Professor Raith’s gaze sears into mine. As he shifts as if to stand back up, his words are all hard heat. “Fine. I’ll take the very concrete evidence I have of you purposefully harassing a fellow student to the headmaster, and we’ll see what consequenceshecomes up with, since that’s what you’d prefer.”
It’s what I should prefer. It’s the option Other Elodie would have taken—if she was careless enough to flaunt her disdain as openly as I did, which I don’t think is likely—knowing it’d be a month or two of irritation and then done with. But my gut goes cold.
The headmaster won’t be happy—not because of Asher, but because I got caught supposedly demeaning an assignment, and in front of the whole class no less. We can do whatever we want to each other most days, but we’d damn well better respect the school itself.
He won’t go easy on me despite my family. If anything, he’ll come down harder on me because I have more sway with my classmates. And Dad wouldn’t intervene; he’ll be horrified.
All of which I could tolerate, except I could end up assigned to some kind of extra service that’ll stop me from continuing my investigations. Professor Raith might even push for me to report to him, opening up so many more opportunities for fate to shove us at each other. I’ll definitely face more scrutiny both at school and at home about my activities...
This could screw up everything I’m trying to accomplish.
I clench my teeth.
Or I could endure a few swats, and it’ll be over that quickly. Just think about rotting zombies and entrail-dangling manananggals. Quash that libido completely.
I walk over to Professor Raith, fighting the wobble in my legs.
He hesitates on the edge of rising. A flicker of uncertainty crosses his face, as if he’s forgotten his demand—or never fully meant it in the first place.
Too fucking bad.
“Miss Devine?” he says.
“Let’s just get this over with.” I shoot him another glare and sink to my knees.
My sharp tone brings another flare of heat into his gaze. He holds perfectly still as I lean across his lap, but he doesn’t refuse me. I hear a trace of a rasp in his breath.
Of course he’s affected too. Maybe that’ll encourage him to get it over with quickly.
I close my eyes and summon the most disgusting images my imagination can conjure.
Cole’s thighs tense beneath me as if he’s bracing himself. I half expect him to shoo me away. Then he sucks in a breath with a hard edge that reverberates through me.
The second he speaks, any defense I managed to prepare disintegrates. I feel the air shift as he lifts his arm. “From here on, you’ll give me and Asher the respect we both deserve.”
His hand falls and smacks one ass cheek through my skirt. His palm lands hard enough for my flesh to sting—and for a corresponding pulse of pleasure to shoot through my sex.
Hathor help me.
“You’ll follow your assignments to the letter and without bending the rules to your favor.”
Smack.
“You’ll remember what happens when you push my limits.”
Smack.
“You’ll keep your hostile snark to yourself.”
Smack.
With each slap of his hand, the stinging in my ass deepens, and so does the throb of lust. I bite my lip, but I can’t smother the swell of need.
I might have escaped anyway, except Professor Raith swats my ass one more time—and the folds of my skirt flutter high enough to reveal the crotch of my panties.
His breath outright stutters. He reaches to tug the fabric back down—and halts with his leather-covered fingertips brushing my bare skin.
His voice thickens in a way I’ve only heard from my Cole in our bedroom at home, but eerily detached, as if he’s not fully in charge either. “You’re even more of a brat than I thought. It looks as though this wasn’t punishment at all. You’ve been enjoying it.”
