Page 1 of The Professor: Ep. 1

Maddox

“I don’t knowhow I’m going to survive finals week,” Nicole Anderson announced not twenty feet from where I sat at the bar. Her nasally voice made me cringe. She used it far too often in my class.

However, the sensual tones that followed had my blood heating. “Less bar outings and more studying?” Kayla Mickelson suggested, causing my lips to twitch.

“And turn into you?” Nicole scoffed. “No, thanks.”

Kayla straddled a barstool several seats away, her head tilted toward her friend and away from me. “I’m not that bad.”

“You skipped the Delta Pi meet-up last night to finish up that paper for Kane’s class,” Nicole drawled. “I get the prof is hot, but not even that can convince me to work that hard for attention.”

I smiled against my glass. Nicole wasn’t the first woman to boldly comment on my looks, and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. However, that wasn’t what amused me. It was Kayla’s stiffening shoulders. “That’s not why I spent so much time on my paper.”

Nicole snorted. “Bella, please. Every girl in that class wants to bang him. I know you do, too.”

“I also want an A,” she muttered, causing my eyebrow to arch.

That wasn’t exactly a denial, more of a deflection.

Interesting.

“Yeah, you want his ass all right,” Nicole said, snapping her fingers to grab the bartender’s attention. I ducked my head to hide in my ball cap, not wanting her to recognize me. It was a practiced move that I’d perfected over my thirty-one years.

Being the son of Clyde Kane marked me as a media target from a young age.

The sole heir to Kane Corp.

I nearly rolled my eyes.

I had no interest in taking over my father’s company. He could shove it right up his ass, along with his pretentious attitude and derisive business ethics.

“Not everything is about sex, Nikki,” Kayla said, her seductive tones belying her words.

On the contrary,I thought.Everything about you makes me think of fucking, Miss Mickelson.It’d been a constant throb in my gut since the first time I met her.

She’d been wearing a cute little summer dress that hit her midthigh, her voluminous dark waves tousled alluring down her exposed back and tickling her bare shoulders. I’d been drawn to her immediately.

Then her father—my future boss—had stepped up to her side with a proud grin. He’d paraded her around his faculty party and ensured everyone shared a few words with her. Including me as his new hire for the fall semester.

Off-limits.

Forbidden.

Unattainable.

Three adjectives that immediately described Kayla Mickelson.

Followed swiftly by gorgeous, sensual, and fuckable. Intelligent, confident, and dedicated, were three more adjectives I attributed to her this semester.

Adorable, too. Like how she tucked her hair behind her ear now and blushed at whatever Nicole had just said. It was no doubt inappropriate, just like everything that came out of that woman’s mouth.

I had no idea how these two were friends, or why Kayla put up with herBellanickname all the time, but I admired her tenacity and loyalty.

Fuck, I admired a lot things about her.

To the point where I was considering doing something very reckless.

Like propositioning her on the last day of class.

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