Page 43 of Taming His Teacher

“I thought Ellie was on cleanup duty for this?”

“She was. She wasn’t feeling well so I said I’d do it.”

Erin’s not looking at me. Her eyes are searching for every last scrap to pick up and throw away so she doesn’t have to.

“I’ll help.”

A bitter expression flits across her face but it may as well fly across the room and stab me in the chest.Ouch.

“That’s not necessary. There’s not much to do; it won’t take me long.”

But because I’m a stubborn fuck and as noted earlier, a specific type of masochist, I can’t help it. “Then it’ll take even less time with the both of us.”

“Suit yourself.”

I may not be able to have her, but I also don’t want her to hate me. Especially if I end up getting to stay. She’s right, there isn’t much to do, and we’re finished up here in a few minutes, silently dragging furniture back to its place before heading downstairs for a repeat performance. The truth is I don’t want her walking across campus alone at this time of night, though I’m sure she’d be fine. But I’m going to allow myself to walk her up to Sullivan because it’s one desire where Erin is concerned I can indulge in safely.

When we’ve picked up every stray gum wrapper and moved back all the benches that had been moved to accommodate the crowds, we stand awkwardly in the entryway.

“Let me walk you home.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can shove them back down and I curse myself. I should’ve done it like I used to, not spelling out the obvious and give her a chance to say no, but it’s too late.

“You want to walk me home?” Her tone and her expression are cloudy with doubt. A hint of defiance makes me want to drag her by the hair over to the nearest bench, take her over my knee and spank her until her face is wet with tears and she says she’s sorry, she’ll never doubt me again. But that’s not an option. So though my dick is getting ideas, my brain squashes it and what comes out of my mouth is a tight, “It’s late.”

“You know I managed to walk from here to my apartment for three years escortless with nary a kidnapping, right?”

The sass, the hard sarcasm, that’s not Erin. I want to wash it out of her mouth and replace it with my cock. How she’d look on her knees with her hands tied behind her back so she wouldn’t fight me—a bell clutched in her fingers she could ring if she was actually scared, the gagging noises and the way her eyes would water as I taught her how to take me deep in her throat… For fuck’s sake.

This is not a banner night for me. First my brother, now Erin. Can I not do anything right?

“Let’s just go.”

She locks up while I wait in the glow of a streetlamp that lights the path back to the main campus. She walks down the steps with her arms crossed over her chest and doesn’t wait for me as she starts up the narrow paved ribbon. I take a few quick steps to catch up with her. It’s not hard because she’s tiny, and I notice that with her arms crossed, her breasts swell farther out of the modest neckline of her dress. I know what I’ll be doing when I get back to my apartment.

“You told me to stay away from you.”

Her words slice at me. I remember saying them. They cut then and they cut now. “Yes.”

“So why aren’t you staying away from me?”

If only I could answer honestly:I don’t want to stay away from you. I want to own you, possess every inch of you, mark you as mine, and show you what all that means. But you’re as vanilla as a milkshake and just as sweet, so I can’t. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t step in front of a tank for you. It doesn’t mean I can stop the want, the urges.I should go to the club Mordecai gave me an introduction to. Maybe I could find some nice, kinky, submissive girl who could make me forget about Erin Brewster and what I’d like to do to her. I doubt it.

“I can’t.”

“Then don’t.”

Erin’s stopped short in the middle of the path and grabbed the sleeve of my regulation navy blazer.

“Erin, I…”

“Please, Shep, don’t.”

She winds my tie around her hand and I think she’s going to yank my head down to kiss me, but she doesn’t. She looks up into my face, and I get hard as hell when she whispers, “Please,” her eyes round as the full moon that’s out tonight. I want to. I’d strip off my tie and bind her wrists around the top of the lamppost, rip off her dress, yank down my fly and fuck her right here. But no.No.

I untangle her fingers as gently as I can and smooth out the wrinkles her tiny hand made in the fabric, wishing it were her palm gliding down my chest instead of mine. “We can’t be together. I told you.”

“Why? Why not?”

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