Chapter 1
1
BLAKE
I rub my temples as I look over the syllabus for my new class. I’ve been teaching upper-level calculus courses for a few years here at Xavier College, so I usually work with juniors and seniors who already have a solid mathematical foundation. But one of my colleagues is on maternity leave, so the dean divvied up her courses for the semester and I got stuck with Calculus 220.
I’m not upset about it or anything, and I don’t mind teaching underclassmen. But it’s going to be different from what I’m used to. Different from the students who have to complete my courses, because they’ve majored in something heavily focused on mathematics and are typically more dedicated to doing the work. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it now, so I’ll just roll with the punches and hope her class shows some maturity.
I’ve decided to stick with the syllabus that my colleague created, and I’m reviewing it when the classroom starts to fill up with students. I’m facing the auditorium of stadium seats, with a desk at my side and a huge projector screen behind me. When the classroom is almost full, I shut the door and take my spot at the front of the room as the students pull out their laptops and notebooks. But my steps falter when my eyes land on a young woman sitting by herself in the first row, and I’m struck with a sense of familiarity.
She’s beautiful and has an air of elegance that surrounds her but doesn’t come off as pretentious. I can’t take my eyes off her, but I know I shouldn’t be staring at a student like this so I force my focus back on the rest of the class. Yet I can’t shake the sense that I know her, even though I’m not sure why I feel this way.
As I make my introduction and give a brief overview of the course, I keep glancing at the pretty girl who seems to demand my attention with her mere presence. She has light-brown skin and hazel eyes, with espresso-brown hair that’s straight and shiny. And even though she’s sitting behind a small desk connected to her seat, I can tell that she has killer curves, the kind a man dreams of getting his hands on.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous.
It’s driving me crazy that I can’t place her in my mind, but I need to focus on the lesson. I’m about halfway through when my attention is drawn to her again. It’s warm in this classroom, and from the corner of my eye, I watch as she removes her sweater.
I almost look away, continuing my talk about differential equations, but the words die in my throat as I catch sight of the dark-brown birthmark on her right shoulder. It’s shaped like a flower, and I recognize it immediately. It’s the same mark on the girl from the club. The girl I took to a private room just a few days ago.
My little one.
I’d recognize that birthmark anywhere and, suddenly, it all makes sense. Of course, she seems familiar. Her body has been seared into my brain, even if I never got to see her face. But I see it now, and I’m stunned. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
And fuck me, because now she’s my student.
I clear my throat and force myself to resume teaching. I’m reciting information without even thinking because my mind is a million miles away.
I think about the way she looked as I flogged her luscious body in that secluded room. Her tempting brown skin slightly blooming red as I teased her with pleasure and pain. I can’t remember ever being so turned on in my life, and I rarely end flogging sessions with sex, although many have asked. But I couldn’t resist her, and I didn’t want to either. She intrigued me. I had to have more of her. And I know without a doubt that she enjoyed it too. Her tight little pussy told me so.
Now, here she is, sitting in my class, of all the classes she could be enrolled in.
It takes everything inside me to hold myself back and not fuck her on my desk like my dick demands me to do. I’m dying to be inside her, to dominate her and relish her precious submission. To hear her call me Daddy and let me spoil her like she deserves.
I don’t know a thing about this woman, but her body calls to mine in a way that could never be explained. I’ve never felt like this before and certainly haven’t experienced an instant connection after just one night. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s the truth, and I want to do something about it, even though it’s wrong and I know I shouldn’t.
I put a few math problems on the screen and go to my desk. While the students work, I pull up the class roster on my computer, and it only takes a moment to find her picture next to the name Madison Cavanaugh. She’s a senior.
The in-class work I’ve assigned will buy me a few minutes at most; then I’ll have to get back to teaching. So I rise to my feet and casually approach Madison, tamping down my eagerness to be near her. There are still some students with their heads bent over desks as they try to work out the problems, meaning I have to be quick.
I stop in front of her and Madison looks up at me, the light freckles on her cheeks and nose making her look sweet and innocent.
“Professor?” she questions in a soft voice, and I want to kiss the hell out of her. Instead, I squat down and lean in so that I’m not calling her out in front of the whole class.
“I have to ask. Why is there a senior in a sophomore class?”
Her cheeks darken with embarrassment, but she holds my gaze. “Oh. Well… I’ve been putting it off. Because I…” Her nose scrunches as she debates her next words. “I hate math.” She wrings her hands like she wants to hide her face but refrains. “I had a terrible time with the first part of calculus, but I need this course to graduate. So I put it off for as long as I could.”
I can see a flash of something in her eyes, almost as if she might recognize me too. And as much as I want that, I can’t have it right now, not in the middle of class with fifty other students around. So I give her a curt nod but say nothing else before I move away and force myself to continue with the lesson.
Still, I feel her eyes on me just like they always are when she watches my demonstrations at Club Sin. The weight of her intense stare stirring a deep need inside me to claim her and make her mine.
Who cares that we’re in a classroom full of people?
I want everyone to know she belongs to me now, even if she hasn’t agreed to that yet. My cock grows long and hard, and I can only hope that my dress slacks are loose enough to hide it. But the way the teeth of my zipper dig into my skin tells me they’re not, and I better wrap this up fast.
Fuck, I need everyone out of here. I can’t control myself when she’s around and this cannot happen. She’s a student and I’m her professor. She hasn’t recognized me, at least she hasn’t said as much, and I need to keep it that way. For both our sakes.