Page 42 of Crown of Thorns
He knows.
“In your dorm, Professor. Naturally.”
“In mydorm?” The disbelief curdles into rage. “But you said?—”
“I said I’d text you. You might want to check your messages more carefully.”
A crash sounds over the line. I imagine his chair flying back, that fury in his cheeks.
“Get out of my room. I’m your professor. This is inappropriate. Our classes are in my office.”
“Wrong again. They happen wherever the fuck I decide.”
“I’m coming there right now. And if you’re still there?—”
“Yeah?” I murmur, letting my head fall back against his pillows. “What are you going to do, Professor?”
Silence. A stuttered breath.
“I…I’ll kick you out.”
“Bring it on,” I whisper, but he’s already hung up. Using a random book to hide my raging erection, I take off my shirt for good measure. Then I wait, chest filled with anticipation, fire licking my insides in all the right places.
After what feels like forever, his key turns in the lock. The door swings open. Noah’s eyes glare daggers at me. A vein pops in his reddened cheek. “I told you to leave.”
“You did,” I say, not moving, not blinking.
He kicks the door shut. “I told you that all classes take place in my office.”
“You did.”
His gaze dips to where the book sits on my scorching groin. “This can’t happen,” he finally murmurs.
“It already has, Professor. But you keep fighting it.” My fingers crawl over the book and we both hear the air he sucks in. “Things are about to change for you.” I’m talking about his bedroom. I’m talking about his clothes, his books, his everything. I’m talking about hisfuture. He’ll be mine.
I must have lost my mind. Perhaps I didn’t have one to begin with. Can’t lose something you don’t have.
But then again, it’s not madness, not really. It’s hunger. Obsession. Fascination twisted into something unshakable. Because Noah isn’t just some pretty professor with secrets in his eyes. He’s brilliance forced into a box, fire pretending to be ash. And I want to be the one who burns with him.
He’s beautiful, yes. But more than that, he’s bound in rules he didn’t write, hiding pieces of himself no one else dares to uncover. That’s what draws me. Not the control. Not even thepower. But the idea that, with enough pressure, I can make himchooseme. Not out of fear. But out of need.
That’s what I want to own. Not his body, though, fuck, that too, but the moment he realizes he’d rather shatter with me than stay whole without me.
He shakes his head, looking unsure. “No, they aren’t.”
Sweet.
“You cancelled our deal, remember? You got spooked out after the Brotherhood gathering. You said you didn’t want anything to do with it again. That’s fine. But it also means there’s no more deal keeping us in check. Which means I have free rein. We’re back at square one. Just think about it. You could lose your job at any given moment. Unless…what do you think?”
Noah doesn’t answer, just stands there, briefcase in hand, in his casual formal clothes. Cheap pants, cheap shirt, cheap jacket, looking handsome as fuck. “A guess?”
He shakes his head. “You wanted to show me the Brotherhood’s darkest secrets at Monterrey. I went with you to the gathering. I fulfilled the deal.”
I give him a wicked smile. “That’s not how this works.”
“Yes, it is.”
“You’re mine, Noah.” Fuck.
