A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(16)

“We’re starting with these tasks before we dive into the literature,” Kat explained through gritted teeth. “All roads to every answer start with the basics.”

“Nice,” he retorted, pulling his eyebrows together in a way Kat could only determine as condescending. “Read that little gem in a fortune cookie, did ya?”

Kat placed her palms onto the desk in front of him, invading his personal space, smelling smoke and warmth. “No, I didn’t,” she hissed. “So just do what I ask. Otherwise, there’s the door. Don’t let it hit you on your smart ass as you leave.”

The entire room pulsed with blasting silence. Carter stared back at Kat for mere seconds before he sat up straight in his chair, leaning even closer. She was momentarily shaken when his hot breath whispered across her cheek.

“Watch your mouth,” he seethed.

The guard shifted closer. Kat swallowed.

“No, Carter. This is my class, not yours. So do what I ask or leave. The choice is yours.”

She spun on her heel and walked toward Riley, whose wide eyes and open mouth suggested he was as shocked as she was that she’d tested the patience of the most volatile person in the room. Kat couldn’t explain it. She knew her conduct had been risky and maybe a little unprofessional, but she couldn’t allow her students to behave that way. She had no idea where her bravery—or stupidity—had come from. Maybe it was a deep-rooted need to assert herself after her mother’s unsupportive words from the night before; maybe it was the fear that still prickled her skin from the confrontation between Corey and Jason.

Something about Carter set her on edge. If she weren’t so angry, she might have enjoyed the energy suddenly flooding her veins.

She managed to ignore Carter for the next fifty minutes, glancing at him occasionally to see him sitting in smug silence. She hadn’t seen him even attempt to do what she’d asked.

Asshole.

The officers came to collect her students as she was finishing her closing plenary.

“Later, Miss L,” Riley chimed, following Jason and Rachel out of the door.

Carter barged past everyone, including her, with no regard whatsoever.

“Yeah, see you later,” she muttered.

As soon as the door shut, Kat sank back against her desk and exhaled. It was glaringly obvious that Carter was going to be a difficult son of a bitch.

Great. Just what she needed.

Pushing off the desk, she collected her students’ booklets and pens. She looked reluctantly at the last booklet, placed on the desk where Carter had been. She stared at it, gnawing on her bottom lip in frustration.

What was it about Carter that had her so wired?

She approached the booklet as a soldier would an undetonated bomb and turned it around, opening up to the first page. Her eyes widened and her breath caught when she read the word that meant so much to the man who had conjured so much emotion from her.

DEBT.





5


For twelve hours, Carter had done nothing but fume and ruminate over the ways in which he could make his new tutor’s life hell. He was still astounded that she’d spoken to him the way she had.

No one spoke to Carter like that.

No. One.

Fucking. Ever.

[page]For hours after their meeting, he’d been unable to rid himself of the rage she’d sparked within him, the absolute fury at being spoken to in such a way and, unbelievably and more infuriating than all of that combined, the wild lust that had shaken his entire body.

It was almost as if an electric current had shot between them when she spat her words at him. Goddamn her heavy breaths and her venomous tone, which made parts of him twitch and pulse—parts that had been dormant for a long time, parts that made him want to do wild and wicked things to her all over his desk until she knew how he expected to be treated. He was seething at himself for thinking those things about a woman he’d met for all of fifty-five minutes.