Chapter 3: The library seduction.

UCL library was full of dust and the faint smell of old paper, as well as a sharp contrast to the fresh efficiency of the lectures by Adrian Volkov. Nalia sat huddled in a corner booth, with tall heaps of books on the economic theory, and her pencil was scrawling angrily on pieces of notebook in an attempt to keep her mind focused away from the constant throb of Adrian's presence in her head. The voice, so low and commanding, of that good-looking man lingered within her ears and was a phantom touching in her flesh with prickly points of delight.

Just forget and concentrate, she said to herself, and slammed her textbook closed in a clap. She had to equip herself against tomorrow; she had to tramp into the graphs and models, until some day Adrian Volkov was to be no more than a shadowy, threatening figment of imagination. But accidentally, as she made the thought, the library doors flew open, and there he was, in a made-to-fit navy suit that swallowed the light about him.

The eyes of Adrian were fixed immediately on her as a deliberative predatory smile crooked over his face, and he hurried amidst the tables in her direction. Nalia choked on her breath. She ought to get on her feet, go - anything to avoid the choking note of his glare. She stood still instead, as a deer at Cross Gates, and stared while he sat down across the table, the leather of his shoes squeaking gently over the floorboards.

And av-ee, he said, with a low rumbling voice that sent again along her spine to Miss Mensah. I hope you have been doing well in preparation for our next discussion on the financial regulation.

Nalia smiled, but her cheeks were flushed with shame. "Of course, Professor. Your feedback is always taken seriously by me. She had waved her hands helplessly over her notebook, in the hope of seeming to be busy, but Adrian simply leaned forward, his elbows on the table, and his eyes glaring at her.

I did not come to talk of coursework, Nalia, I said, and my voice sank to a low, secret conversational tone which increased her pulse. "I'm here to discuss you. In particular, why have you been shunning me?

Her mouth went dry. I have not been shunning you, Professor. I've been busy with my studies."

Liar, he said, trailing a finger along some strand of hair at the back of her ear. The touch itself had been electric, a kind of spark of heat which reached right to her heart. "Your eyes betray you, Nalia. They are light on every occasion I enter a room. You desire me as much as you desire me. Because you can not get done with the last discussion we had in my office, it was fucking good........aaaaaah

Nalia started, jerking back. No, that is out of the question, Professor. You're my lecturer. We can't........."

We can, he cut in, and his hand got round her own, gripping it securely, but without pain. "And we will. Can we, since we both are powerless against this attraction? His thumb touched the pulse in her wrist, and Nalia could experience a wave of burning blood between her legs, a traitorous Fan Ying she could not feel.

Stop, she said, breathlessly, but her voice is feeble, hardly more than a whisper. "Please, stop."

Adrian smiled, and in it something was charming and at the same time terrifying as a flash of teeth. "Why? Because you are afraid to feel like that? Since you know that to yield to me is to lose control?

No," said Nalia, but the denial sounded like an empty word to her ears. "Because it's wrong. You are my professor, and I am a student. There are rules........."

And the rules that we make are the only rules that count. He sneaked up on her, leaned closer, and breathed warm upon her cheek. And he said to her in an intimidating whisper, “I want you, Nalia”. More than I would have liked to see anybody in years.

His lips were on her before she could reply, and soft, and then insistent, his tongue dashing into her mouth and taking possession of her. Nalia sat up, and her body was melting into his as he pulled her onto the lap of his knees, one hand gripping hold of her hair to keep her prisoner, the rest of it freely roaming over her waist, and squeezing her hip through the stuff of her dress.

She forgot all of that, the scandal, her sister, and the danger of Adrian Volkov, momentarily. The touch of his body against hers, the sensation of his taste, the manner in which his hands touched her and made her feel alive, the way no study could ever make her feel. Then reality came back on her, and she heaved him off, glimpsing wildly.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, her voice shaky. "This is crazy!"

Adrian looked at her coldly, and his face was indifferent. "Is it? Or is it just what we both need? You are not as innocent as you are trying to be, Nalia. I saw how you seemed vigorous the last time you came to my office, you seemed to need me more inside you, and now......... You here pretending to be innocent as though you have never seen my cock, aaaah, come on, Nalia, baby girl. This is not a new thing to you; you need not be so tight and harsh to your damn pussy. Just come, baby, and cum on me, he said to her in a lowest sweet tone.

She was flushed, but stared directly in his face, and would not turn. "That's not true, last time I just lost my control, but I didn’t intend to have an intimate time with you, Professor Volkov."

"Isn't it?" or he said, and touched the edge of my jaw with his fingertip. Why then do you beat your heart in my touch? Why do you always stare at me as though you need me badly ......... and besides, this is a game and you are already in it, you have no option here, baby girl. You are my queen; in my game, you have to be. Don’t you want to save your sister, mother, or do you want to just let them face the pain?

Nalia's breath hitched. As she lost herself to him already, his words sounded like a piercing in her heart. She was unable to deny it; her body was failing her, yielding in response to his contact in manners which frightened her even more than all. You see, I am a predator, so I am told, she stated tautly. "And I'm your prey."

"Aren't we all predators, Nalia?" I will, I will, said Adrian, and with a sharper smile. Some only conceal it better than the rest do. But you? You're different. Of the darkness, you are no coward; you are in love with it. Just like I crave you."

The doors of the library reopened before she could get any response, and a crowd of chattering students poured out and broke the magic. Adrian threw her out and stood up and threw on his suit jacket with an art whose familiarity was an instinct.

I will meet you later, Nalia, he said, and the tone of his voice was casual, though his eyes could have been more. "Whether you like it or not."

As he drove away, he glanced back and left her, thus stepping out of the booth alone, and her heart mimicked her mind. Her lips, which were yet numbing with his kiss, touched her, and she felt how she had gotten herself in this situation. Adrian Volkov was dangerous. She understood that more than anybody, but God knows it, she could not think of anything without him. Almost as to the manner in which he had got her, how he had penetrated her armour, how he had made her body sing with passion.

She packed up and went out of the library with an image of the face of Adrian imprinted in her mind. As she turned to walk back to her flat, she could not get rid of the impression that she was touching fire and that she would be burnt. However, to her credit, she was not bothered the first time in months. She wanted more of Adrian Volkov because even though, in the process, it may have killed her, she wanted more of him. She wanted all of him.

And she knew somewhere down that he wanted the same. The game was new, and neither of them was going to relinquish.