Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
It literally hurt to listen to her, and if he weren’t so bent on keeping his distance from Kassia, he would have told her so. But since he was, Alessandro simply gritted his teeth and told himself to bear it. He mustn’t talk to her, mustn’t let her get too comfortable under his skin.
Even now, he wasn’t quite sure how Kassia had ended up having her way. All he knew was that allowing Kassia to spend the night in his place was madness, but it was a folly he hadn’t been able to resist.
Beside him, Kassia was still singing, and it had only gotten worse in the past ten seconds. He waited for the urge to throw her out of the car to come, but it didn’t. Instead, he found himself wanting to shut her up...with a kiss.
The thought had Alessandro gritting his teeth some more, his fingers gripping the wheel more tightly. What. The. Fuck. Was. Wrong. With. Him?
A sly voice inside his mind taunted him about déjà vu. Perhaps this was how it started with his older brother and his wife?
Alessandro rejected the thought as soon as it occurred to him. Fuck no. He was taking Kassia home with him because he was in lust with her.
But then, the sly voice continued, why is Kassia the only girl you’ve taken to your home? Why nobody else?
Because...because it was all part of the plan, the answer to the challenge his older brother had thrown at Alessandro. Kassia was the woman he needed but hadn’t bothered to look for, the one to make Domenico Moretti stop acting like a lovesick fool and return to being the alpha of their clan.
That was it. Just that.
She was nothing more than a means to an end, never mind if she also got him talking to himself.
Kassia started in her seat when she heard the professor mutter an expletive under his breath. It was uncommon for the professor, and she paled at the sound. Knowing that there could only be one reason for it, she forced herself to adopt a lighthearted tone as she asked, “Do you want to turn the car around?”
The professor stiffened. “Have you forgotten something at school?”
“No.” She lifted her chin. “But I think you’re being too quiet, and I d-don’t like the idea that I’m forcing myself on you.”
The professor gazed at her broodingly.
Kassia started to panic. Oh, no, no. Hell no. She averted her gaze, warning him shakily, “Don’t think that’s going to work on me.” And it wasn’t, she told herself firmly, even if she was still trying to catch her breath right now.
Alessandro patiently waited for the lights to turn red before asking, “What are you talking about?”
Ha! Did he really think he could fool her that easily? I’m on to you, Professor, Kassia thought. She wasn’t going to let herself be swayed by that mysteriously brooding air about him, wasn’t going to give in an inch even if he had the whole James Dean thing down pat.
Alessandro watched Kassia sneak a glance at him before quickly averting her gaze again.
“Sneaky, Professor, very sneaky,” Kassia muttered.
Alessandro didn’t even know how to answer that. “Will you please explain what you’re talking—-”
Kassia cut him off with a snort. “Stop pretending, Professor. It’s not going to work.”
This time, he didn’t bother hiding his exasperation. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“That. All that.” She gestured to the professor, head to bottom, without looking at him. “I’m on to you, Professor. Even though your brooding good looks are making me feel like I have asthma, I’m not going to let it work.”
Her words were starting to make sense. In a crazy way, but at least he was finally seeing things from her point of view, and once he did, Alessandro’s lips started to twitch. “Are you saying,” he said slowly, “that my, err, brooding looks can make you do anything?”
“Hmph.”
He waited patiently, driving in silence until they reached the gates of the Moretti compound. Knowing he had a few minutes while personnel worked on verifying his identity and scanning his vehicle for any possible threat, Alessandro turned to Kassia and decided to put his theory to the test.
Kassia jumped in her seat when she felt the professor’s hands settle on her shoulders. What the—-
But she was already being spun around to face him.
Alessandro looked into his student’s eyes...and brooded.
Aaaaaaah!
The full force of the professor’s brooding looks was too much.
Kassia quickly covered her eyes, crying out, “Unfair!”
He burst into laughter. “God, Kassia...” He cupped her face and, ignoring her half-hearted struggles, he pulled her to his lap and kissed her. He kissed her open-mouthed to let her know how much she turned him on, kissed her hard so she would know he considered her his property, kissed her hungrily so that she would also know he was a slave as much as she was to the passion burning between them.