Page 136 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
“Are you sure there aren’t any extra credit options?” Noah asked as he leaned forward slightly and bit his bottom lip.
You’ve got to be kidding me.It was bad enough that most of the female students flitting through my office hours didn’t have any real questions. Now I had to worry about my male students too? “I’m sure, Noah. Classes just started. There’s no need for extra credit when no grades have been assigned. And if that changes, I’ll make sure to mention itin class.” I hoped he got the hint.Also, I like women. One woman in particular.
I tried not to grimace when Noah kept looking at me seductively. I picked up my headphones instead and gestured toward the door. “See you in class.”
Noah sighed and stood up. He bit his bottom lip again, like that was somehow going to convince me to switch sides.
I focused my attention on my computer screen, even though it was off.Leave. Leave. Leave.Finally, I heard his footsteps. I breathed a sigh of relief as he left the room.
Sometimes I wasn’t sure I was a good professor. If I was, maybe I’d have real questions during my office hours instead of whatever the hell that was. Or maybe I was such a good professor that none of my students had any questions. I pulled on my earphones. That was a much better option in my mind.
***
The last half-hour had flown by when I didn’t have to entertain any students’ ludicrous flirting. And my office hours were almost over. I was going to make it to the end without any more awkward encounters. I paused from my work and rolled up my shirt sleeves, loosened my tie, and even undid a few of the top buttons.Much better.
I had written down a few ideas of how I could convince Dean Vespelli to let me cancel office hours for the remainder of the semester. He’d probably say no. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask. Besides, office hours were a little old-fashioned. If a student had a question for me, they could easily just email me. Now that was an option I could get behind. I could promise Vespelli that I’d answer every email within a few hours. It’s not like I had anything else to do when I was at home. Honestly, it would make my nights go by faster.
There was a knock on my door.
What now?I was almost free for the day. Free to go home and do whatever I wanted. Which meant staring at my phone waiting for Penny to text me or thinking about her in some other illicit way. As soon as I finished this office hours proposal, I’d go back to focusing on how exactly to go about seducing a student. Willfully.
I looked up and everything about me wanting to cancel office hours flew out the window.Penny.I could handle the rest of the harmless flirting from other students if it meant I even gota minute of Penny in this room. But with her standing in the doorway, the space suddenly felt too small. Intimate. Perfect. I pulled off my headphones and set them on the desk.
“Miss Taylor, come in," I said. It would have been more professional of me to tell her office hours were over and to come back another day. I knew I couldn’t trust myself around her. And yet…I was inviting her in anyway. Clearly I wasn’t very professional. For just a few minutes, I wanted to be alone with her. I needed to be alone with her. I walked over to the door and closed it behind her. Every bone in my body wanted me to lock it. But that was inappropriate. I turned to look at her. Those big innocent blue eyes were staring back at me. Yup, definitely inappropriate. I shoved my hands into my pockets so I wouldn’t lock the door. Or worse…reach out and touch her. "I didn't expect to see you."
"I didn't expect to be here." No smile on her lips. No reaction to being alone with me at all.
I’d fucked this up before I’d even gotten a chance for it to begin. "You're angry with me.”
"I'm not." She pulled off her backpack and leaned against my desk, looking way too comfortable in the confined space.
Jesus.I looked down at my watch to prevent myself from walking over to her and pushing her down on top of my desk. I’d been dreaming of doing just that for days.Breathe."My office hours are almost over." I didn’t actually want her to leave. But as the seconds ticked by I was losing more and more restraint. She’d look perfect with her legs parted, her back on the middle of my desk.
"I tried to come the other day when they first started, but you had quite the line."
I ran my fingers through my hair and watched her eyes follow my hand. She liked when I did that.Noted.I walked over to her so that we were only a few feet apart. "Part of the duties of being a professor.” I shrugged, hoping to keep the conversation light. I didn’t want her to run away. What I wanted was to run my fingers up her thigh…Breathe.
"Right." She picked up her backpack and pulled out my gray sweater. "I came to return this."
For some reason the idea of her giving me my sweater back felt like an ending instead of a beginning. And this was not going to be the end. I let my eyes trail from the sweater slowly up her body, until our eyes locked. Her face immediately flushed. No, this was definitely the beginning.
"You can keep that,” I said.
She shook her head. "It's yours.”
"Certainly it looks better on you." I knew it for a fact. One of my sweaters paired with some leggings and rain boots? The image did something to me.
She placed the sweater on my desk.
I closed the distance between us, reached around her, and picked it up. Her body was so still that it didn’t seem like she was breathing. I grabbed her hand and placed the sweater on her palm. But I didn’t let go. I kept her hand cradled in mineas I stared down at her. And I felt more aroused in this simple touch than I had in years. Fucking years. I wanted to pull her against my chest. I wanted to taste her lips. But it was too soon. I didn’t want to scare her away. This was a game of cat and mouse. And I was definitely the cat, because I was seconds away from devouring her.
"It's a gift, Penny."
"I like when you call me Penny."
Breathe.Her alluring cherry scented perfume invaded my senses. Or was it her shampoo? Or just…her? Usually it was easy to breathe around her. But today I couldn’t think about anything but her legs spread wide on my desk. And that thought was dangerous when my door was closed. When we were all alone. When I was on school property.Shit."Miss Taylor, you should probably go."
She glanced down at my tie and I imagined her pulling it, drawing my mouth down to hers. Instead she gripped the desk with her hand that wasn’t trapped in mine and leaned back ever so slightly. Her breathing grew shorter and more sporadic. And I knew that she wasn’t going anywhere. I was going to have her on my desk. And she was going to beg me for it.
