Page 112 of Unapologetic Obsession
He didn’t respond. It seemed he was still bitter.
“Are you all right?” I asked into the charged silence.
“Are you concerned about me, Little Rose?” he asked testily.
I hated being at odds with him, a person I had come to deeply respect. But there was bound to be tension between us. I felt the overwhelming urge to apologize again, though I knew it would fall on deaf ears. He didn’t want my apology; he wanted a better explanation than the one I had provided.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
His gaze hardened. “About how I fucked you on my boat and then again in my lab. Or did you forget about losing your virginity?”
My pulse faltered. Before that godforsaken party, Professor Maxwell would’ve never spoken such crass words to me. I froze, unable to form the words that had once come so easily in front of him.
He shifted closer, those ice-blue eyes suddenly sharp. “You can’t pretend it never happened, Rose.”
I glanced around at the empty classroom. It had been recently painted in beautiful shades of ivory. “I told you,” I murmured. “I-I made a mistake on the boat. It was a lapse in judgment.”
“No, it wasn’t. There has been something between us all semester. You’re deliberately acting obtuse.” His voice carried the kind of certainty that slithered up my spine like ice water.
“I don’t know what else to say.” My voice sounded hollow. “I just want things to go back to how they used to be.”
His jaw tightened. “Too bad. You started this, so it’s only fair that I decide when to end it. And I’m not done with you. Far from it.”
Why was he resisting this so vehemently? He was the one who hated being a sex symbol to college girls and went to great lengths to discourage them. Perhaps it had something to do with rejection. A girl had never turned him down before, and that must have dredged up memories of his own mother rejecting him throughout his childhood.
“Professor Maxwell.” My throat tightened, and I had to pause before continuing. “Your guidance has meant everything to me. I don’t want to lose that in my life. But I’m sure you’ll agree that someone of a similar caliber would be a more appropriate choice for you than a student.”
Even as I stared at my feet, I caught the intensity of his gaze burning a hole in me in my peripheral vision. My words didn’t move him. Instead, they had pissed him off. Silence hung heavily between us, and I felt the blade of his stare trace across my skin.
Dormant fear ramped up as he slowly walked toward me. “W-what are you doing?”
I forced my gaze to his face. His expression gave nothing away, but a flicker behind his eyes sent a chill crawling up my spine. My body tensed, instincts screamingdanger.
I started to back away, but he wrapped his hand around my elbow to stop me. “I don’t want anyone appropriate.” He leaned in and smelled my hair. “I only want you.” His cold voice was absolute.
I couldn’t hold back a sharp inhale. “Please let go of me.” I yanked away from him and was only successful because he decided to let go.
Neither of us spoke as he glared at me. Professor Maxwell broke the silence with an unexpected admission. “I’ve lived a quiet and lonely existence, and I was content. The only thing that piqued my interest was my work.” He watched me for a moment. “But then you disrupted my monotone life.” He ran a finger down my cheek, and I stepped back to disconnect the contact. He moved with me until we were close enough for our breaths to fuse together. “You have no idea what you’ve started.”
Dark eyes flickered.
“Suddenly, work was the last thing on my mind because there was something better. Something I have never experienced. Life was finally exciting.” Stormy eyes glared at me. “But then you changed your mind and took it all away.” The ominous threat in his voice sent a chill down my spine.
His hand landed in my hair, tunneling through my locks in comforting strokes. This time, I didn’t pull away.
“I still don’t understand your reasons, try as I might.” His fingers suddenly closed in my hair to make a fist. I held back a yelp when his grip tightened on my hair. “I have no choice but to stick to my original assumption. You’re worried about your family’s opinion, even though they abandoned you. I already told you I’d deal with your father. You should’ve trusted me to take care of it.” He sounded irritated, wondering why I was harping on about this even after he had declared my family a non-issue.
My stomach plummeted at his cavalier tone. “What did you do?”
“It’s not what I did, but rather what I found out.” He loosened the hold on my hair. His thumb brushed the hollow of my cheek, a strange counterpoint to my burning scalp. “That family doesn’t deserve you. You’ve been covering for your father, and instead of being grateful, he cut you off.”
My lips parted to object, but nothing came out. Fear washed over me as the allegation hovered just beyond my grasp.
His laugh was cold in the face of my uncertainty. “Don’t tell me no one else noticed you could be Rayyan’s twin,” he said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register.
My heart careened, graceless and arrhythmic. The air felt thick with the implication regarding my late cousin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
