Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels (54 page)

But it was more than that now. Now I was beginning to like her. Not just the way she looked, but
her
. And that was unacceptable. I could not let this happen to me.

I settled down on one of the seats in the theater, shaking my head. I wouldn’t come back for the next rehearsal. If I could manage it, I’d only come to see Harper’s rehearsals once a week. I had to make it through to the ritual without falling for her any harder than I had.

“Professor Alexander, it’s me.”

I stood up.

“You should probably go. We’re alone, and we promised not to be alone anymore.”

Teagan had come back into the theater. I took in the swell of her hips and the dip of her waist. I took in her long, shapely legs. On second thought, maybe I should just screw her and be done with it. Maybe I was only thinking about her so much because there was thick tension between us. Maybe if we got it over with, everything would be easier. “Miss Moss. I thought you’d left.”

“I stormed out without my stuff,” she said. “Actually, I feel sort of stupid now.”

“I thought it was admirable the way you stuck to the high moral ground,” I said. If I tried to seduce her, she’d let me. I knew it. She couldn’t resist me anymore than I could resist her. I took a few steps towards her.

Her shoulders slumped. “Oh, that’s the thing. It wasn’t high moral ground.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It wasn’t?”

“I’m just embarrassed. I thought if I tried to fake it on stage, I’d look like an idiot.”

“You couldn’t look like an idiot if you tried.”

She sighed. “It’s just that I don’t know how to give a blow job. I’ve never...”

I took a step closer. “Oh, you haven’t?”

“It’s just that most of my... experience has been sort of the one-night variety, and I never really got there. And I feel too old not to know. I didn’t know what to do, so I got mad. But now, I feel even more stupid.”

“Never given a blow job,” I murmured.

She looked up at me. She must have heard something in my tone. “Oh, but... I didn’t mean...”

“You know,” I said, “I don’t think you should feel stupid at all.”

“Professor, I thought we said we would stay away from each other.”

“Well, but this is for your art, Miss Moss.” I gave her a wicked smile. “You need to do some research for your character. As your professor, I think it’s my job to assist you.” I closed the distance between us.

* * *

Teagan

Damn it. Why did he have to make me so off kilter? The last time I’d seen him, he’d told me he was a bad person. Now, here he was, talking to me in that silky voice of his, and I was already getting turned on. There was something wrong about this. I shouldn’t react this way to him. I felt out of control when he was near me, and I didn’t think it was the normal kind of romantic out of control. Maybe there was something else going on. And maybe that was precisely why he was dangerous.

His touch was feather soft as he caressed my face. His lips fluttered over my forehead. “Get down on your knees, Miss Moss.”

I felt like my whole body clenched with excitement. That was
hot
.

But... Gross. And he couldn’t order me around like that. And I wasn’t going to do what he said. I would tell him I didn’t want...

But I was already kneeling in front of him. Like I’d had a choice. He turned me into a raging ball of hormones.

“Unzip me,” he said.

No. This was humiliating. I didn’t do what he asked just because he asked me. I wasn’t here for his pleasure. “Professor, I’m not sure that I can...”

He closed his eyes. “Call me professor again.”

“I always call you that.”

He peered down at me. “Not on your knees you don’t.” His voice sounded raw.

“Professor,” I said. He was reacting to me, and I hadn’t done anything. I was beginning to feel powerful, not denigrated. I let my voice go a little breathy and coy. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

His lips curled into a smile. “I’ll teach you. My job, right?”

My pulse leaped in excitement and fear. I nodded. “Yes.”

He slid his palm against my cheek, rubbed his thumb over my cheekbone. “You want me to teach you, don’t you, Miss Moss?”

I wasn’t... Yes. Okay, yes, I did. “Yes, Professor.”

He sucked in air noisily. “Oh, Miss Moss, you are going to ruin me.”

My turn to smile.

“Unzip me.”

And I did. I could see that his boxers were dark green underneath his pants. I looked up at him, batting my eyelashes. “Do you want me to take it out?” So, maybe I was putting it on a little thick there, my overly innocent act. It suddenly seemed fun to play into it.

His jaw tightened. “Please.”

I could do that. I reached inside his open zipper. I had enough practice with guys in the backseats of cars—

But I didn’t want to think about my previous sexual partners right now. This experience was new. It was fresh, and I wanted to keep it that way.

I tugged his shaft free of his clothes. He was hard, huge, engorged. I let go of it when I looked at it. I was going to put that in my mouth?

He groaned above me.

I swallowed.

His hand was still on my face. His thumb carefully stroked my skin. “You all right?”

“I’m...” I wasn’t playing games now. “I think it’s too big.”

He chuckled softly.

I stopped focusing on his crotch and looked up into his eyes.

“You know how to flatter a man.”

I cringed. “My mouth is just not that big. I don’t...” I thought about trying to shove it into me and gagging on it. I shuddered. That sounded horrible.

“You’re serious.” His tone had changed. He sounded warmer, more concerned. “Give me your hand.”

I did.

He wrapped my fingers around the base of himself. My hand covered half of him.

He grunted.

I felt the sensation of being powerful again, watching him react to my hand on him. I felt more comfortable. Less afraid. I liked being able to do that to him.

“That better?” he murmured.

I nodded.

I licked my lips. Okay, I was going to do this.

I slammed my eyes shut. I moved forward.

And he was in my mouth. My lips were pressed against my fingers, meaning that the whole of him was covered.

