Page 12 of Forbidden Obsession

But now it was clear to me that Dominic and Professor Lucas were two different people. While Professor Lucas was quite possibly the do-gooder, Dominic was unstable.

I found that out the hard way when he snatched me off my feet and choked me out in his office. Looking into his eyes that day twisted my guts. It was as if he’d revealed a darkness inside of him that awakened my curiosity.

Adding to that, he’d almost killed me.

That day, I lost the fight to fill my lungs with oxygen, and he didn’t seem to flinch while watching me desperately writhing, trying to breathe. Someone with some good sense would’ve run away and never looked back. For a moment, I considered it.

But a part of me wanted to know why he’d done it, and I admit I wondered what it was like to have such power—to send someone fleeing like the devil was on their heels.

A few months had passed since I last saw Professor Lucas, but when he manifested in the campus library, I’d felt knocked off my feet at his appearance. His black button-down shirt and pants fit him as if tailored to his hard body. His strides held a sexy flair that kept my eyes stuck on his movements. To say I was aroused by him at every turn was an understatement.

Last night he saved me from having to physically fight off a man who thought he owned me because he’d bought me a few drinks.

What a loser.

It had all happened so fast that I didn’t realize my heart was beating through my chest until Dominic left me in that elevator in silence.

Seeing him in my element, I hadn’t mistaken the desire in his gaze, nor had I misunderstood the passion with which he kissed me.

And now he owned me because I could never let go of this feeling that we were fated somehow.

“Snap, snap, earth to Penelope!”

I blinked, pushed back my thoughts, and Emma, Sofia, and Alice came into focus.

“What happened?”

They all looked at each other, then back at me.

“Where have you been?” Emma asked. She was the first to befriend me when I made my debut as a freshman at Manhattan Excellence & Arts University. It must’ve been my lucky day because, according to most on campus, Emma didn’t befriend people. People mostly wanted to befriend her since she was the mayor’s daughter and the top socialite on the campus next to Sofia. The two hung on to each other’s style and words and laughed like they were Siamese twins. Sofia was the daughter of Senator Darwin Willinger, and her mother was a city councilman.

Alice, on the other hand, was the police chief's daughter, and the three of them were like a cheerleading squad that everyone wanted to hang around. Men sought them out first. Girls did what was necessary to get their attention and show they were cool.

As for me, I was an observer who mostly kept to myself unless I was approached. If there was something I wanted, I went after it with tenacity. Most thought I was drop-dead gorgeous. Mix that with the fact that everyone knew my parents to be the Bonnie and Clyde of our time, and I was suddenly the next coolest person next to Emma, Sofia, and Alice.

Two sets of blue eyes and a pair of brown eyes stared back at me. Emma adjusted herself, and her blonde bob bounced across her shoulders.

“Are you going to tell us what you’re thinking about?”

I smirked. “I’m thinking about what you just said.”

Alice twisted her lips. “Don’t play us for a fool. You weren’t listening to anything we said.”

“You were talking about the party at the fraternity house tomorrow night.”

The three of them looked at each other, and Sofia mumbled. “Maybe she did hear us.”

Emma nodded, and Alice slipped an autumn-brown strand of hair behind her ear.

“We still want to know what you were thinking about,” Emma added.

I smirked and glanced at them all, then sipped my lemonade.

“I know you all have your pick of guys at school, but…have you ever considered fuckin’ a professor?”

They gasped, eyes wide and mouths agape. Emma lifted her hands.

“Wait a minute.” She thought it over. “We know every administrator at this school. No one is sexy enough to….”

---