Then he’ll see my pathetic apartment, the single bed, and change his mind. “I mean…”
“I can’t, Scarlett. You know I can’t.” He leans in and kisses my forehead. “But I really want to. And that has to be enough.”
But it’s not.
“This isn’t just about the fact that you’re my professor. It’s one class. We’re adults. This is because you thinkyou’re bad for me.” My voice breaks just a little. “Because of them? Because you’re mafia? You don’t think I can handle it.”
“You’ve proven you can handle anything,” he says sardonically. “Ican’t handleyou. Go home, Dr. Ford. It’s late.”
“I need to wash my hands first.” I don’t wait for a response. I amble into the bathroom and splash water on my face as well.
Looking in the mirror, I see the person I thought was lost.
A doctor.
And Cormac gave me that tonight. And the biggest lady boner.
I come back out into the hallway, and an ache settles in my chest. The place is empty.
Cormac is gone.
And I’m hooked.
On him.
If he needs to take a wife before the end of the semester, I won’t get a chance to have all of his attention again. Let him use me like he did that first night.
I just have to convince him that he can…
The next morning, when I get dressed, I choose my clothes deliberately. A shirt that dips just a little too low. Legs bare beneath a short skirt. Lip gloss that isn’t subtle.
He wants to pretend he can’t break the rules. That I can’t handle darkness or grit.
Then I’ll remind him exactly who stepped into that OR with him last night and didn’t flinch.
I’ll remind him that I’m more than just his student in those moments. I’m the woman who his female patient needed. The woman who will, in a few years, be on his level. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll stop running from thething between us and finally let himself lose control. Before he marries some woman he’s forced to settle on.
It’s not like he’s going to consider me for that role. I’m a student, and I don’t want a husband. Not now, not when I finally got my ass back in gear, and I’m kicking that ass in med school.
But when Cormac looks at me today in class, he’s going to know exactly whatIwant. Exactly what he does to me.
I want to watch him break.
A glance, a shift of my legs, a deliberate, perfect provocation that only he will feel. And he’ll feel it like a hand wrapped around his throat.
I slide into my seat in his lecture hall and cross my legs for now.
Until the show begins.
Chapter 25
Cormac
Ienter the lecture hall several minutes before class starts. I like to get there early so I can stand at the podium and read through my notes before she walks in.
Control the field. Control myself.
After last night, I need it.