Nocticadia

by Keri Lake

Look away, my head told me, but he was one of those men that effortlessly commanded attention.

And the fact that he didn’t have a wedding band. Stop, damn it.

Yeah, he was. An exceptionally good-looking and smart asshole.

Had it been any other student, that might’ve been the case. But something about this one had me intrigued enough to challenge the department Chair.

No one touched what belonged to me without repercussions. My class. My requirements. My student.

It’s giving Xaden

Without a doubt, Lilia Vespertine was going to be a massive headache. But she was my headache.

How was it, the more I watched him, the less I knew of the man?

Staring at my professor.

Stop, Lilia. I felt like a predator watching him.

Eyes focused on the surrounding rooms kept me from staring at the way his ass moved in his black slacks.

Easing back in his chair, he steepled his fingers, staring at me, and I realized right then that I hadn’t quite calculated just how intense his undivided attention would feel. How utterly consuming and threatening at the same time.

“I don’t mean general lab. I mean …” Be audacious. “I mean working with you.”

Her gentle movements and caring eyes. Her delicate hand in mine. There was something about her–so genuine and real.

I should’ve been furious with her, but it was the most exciting fucking thing I’d ever seen.

A wiser man would’ve kicked her out of his class and avoided the inevitable headache that was sure to follow. I’d certainly never professed to be the wisest.

“Of course, Professor.” Damn her. Damn that innocent face and those cherry blossom lips she sat nibbling on that probably tasted like cherries.

And I wanted that video taken down, like, yesterday.

They had no idea the girl was brilliant and witty.

Too damn beautiful to be seen as something so simple and entertaining.

My heart was a graveyard. A cold and starving apathy entombed within slumbering bones.

Can relate

I couldn’t stop thinking of that seemingly innocuous smile. One that still had my stomach in a fluttery mess.

“You’re either incredibly astute, or exceptionally nosey.”

“Yes.” One step forward backed me against the shelf behind me, and he threw out his hand, creating something of a cage. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”

“Who am I fucking with?”

Holy hell, the man was intense.

“The problem? Have you seen her?” Damned near every night when I closed my eyes, but I didn’t bother to say that aloud.

The fact that I was protecting her made zero sense to me.

That infuriating scent of hers that messed with my brain chemistry.

One touch. One touch would end this agonizing curiosity, but might just send me spiraling into madness.

I loathed this secret obsession I’d begun to develop with her.

I just wanted to fucking feel something again.

What was it about the girl that had me breaking my own rules?

I was drawn to her, for reasons I could neither justify nor understand.

She was an itch on my brain that I couldn’t scratch. The maddening shimmer in the corner of my eye during lecture that distracted my thoughts. The kind of girl who seduced with nothing more than a single glance.

And she’d captured my attention with...

I wanted to know more about her, who she was, where she came from, how that brill...

Just like that, Lilia Vespertine had become more than a student.

My professor, whom I found myself thinking about far more than I should’ve.

The fact that the small bit of skin peeking between the top two unclasped buttons of his shirt could distract me even a little bit was a testament to the man’s allure.

“Stay out of trouble, Curious Moth,”

Curious Moth.

I wanted to crawl inside myself and become invisible, for the way his gaze devoured me.

They stare because you’re the only thing worth staring at.”

I didn’t want to go to Spencer, though. I wanted to stay there, with my professor, fighting to catch my breath.

Even as abrasive as he was, I found him utterly captivating. Magnetic.

Professor Bramwell had threatened him. For me. In all of my twenty years, no one had ever stood up for me.

“My, you are a wicked little moth.”

“Look at you. Such a bold moth. Far bolder than I gave you credit for.”

“I knew the moment you arrived at this school that you were going to be a major fucking headache for me.”

The girl was a problem. An incredibly beautiful, but annoying, problem.