Page 23

Dove’s class is dismissed, and the students are finally filing out of the room. When she attempts to stand, I grab her knee and force her back in her seat.

She smiles up at her friend. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Her friend glances at me with flirty eyes. “Okay,” she says, grabbing her things and leaving with the rest of them.

I lean back in my seat and stay quite, letting the silence stretch.

“Rhea,” the professor calls out. “Need help with anything?”

She shakes her head.

The professor looks at me and says, “I will be leaving this room. I have another class down the hall.”

Perfect. I grin.

Finally, she turns her attention to me and lets out a small sigh, her fingers tightening around her pen.

“This worked out, I guess,” she pauses to clear her throat and sit up straighter. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”

I watch those pretty fucking lips as they move. “I’m here.”

Rhea bites her lip, and for a moment, I think she might reconsider saying anything at all. But then she takes a deep breath, straightens her back, and meets my gaze with a question, “This…thing between us.”

“Thing?” I raise an eyebrow, leaning forward with interest. “You call it a ‘thing’? It sounds like you’re downplaying it a bit, dove.”

She opens her mouth to respond then closes it again, clearly struggling to find the right words. Her fingers fidget with the pen, tracing invisible patterns as she stares down at the table. Finally, she looks up, her gaze steady but vulnerable.

“Then what do you want me to call it? I doubt there are any words I can use to describe it.”

I can’t help but smirk, leaning back as I let her question linger in the air between us. “Oh, I think you could find a few,” I say, voice low, holding her gaze. “If you were honest with yourself.”

Her jaw tightens slightly, and she bites her lip again, that familiar glimmer of defiance flashing in her eyes. She looks away, her gaze falling to the book in front of her.

“Whatever it is,” she says finally, meeting my gaze again. “We need to talk about it.”

I feel my smirk grow. “Fine, let’s talk dove.”

I watch her swallow. “This…relationship between us… I still don’t fully understand it.

” She pauses to level a look at me. “What exactly are we supposed to be? Because I don’t think being your property fits any normal relationship description.

” Leaning forward, she continues, “I need to know what I’m supposed to be to you.

A girlfriend? A fling? Once that is established, we also need to set some boundaries. ”

“Boundaries,” I echo her word, rolling it around as if testing how it fits in my mouth. She’s serious, her gaze unwavering, and something about her no-nonsense approach makes me want to smile.

“Yes, boundaries,” she says firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. “If we’re going to keep doing…whatever this is, I need to understand everything.”

I lean back, letting her words settle over me. She’s more direct than usual, she must have thought about this a lot.

“Alright, Rhea,” I say slowly, my gaze never straying from her face. “You want to understand everything? Here it is: I don’t do normal relationships. This isn’t a normal relationship with labels, you’re simply mine. End of discussion.”

She bristles, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Yours?” she repeats. “You keep saying that, thinking it offers some kind of clear explanation for what this is, but it doesn’t. I don’t understand any of this.”

I shift closer to her, resting my forearms on the table as I lower my voice.

“You don’t need to understand it, Dove. All you need to know is you belong to me now.

I control your every move. If I say sit, you sit.

I tell you to smile, you flash that pretty smile.

I tell you to open those legs for me, they open,” I pause, smiling as I take in the plain outrage on her face.

“I tell you to go on your knees and suck my dick, you smile, get on your knees and give it your best shot, Dove.” I cross my arms as I finish, my grin wide. “That’s all you need to understand.”

Silence falls as I watch her try to gather her thoughts. Her expression changing every few seconds – anger, outrage to eerie calmness.

Finally, it settles on rebellion, her voice calm as she speaks, “You’re fucking crazy if you think I’m just going to roll over and be your sick sex puppet.”

“You already agreed, Dove. There’s no backing out now. Unless you want to see how you’ll fare in jail.”

“You fucking asshole,” she seethes quietly, the fire in her eyes an raging inferno.

I cut her off. “Remember we’re in public. You don’t want to people to hear this now, do you?”

Her eyes narrow, her hands fisting against the table as she glares at me with intensity. “You may think you have some sort of control over me, but I will never bend to your will.”

I lean back slightly, amused. “I am counting on that, Dove. Where’s the fun if you do what I want without putting up a fight?

” I grin as I study her face, the fiery glint in her eyes.

