Chapter 28 Deirdre #2
The class scatters, shuffling notebooks and snapping laptop lids shut.
I slide my laptop into my bag, still mentally cataloging the grading rubrics I’ll need for later, when a soft voice pulls me back.
“Miss Ravencroft?”
I turn around to see one of the freshman students standing a little too close to my desk. Standing up to face him, I sling my bag over my shoulder.
“Yes? And you are?” I reply as I walk to the front of the class, closer to Kieran’s proximity.
“Eli Hayes. Forward for Cornelia soccer.”
Ah. The jock needs to secure a good grade this spring so he can play.
“What can I help you with, Eli? And you can call me Deirdre,” I say, politely.
Eli corners me just as I pretend to stack the papers at the front of the lecture hall that Kieran had set down, anything to make me look busy. His grin is a little too overconfident for my liking; the kind that feels less like innocent friendliness and more like a challenge.
“So,” he says, leaning against the desk, crowding closer than necessary, “what Poe piece would you pick for me if I wanted to impress McKnight? I hear you’re his…uh…favorite.” His eyes graze down and then back up my body.
Not exactly subtle.
I stiffen. “It doesn’t work like that. You have to choose something that resonates with you.”
“Yeah, but…” He tilts his head, voice dipping low. “Maybe I’d rather resonate with you. Think you could spare a late night to walk me through Annabel Lee? Or should I pick something darker, something that’ll really get you talking?”
I take a step back, bumping into the edge of the desk. My pulse begins to pick up pace. He’s smiling like this is a game, like he expects me to laugh it off.
“I don’t do late nights with students,” I say, keeping my voice even. “If you need help, my availability hours are posted on Professor McKnight’s office door.”
Eli chuckles, leaning in as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “Come on, Deirdre. I bet you’d explain Poe a hell of a lot better than he does. Just a simple tutoring session.”
Before I can reply, I feel it, the shift in the air, heavy and electric. Kieran’s presence. I don’t have to look to know he’s standing a few feet away. His silence is more dangerous than words.
Eli follows my gaze, his smirk faltering when he finally registers that Kieran is watching him and stalking his every move.
“Problem, Mr. Hayes?” Kieran’s voice is low, measured, but threaded with steel.
Eli straightens, trying to come across nonchalant. “Just asking your TA for a little guidance. Nothing wrong with that.”
Kieran’s eyes cut to me before he steps closer, closing the space with deliberate control. “Guidance is one thing. What you were asking for is something else entirely.”
The room suddenly feels too small, constricted. Eli shifts his weight, still cocky but less sure. “Didn’t realize study help was off-limits.”
“It isn’t,” my voice snaps more pointedly than I intend. Both men glance at me. I clutch my folder tighter. “But you crossed a line, Mr. Hayes. Don’t do it again.”
His grin returns, thinner now, and looks toward me. “Guess I’ll take that as a no.” He pushes off the desk and saunters out, leaving his cologne clinging in the air like smoke.
“Some TA,” he mutters as he is just a few steps from the exit.
Silence stretches.
Kieran’s jaw ticks, his fists flexing at his sides, his restraint just seconds away from snapping. I can feel the weight of everything he wants to say pressing down on me, scorching hotter than Eli’s flirtation ever could.
As Eli walks out of the auditorium, the doors bang shut behind him, leaving the echo hanging between us. I stare down at the papers in my arms, pretending to shuffle them, anything to avoid Kieran’s gaze.
“Deirdre.”
Just my name, but it lands like a command. I lift my head. His eyes are molten, restrained fury barely hidden behind the professor mask he wears so well.
“What exactly was he asking you for?” His voice is quiet, too quiet, like he’s holding back something darker.
I tighten my grip on the folder. “You heard him. Help with his assignment…in a very overbearing, gross kind of way.”
Kieran steps closer, close enough that the scent of his cologne cuts through the stale air of the empty hall. “Seeing other men circle you like prey…” His jaw clenches. “Like he thought he could take what wasn’t his.”
Heat floods my cheeks. “He was being inappropriate, yes. But I handled it.”
“You shouldn’t have to handle it.” His voice sharpens, the professor giving way to the man underneath. “The way he looked at you, the way he leaned in…he has no right.”
“No one has the right.” My chest rises with the words, my pulse hammering. “But I can stand up for myself, Kieran. I don’t need you growling over my shoulder every time someone pushes a boundary.”
His mouth twists, not in anger at me, but at the thought. He drags a hand through his hair and closes his eyes for a moment.
When he opens them, his expression is lighter. “I could kill him, ya know.”
My heart skips, a dangerous lurch. “Kieran, you can’t just kill every man who looks at me the wrong way.”
He shrugs with his hands in his pockets. “I mean…I could.”
“You, sir, are insufferable sometimes.” I laugh as I set the papers back down on the desk and turn to face him. “Obsessed much, professor?”
“Yes.” The word is raw, the tense emotion is bubbling up again, from somewhere deep in him. “Yes, Deirdre. I can’t stand the thought of anyone else trying to lay claim to you. Not after—” He cuts himself off, but I know what he is trying to say.
Not after the stairwell. Not after almost losing me.
I swallow, my throat tight. “You can’t control who talks to me.”
“I can’t,” he admits, stepping closer to me, his body cages me so the edge of the desk presses against my thighs. His eyes sear into mine. “But I’ll be damned if I stand by and watch anyone treat you like that again. Ever.”
The air between us crackles. My body betrays me, leaning into the very danger I should be resisting. His possessiveness is infuriating and intoxicating all at once. My professor, calm, calculated, and composed, standing here promising to ruin anyone who dares to touch me.
Kieran’s proximity is an electric charge, drawing me in. His hand presses firmly on the desk beside my hip, the other tracing deliberate patterns along my sleeve, slow enough to make my skin tingle with anticipation.
