“I was giving you a chance to prove me wrong. Instead you decided to charge off in the opposite direction.”
“And you think that’s because I have a problem withAsher.”
Professor Raith’s eyes narrow at the derision in my tone. His voice seems to echo the gesture. “Who else?”
I ignore the wobble that runs through my pulse at seeing him annoyed with me. Suppress the urge that’s unfurling inside me to walk over and clasp his hands, as if I could make peace with a squeeze of my fingers.
ThisCole doesn’t want me any more than mine did at first. Maybe even less, even though I’ve done nothing to deserve his low opinion of me.
“Most of my observations were directed more atyouthan at him,” I reply. “Which you might have figured out if you weren’t so convinced you always know everything already.”
Professor Raith stalks closer. My skin quivers with his nearness, but I hold my stance steady.
“Do you think that makes it any better?” he demands, rougher now. “Insulting one of your professors for what grave offence—not treating you like the princess you think you are?”
“How about for assuming the worst of me? For refusing to accept you’re wrong—let alone apologize—when you can’t find proof? For trying to bully me over your delusions? You’re the one who’s been following me around harassing me.”
My hand shoots out of its own accord to jab him in the chest—which it can, because he’s only a couple of feet away from me now.
I have just enough time to process what I’ve done and think,Oh, shit, before Professor Raith has snatched my hand out of the air.
His grip scorches through the leather of his glove and the silk of mine, his thumb pressed right against the spot where my bond mark used to be. That wild, fiery light is blazing in his eyes like it did the other day in the library.
My anger flares even as a melting sensation forms between my legs.
For fuck’s sake. This is not the time.
This isn’t the right man.
But the man who is in front of me tugs me even closer. His breath is a hot caress over my cheek. “It’s myjobto keep students like you in line. And I’m going to keep doing that until you realize the rules do apply to you.”
My heart is thumping way too fast, dizzying my thoughts. I need to get out of here.
“Great. Message received. Now I’ve got to head to?—”
I try to yank my arm away as I speak, gathering myself to retreat, but Cole drags me back into place. His voice drops to a growl that sends an annoyingly giddy shiver up my spine. “We’re not done yet, Miss Devine. You need to learn that there are some lines you shouldn’t cross. You can’t go through life expecting to get everything you want like a spoiled brat.”
The kind of sassy remark I might have said to my actual matches in my actual life—if the mood was right, so, not at all like this—slips off my tongue before I can catch it. “What are you going to do, Professor Raith? Spank me?”
He should recoil. My version of him would have if I’d said the same thing to him before we were matched—or even after, in the first year or so.
But I was seventeen then, not twenty. There wasn’t the pressure of denied fate shoving us together.
And I’m not sure how well I know this version of Cole at all.
The light in his eyes flashes hotter, wilder. “Is that how you’d like to do this? Maybe that would be reasonable restitution, spreading the embarrassment around.”
He turns toward his desk, tugging me to follow him. I stumble a couple of steps after him before I dig in my heels. “What? You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I absolutely can. It was your suggestion. Prostrate yourself appropriately, and let’s get this over with.”
His dark tone sets off a tingling from my breasts to my core. He lets go of me to push back the chair behind his desk and sit down. Then he points to his lap.
This wouldn’t be appropriate under any circumstances. But the even bigger problem is that an awful lot of mewantsto give in to his demand.
Very, very bad idea.
I wet my lips automatically and then press them shut before responding. “No fucking way.”
