Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Even so, it still made her heart pitter-patter like crazy, making Kassia realize with a sinking heart that how the professor looked would never matter.
She loved him, whichever side he showed to her.
She loved the professor, the man inside her dorm room right now.
The realization made her gulp and step back.
Alessandro watched Kassia move away from him, as if desperate to place some distance between them. Dressed in a tank top and the skimpiest pair of denim shorts, Kassia made the most alluring figure, and the sight, combined with her intoxicating scent, messed him up in a way no other woman had been able to.
Striving for control, he resolutely kept his gaze on her lovely face as he asked, “Did you receive my message?” If he allowed himself just one more damn second of staring at her tender, heaving breasts, he would be done for.
Kassia shook her head, unwilling to answer his questions while she still had some of her own. “W-what were you doing outside my window? What if someone saw you here?” Even as she spoke, her dazed mind remained caught up by the professor’s presence in her room. He was here. He was beautiful. He was here.
Hearing the stammer in her voice, Alessandro made sure to keep his voice calm and soothing as he answered her. “No one did. Trust me.” His gaze remained on her face, unwavering, Alessandro wanting her to see in his eyes that him coming to her room wasn’t going to get her in trouble. It was all he could do, knowing that an explanation would involve revealing his Lyccan side to her, and that he wasn’t yet willing to risk.
When he took another step towards her, she took a step back. He saw where she’d end up, and he didn’t stop moving towards her. Three steps later, and she gasped as she tumbled back into her bed.
In a second, he was on top of her, his hard body trapping hers under him, her face between his braced arms. He looked down at her. “Gotcha.” It was such an insanely amateurish thing to say, but when the professor said it, the word almost sounded elegant.
Then the professor’s lips started to curve, and she jerked in realization that he had cunningly contrived to make her fall. “Beast!” She tried pushing him off her, but the moment her fisted hands hit the wall of his chest, everything backfired, the powerful strength of his body enslaving her senses.
This close, Alessandro could feel her heart beating hard against her chest, could smell the way heat claimed her body as she attempted to wriggle away, and his smile turned into a smirk.
She gasped. “I hate you!” But what she found herself despising more was the way her heart raced at the feel of his weight pressing down on her.
“No,” he refuted calmly. “You don’t.” He captured one fisted hand as he spoke and brought it to his lips.
She tried to tug her hand away, but he didn’t let her.
“I hate you.”
This time, he didn’t only smell her anger and desire. This close, the scent of her confusion and hurt also reached him, and his smile faded. “I’m sorry for making you wait,” he said quietly. “I received an urgent call from my sister, and I had to go to her school. She was involved in a fight with another student, and it’s resulted in her suspension.”
The explanation eased Kassia’s hurt, but only to an extent. She couldn’t make herself forget how abandoned and foolish she had felt, waiting for Alessandro to message her back.
Sensing her pain, Alessandro pressed another kiss to her knuckles in silent apology. “I’m sorry,” he said again. Releasing her hand, he stroked her hair, tucking loose strands behind her ear. “Forgive me?”
Kassia remained silent, but her eyes spoke volumes. The scent of her emotions changed, the sharpness of her pain fading as the musky fragrance of her desire tinged the air.
A low sigh escaped him at how sweet she was, and he said roughly, “I know I don’t deserve you, baby.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “But I don’t think I can ever let you go.”
Kassia swallowed, having never imagined that the professor could say such things. Of course she had dreamt he would, but those had been dreams. It had been wishful thinking, and there had always been a part of her that believed the professor would never really be able to love Kassia, the way her own mother couldn’t love her.
Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, “I forgive you, Professor, but...” Kassia bit her lip. “Surely you know by now...” Her chest heaved as she struggled to take another deep breath. “Surely you know how much power you have to hurt me?”
Alessandro’s chest tightened at her words. He remembered the last time he had used the power she spoke of, his mind tormenting him with the devastation on Kassia’s face when she realized he had slept with Melissa. He said grimly, “Yes. I know.”