Snippet!

[allichaton]

I blew out a frustrated breath. "I know. You're right. I just--I hate this. I hate the wondering."

He reached a hand out and brushed the backs of his fingers across my cheek. Our gazes locked, and something slid between us. I shivered and looked away. "Don't do that."

I didn't have to look at him to know he smiled. I heard it in his voice. "Do what?"

"Touch me. Like that." I shook my head. "You're my professor. You shouldn't--"

"You were crying, Reina."

My hands flew up to my cheeks. I felt the heat and dampness of tears; my eyes closed. "Oh. I didn't realize." I turned away from him.

"Reina." His voice was soft, entreating. It tore down all my defenses as if they were made of nothing more potent than spun sugar. "Don't hide from me."

"I can't do this." I spun back to face him. "I can't. I have too much left to achieve to get tangled up in a relationship with my professor. I have--" I shook my head. "Gods, I have a boyfriend. Maybe you can afford to seduce a student and risk fucking up your career, but I can't. I don't even have a career to fuck up."

"I'm not trying to seduce you, Reina."

That was for damn sure. Trying, hell. He was succeeding. "What do you want from me?"

He stared at me for several minutes. The intensity of his gaze stole my breath. The edge of his mouth quirked up, as if he enjoyed a private joke. He waited until the tension between us threatened to snap like a broken rubber band, then chuckled to himself. "No, I don't think I'm going to answer that just yet."

"Great. Let me out." He arched an eyebrow. I resisted the urge to growl. "You locked the damn door. Let me out, I have homework to do."

"You do not wish to hear what I have to say?"

"At the moment, no." I sighed and rubbed my hand across my forehead. I could feel the knot of a headache beginning to form. Damned if I was going to let this man give me a headache. "I liked it better when you were up onstage and I was in the audience and once lecture was done, I want back to my room and slept. You're a pain in the ass, you know that? You've been nothing but a menace since the beginning."

"You were not exactly cordial to start with, Miss Reina Campbell." His voice dropped several dozen degrees every time he said my name that way. At least it was better than the heat of seduction it replaced. "You greet me with a critique of my punctuality, and expect me to be accommodating and pleasant? I don't work that way. I'm a professor, not a paragon."

"And I'm out of here." I strode forward until our chests brushed against each other. I looked up into his eyes, watching the pupils dilate until they swallowed his irises. His breathing shifted, deepening; his gaze locked onto mine. I reached into his pocket and fisted my hand around the key.

He cleared his throat. His voice was deep, husky. "If you don't want to be seduced, you would do best to remove your hand from my pants." He coughed. "And I'd suggest being quick about it, if it's not too presumptuous."

"Or what?" I withdrew the key and tucked it into my own pocket. "Are you willing to risk ruining your reputation, just to satiate your sex drive?"

He grunted. With his eyes narrowed to thin slits, his brow creased with deep furrows, he looked like the very essence of frustration. "At this point? I think the answer to that would be a definite 'aye.'"

He moved unbelievably fast. Between one heartbeat an the next, he'd wrapped his hands around my upper arms and pulled me up onto my toes, pressed against his chest. A gasp, something between outrage and shock and dizzy desire, tangled in my throat. I stared up at him; his eyes seemed suddenly enormous, filling my vision. He pulled me closer, and it was like stepping into a murky pool. A leap of faith, with no idea how far the depths reached, but a mix of faith and terror urging you on. I met his gaze, felt the connection ignite every nerve within me, and drowned.

His lips were on mine, and I lost myself in his textures. Velvet and silk and thick, heavy cream. His hands released my arms, and traveled elsewhere. One slid around my back, pulling me closer. The other traveled down my torso, caressing the skin at my stomach and waist.

He rubbed his lips against mine--no more than he'd already done--then flicked his tongue out, a quick, blazing caress. A low moan spilled from my throat.

His hands suddenly fisted, pushing me from him. "Lord and Lady." He stared at me, his pupils still filling his eyes. He made no effort to mask his labored breathing. We simply stared at each other, and then he swore again. "Lord and Lady."

"Amen to that," I muttered. I wiped a hand across my mouth. My system was still in shock from the onslaught of his kiss. I felt suddenly chilled, yearning for his warmth. That scared me more than anything. And the fear made me angry. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"At the moment?" He offered me a small smile. "I believe the term is 'reeling in shock.'"

Ditto. But damned if I'd tell him that. "Keep your damned hands off me." I shivered. "Keep your damned mouth off me. Ever hear of asking before slobbering all over a lady?"

My anger triggered something within him. I could see the minute changes as he recomposed himself and turned back into the arrogant, patronizing jerk I'd come to expect from him. "You did not fight me, Reina. Protest as much as you wish, but don't forget that. You did not fight me."

I didn't have an response to that. I didn't want to think about, or even acknowledge, that. Mostly because I knew it was true, and I knew what it meant. "Justify it to yourself however the hell you like. But you grabbed me, buddy, not the other way around. You grabbed me."

A small, smug smile spread across his face. "And you held on."

I started to retort, then bit my tongue. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I sent him a dirty look, then slid the key into the lock. I unlocked the door, pushed it open, and tossed the key to him over my shoulder. "Don't lock me up again." I kept my back towards him as I spoke. "It only pisses me off."

His chuckle followed me as I ran up the stairs and out into the bright sunlight. Somehow, I didn't think that bothered him. Wasn't that a comforting thought.