“You drive me wild,” he murmurs, his voice a low growl meant only for me. “Standing there, letting him speak to you that way.”
I inhale, my back arched against the desk, his body enveloping mine. “I told him no,” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
His fingertips dance downward, lightly brushing the side of my waist, lingering just long enough to make my heart race.
“I know. That’s what drives me crazy, Deirdre. You don’t even realize it…you don’t see the power you hold over every man who walks into your orbit.”
His mouth finds the sensitive spot below my ear, teeth grazing lightly before his tongue soothes the sting.
Simultaneously, he traces his fingers up my thigh, slipping beneath the hem of my skirt, teasing along the edge of my black lace panties.
My head falls back, exposing more of my neck to him.
He takes advantage of the invitation, and his warm lips travel down my heated skin; the prickling of his scruffy jaw sends chills down my spine.
A warm sensation builds within my stomach, and my thighs begin to ache. My hands grip the edge of the desk, holding on as if that might ground me.
I spread my legs further apart, hoping the small gesture will urge him forward. The way he’s daring me to want more is enough to make me lose control.
“What color, Miss Ravencroft?” he whispers, his lips grazing the shell of my ear, “and I’ll remind you who you belong to.”
“Gre…” The air between us crackles, my body leaning toward him, ready to surrender, when a harsh vibration cuts through the moment. His phone buzzes loudly against the desk. Kieran curses under his breath but doesn’t move away. He glances at the screen, jaw tightening.
“Sheridan,” Kieran mutters, then answers. “President Sheridan. Yes.” His voice shifts instantly, smooth, professional, though the tick of his jaw line gives him away.
I try to step back. I know I should put distance between us for this conversation. But he doesn’t let me. One hand stays firm at my hip, thumb dragging lazy, maddening circles as he listens. My body betrays me, leaning further into his hold.
Sheridan’s voice cuts through the receiver, brittle and self-important. “McKnight, the gala committee will be meeting weekly on Wednesdays. I expect you will be in attendance? Wouldn’t want whispers about…distractions getting in the way of appearances.”
Kieran’s mouth hardens, though his tone remains even. “Yes, I’ll be there. Of course. I understand appearances must be kept.”
His fingers tug my panties to the side, grazing the entrance to my pussy, making me bite my lip to stay silent.
His dark eyes look down on me with hunger as he runs his tongue slowly across his lips, as if he is dying with anticipation to taste me.
Sheridan doesn’t pause. “Good. I’ve already had enough complaints.
One of your students, Eli Hayes, I believe, seemed rather rattled today after class when he sought help from your TA.
Said you intervened…forcefully.” His laugh is cold, humorless.
“Not the sort of reputation we need circulating about faculty at Cornelia, especially when there’s already chatter about favoritism. ”
Kieran exhales slowly through his nose, the only crack in his mask. His eyes stay on mine, danger flashing behind them, while he answers. His voice is calm as stone.
“If a student felt rattled, perhaps he should reconsider his behavior. My TA is not to be harassed under the guise of seeking academic help.“ When the words leave his lips, he slides two strong fingers inside me. My hand flies off the desk and grips his shoulder.
The way he says my TA sends a shiver straight through me. His hand presses firmer at my waist, fingers sliding deeper to his knuckle. When he curls them forward, my body jolts as a light whimper escapes my throat. My eyes widen, and my free hand clasps over my mouth.
Kieran’s face looks amused. He pulls his fingers out and plunges them further. I squeeze my eyes shut.
Sheridan clicks his tongue, oblivious to what is happening on the other end of the line. “Careful, McKnight. You’ve always had a temper. The board won’t care if you claim it was for her protection—they’ll only see impropriety.”
Kieran’s lips curl, though his voice never wavers. “Impropriety, President Sheridan, would be pretending I can’t see a predator circling one of my students.”
He grips my hip tighter, and the fingers of his other hand curl forward with each pulsing movement.
The walls of my pussy begin to tighten with each thrust, and the pressure low within my stomach begins to build.
My eyes fly open, looking up at him, and my hips start to meet his fingers, desperate for release.
He nods and mouths, ‘Shhh…’ to me as I feel the first waves of pleasure surge through me.
My hand releases my mouth, and I lean forward, biting down on his shoulder as he continues to work my pussy over.
His frustration translates into a relentless orgasm.
Tiny grunts escape my mouth as I bite down harder, feeling the warmth spread between my thighs.
Kieran continues as I grip his tight, muscled forearm, bringing another wave of blinding pleasure to the surface.
Sheridan sniffs. “We’ll discuss this in person at the gala meeting. Bring your…composure. You’ll need it.”
I look up at him and mouth, ‘Please’.
For what, I am not sure.
To stop? To keep going?
My entire brain has melted inside my skull in this moment.
“Yes,” Kieran says, clipped, still calm, though his eyes flash with barely contained fury. “I’ll be there.”
He ends the call without waiting for a goodbye.
The phone drops onto the desk with a dull thud.
He slowly retreats his fingers from me, his gaze still locked on mine.
He brings them toward his lips, glistening with my arousal, and sucks them clean.
A satisfied hum leaves his lips as he pulls them from his mouth.
Looking down at his desk, his eyes twinkle. “You made a mess, Miss Ravencroft.”
My chest is still heaving, and I can barely get the words out. “Sounds like we need to behave, Professor.”
“This,” he murmurs, his finger grazing my lips, “changes nothing. If anything, it only makes me less inclined to behave.”
I nod, too thoroughly unraveled to speak. His thumb strokes along my jaw, gentler now, though his eyes still burn with fire.
And I realize…I’m not sure which is more dangerous. Sheridan’s threats…or Kieran’s promises.