Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Carter
Eve is going to be the death of me, I swear. It’s only the end of the second week of classes. And yet she has wormed her way into my thoughts.
Well, I thought about her before. Here and there. But now, as I am sprinting flat out in my neighborhood, I can’t think of anything else. Biology, chemistry, even basic mathematics… it all pales in comparison to what she’s planted in my head.
The reoccurring thought of what it would be like to rip off her clothes, spank her for being naughty, and fuck her against my desk.
Her panted breathing the only other noise as I relish the smack of my hand against her bare ass. She’d get so fucking wet, just from having me cup her tits and kiss those pert pink nipples. She would moan so sweetly as I filled her with my cock, stretching her pussy out for the first time, my name on her lips.
We would both come together, her nails raking down my back, my hands gripping her hair tightly. I’d pulse my seed so deep inside of her, filling her with my cum.
God damn .
I slow and then stop, leaning my hands on my thighs. Every part of me burns but it doesn’t really matter. Even when I really, really wear myself out, I know it’s only a matter of time. Sooner or later, I’m going to be fantasizing Eve spread out across my bed, whimpering and clutching at my head as I taste her dripping pink pussy.
Shaking my head at myself, I finish my run. As I hit the little picket fence of my rented house, I try to catch my breath. Thinking about the coming events of the day, I’m not really watching where I’m going.
As I cross the yard and start to climb the steps to my porch, a little orange ball of fur streaks across my path. My footing falters and I step right down on top of the orange ball. It shrieks, making the most blood curdling yet impossibly tiny sound I swear I have ever heard.
I lift my foot and the ball scurries onto my porch, underneath a dusty wicker chair. My heart starts pounding, adrenaline shooting through my veins.
What was that?
I climb the steps hesitantly, crouching down to look under the patio chair. I glimpse the little fur ball again, shoved all the way in the back, shaking like a leaf. It’s a kitten, so small that I don’t even know how it could be separated from its mother. Regardless of how it came to be here, I realize that it can’t be outside tonight.
Honestly, looking at the terrified, panting little kitten, I don’t know how it stayed alive before this moment.
“Lost something?” a voice calls from behind me. Eve .
Of course. She would find me here, wouldn’t she?
I freeze on all fours, then push myself up and look behind me. On the other side of my white picket fence is Eve, her expression curious. I frown at her.
“There appears to be a kitten under this chair,” I say evenly.
Her brows rise. “I see. And you’re going to coax it out of there or something?”
Wrinkling my forehead, I think. “I guess? I mean, it isn’t going to live under here. Not with the temperatures so hot lately.”
Eve nods. “Do you want some help?”
I hesitate. Yes, obviously I’d like someone to help me convince the kitten that living under my porch chair is not a viable option. But I’m supposed to be keeping my distance from Eve, not inviting her to help.
The kitten mews, the tiniest and most pathetic sound I’ve ever heard. After a second, the immediacy of its need wins out.
“Sure,” I say. Standing up, I brush off my hands. “If you want to stay here where I’m standing, I can go inside and get… a towel or something, I guess? Then we can trap it.”
She’s already letting herself inside of the gate. As she approaches, I slip off my shoe and take the key out, then let myself inside the house. Putting my running shoe back on, I go to the bathroom and grab a fluffy blue towel. Then I return to the porch.
“Got it,” I say, holding the towel up.
Eve is on her hands and knees, looking through the gap between the concrete porch and the wicker chair. She leans down a little more and I can’t help the way my eyes are drawn to her ass. She’s wearing gray yoga pants and her ass is just sticking up in the air, begging to be grabbed.
I swallow a little and drag my eyes away, rebuking myself. I knew that having her here wasn’t a good idea and yet… I decided to invite her up to my porch anyway.
“I think I should get the towel ready and you should lift the chair,” Eve announces. She reaches up for the towel, which I drop into her hands. She puts the towel over both of her hands and nods to the chair. “Pick it up slowly, starting with the front. I’ll trap the kitten.”
Moving over to the chair, I do as instructed. The cat starts hissing and spitting the minute I move the chair. Eve hovers her towel-covered hands closer and closer as I reveal more of the kitten.
It decides to make a break for it after a few seconds, trying to dart past Eve’s hands. But she catches it easily, wrapping it up as it hisses. I let go of the chair and step back. Her movements are gentle as she stands up.
“Where to?” she asks.
My eyes narrow. “I hadn’t actually thought that far, to be perfectly honest.”
“Well…” She looks indecisive. “We should probably decide whether to take it inside your place or...”
Cocking a brow, I fold my arms across my chest. “Or take it to an animal shelter?”
She bites her lower lip. “I hate to take it to one of those places.”
The kitten growls inside the towel, which is actually pretty cute. “Yeah, there is no guarantee of a kitten even getting to live at a lot of those places.”
Alarm flashes across Eve’s face. “Oh, we definitely can’t take it to a shelter that… kills . Let’s just take it to my house. I would rather have a kitten at my place, than lie awake at night wondering whether it got adopted in time.”
“Really? You’ll take it in, then?” I didn’t expect that Eve would care about the kitten. I thought I would have to, which isn’t the worst thing I can think of. But if she says she’ll take it, I am definitely not going to argue with her.
She scowls at me. “I just said I would.” Then she pauses. “Actually, I think I saw this kitten earlier. Or one of its siblings.” Her mouth twists. “We should look around the neighborhood and make sure none of the kitten’s brothers and sisters are wandering around. Or its mother, I guess.”
I sigh. “First things first. Let’s take it to your place and… I don’t know, get it settled in, I guess.”
