Love Lessons by Cassie Mint

Eight

Ellis

Istride into the lecture hall ten minutes before class begins. Usually, I prefer to arrive precisely on time. Better than standing at the lectern with sleepy students gawking.

But I was too eager this morning. I need to see her.

Avery slips through the doorway two minutes later, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. She’s wearing a pair of cut off shorts and a loose, light sweater today, but no matter how demure she looks, my cock swells in my pants.

I’ve seen her gasping. Squirming. Calling out my name.

I’ll never be able to look at her without my pulse pounding again.

“Hi, professor,” she whispers, smiling shyly before she crosses to climb the steps. I stare, fixated on her bare legs, until someone coughs out a laugh.

Shit. Get it together.

I keep my eyes firmly away from Avery as I set up my notes. Prepare for the lecture. And perhaps I would have made it through the full hour, if it weren’t for the note which slithers out of my briefcase.

It’s handwritten. Torn hastily from a notebook.

I know what you did.

I read it twice, heart thundering. There’s only one thing in my life that’s worthy of blackmail.

Avery.

My eyes dart to her, helpless, as rage swells in my throat. Whoever sent this note… they’ll wish they minded their own goddamn business. Because I don’t give a shit about my career—it’s Avery I care about. And if they dare to cause her any trouble…

I roll my head from side to side, blowing out a slow breath.

“Problem, professor?”

It’s a guy in the third row. He hunches over his desk, watching me eagerly. I blink at him, recognition dawning—it’s the guy who came to my office hours. The guy who sat next to Avery and drooled all over her bare legs.

This fucker. I fix him with a hard glare, saying nothing.

He waits a beat too long until his cocky smile slips. Until he registers the violence and fury in my gaze. Then he shrinks back into the row, fumbling for his laptop.

“Never mind,” he mutters, throat bobbing.

Goddamn right. Never mind.

It’s dealt with. This weasel won’t dare bother her—it’s clear from his ducked head and his darting eyes. He picked a fight without thinking, and now he’s running with his tail between his legs. And now he knows that he even so much as sniffs Avery—he’ll have me to deal with.

Good. Fine.

So why is my heart still racing? Pounding out a sickly rhythm in my chest?

I make it through the lecture. God knows how. I switch onto autopilot, delivering the class that I’ve given so many times, I could do it in my sleep. And this time, I don’t stare at Avery like a love struck fool. No; I keep my frown fixed on the asshole in the third row. He wilts into his chair, penitent and piss-scared, but it doesn’t calm my pulse. Doesn’t stop the ringing in my ears.

“Are you okay?” Avery whispers at the end of the lecture, when everyone else is filing out, oblivious. Our little blackmailer made a run for it first, his sneakers squeaking over the floorboards.

Avery hops on to the platform, her arms crossed and forehead creased. She’s worried for me, sweet girl.

“Yes,” I grind out, shoving my papers into my briefcase. I know what I have to do. “But last night… Avery, it was a mistake.”

Her pained breath reaches my ears. Finally cuts through the chaos in my head. And as soon as I hear it, I know—what the hell am I doing?

“You—you asshole.” She wraps her arms around her waist tighter. Hugging, because I’ve hurt her so badly.

“Avery. Wait.” She turns on her heel. I catch her by the elbow, chest thundering and breath coming fast. “Wait. I’m sorry. That’s not—I don’t think that.”

“You don’t know what you think,” she says coldly, and god, I’ve never heard that tone from her. It chills me down to my marrow.

“I do.” I spin her back to face me. Cradle her cheek. She glares up at me, eyes hard. “I know that I love you. That I can’t spend another day without you. Sneaking around, like this is something to be ashamed of.” Her frown softens as I talk, melting into something cautious. Something hopeful. “I know I’ve messed up so many times. And you’re such an angel, I’ll never deserve you. But please, Avery.” I drop my forehead to hers. Skate my thumbs over her cheekbones. “Be with me. Be mine.”

She bites her bottom lip. Draws in a steady breath. Then smiles, and it’s like the sun coming out.

“I love you too.” She falters, glancing at the door. The noise of the crowd echoes in from the corridor. “What about your job?”

“There are other jobs.” I scoop her up by the ass. Carry her down off the platform and sit her down on the front row of desks, her legs wrapped around my waist. “There’s only one Avery Jennings.”

It’s nothing like last night. Even with the thunder of footsteps in the corridor, the shouts of students so near, we’re not frantic. We take our time.

I kiss Avery like I should have kissed her in the library. Slow and sweet and thorough. And she undoes my belt almost lazily, drawing the leather through the buckle.

Still. When I slide my hand inside her shorts, my fingers delving into her panties, she’s wet. Slick and ready. I drop my forehead onto her shoulder, forcing myself to think straight.

“Someone might come in,” I rasp. “Do you want to stop?”

“No.” She tugs me closer by the belt loops. Spreads her legs wider. “I want you to take me, professor.”

“I fucking knew it,” I mutter, yanking her shorts and panties down. Pushing home into her tight, warm pussy. She tenses at the intrusion, and I slow, her breaths hot on my neck. But after a few seconds, she relaxes. Starts humming and nibbling my earlobe. And I slide in to the hilt.

“You’re my sweet little exhibitionist, aren’t you?” She nods, hiccuping when I spank her ass. I start to rock my hips, her stranglehold on my cock making sweat bead on my forehead. So. Goddamn. Good. “And you’re mine. All mine, Avery. Mine to fuck. Mine to love. Mine to marry.”

She whimpers, clinging to my shoulders as I pound between her legs. As I reach between us and play with her clit. The sounds of the corridor are loud, deafening all around us, but we might as well be the last two people on Earth. The row shudders beneath us, scraping over the floorboards, but I don’t stop. I thrust harder, faster.

“You’re mine, too,” she whispers in my ear. Squeezes her little pussy to make her point. And that’s what breaks me—what makes my vision go white. I groan, rubbing her clit and cursing with relief when she comes, clamping down hard on me, waves of pleasure wracking her body.

I fill her up. Pulse after pulse. So much that it drips onto the desk.

I don’t care. I’ll clean it up. Or maybe I’ll leave it there for the next nosy asshole.

“Don’t you dare take this back,” Avery says once she’s caught her breath. She hops down off the row and tugs her clothes back on.

I choke out a laugh, filled with sunshine. Filled with her.

“Never.”

It’s done. She’s mine.