“What I want is for you to push back, to fight…it’s only then you’ll realize how futile it is and completely submit to me. ”

Rhea glares at me, absolutely fuming. She shakes her head, astounded. “I can’t believe this. I just can’t…” She sighs heavily, running a hand through her hair. “You’re insane.”

“Maybe so,” I concede, my gaze never leaving her face.

“This is fucked up.”

I murmur, leaning in closer, “You can walk away anytime, Rhea.”

Not that I would let her. But It’s fun to give her the illusion of a choice.

“But if I do, you’d just go to the cops.”

I smirk. “Correct. You’re getting it now, Dove.”

Her eyes meet mine, with fierce determination glinting in them, and I’m almost transported back to the first time I saw her, the raw ferocity in her eyes. It sends a thrill down my spine, making my cock press painfully against my zipper.

Fuck…

She whispers, “I accept everything. I accept your sick, twisted terms. I can even accept being your fucking sex toy but…” She pauses and leans forward, her gaze hard and unrelenting.

“What I won’t accept is people finding out about this.

You get what you want from me in this…arrangement, but outside of this?

No one else will know about this. Not ever. ”

I raise an eyebrow, taken aback by her boldness. She’s not backing down, not even a little. “Is that so, Dove?”

She doesn’t respond, and she doesn’t look away, the intensity of her gaze only increasing with every passing second. It only makes me wonder what kind of expression she would make when we finally fuck. Would she glare at me like this?

I think that may make me too excited.

Fuck, I want to kiss her so bad right now.

I lean back, letting her words sink in. I wasn’t expecting her to draw a line so clearly, especially not like this. But damn if it doesn’t make her even more captivating.

“Interesting,” I murmur, my gaze never leaving hers. “You wanna keep this a secret?”

She crosses her arms, her chin lifting defiantly. “Yes, Thatcher. Someone has to.”

A smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth as I watch her, defiant and so damn determined.

She’s so fucking cute if she thinks this will work out the way she wants.

Keep me a dirty secret? The thought almost makes me laugh.

How do I tell her that stopped being an option the second she agreed to be mine?

I lean in slightly, my gaze locking onto hers, savoring the flicker of defiance mixed with unease in her eyes. I let the silence hang heavy between us, dragging it out until I see her start to second-guess her victory.

I don’t want to ruin the fun, so I say slowly, my voice low, almost taunting, “Fine, You can have your precious secret, Dove. No one else will know about us…as long as I get something in return.”

She narrows her eyes, studying me carefully. “What?”

My smirk widens as I take in her wary look. I fucking love this game with her. She’s definitely not going to like this.

“I get to touch you whenever and however I want—no complaints, no saying no.”

Her jaw clenches as she meets my gaze, the silent war raging across her face. She wants to push back, to hold on to her pride, but the truth is settling in. Her brow furrows, and she pouts those pretty fucking lips.

Fuck me.

God, that’s so fucking cute.

“You already agreed to be mine, Dove,” I murmur, leaning in just a fraction closer. “So, what’s the issue here?”

Her eyes narrow as she crosses her arms tighter over her chest, but she doesn’t say a word.

Grinning, I reach out, my fingers gently brushing her cheek as I trace the curve of her jaw. She stiffens at the contact but doesn’t pull away.

A pink blush blooms across her cheeks, and I can see her bottom lip tremble just a bit. It’s like she’s fighting herself, caught between wanting to resist and feeling the pull of me.

I watch her, my thumb slowly stroking her soft skin, savoring the way she reacts.

She swallows hard, her eyes darting away for a moment, but I don’t let her escape. My hand moves to the back of her neck, just enough to pull her closer, not giving her a choice but to face me.

“Stop fighting it, Dove,” I whisper.

Her chest rises and falls with shallow breaths, her lips parted like she’s about to say something—maybe protest, maybe argue. But nothing comes out.

I brush her lips with my finger, loving how smooth they are. Her defiant eyes glare at me, and I can’t help myself. I lick my lips and lean in just enough that my lips brush hers.

My voice drops to a near whisper, “Grab your things. We’re leaving before I bend you over and fuck you right here.”

The parking lot is relatively empty, only a few cars scattered between the spaces. Campus was winding down for the day. Perfect fucking timing.