CHAPTER 12: Right Before The Fall

Adrian's POV

I turned the lock on the doors and turned to her.

"Now," I said, "Are we going to pretend we're actually going to talk about your critique, or are you going to tell me exactly why you spent the last hour trying to push me over the edge?”

I fully intended to scold her. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my dark trousers, walking down towards her. My annoyance was clear on my face. I locked away the guilt and the desire, leaving only the cold and authoritative professor I knew she hated so much.

But Nirvana stood her ground. She did not retreat or step back. She just waited for me.

"Why did you intentionally draw so much attention to yourself?" I demanded. My voice was incredibly harsh that it filled the empty space between us. I grabbed her jaw firmly and made her look at me. "You are only humiliating yourself if you try to humiliate Sienna and stand out in this room."

Nirvana flinched. The immediate hurt flashed visibly across her brown eyes. She stepped away from me.

My chest tightened painfully. I felt the sharp ache of her pain directly in my own heart. I hated hurting her. I hated being the primary source of her distress. God knew I wanted to close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her and apologize. But I kept the cold pretense locked firmly in place.

I needed her to stay hidden. I needed her to remain entirely unremarkable so the people watching me would ignore her. If my enemies noticed her, they would notice my reaction to her.

Nirvana did not back down. She did not cry or look away from me. Her chest heaved heavily under her dark dress. She took a step forward.

"I refuse to play dumb just to satisfy your paranoia," she argued right back, her voice was loud and absolutely steady. “I am not going to sit here and let you or anyone else talk down at me."

"You do not understand the position you are putting yourself in," I warned her. I stepped closer to her till I was staring down at her. "You think this is just a standard college classroom. You think you can just prove a point and walk away. You are putting a massive spotlight right on your own head."

"I am not humiliating myself," Nirvana snapped, completely ignoring my warning. She raised her chin and looked directly into my eyes. "You are the one humiliating yourself by trying to make me feel small. You use this classroom to exert your authority because you are terrified of what happens when we are actually alone. You push me down just to protect your own ego. You want everyone to think you are in absolute control."

Her defiance completely shattered my control. My anger and the intense physical need crashed together inside my chest. I stared at her in silence. I realized there were no words left that would make her listen to me. I stopped thinking immediately and I acted on my desire.

I closed the remaining distance between us in two long strides. I reached out and grabbed her firmly by the waist. I forcefully backed her up, pushing her backward until her spine hit the hard edge of my heavy mahogany desk.

"What do you think you are doing?" I growled. I kept my hands clamped tightly on her waist, digging my fingers into the soft fabric of her dress.

The shift was sudden and incredibly aggressive. I did not give her time to answer my question or push me away. I gripped the back of her bare thighs and lifted her entirely off the floor. I set her down hard on the smooth wooden desk.

I stepped perfectly between her legs. I pinned her in place so she could not move away from me. The intense heat from her skin radiated directly through the fabric of our clothes. The only sound in the massive, empty room was our ragged and heavy breathing. I gripped her hips firmly. I pressed my fingers deeply into her skin, applying a pressure that I knew she would definitely feel later tonight.

I looked directly into her eyes. I could see the lingering pain from my harsh words earlier. But the extreme physical proximity completely altered the atmosphere between us.

The pain mixed with the adrenaline and made her want me more. I saw the dark and desperate desire looking right back at me, matching my own physical frustration.

She did not try to pull her legs away or break my grip. She leaned back on her hands and stared up at me.

My control be damned, I thought.

I dropped the cold academic facade entirely. I did not care about the rules. I did not care about the promises I made to Ronan in his study. I leaned in and pressed my chest flush against hers. My voice dropped to the low and rough register she remembered from our late-night phone calls back in New Orleans.

"Admit it," I demanded. I leaned down and kissed the sensitive skin on her neck. I felt her rapid pulse racing frantically against my lips. She smelled sweet and warm. I dragged my mouth slowly along her jawline. "Admit you want this just as much as I do."

Nirvana let out a soft and breathy gasp. She tilted her head back and gave me complete access to her throat. Her hands moved up from the desk and gripped the collar of my dress shirt. She pulled me even closer, completely eliminating any remaining space between us.

"I want you," she whispered directly against my hair. Her fingers tangled tightly in the dark strands at the back of my neck.

"You belong to me," I told her. I moved my hands up her sides and gripped her waist securely. The words completely blurred the strict lines of our forbidden reality. I was not her professor right now. I was not her older brother's best friend. I was the man who had been obsessed with her for months. The physical contact was desperate and completely unyielding. I pressed my hips firmly against hers, letting her feel exactly how much she affected me, to feel the hard ridges between my legs.

She let out another quiet sound and arched her back, pressing her tits to my chest. I shifted my grip on her waist. I moved my right hand up and tilted her chin toward me. I leaned in, my mouth hovering just a fraction of an inch above hers. I felt her hot breath against my lips. I was prepared to finally cross the line and claim her mouth.

A loud knock pounded violently against the doors.

The sudden and aggressive noise knocked us completely out of our senses. The handle of the door rattled loudly. The reality of where we were came crashing rapidly back into the quiet room.

Fuck!

I tore myself away from her instantly, backing up until there was a safe distance between my body and the mahogany desk. I tried to steady my breathing, my chest rising and falling as I kept my eyes fixed on the heavy double doors. The brass handle slowly rattled, followed by a hard, deliberate knock that echoed in the quiet room.

"Nirvana," a thick, unfamiliar voice shouted from the hallway.