet the challenge laid at my feet. “Every book required, not only for your class but every class I’m taking for my final semester.”
Something glinted in his eyes—a sea monster stirring in the oceanic depths.
“You… you finished reading the entirety of…” he roughly exhaled before dragging a hand across his eyes, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed conflicted, both stumped and begrudgingly impressed.
Heat radiated off him in waves, and I swayed closer until I stood a hair’s breadth from his chest. If I focused, I swore I heard the pounding rhythm of his heart beating like a drum.
“It was easy, in fact. I can handle anything you throw my way.” The urge to frustrate this man controlled me.
He scoffed, brows knitting together. “I don’t think so…”
“Anything you want me to do, I can do—I will do.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“I can grade papers, I can tutor—”
“Tutor?” A condescending chuckle breached his lips. He shook his head, looking down at me as if trying to solve a particularly confounding riddle. “Teaching others? No, you don’t need to teach anything.” His voice curled around me like smoke, clouding my mind and intoxicating my senses.
“Then what do you think I need?” The question came out thinner, breathier, than intended. Like I’d whispered a secret meant only for him. And maybe I had. Or perhaps, judging by the glimmer taking root in his eyes, I had issued a challenge of my own.
One he latched onto.
“Lessons,” he gritted out through a clenched jaw.
“Well, I’m here to learn, aren’t I,professor?” I bit my bottom lip to stifle anything else from slipping free. His keen eyes tracked the movement, watching my bottom lip roll between my teeth and come out pink.
His chest shuddered.
I feared breathing in, knowing the riffling chemistry in the air had welcomed a cloud of pheromones between us. It was an undeniable tension, the kind you felt intrinsically, like a thread woven through your bones and knotted in the low center of your core. I couldn’t remain defiant with that much desire bleeding through my veins, at least not for long.
And Professor Quinn didn’t seem as unaffected as he wanted to.
My skin tingled with anticipation, and he sucked in a shallow breath. Logic screamed at me to recoil, but the simmering cauldron of heat in my belly kept me frozen in place. There was nothing inherently sinful in the biological reaction between us. Nothing wrong with wanting him as animals do; wild and untamed.
Consequences stemmed fromactions.
We seemed to realize it at the same time. Our nearness, the combined heat of our almost-touching bodies, the way his eyes were glued to my mouth. The heady quality of the moment had blinded me to the reality of our situation. Something that seemed so inextricable yet must be resisted.
Professor Quinn tore himself back, turning toward the podium. He bowed his head, gripping the edges, white-knuckled. I relished the vision of such a well-built man from behind. The slim tailoring of his trousers hugging muscled tree-trunk thighs, and the tight curves of his ass. And fuck, don’t even get me started on the taper of his waist, stressed by the leather belt he wore.
Fire flushed under my skin, and I licked my lips before looking away.
“Fine.” He shook his head even as he agreed. Though it had been his idea to begin with. I couldn’t fathom why he had changed his mind, flip-flopping back and forth, but I didn’t care.
Triumph swelled through me all the same.
Steam followed me down the hall to my bedroom. I continued pressing the towel into my hair, drying the last vestiges of hot water. After such a wet, cold, arousing day, I had neededa thorough scrub to unwind my muscles clenched as tight as stone. With the curtains closed, only the buttery glow of a lamp on the desk brightened my space. Warm and cozy, as welcoming as I expected it to be. As it had always been.
