CHAPTER 9: Heat and Blood

NIRVANA'S POV

I sat on the edge of the marble island counter for what felt like hours, letting the complete darkness of the kitchen swallow me. The only light came from the faint, orange glow of the streetlamps that filtered through the windows, casting long shadows across the floor.

My fingers were clamped so tightly around the edges of the sketchbook that my hand ached. But I couldn't bring myself to let go of it. I was so angry that my chest actually hurt. The fear I had felt standing in the university hallway had completely burned away, leaving behind a suffocating rage that demanded to be let out.

When I finally heard the front door click open, my entire body went rigid. The thud of Adrian’s boots echoed down the main hallway. He didn't turn any of the lights on. He just walked through the quiet house, the scent of cold night air, leather, and cigarette smoke surrounding him.

He stopped at the entrance to the kitchen. He didn't say a word, just stared at me sitting there in the dark.

I didn't give him a chance to speak or ask what I was doing in the dark. I raised my arm and threw the heavy sketchbook directly at him.

The book flew through the air and hit him squarely in the chest with a loud thud that was satisfying to my ears. But his ass didn't even flinch. He just caught it as it fell. He looked down at the book, and then he slowly looked back up at me.

"Who was in my room, Adrian?" I demanded, my voice ringing out much louder than I intended in the quiet house. "Who came into the penthouse, walked right past my brother, and stood over me while I was sleeping?"

Adrian took a slow step into the kitchen, tossing the sketchbook onto the nearest counter without even bothering to open it. "Lower your voice, Nirvana. Ronan isn't home yet, but the security outside can hear you.". He sounded like he already knew what was inside and it annoyed me more

"I don't care who hears me!" I yelled, pushing myself slightly forward on the counter. "You promised I was safe here. You both act like you have everything under control, but some creep picked the lock to my locker today and left a drawing of my face. So tell me the truth. Was it you? Or was it one of the criminals you hang around?"

"I didn't put that book in your locker," Adrian said. His voice was low and dangerously calm, contrasting the wild anger tearing through me. "And nobody is going to touch you. I will handle it."

"Handle it?" I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "You didn't look like you would handle anything today. You looked like you were putting on a show. You humiliated me in front of an entire lecture hall, Adrian. You stood up there and made me feel like an absolute idiot while you showered Sienna with praise just because she tossed her hair and batted her eyelashes at you."

Adrian’s jaw tightened. He took another step forward. "What happened in that classroom had absolutely nothing to do with Sienna, and you know it. I have a job to do. I have a position to maintain, and I cannot show you any favoritism."

"Favoritism?" I nearly screamed the word. I scoffed. "I wasn't asking for favoritism! I was just asking you to look at me! You didn't even acknowledge that I was a human being in that room. You treated me like dirt, and then you expect me to just come back to this house and pretend everything is normal. You told me on the phone that I meant something to you, but the second we are in the real world, you push me away."

I was close to tears now.

"Because you are driving me crazy, Nirvana!" He finally snapped, his voice booming through the kitchen. He ran a hand roughly through his dark hair, losing that cold, professorial control he had maintained all day.

"You are pushing every single boundary I have. You show up in my classroom looking like that, demanding my attention, and you expect me to just smile at you when there are people actively watching my every move?"

"How am I driving you crazy when you won't even look at me?" I pushed back, refusing to back down from the anger radiating off him. "You ignore me. You act like I am a burden you are forced to carry around. You told Ronan I was a liability, and you treat me like one. I am not going to sit around anymore. I won't leave the university, and I won't leave you alone just because you are scared of what people might think."

"This isn't about what people think," Adrian growled, taking another heavy step toward me. "This is about–” he suddenly paused, threw his fingers in his hair and then he spoke again. “You don't understand the world I operate in, and I am trying to keep you away from it."

"I know enough," I said, my voice dropping from a yell to a hard, trembling whisper. I looked directly into his dark eyes, refusing to let him hide behind his excuses anymore. "I know you want me. You can play the tough, indifferent professor all you want, but I remember how you touched me by the door then.”, my voice softened as I held his gaze. “I remember how you always sounded on the phone. You want me just as much as I want you, and you are terrified of it."

Adrian stopped right in front of me. He didn't accept what I said, but he didn't deny it either.

The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy with all the things we were not saying out loud. I could see the muscles in his neck working as he swallowed hard. I knew I was getting to him.

