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Grace desired me as well. I could see that in the way she looked at me, in the way she bit her lip when she thought I didn’t notice her glances. But maybe I’d misjudged the situation and told her this far too fast?
She’d been discombobulated with being at my home, me being at the club. And then I dropped it in her lap that I wanted her, that I’d pretty much stalked her to protect her.
Grace would come to understand that I did it all for her.
I pulled to a stop in front of her small bungalow and put the car in park. I kept my hands on the steering wheel as I looked over at her. She was biting her lip, nervous, maybe not knowing what to say, how to react.
“Grace?” I said softly.
She glanced over at me then and gave me a shy smile. “Thank you again for … everything.” It was clear she was uncomfortable, trying to escape as quickly as possible.
She opened the car door and was about to get out, but I reached over the seat and curled my hand gently around hers, stopping her from exiting. She looked over at me, her nerves tangible.
“I know what I said was a lot to take in, but I meant every word. I’m not going to walk away, Grace.” I smoothed my thumb over the top of her hand, her skin so soft, electricity moving up the digits and through my entire body. “I know you feel the same way, to an extent.” My obsession with her was consuming, maddening. “And you don’t have to admit that right now, but you will have to eventually, Grace.” I leaned in just an inch, but there was still a good bit of space that separated us. I didn’t like that. “You’ll have to admit it to yourself, and then to me, because I’m not walking away. I’m not giving you up.” There was determination in my voice, hard resolve. “The sooner you realize that, the easier this will all be, the easier it will be to accept.”
She licked her lips, and I lowered my gaze to watch the act, my heart racing and my body coming alive from, from her close proximity.
“I know,” she said, her voice soft, utterly feminine.
I should’ve let go of her hand, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead I pushed even more, knowing what I was about to ask her could very well have her drawing into herself, distancing herself from me. This was so inappropriate, desiring my student, admitting that she was mine, but fuck logistics and rules.
“Let me take you to dinner, Grace. Let me show you how it can be with us, how much I mean everything I said.”
I could see how rapidly her pulse was beating beneath her ear, wanted to soothe her, let her know that there was nothing to be nervous about. I was here for her, in this for her.
Now that I had finally opened myself up, allowed my emotions and feelings to come forth, a physical declaration of what she meant to me, there was no stopping it. There was no turning back.
“Let me take you out,” I said again, lower, gentler.
“Okay,” she all but whispered.
Pleasure surged within me at her acceptance.
I held my hand out. “Let me see your phone.” I was trying to be gentle, not so demanding. She didn’t hesitate as she handed her cell over. I punched in my number and handed it back to her. I didn’t bother telling her I already had her number, that being a professor at the university gave me access to student files. I didn’t tell her because I knew how it would sound.
“Now you have direct access to me,” I said, and knowing she could contact me privately at any given time had me feeling even more possessive.
She didn’t say anything as she messed with her phone, and a second later I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I knew without looking at it that she’d sent me a text … so I’d have her number as well.
“Now you have mine,” she said softly.
I smiled, wanting to touch her, to run my fingers over her soft skin, to part her lips and slip my thumb between them and make her taste me. God, she drove me wild and all she had to do was sit there.
I knew I could come off as hardened, apathetic even. But when it came to Grace, she held all the cards, even if she didn’t know it.
When it came to her, I was putty in her hands.
* * *
Grace
I shut my bedroom door,leaned against it, closed my eyes, and rested my head back on the wood. As soon as I’d gotten home, I’d guzzled a gallon of water and headed straight to the shower. I’d hoped the heat and steam would help me feel a little better, but being so unused to drinking had really kicked my ass.
My heart was thundering, and my headache was still going strong.
All I could do was keep replaying everything Lucian had told me. God, it sounded so weird saying his name. He’d always just been Professor Goode to me, and those two words put together, spilling from my mouth, felt right.
Saying his first name felt extremely personal, erotically intimate, as if we were closer than we really were. But then again that’s exactly what he wanted.
