Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 27095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
She looks back at me with those trusting eyes, and for just a brief moment, I see a flicker—a tiny twinkle that she might just know what I’m getting at.
“Okay…”
“So, Miss Monroe. I’m going to tutor you. Supplemental sessions in my office.”
She blinks. So innocent. So naïve. “That’s…so sweet of you to offer, Professor, but I wouldn’t want to be a burden—”
“It wasn’t an offer,” I say firmly. “It’s happening. And I expect to see you today, in my office, after your last class.”
My words come out with a bit more bite than I’d intended. Not the calm, cool, precise voice I used in the operating room when I needed to get something done with no mistakes.
No, I’m cracking inside. Losing hold of the thing I pride myself on most: my control.
Jessie remains very still. My eyes rake her body, down her T-shirt to her jean shorts, the smooth skin of her long legs. I can already tell she’s incredibly fertile. It would be a crime not to breed her as soon as possible.
Finally, she nods. “Okay. That should be around four-thirty.”
“Good.” I don’t want to go, but if I stay here any longer, it’s going to cause a scene. Get people talking. So using all my strength, I stand.
“Um, Professor?” she asks, her sweet voice bubbling up through my bones. “What will we be covering? Maybe if you gave me something to look at, I could prepare in advance—”
“No need for that,” I reply, looking down at her one more time. My eyes will simply not focus anywhere else. “Just come. Today. Four-thirty.”
“Should I bring anything?” she asks. My mind instantly goes to the conversation her friends were having. Shit. Keep it together.
“No,” I say, forcing a smile. “Just your body.”
I should not have said that. Before I say too much again, I turn and walk quickly away. I don’t look back. I know if I do, and I see her sitting there in the sun, looking like the absolute goddess she is, I will lose all control.
I’ll take her right there, right in front of everybody. I’ll fuck her senseless and lose my job and ruin her life forever.
No. Not now. Four-thirty seems like an eternity away, but if I have to wait, I will.
She’s worth it. And she will be mine.
3
AUGUST
Jessie shows up four minutes early. Of course she does. She’s a model student and wants to make sure I know.
I hear her dainty knock on the door and stand up from my desk. But then I sit down again. I’m a grown man. I’m not going over to that door like a dog who just heard the treat box open.
I take a breath and collect myself. I’ve performed some of the most dangerous medical procedures ever and my hands never shook. But right now, I feel the hint of a tremble.
What is this girl doing to me?
I wait a moment, then call out to her, “Come in!” The door opens, and it’s like I’m hit with a paralytic.
She stands there in a floral yellow dress that might look domestic on someone else but makes her look like a sex kitten. My mouth waters as I look her over, fighting to maintain composure.
Her hair is down too. She changed from the last time I saw her. Is she just trying to be proper? Or does she feel some of what I feel too?
“Hello,” she says. Her voice is like an upper and a downer at the same time. It calms my breathing but causes my heart to race.
She looks around my office with genuine curiosity, taking in the bookshelves, the anatomy diagrams on the walls. And of course, she goes over to examine the skeleton standing in the corner.
“Wow. Fully articulated?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Real or composite?”
“Oh, it’s real.”
She looks at me, stunned, then back at it. “Wow. Does he have a name?”
I think for a moment, then answer, “Gerald.” Seems about right to name him after the son of a bitch who’s trying to destroy my career.
Her laugh hits me in the chest. A layman might not recognize where, but I know.
It’s my heart. I spent years operating on others’ but have forgotten to protect my own.
Smiling, she turns from Gerald and holds up her notebook. “I already did some reading. I found the course’s recommended texts and came up with some questions that I thought might—”
“Sit down, Miss Monroe.”
She obeys immediately. Christ, this girl will be the death of me.
She folds her delicate hands on top of her notebook and looks at me from across the desk with an expression of complete innocence, like she’s just waiting for me to tell her what to do.
I think about what I heard her friends talking about back at the coffee cart. The fact that this untouched beauty is sitting in my office. And then I think about what I’m going to do…