Lessons in Sin - Pam Godwin Page 0,94
mind that she could put to use in a million different ways. I knew, whatever she decided to do in life, she would use that brilliant brain to make the world a better place.
I just needed to keep her safe until I figured out how to deal with her mother and Tucker Kensington.
“We need to discuss our return to school.” The words felt like sand in my mouth.
“Don’t be a buzzkill.” Her expression shuttered. “We have three days.”
“School resumes in three days. I need to go back tomorrow. I’ll send a car for you the day after. We need to stagger our arrivals to avoid suspicion.”
“No.” Sadness leaked into her voice. Then harder, firmer. “No.”
“Listen to me carefully.” I reached for her face, my fingers sliding into her hair. “We’re going to take every precaution possible. No more sneaking around.”
“What?” She clutched my wrist against her neck. “What does that mean?”
“It means that once we leave this cabin, we must return to a professional relationship.”
“That’s ridiculous. We never had a professional fucking relationship. What are you even talking about?”
She was right, of course. I didn’t know how we would maintain distance while spending every minute together in the classroom. But I refused to fuck this up. It was her and me against the world, and we would win. End of story.
“I’m your guardian. I’ll stay with you. I’ll keep you. I’ll fucking roar for you. If anyone fucks with you, I’ll be their nightmare. I’ll burn down the goddamn world for you. But I can’t do that if I get caught.” My chest buckled beneath the gravity of my decision. “No sex. No touching. No risks.”
“For how long?”
“Until you graduate.”
As if the words slapped her, she reared back, flinching with pain in her eyes. “That’s five months!”
Hiking the trails with her had become one of my greatest pleasures, but it didn’t light a candle to the feel of her body—gripping, clenching, sucking, pulling—as I sank inside her.
When I’d taken her virginity in the church, I’d never come so hard in my life. But it was like that every time with her. We fucked like rabbits. My dick was chafed. Welts, bruises, and hickeys covered her flesh. I wanted my marks branded on her permanently as a declaration to all that she was mine.
But there could be no declarations. No public claiming. No one could know.
“When you’re in the residence hall, undressing or taking a shower, you can’t let anyone see these.” I ran a finger over the bites on her tits. “Until they fade, keep them covered. They’ll raise questions.”
“I don’t care.” Air expelled from her nose with little heat. She knew I was right. “Dammit, Magnus. We can be careful, just like before. Lock the doors and—”
“No.”
“It’s never going to work. You’ve lost your fucking mind. The very first time you put me on my hands and knees to scrub your damn floors—”
“I won’t. No more punishments. If you misbehave, I’ll put you in detention with another teacher.”
“Bullshit.” Her hand fisted on the bed between us.
“Try me, Tinsley. See what happens.”
Her jaw stiffened, and she looked away.
“I’ve been thinking about this long and hard. I’ve had some time to get used to the idea.” I caressed the delicate edges of her face, bringing her gaze back to mine. “It won’t be easy. It’s going to be five months of pure torture.”
After going without sex for nine years, a few months should be nothing. But it wasn’t nothing. I’d had a taste of her. More than a taste. Depriving myself was going to be endless, excruciating hell.
“It won’t be five months.” She leaned up on an elbow and smacked my hand away. “You and I end here. Tonight. You made a decision not to touch me at school. Fine. But you don’t get me after that. Have you forgotten my future has already been written, sold, and signed?” Anger impassioned her voice. “When you leave here tomorrow, you’re leaving me for good.”
I would never leave her. She belonged to me for always and in all ways. But she didn’t need to be convinced of that right now. Not yet. First, I needed to get us through the remainder of the school year without a disaster. Perhaps her anger would help us maintain that required distance.
Once she was graduated and I had a solution for the Kensington-Constantine merger, I would make her understand how committed, possessive, and very fucking serious I was when it came to her.
I’d inflicted a lot of