Page 25 of Forbidden Fruit

"What's she taste like?" He vaguely gestures to me. Yep, about what I was expecting. My blood runs cold as I register what he said. Does he know?

I realize I've fucked up as I feel the cartilage in Nathan's nose crunch underneath my fist. The whole class, save for Mia and DeLuca, collectively gasp. To my left, Mia is beaming with pride. DeLuca's face is a mask of neutrality as Nathan grabs his nose, blood rushing down his palms and fingers.

"You fucking bitch, you broke my goddamn nose!" He grabs his bag and leaves, the trail of evidence dripping along the gray-speckled carpet. DeLuca dismisses class and starts to shuffle papers on his desk, tension radiating from him like a bomb ready to detonate. Mia squeezes my hand apologetically and tells me she'll see me at home. I blink back hot, angry tears as the adrenaline starts to wear off. I pack up in silence.

Turning to DeLuca does nothing to curb the tense knot growing in my core. He stands at the podium with a bored look on his face as Hannah McKinney stands before him, pushing her tits into his face as far as she can. The irrational pang of jealousy is immediate and overwhelming. On top of the fucked up morning I had with Nathan and last night's bittersweet memory, my patience and rational thought is non-existent. My fingers itch to give him the letter, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I sprawl a quick note.

Meet me at the gym later. It's not a request.

I’ll give it to him there. He deserves the intimacy.The lecture hall finally empties, still full of noise as my peers talk and shout amongst each other in the hall. It's full of students horrified and excited by the mixed martial arts level smack-down Nathan just got so deservingly served. The sound of my black knee-high boots causes him and Hannah to turn their heads in my direction. DeLuca looks at me, startled, then instantly heats. I can see it in his eyes. He didn't get a good look at my outfit, as I was already seated. I chose it for him and for the confidence boost I knew it would give. I'm vaguely aware of the sway of my hips, exaggerated and seductive, as I prowl towards him in my black pencil dress. Goddamn, does it feel good. I'd crawl to this man with a collar around my fucking neck if he'd let me.

I don't really know Hannah, and after the look of icy daggers she gives me, I don't want to. Conversely, I don't need to hear a lecture from DeLuca to know immature displays of attention like this one are the exact reason he had his moment of clarity after I answered Mia's call. Hannah gives a tight smile to me and DeLuca as I approach. I drop the note off to his desk, meeting his eyes with a curt nod, then head to the door.

"I would love a moment of your time, Miss Hamilton," DeLuca says just as I'm about to cross the threshold. I turn and head back to the front of the room, Hannah purposely bumping her shoulder against me.

He pauses briefly, ensuring everyone has exited the hall. He walks by me, then turns the lock, sending my heart into arrhythmia while my greedy whore of a pussy gets her hopes up. Tomas prowls over, wearing an off-white Henley, revealing a Bulova watch and the rippled muscles that I love so much. Surprisingly, the restraint I was expecting today is non-existent. Once the door is locked, he corners me against the wall, not unlike our previous encounter in this very room. Any air that is in my lung dispels. My whole body is an inferno, an electric current of nerve-endings and need. He puts his hands on my shoulders, then thinks better of it, and pulls his hands to his sides, fists balled.

"Please know I tried to get Nathan out of this class."

"I'm sorry I punched him."

"I'm not sorry you punched him," DeLuca says quickly.

"Understood. If you want honesty, I almost punched her, too."

"That's what you're worried about? This bullshit with Nathan, and all you can think about is someone as inconsequential as Hannah?" I nod timidly, full of immature shame.

"Do you want me to throw myself at you now where anyone could see? Would that make you feel better?" He reaches and tenderly brushes away a loose strand of my hair. The air thickens with palpable tension as I nod.

"Right here and right now?" he asks sternly.

I nod again, sucking my bottom lip into my teeth. "I would love nothing more.” Those chestnut brown eyes darken, appraising me with hooded-lids as he returns to me. His hands grab at my wrists, pinning them above my head against the wall. Leaning in close, his breath tickles my ear. The smell of his cologne in all of its musky glory drives me crazy, heightening my arousal. His voice is hushed, deep and husky. I feel the slow and deliberate perusal of my body, his eyes savoring and his mouth exploring without so much as touching me. It feels incredibly intimate and personal.

"My turn for honesty. If I had wanted her, I would've had her, and your intelligent brain knows that." The ghost of his lips against my neck makes me whimper in need. He grins full-on, a dimple appearing on his right cheek that melts me into a puddle. He's the fucking sexiest man I've ever seen. My body arches forward, ungodly desperate for contact, desperate for anything he could give me. His hands tighten against my wrists, holding me in place.

"I don't want her, apple."

"Apple? Is that what you're calling me these days? Where’s the but? What happened to just one night of anything goes?”

His only response is a trail of kisses down my neck, each one sending a jolt of electricity surging through me, leaving goosebumps in its wake. He pauses, stopping right above my breasts. I involuntarily cry out from the denial, my body so greedy for him.

“One night isn't enough for me, Olivia. Not when you taste and feel so fucking good. You can tell Mia. I don’t give a fuck anymore.” My nipples ache in protest, starved for the feel of those decadent lips, that irresistible mouth, licking and nipping, coaxing me deeper and deeper into oblivion.

Tomas tightens his hold on my wrists, still pinned above my head, and he breathes against my neck. He relishes my body flush to him, thriving off of my unabashed need. He regards me like a wolf assessing its dinner and my pulse feels like it's going to jump out of my neck under his predatory gaze. I'm so fucking hungry for him, so desperate for his touch. I struggle against his muscular frame, whimpering and begging for a morsel of friction that he refuses to give me. I don't know how much more of this I can take. He's edging me closer only to pull away, leaving me soaked and frustrated as the anticipation builds.

"Tomas, please." I don't care about the desperation in my voice, how shameless I sound. I feel his erection pressed against me, his arousal evident and heady as it mixes with mine. He's gazing at me with so much lust, so much reverence, that it makes me angry with myself.

This experience is so opposite of how it was with Julian that I wonder how I ever allowed myself to stay in such a cold relationship. How could I waste so much time on him when Tomas was here? He's so dominant, calculated, and controlling- not unlike Julian; The exception being the only part of me Tomas demanded and controlled was my own pleasure. Tomas smiles, wicked mischief glinting in his brown eyes.

"Let's play a game, Miss Hamilton. If I can make you come right here without touching that pretty pussy of yours, you owe me a favor of my choosing."

My hooded lids barely widen at his words. I don't care what he wants, anyway. He can have it. He can have it all. He already knows it, too.

"Deal," I murmur under my breath.

He uses his left hand to trace the dip of my collarbone and I shiver under his touch. The gesture is surprisingly intimate, and that alone pushes me closer to the brink. Smiling at my reaction, he creates a languid path from one freckle to another on my shoulder. It feels like he's committing every freckle, every blemish, every detail to memory, like he believes if he blinks, he'll wake up and I'll be gone. If that isn't the sexiest fucking thing in the world, I don't know what is.

"You feel so fucking good against me, apple. How can you feel so right and so wrong simultaneously?" I moan, knowing exactly what he means. He frees my wrists and I move to lower them, to savor him the way he's savoring me.

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