Eve stands up, bunching the towel up so that the kitten hangs down at the bottom. It meows piteously, which makes her frown and cradle the wiggling terrycloth-covered kitten.
It’s a quick trip back to her house. The whole way there, I try not to notice the way her hips shake. The way she cocks her head as she makes idle chit chat.
The bounce of her honey blonde hair in its ponytail, corresponding with how she walks.
I feel like a stupid teenager. Having such innocent things about her become turn ons feels wrong. Time and time again, she asks me a question. And here I am, too busy fantasizing about her tits to answer.
Eve stops at her gate, giving me side eye. “Okay, what is up with you?”
I clear my throat, the back of my neck heating. “Nothing. I was just… going over a tricky mathematical equation in my head,” I lie.
Her mouth pulls down. Shaking her head, she unlocks her gate and then flounces up the path. I hear her muttering something as she unlocks her door.
I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the total lie I just pulled out of my ass. Following her inside, I close the door. Her house is large and airy, as fastidious as it is modern. There is a large living room area to the left, followed by a kitchen and dining room. In the back, I can just make out an alcove where the stairs probably are.
Eve walks her meowing bundle over to the kitchen island, setting it down very carefully. As soon as she uncovers the kitten, it pokes its head out of the towel. It’s bright blue eyes are admittedly pretty cute.
Eve scoops it up, checking its belly. It yowls in distress.
“Okay, okay!” Eve says, gracefully putting it down. It looks around with wide eyes, exploring her house very timidly.
“It’s a girl,” Eve says thoughtfully.
I frown. “Are you sure? Aren’t marmalade kittens usually boys?”
Eve shrugs. “I’m pretty sure. We’ll just leave its gender as an unknown for the time being.” She folds the towel, watching the tiny kitten navigate her living room. “What do you think of the name Valentine? That could work for a boy or a girl.”
My gaze has slipped down to Eve’s legs. “Huh?”
She crosses her arms, turning to me. “What are you even here for, Carter? Just to ogle me?”
I clear my throat and cross my arms, giving her a look. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m just being neighborly.”
She arches a brow. “Oh?”
I feel defensive for some reason. “Yeah. Well, you are my student?—“
She rolls her eyes. “Easy, professor. There are like three cell biology classes. If we decide to hook up, I’ll just take a different class.”
I frown. “That would be inconvenient. Especially since we probably shouldn’t sleep together anyway. I mean… you are the sexiest person that I’ve ever met and you’re smart as a whip on top of that. But?—“
She releases an exasperated sigh. “Are you about to say that we’re related?”
I smirk at her. “We’re not unrelated.”
She starts making a list and ticking it off on her fingers. “Okay. First off, you and my brother only share one parent. Your father.” She cocks her hip. “Aiden and I also only share one parent, our mother. And on top of all that, I’m adopted.”
“That’s still more related than I personally would like. I imagine the woman I love being entirely unrelated to me.”
The second the words pop out of my mouth, I want to cram them back in. Eve’s eyes widen a little.
“You love me?” she asks, sounding strangled.
“Uh, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I could grow to love you. I’m sure you’re perfectly lovable. I mean…” I stop, cursing. “Shit. I’m saying that fucking often leads to… catching feelings…”
Her mouth twists, a sly grin appearing on her face. “You have a crush on me.”
“What? No. You wish. That’s just a projection of your feelings for me.”
She saunters a little closer, stopping when she’s almost close enough to touch. “So you wouldn’t get all hot and bothered if I kissed you?”
I swallow. “That’s your prerogative. I will remind you that you’re Aiden’s little sister?—“
Eve brings a finger to my lips, silencing my objection. “I’m not a teenager, Carter. And that isn’t a no…”
Fuck. She’s so sexy. Irresistible, even. I don’t know why she has to tease me like that. What does she think is going to happen? Does she think I’ll just be able to walk out the door like I don’t want to rip all her fucking clothes off and give her exactly what she asked for that day on the roof?
“I wasn’t complaining. And I’m not complaining now. I’m merely stating the clear obstacles that exist in anything more happening between us.”
“What if I dared you?” She asks, her eyes flashing.
She’s being such a brat. Teasing me. Taunting me. So sure of herself. But she’s young. She doesn’t realize she’s playing with fire. She doesn’t realize what happens to a man when you tease him like this.
“Eve, this is a dangerous game,” I warn her, my voice thick with lust.
She reaches down and grips my cock through my jeans and something in me snaps.
“I like danger —”
I haul her lithe body up against mine, silencing her with a kiss. She squeals and kisses me back, meeting my hunger with her own.
Wrapping my arms around her body, I pick her up. She’s ready for me, her thighs wrapping around my waist, climbing my torso like a tree.
God, she feels so fucking good pressed against my body. I can feel her pebbled nipples smashed against my chest and the heat of her pussy as it cradles my erection.
I pull back, breathing as heavily as if I had just run five miles.
Her eyes are turned up at me, half filled with shock, half filled with desire. A storm rages inside of me, a war between right and wrong playing out in my head.
It’s true. This is dangerous. Because once I start, I don’t know if I can stop.
Gently, I untangle myself from her, trying to pull air into my lungs.
“Kissing you gives me the most amazing buzz, Eve, but…we can’t do this. Not now. Not ever. I have to go.”
The look in her eyes cracks my heart wide open.
She’s so vulnerable and innocent. I know she’s playing a game, trying to act more mature than she is. But she doesn’t realize the impact of her behavior. It’s up to me to be the mature one.
But fuck, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
I can’t face her for more than a few excruciating seconds, and still they feel like an eternity, the look in her eyes engraved on my brain, on my heart.
I turn and walk towards her door, leaving her staring behind me, hating myself with every step that carries me back to my house.