Page 4 of Give In

She was my promise land.

My secret.

My obsession since she’d walked into my class a couple weeks before.

No, that wasn’t true. That first day I’d wanted to fuck her. It hadn’t been until she’d spoken during the following class that she’d become my obsession. Her lilting voice had been hypnotic, her movements alluring, and her answer brilliant.

It’d been the first and only time I’d called on her to answer a question. Since then, I’d avoided her.

Yet there she was.

Every exquisite inch of her.

In the back corner of the room, the party I was with sat in a half circle of chairs with a small table in front of us. From my seat, I had a clear view of the stage if I looked straight ahead.

I shouldn’t have looked straight ahead.

I told myself not to.

But I did it anyway.

Seeing her up there, it took everything I had not to yank her down and pull her to me, shielding her body from everyone else. I forced myself to look away when all I wanted was to memorize the way she moved.

Her song? The outfit? It was like a personal taunt. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she knew how I felt. I hadn’t let myself slip, though.

At least not in front of anyone.

With a practice born of necessity, I made myself relax. I stayed casual as I pretended to have a clue what everyone around me was saying.

“Christ, Caine, is that the kind of students you have?” one of Dave’s idiot colleagues asked.

I’d met him at Dave’s yearly BBQ and then his engagement party, but I couldn’t remember his name, not that I’d really tried.

He leaned forward. “Wonder if I should become a teacher. I’m sure I couldteachher something.”

My fists clenched so tight, my knuckles turned white.

“Seriously, Caine.” Another guy leaned over to get in on the action. “I’m betting she could use some help from a studious professor.”

“I’m good.” I lifted my glass to my lips and shook my head. “Stripper pussy isn’t my thing.”

Glancing over again, I saw Eden’s long legs were straight and slightly spread as she bent. My eyes shot back to my beer before I could see more. I needed to get the hell out of there, but I couldn’t. And not just because it’d be rude.

I was embarrassingly hard. It didn’t matter I was a thirty-four-year-old man, my dick decided to act like I was looking at my first set of tits.

Scanning the room without seeing anything, I was relieved when it sounded like Eden was done. My reprieve was short-lived when she came out a few minutes later in an outfit similar to the one she’d started in. She stayed on the other side of the room, not even glancing my way.

I watched as she talked to men, flirting and laughing. Her smile was mesmerizing, but the spell was broken when her and an awed, lovesick kid went into a curtained-off room.

I have to get out of here.

“Another beer, sweetie?” one of the dancers asked, pointing at my empty glass.

A glass I was in danger of shattering if I didn’t ease my grip.

“I’m good, thanks,” I said, my tone dismissive.

Not getting it, she perched her ass on the arm of the chair and gestured to the bartender anyway. “You’re not the one getting hitched, right? That’d be a shame for womankind, you being off the market.”