Page 38 of Revere

“Good.” I smirk. “You shouldn’t trust me. Not yet. I haven’t earned it. But will you let me try?”

Her chest rises and falls; her pupils are blown wide. “Yes.”

I lift from my chair, towering as I plant my hands on her knees. “Are you going to be a good girl for me, Patience?”

Her cheeks pinken as she loosens her thighs and lets me rock them open. “Yes, Professor.”

“Jacob,” I correct her. “When it’s just us, you call me by my name like you did on the plane.”

“Jacob,” she whispers.

“Good girl.”

13

WE’LL WORK UP TO THAT

PATIENCE

“Good girl.”His voice is honey.

It drips from his lips as I melt at his touch.

This is reckless.Unethical. But it’s like I have no control over myself around Jacob. He wipes my mind free of all thought until I only see him. Just like he has from the moment I landed in his lap on the plane. When he wasn’t my professor, just a man who seemed to see me for who I am beneath the layers I used to hide behind.

Every second of my life is planned and calculated. Spent worrying about everyone but myself.

My friends.

My family.

My brother.

But when Jacob’s eyes are on me, all that’s on my mind ishim.

“You should tell me to stop, Patience.” Jacob’s hands skate up another inch, grazing the tops of my knees as my body starts throbbing. “You should get off my desk and walk out of this room before you ask for something we can’t take back.”

“And if I don’t?”

The challenge lights up his emerald eyes. The ring of gold around them practically glows.

Jacob brushes his thumbs over the insides of my knees but doesn’t move higher. “You tell me. What is going to happen if you don’t walk out of here right now?”

He so easily throws my own question back at me. Nothing is ever easy with him. He doesn’t offer an out. An excuse so I can blame this on him later and absolve myself of guilt. He pulls me like a raw nerve and forces me to face it—to act. To say and do exactly what I want so there’s no denying I’m the one responsible for my actions when it comes to him.

“Are you going to touch me?” It’s almost a whisper.

But Jacob shakes his head just once.

“No?”

“No.” He pulls his hands back so they’re at my knees again, not moving farther, and when I frown, a beautifully wicked smirk crawls his lips. “Are you disappointed?”

I hate that he calls me out. That I’m so easy to read. Most of all, I hate that he’s put me in this position only to deny me.

“I’ll survive.” I tip my chin up.

After all, surviving is what I do.