3. Reign
CHAPTER 3
Reign
C lasses whirled by with the day. I spent most of my class time reviewing syllabi and attendance expectations. I didn’t tolerate late work, late exams, low scores, or late students. The list of what I did tolerate was easier to go over. I dropped more students than I kept, I didn’t have time for anything less. I held a Master of Science in Pharmaceuticals and a Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering. I didn’t get those by half-assing college.
While I mostly taught more advanced classes, this year, I took on a few easy ones for the undergrad program. I checked the watch that weighed my arm down. I had a little over an hour to kill before my last evening class. It was a late one, which was fine with me. Usually, students wouldn’t bother to attend a class that far into the evening, leaving me an uninterrupted hour to catch up on grading. Chemistry 1313, easy to teach, two days a week, and I had the rest of the days off by noon.
I made my way across the emptying campus. Dade was prestigious. They didn’t allow just anyone off the streets, so the campus was generally safe.
But there were predators everywhere.
I made my way through the doors of a coffee shop, only to have a small person plow into me. Heat exploded across my stomach, making its way down my legs, as the cup of the offensive liquid tumbled to the ground at my feet.
I could feel the pucker of the burning flesh under my once white button-up. I looked down at the small woman who appeared out of thin air to spill her fucking drink on me.
“I—” her little hands came up in surrender as she stuttered. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you, I…” Her voice trailed off into nothingness as I laid my gaze on her. The eruption bubbling at the surface receded as I studied her features.
Tan skin, and not the fake kind. The delicious kind. Rich and inviting, like the warm hue of your go-to latte, that initial sip is a masterclass in sweetness. A flavor so divine it forever sets the standard for pure delight. And I’d bet anything that she’d melt on my fucking tongue like sugar. Her dark curls framed her face beautifully, and she wore no makeup. Everything about her made me feel like the world stopped, but it was her eyes that sucked me into her orbit.
Green, like a bright exotic gemstone. Her dark lashes framed them like saucers, showing all of her emotions. My hand twitched, desperate to touch her. To take her. To make her mine immediately.
I held a hand up and she snapped her full pink lips closed. Her skin, though tan, turned a deep shade of red across her chest as if she’d been rubbing it. She stood over a foot shorter than me and smelled like sweet cinnamon.
Fuck, did I want a taste of her on my tongue.
“It’s fine,” I told her; her body shook slightly. Was it the cold? Or was it me she feared?
“Uh, I could,” she thought for a moment, her pale green eyes scrunching at the corners while she considered her next words. “I could buy you a coffee. I have to get a new one myself.” Her hands wrung together. She wiped them down the front of her cyan dress and repeated the motion.
Her nervousness awoke something that long lay dormant inside of me. Something primal that I kept confined in the darkest pits of my soul.
“Unnecessary,” my voice came out harshly. She jumped back slightly. Her round eyes looked down, and her shoulders slumped. “I have a class shortly; I’m afraid I won’t have the time.” I chose my words with utmost care, tempering them with tenderness.
“I understand,” her voice came out soft. I imagined what she would sound like, screaming under me, screaming as she ran from me.
I gave her a curt nod and turned back to the faculty parking garage. I checked my watch again. I had enough time to change and get back without being late. I stole a glance over my shoulder at the gorgeous little vixen that graced me with her presence.
She was walking the opposite way, towards the building I taught in. Her full ass swayed with every step she took, making it impossible to look away.
A horn ripped through the early evening air.
“Asshole, what the fuck are you doing?” A driver screamed out his window at me. The car's horn blared, swerving to miss me as I stood entranced in her curves. I had stepped off the curb and into the street, mindlessly under the spell of the tanned vixen.
My shoulders tugged in a casual shrug as the tires screeched in the distance.
There were worse ways to die.