"You are Ronan’s sister," Adrian said softly, his voice rough and laced with frustration. "You are off-limits, Nirvana. I am supposed to protect you from men like me. I am supposed to look out for you. I am practically a brother to you."

The word felt like a slap to my face. The anger that had started to cool inside me flared up hotter than before. He was using my family as a shield because he was too much of a coward to admit what was actually happening between us.

"You are not my brother, Adrian," I snapped back, my voice dripping with absolute certainty. "Obviously."

That single word broke him.

Whatever thread of restraint Adrian had been holding onto completely snapped. He closed the remaining distance between us so fast I didn't even have time to swing my legs out of the way or push myself back. His hands clamped down hard on my bare thighs, his fingers digging deeply into my skin as he dragged me forward right to the edge of the marble island.

The shift was incredibly sudden and overwhelming. The cold marble counter pressed hard against my lower back, sending a shiver up my spine, while the intense heat of his large body trapped me completely from the front. There was absolutely no space left between us. His chest was flush against mine, rising and falling with heavy, ragged breaths that matched the fast beating of my own heart.

I looked up at him, my lips parted, completely paralyzed by the dark, consuming desire I saw burning in his eyes.

"You are driving me insane," Adrian repeated, but this time it wasn't with anger. It was a low, desperate confession. That made my clit clench with desire.

He leaned down, his face coming so close to mine. I could feel the heat of his breath washing over my skin. But he didn't kiss me. Instead, he turned his head and pressed his open mouth against the sensitive skin right below my ear. His lips were hot and demanding as they grazed slowly along my jawline.

I let out a soft, shaky gasp and tilted my head back, giving him more access as I rubbed my thighs together, trying to relieve the ache that had aimed higher in between my legs. My hands moved entirely on their own, coming up to grip the thick leather of his cut.

I pulled him closer, desperate to feel more of his heavy weight pressing me down against the counter. The boundaries he had tried so hard to enforce all day completely shattered in the dark kitchen.

He wasn't my professor right now, and he certainly wasn't my brother's best friend. He was just the man I had been craving for months, and he was finally letting himself touch me.

His hands moved from my thighs, sliding up my waist with a possessive, crushing grip. He buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply as if he was trying to memorize the scent of my skin.

I puffed my chest out, my own hardened nipples rubbing against his chest as it sought relief.

I could feel the rough stubble on his jaw scratching against me, and the friction sent a rush of heat pooling low in my stomach.

I wanted him to keep going. I wanted him to completely erase the memory of the classroom and the drawing in my locker.

He shifted his weight, his hand sliding up to cup the back of my neck, his thumb pressing into my pulse point. He pulled my face toward his, our lips mere inches away from finally crossing the line we had been dancing around since I arrived in New York.

A sudden click sounded at the front door. Adrian yanked himself back so fast I actually gasped from the sudden loss of his heat.

He stepped entirely away from the marble counter, putting several feet of distance between us. He turned his back to me, running his hands roughly over his face and taking a deep, shuddering breath to compose himself.

I sat frozen on the edge of the counter, my chest heaving, my lips swollen and tingling from how close we had just been.

The front door opened and closed. Heavy footsteps walked down the hallway, followed immediately by my brother's familiar voice.

But the tone was completely wrong. It lacked all the warmth and protection he always used with me. It was cold, and entirely ruthless.

"I don't care if he begged," Ronan said, the words clear through the quiet corridor. "Sink the car and get rid of him."

I raised my brow, a sudden chill washing over my skin as I tried to make sense of what I just heard.

Ronan stepped into the kitchen entryway and stopped abruptly. He lowered a cheap, plastic burner phone from his ear. It was the kind of disposable device a billionaire CEO would never have a reason to carry. He shoved it into his pocket immediately he saw me.

He looked at Adrian standing rigidly near the sink, and then he looked at me sitting on the counter trying to catch my breath.

Ronan narrowed his eyes, the suspicion cleain his eyes. Clearly trying to figure out exactly what he had just interrupted.

He let out a tired sigh to break and reached up to loosen his tie. He shrugged off his suit jacket, muttering something about an exhausting meeting at the firm.

I did not give him a response. I knew he was trying to distract me from the burner phone I just saw in his hand. But as the dark fabric of the jacket came off, my eyes widened in pure shock.

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Because on the left side of the shirt was nothing but.. blood.