Page 119 of Drown Like Heaven
“Correct,” Dr. Killshaw said, gracing me with a single nod.
I forced myself to lift my chin, his one-word response and careless nod grating on me, as if he hadn’t just been purposefully intimidating me in a private, confined space, knowing the absolute power he held over me.
“You could’ve just said that instead of trying to make me flustered.”
“If you collapse under pressure here, how will you survive in practice? Or is guessing your method for everything?” The corner of his sculpted mouth curled slightly. His eyes were darker than I’d seen them.
I stepped away from him, bumping into the table behind me. “Maybe if someone didn’t treat every mistake like a mortal sin, I’d think clearer,” I gritted out.
He stepped closer. Andcloser.
I was paralyzed, pinned to the spot by the intensity of his stare.
Prey.
“Think cleareranyway. That’s the difference between a scientist and a student.”
“So I’m just a student now?” I gripped the edge of the table to steady my hands.
“When have you ever been anything else?” He was only a few paces away from me now, and the way he spoke made it feel like a dare. As if he wasdaringme to call him on his hot and cold behavior again.
I couldn’t stop myself.
“In the elevator.” I inhaled shakily through my nose, his forest scent cutting through the lingering ethanol vapors, surrounding my senses.
“What did I do in the elevator?”
“What did youwantto do in the elevator?” I pressed, daring to take a half-step towards him, leaving the safety of the table behind me. My heart was fluttering wildly, flinging around my ribcage like a trapped bird. I could feel my pulse everywhere, my skin getting hot under the force of Dr. Killshaw’s attention.
“Iwantedto go down to the first floor so I could leave.”
“You could’ve waited for the second elevator to arrive. You forced your way into mine.”
“Careful,” he said lowly.
Heat rushed between my thighs, my core tightening, tension crackling in the air. My lips parted, my breath coming shallowly between them.
“Or what?”
“There are lines here that should be left alone.” Roughness edged into his tone, his eyes flashing, burning like a low flame, licking wicked heat all over my skin. The wordfuckcircled my mind, ugly and filthy and exactly what I wanted.
“You’ve never blurred a line?” I couldn’t stop pushing him, putting more pressure on him, waiting to see if he’d ever break. Praying for it.Beggingfor it.
“I don’t blur lines,” he said. “I cross them.”
A muscle feathered in his jaw, his posture rigid. He was breathing harder.
I couldn’t find any words to respond to him.
Silence spanned the room.
I thought if he touched me now I’d break apart entirely, heat pooling low in my body, humiliating in its urgency.Please touch me. Break me.
When I inhaled, I could feel the scent of him sweeping the depths of my lungs like a shadow, smothering me in darkness. I had to suppress the thrilled shiver working its way through my body.
My eyes slid down to his full lips for a moment. I imagined his mouth lower, wetter, ruining me, making a mess of me.
I met his dark stare again.
