Page 39 of The Naughty Professor
The crowd erupted — laughter, applause, shouts — but I didn’t hear any of it.His lips were hot, insistent, and when his tongue brushed against mine, the rest of the world fell away.It wasn’t a kiss; it was combustion.Every ounce of self-control I’d ever had went up in smoke.
When he finally broke the kiss, I was breathless, dazed, undone.
He stayed close enough for his words to curl around me like smoke.“Recognize me, Professor Carr?”
I frowned, still trying to catch up.His face.That smile.The way his eyes gleamed like he was always one thought ahead.
And then my brain caught up with my body.
“Dr.Sterling?”I gasped.
ChapterFourteen
Thorne
“I’m not Dr.Sterling right now.”Jax’s grin flashed like a sin I was about to commit twice.“He’s a loser.I’m Jax.”
Then his hand was in my hair and his mouth was on mine again—hot, sure, and unafraid.The crowd detonated around us, a roar of catcalls, applause, and wild, delighted chaos.Someone shouted, “Get it, gurl!”Even so, all I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears and the impossible fact that I was kissing him back.
I should have pulled away.Should have remembered where I was, what this looked like—what it meant.But none of it mattered when his tongue brushed mine and the world fell out from under me.
He broke the kiss before I could embarrass myself completely.His forehead rested against mine for one dizzy heartbeat, and he smiled like he knew exactly what he’d done to me.“Meet me outside the dressing room after the show,” he murmured.
Then he stood, fluid as a cat, every muscle gleaming under the lights.The crowd howled as he strutted back toward the stage, hips rolling to the rhythm.I stayed where I was, staring, breathless and probably gaping like some dazed fool.
He moved differently now—looser, wilder.Confidence poured out of him in waves, and the audience drank it in like communion wine.Every spin, every snap of his hips, drew another scream from the crowd.The DJ shouted something I didn’t catch over the music, but the men went feral for him.
Jax played to them, but his eyes kept flicking toward me.Just quick glances—tiny sparks that hit their mark every time.A wink here, a smirk there, the kind of wordless teasing that made my pulse race.
My brain couldn’t process it.Felix Sterling, the shy adjunct who never made eye contact in the faculty lounge, was Jax—the glitter-drenched performer now crawling backward across the stage like temptation personified.
The music thumped through my chest, a heavy, steady pulse that felt too close to my heartbeat.I tried to breathe normally, but all I could think about was the taste of him still on my lips.The way his voice had dropped when he said, “I’m Jax.”
It was absurd.Reckless.Inappropriate in more ways than I could count.And yet—I’d never felt more alive.
The lights strobed blue, then red, washing his skin in waves of color.He flipped his hair back, sweat and glitter catching in the light, and the entire bar screamed his name.
Jax.Jax.Jax.
He grinned, soaking in the noise like he was born for it, and for one raw, electric second I believed it—this version of him, fearless and shining, was who he’d been hiding all along.
I ran a hand over my face, trying to collect myself, but it was useless.The smell of sweat and cologne, the bass trembling through the floor, the image of him moving with that unstudied grace—it was all too much.
The crowd surged closer to the stage as he dropped to his knees, one hand reaching out toward the audience.His gaze swept past them, found me again, and locked.A tiny, secret smile curved his mouth, and my mouth went dry.
Then he resumed dancing, spinning, strutting, alive in a way that made everything else in the room fade away.
I sank back into my chair, heartbeat hammering against my ribs.My mind kept repeating the same question, over and over, like a mantra that had lost its meaning.
How did this even happen?
* * *
The show ended in a riot of noise—cheers, applause, dollar bills fluttering through the air.The lights dimmed, the DJ shouted something about tipping your bartender, and the crowd surged toward the bar.I stayed rooted in place, still trying to catch my breath.My mind was a kaleidoscope of disbelief.
Before I could stand, two figures appeared through the dispersing throng—Lorna and Joan.They were opposites even in the way they approached: Lorna bounced on her heels, bracelets jangling like victory bells, while Joan looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon whole.
“Well, well, Professor Carr!”Lorna practically sang it.“You sly dog!You’ve been holding out on us.”I opened my mouth, but she barreled on.“Lord have mercy, if you don’t get lucky tonight, I’m filing a complaint with the universe.Damn that was hot!”
