Page 39 of The Wolf Professor

Charlie was not helping the situation with her gentle reasoning. He could feel the man and the beast fighting inside him, but he couldn’t let his wolf win on this.

Except… maybe she was right. His wolfhadrescued her, hadn’t it? Carried her home to safety. His wolf had done her no harm. Despite the longing to claim her as his, he’d maintained control over his baser nature.

Gods in heaven, he was so damn confused right now.

Max cleared his throat. “Thank you, Charlie, for your faith in my wolf. But for now, let’s stick to practicalities, shall we? If we can both concede that, er, what happened last night was a bizarre aberration brought on by the unusual nature of the circumstances, then I’m confident you can work here for the duration of your contract.” He glanced at her over his glasses.

For a moment Charlie was silent, staring down at her laced fingers. He saw her breasts rise and fall under the silk of her blouse, like she was trying to gain some control.

When she glanced up again, her smile was polite. “I really want that too, Max. It will be amazing to have your name on my CV.”

He felt a dump in his stomach. So all she wanted was his name on her CV? It irked, even though it shouldn’t, of course. It was a perfectly reasonable expectation on her part. She had a life, after all, a career to get on with. And he’d do everything he could to help her. She’d already be getting an amazing reference based on her work. “Right, that’s all clear, then. So, er, we’ll keep out of each other’s way today and start fresh tomorrow.”

For a moment those huge dark eyes perused his face, and Max felt his neck heating under her gaze. “Sure. I’ve got plenty to occupy my time,” she said sweetly, and stood up. “And I’ve made your bed up, thank you for letting me sleep in it.”

Max nodded curtly; he mustnotthink of Charlie in his bed right now. “And Charlie, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention, the, um, events of last night to anyone.”

“I promise it’ll stay between you and me.” Something about the husky way she said those words made him jolt, as though they had shared something more. “And thank you again, Max, for being my knight in shining armor.”

He felt himself blushing deeper.

“Well, I guess, all’s well that ends well.” Gah, now he was mumbling platitudes. He started to sift through his papers. “I’ll be getting on with this pile. And I’ll re-organize our work arrangements by tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t we have the meeting at Motham Palace first thing?”

Gods, how had he forgotten that? It was the pinnacle of this whole trip to Motham.

“We do indeed. Thanks for reminding me.”

She smiled, made to leave, but for some reason he wanted to keep her talking, just a little longer. “I’m glad we’ve had thischat, Charlie. I’m sure we can navigate things in a way that will keep you safe.”

She turned at the door, pushing the mass of curls away from her neck, and his gaze dropped. Right there at the dip at her throat, where her neck splayed into her clavicle, his wolf begged to bite her, just a little nip, just enough to mark her…

He snapped his eyes away from her throat.

“For the record, Max, I don’t feel remotely unsafe around you,” she said, as long lashes dipped over those brown sugar eyes.

Max stared at her helplessly.

Oh, gods, that was the truth of it, wasn’t it?

Charlie wasn’t the one who was unsafe here.

He was.

CHAPTER 15

As Charlie dressed for the meeting at Motham Palace, excitement fizzed through her veins like tiny champagne bubbles.

Of course, that was partly because of their visit to the archives today. It would be an incredible experience, getting to see old texts that had not been accessible to anyone other than the Motham family themselves for two centuries. The historian in her was looking forward to seeing what they would uncover. And doing so with Max, talking it all through afterward, would be the best. She loved their discussions.

But much more of her excitement, she knew, was about what was happening between her and Max.

It didn’t matter that he’d tried to deny it. It didn’t matter that he’d insisted on putting distance between them. She’d seen the longing in his hungry stare, felt it in the care he’d taken of her, secretly witnessed the powerful release of his sexual need in the shower.

She wasn’t a siren, had never, ever thought of herself that way before, but right now, goddess above, she felt like one.

Max was bringing out a primal sexuality that had long lain dormant inside her. And it felt so freakin’ empowering.

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