Page 63 of When Hearts Collide

“You know what I’m talking about. Fred and I were having a quick, idle conversation while working, and we weren’t disrupting anyone. Your words were uncalled for.”

“You guys were talking about dating in the middle of a serious project. The classroom is not the time or the place for such conversations.” His fingers pause on the pen and his eyes flash with warning.

“Even if that was the case, the comments from you were unnecessarily harsh. They were unprofessional if I were to be honest. I didn’t appreciate you using what I told you in confidence regarding my mom and my future plans against me in front of everyone. I’ve done nothing to deserve this treatment from you. I’ve worked hard, scored well on all the assignments, and am never late to class.”

I stab my finger onto the wood desk when I want nothing more than to stab his chest.

“Your censure was completely out-of-proportion, and for an ethics professor, especially, I’d think you’d recognize that.”

Muscles twitch in his jaw and a strong pulse pops against his corded neck. He’s now gripping the pen tightly in his fist.

“Be careful, young lady.”

“Or what?”

Perhaps I’m crazy and out of my mind, because for a moment, I don’t care he’s my professor and I’m his student.

All I know is, this man has been driving me absolutely insane for the last two years. When we were apart, he’d invade my dreams at night. It was his voice I heard rasping in my ear when I grew slick between my legs, with a heavy ache no toys could satisfy. And now, his commanding presence and volatile temper fill my days, driving me crazy.

Ryland presses a button on his desk, and the glass walls and windows instantly turn to solid gray. The room is immediately cloaked in relative darkness, with nothing but the light from his desk lamp offering visibility.

He slowly stands up and leans toward me, his lips parting in a sneer.

“You don’t want to test me, little girl.”

“I know you’re disappointed I cheated for Jocelyn,” I continue, undeterred.

Perhaps I’m a prey with no commonsense left because anyone will look at his dark expression and know he’s seconds from snapping, the dirty bomb inside him threatening to explode at any moment and unleash devastation around him.

But I frankly don’t care anymore. I need the lonely man who stood in the rain with a smile on his face, the man with the fiery eyes, rippling muscles, but had the gentlest touch, the man who wiped away my tears and handed me an umbrella so I wouldn’t be subjected to the elements.

I want that man back.

“And I’m here to tell you, yet again, in your words, the world is not black and white, it’s shades of gray. It was the right thing to do for her and I know you agree as well, or you would’ve reported me. You wouldn’t have given her that extra credit assignment. So, don’t you dare use this incident against me. I’ve done nothing to warrant this behavior from you, and I refuse to be treated this way. It seems like you have a problem with me.”

I lean forward some more and our faces are now a few inches apart. He stands up and towers over me, with the desk in between us, his hot breath caressing my heated face. His intoxicating woodsy scent with hints of citrus lands on my nose and I fight an urge to inhale deeply, to seek its source on his body.

His heavy, large, muscular body.

“Whatever problem you have, it’s your problem, not mine. You need to deal with it or tell me what it is. Tell me—”

“What? That you drive me fucking insane with need?” he hollers, his rough voice vibrating with tension. His face is flushed, his eyes fevered, pupils dilated.

My pussy throbs and pulses. The blistering eye of the storm. He’s so breathtaking. An unforgettable whirlwind, sweeping me off my feet into his madness.

He snarls. “I shouldn’t be thinking about how your lips taste. I shouldn’t be thinking about how I want to pin you against me and fuck you until you see stars. I shouldn’t be fucking attracted to you. You’re young. Bright. Fucking beautiful. Your future is untethered. Free. Limitless. I shouldn’t have broken my rules for you. You drive me abso-fucking-lutely crazy. A fucking disease, and I…and I…”

He heaves, his chest moving up and down, up and down, his eyes dipping to my parted lips.

I lean forward, drawn to those perfect lips of his. “You what?” I whisper.

“And I,” he rasps, “Shit. Fuck this shit.”

The tension between us snaps.

He clasps his large hand around the back of my neck and tugs me to him, slamming his lips on mine.

My world spins as he claims me with his mouth, a raging inferno barreling through my body with every swipe of his tongue. He invades and overpowers my senses. His teeth make an appearance, biting on my plump lip as I let out a ragged moan and claw his neck, his back, any part of his body I can reach with the wide desk between us.

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