Page 22 of Forbidden Professor

I freeze on all fours, then push myself up and look behind me. On the other side of my white picket fence is Eve, her expression curious. I frown at her.

“There appears to be a kitten under this chair,” I say evenly.

Her brows rise. “I see. And you’re going to coax it out of there or something?”

Wrinkling my forehead, I think. “I guess? I mean, it isn’t going to live under here. Not with the temperatures so hot lately.”

Eve nods. “Do you want some help?”

I hesitate. Yes, obviously I’d like someone to help me convince the kitten that living under my porch chair is not a viable option. But I’m supposed to be keeping my distance from Eve, not inviting her to help.

The kitten mews, the tiniest and most pathetic sound I’ve ever heard. After a second, the immediacy of its need wins out.

“Sure,” I say. Standing up, I brush off my hands. “If you want to stay here where I’m standing, I can go inside and get… a towel or something, I guess? Then we can trap it.”

She’s already letting herself inside of the gate. As she approaches, I slip off my shoe and take the key out, then let myself inside the house. Putting my running shoe back on, I go to the bathroom and grab a fluffy blue towel. Then I return to the porch.

“Got it,” I say, holding the towel up.

Eve is on her hands and knees, looking through the gap between the concrete porch and the wicker chair. She leans down a little more and I can’t help the way my eyes are drawn to her ass. She’s wearing gray yoga pants and her ass is just sticking up in the air, begging to be grabbed.

I swallow a little and drag my eyes away, rebuking myself. I knew that having her here wasn’t a good idea and yet… I decided to invite her up to my porch anyway.

“I think I should get the towel ready and you should lift the chair,” Eve announces. She reaches up for the towel, which I drop into her hands. She puts the towel over both of her hands and nods to the chair. “Pick it up slowly, starting with the front. I’ll trap the kitten.”

Moving over to the chair, I do as instructed. The cat starts hissing and spitting the minute I move the chair. Eve hovers her towel-covered hands closer and closer as I reveal more of the kitten.

It decides to make a break for it after a few seconds, trying to dart past Eve’s hands. But she catches it easily, wrapping it up as it hisses. I let go of the chair and step back. Her movements are gentle as she stands up.

“Where to?” she asks.

My eyes narrow. “I hadn’t actually thought that far, to be perfectly honest.”

“Well…” She looks indecisive. “We should probably decide whether to take it inside your place or...”

Cocking a brow, I fold my arms across my chest. “Or take it to an animal shelter?”

She bites her lower lip. “I hate to take it to one of those places.”

The kitten growls inside the towel, which is actually pretty cute. “Yeah, there is no guarantee of a kitten even getting to live at a lot of those places.”

Alarm flashes across Eve’s face. “Oh, we definitely can’t take it to a shelter that…kills. Let’s just take it to my house. I would rather have a kitten at my place, than lie awake at night wondering whether it got adopted in time.”

“Really? You’ll take it in, then?” I didn’t expect that Eve would care about the kitten. I thought I would have to, which isn’t the worst thing I can think of. But if she says she’ll take it, I am definitely not going to argue with her.

She scowls at me. “I just said I would.” Then she pauses. “Actually, I think I saw this kitten earlier. Or one of its siblings.” Her mouth twists. “We should look around the neighborhood and make sure none of the kitten’s brothers and sisters are wandering around. Or its mother, I guess.”

I sigh. “First things first. Let’s take it to your place and… I don’t know, get it settled in, I guess.”

Eve stands up, bunching the towel up so that the kitten hangs down at the bottom. It meows piteously, which makes her frown and cradle the wiggling terrycloth-covered kitten.

It’s a quick trip back to her house. The whole way there, I try not to notice the way her hips shake. The way she cocks her head as she makes idle chit chat.

The bounce of her honey blonde hair in its ponytail, corresponding with how she walks.

I feel like a stupid teenager. Having such innocent things about her become turn ons feels wrong. Time and time again, she asks me a question. And here I am, too busy fantasizing about her tits to answer.

Eve stops at her gate, giving me side eye. “Okay, what is up with you?”

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