His skin was like satin against my tongue. So soft. I ran my tongue around his head in exploration.

He made a guttural noise.

Okay. I guessed that was good. And I was relieved to find that I didn’t find anything about it gross or weird. It was kind of neat, actually.

But I wasn’t really sure what to do from here. I guessed I was supposed to suck on it, right?

I started to do that.

His hand on my shoulder, squeezing. “Wait.”

Wait? I stopped.

His hand on the back of my head, gentle. “I just want to show you how to move, Miss Moss.” He guided my mouth, showing me to move up and down on him.

Oh. I felt like an idiot. Obviously, it would be like sex, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t really suck on it, not like a lollipop or something. Instead you’d go back and forth on it.

I let my hand start to slide in tandem with my mouth, so that I was dragging my fist over him at the same time as I pulled my lips over him.

His guiding hand dropped away, and I heard his breath quicken. He rasped above me as I continued, gasping out something like, “Very good,” at one point.

I’d rendered him speechless. I’d affected him. The sensation of power from before surged up within me, feeding my strokes on him, making them more energetic.

His gasps got closer together.

And somehow it drove me to go quicker still. His pleasure drove me on. I liked hearing him sound so lost in sensation—knowing I was doing it to him.

“Miss... Moss.” His voice was ragged. “I’m going to... If you don’t want me in your mouth, then...”

But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. And I wanted...

I wanted to feel his release, and I wanted it in my body. We were close right now, joined. I’d taken him in some primal way. If he didn’t finish in me, then I wasn’t sure if it would be quite as real.

But it still startled me when it happened.

It didn’t feel like what I thought it would feel like. I’d imagined that I’d feel something squirting into me. Instead, it was more like my mouth being filled up with a thick liquid, and it was instinctual to swallow it right away.

It didn’t really taste like anything. Or at least, if it did, it was too far back in my mouth to make contact with my taste buds. It was more that the texture of it was a little unpleasant.

I winced away from him, making a face.

He didn’t notice. His eyes were closed, and he was struggling to catch his breath.

That was awesome. He was beautiful that way. I did that to him, I realized. I liked that.

His eyes opened. He sank down next to me on the floor.

I felt a little shy for a minute, but it was only because there was so much adoration in his gaze, and he’d never really looked at me like that before.

He kissed me. “You’re a very quick study.”

I grinned.

He thrust a hand down my pants. “Did you get wet?” His fingers slid against me. “Oh, you did. Good.”

“It excited me. I liked being able to—”

I broke off. His fingers were moving between my legs. He found my clit. I couldn’t talk anymore.

“I should return the favor, shouldn’t I?”

I gasped. What he was doing felt so good.

And then I heard the door to the theater opening.

My stomach turned over. Someone was coming.

Professor Alexander shoved me away from him, tucking himself back in his pants, zipping up, getting to his feet.

I stood up too. I picked up my books, holding them to my chest. My heart was pounding. I wiped at my mouth.

Harper appeared around the bank of risers. He stopped in surprise at the sight of us. “You guys are still here?”

“Professor Alexander was giving me some notes,” I said in a tight voice. Oh God. I was pretty sure this was the worst thing I’d ever gotten myself into.

“About what?” Harper narrowed his eyes.

“About the tone of the play,” said the professor. “I told you I support your choice, and I was explaining why to Miss Moss.”

He seemed so collected and cool. How had he done that? I was still a nervous wreck. I just wanted to get away.

Harper raised his eyebrows. “You were trying to convince her about the blow job?”

Oh God. I was blushing. I looked at the floor. “Um, I might try the blocking tomorrow, Harper. But I really should get going.” I picked up the rest of my stuff and hurried out of the theater.

* * *

“It’s about time,” said Aunt Libby. “You haven’t returned our last five calls.”

I paced with my phone in my dorm room. “I’ve been busy. You said Mom was doing worse. What’s going on?”

“Well, she keeps going on about the snakes, you know. She’s worried about you. She says the snakes are after you. She wants you to come home. We all want you home, sweetie.”

“Mom’s crazy, Aunt Libby.”

“She didn’t used to be. She used to see things. More than the rest of us. You have her gift with the dreams, Teagan. You can see danger in your future. You can tell what’s on the horizon.”

“But the dreams,” I said. “They aren’t about danger.”

Aunt Libby was quiet. “You can’t allow the dark man to seduce you into believing you aren’t in danger, dear.”

I sat down on the bed. Was Professor Alexander the dark man? Was our attraction to each other dangerous to me? What was the worst that would happen if I gave into my desires? If we slept together, didn’t he have more to lose than I did? Wasn’t I more of a danger to him than he was to me? “What if there is no danger? What if the things you think are dangerous aren’t?”

“But they are, Teagan. If you lose your light, you will never be the same.”

“What does that even mean, losing my light?”

“It’s hard to explain,” she said.

“Listen, Aunt Libby, if you guys are just trying to keep me from having sex, you might be a little late. You kept me under lock and key while I lived with you, but I managed, even around your curfews. Did you ever consider that I lost my light a long time ago?”

Aunt Libby sputtered. “Whatever do you mean, Teagan? You can’t be saying that you gave into the pollution and lusts of men, can you? You’re meant to be stronger than that.”

I sighed. My aunts were crazy. “You know what, Aunt Libby? If you guys are only going to call me because you want to try to convince me to come home, then forget it. I’m not coming home.”

“Teagan, your mother keeps saying you must guard your light. She says it can be stolen from you.”