Pretty Dirty (Dirty Bad Things Book 2)(87)

I think I know where this is going. This is her doubt. This is her questioning how sincere I am, and suddenly wondering if I really am just a dirty old man putting his hands on one of his eighteen-year-old students.

These are all sentiments I’m going to squash right here and right now.

“You think this is just fun and games for me,” I say quietly.

Tempest looks up at me, her eyes red and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

“Is it?” she whispers, and the look on her face is so damn fragile it almost breaks me.

“No,” I growl. I move right to her, and she gasps as I scoop her into my arms. I kiss her with everything I have, searing my love into her lips with mine until she’s melting against me.

Love.

Because that’s exactly what I feel for her. It is physical, and it is blind lust, but it’s all of that and so much more than I’ve ever felt before, for anyone or anything.

“This is so much more than just that,” I growl, holding her tight. “I want all of you — you and you alone. Not just your body, but all of you.” I kiss her again, cupping her cheeks in my hand and pouring my soul into her.

“Let me tell you something, Princess. In case no one’s ever told you this, you are fucking incredible. You’re perfect, and gorgeous, and so damn sweet and innocent.”

She bites her lip, her cheeks turning pink.

“Well, not so much anymore,” she says, blushing. “Innocent, that is.”

I grin. “Still innocent, trust me. After the shit I’ve seen in this world, you’re the pureness I’ve been looking for. You’re the goodness I need.”

She melts into me, burying her face in my chest and holding me tight.

“I want that too, Christian, but what about what people—”

“Fuck what people think, or what they say,” I growl.

“What about your job?”

I shake my head. “We’ll figure it out. All I know is, you’re everything I’ve always wanted, and I’m sure as fuck never letting you go.”

“Please don’t,” she whispers, kissing me.

“Was this all why you didn’t meet me? Is this what you were worried about?”

She swallows, and her eyes give it away.

“There’s something else,” I say icily, seeing the truth there in her face.

She shakes her head, suddenly looking scared.

“Tell me whats going on, angel.”

“It’s nothing,” she sighs, looking away. “It’s just…”

“Tell me.”

“Professor Hershman, he…”

Every muscle in my body tenses, and my eyes narrow.

“What about Hershman?” I hiss.

“Not me,” she whispers, her eyes lowering and her shoulders slumping.

“Please tell me, Princess.”

She does. She tells me about Amy, and what she knows that piece of human trash Hershman did to her. And by the time she’s done, every single piece of me wants to murder the son of a bitch with my bare hands. I realize I’m tensed up completely, every muscle in my body clenched tight and my teeth painfully grinding together as the growl rumbles in my throat.

“I’m going to bury him,” I say quietly, but Tempest’s eyes fly to mine as she shakes her head.

“No, Christian, please.”

“Give me one good fucking reason why,” I growl.

“Because if you went to jail for murder, I’d be lost without you?”

The red mist clears as I bring my eyes back into focus and see her smiling up at me.

“For me, please. Look, I just want to finish his stupid class so I can go to college and away from this stupid fucking town fore—”

The other implication hits us both at the same time, and she stops short, her mouth shutting quick before she opens it again.

“I didn’t mean—”

“I know, angel,” I say softly.

“Come with me,” she breathes. “To Cambridge, I mean, when I go to school.”

I laugh quietly, looking away.

“I just took this job.”

“C’mon, you hate this town too.”

My eyes meet hers, and something clicks inside of me. And it’s not just that this town and this job isn’t really what I thought it was.

It’s her.

It’s her, and knowing that I’d follow her to the ends of the fucking earth, even if it killed me. I don’t know how, but I do know that when Tempest Kensington goes off to school, there’s nothing in this world that’ll stop me from coming with her.

After all, she’s mine. Mine to have, to hold, to protect.

Forever.

I’m kissing her before I know it, pouring everything into the kiss and holding her tight to me. She moans softly, melting into me. The raw need for her suddenly comes rushing up like a wave — like nothing else in this world matters but having her and feeling all of her right here and right now.

It grips me, consuming me, until I’m pushing her back and growling like an animal as I press her against my desk. Blood rushes to my cock, and it throbs rock hard against her thigh. I know she feels it, because suddenly, her kisses become as heated as mine, her small hands clutching me tightly as her breath catches.