She couldn’t tear herself away. She couldn’t dislodge the feeling of worth this moment gave her. Like a dumb girl, she let him angle his head and then open her lips. His tongue flicked in playfully. The hand behind her neck tightened, pulling her in close. The other hand found her thigh. The kiss intensified, her senses lost to the feel of him, to the heady sensation of her dreams meeting reality.
“Excuse me, you two! That is completely inappropriate!”
Donnie backed off, his eyes hungry, his smile triumphant. He turned his head toward the professor, who was two seconds away from telling them to get out.
“Sorry, Professor Banks,” Donnie said in his strange, musically hypnotic voice. “Please, continue.”
The professor opened his mouth…then closed it. He smiled in a dreamy sort of way. “Yes, of course. Now, let’s speak about the indigenous people in Australia.”
Donnie turned back to an awestruck Charity. “Take notes, babe. You hate getting behind.”
Charity blinked. She held out her hand slowly, not totally in charge of her motor skills. “My phone, please.”
He smiled at her and leaned down for another kiss.
She backed away this time, flushed. “Phone. Please.”
Her thigh felt cold when he lifted his hand. With a coy smile, he reached into his shirt pocket and extracted her phone. It buzzed as he handed it over, three messages displayed on the screen.
I’ll meet you out front after, she sent to Macy.
To Devon’s message of R u fucking stupid??? she replied, No. I didn’t write that message. I’m fine.
She wasn’t fine. The daze wouldn’t go away. Desire clutched her tightly and begged her to give in. To claim what she’d always believed she wanted.
Devon: Leave class NOW!
“Charity, should I take notes for you?” Donnie asked, like a dream man.
Her fingers flew over the keys, typing words she plucked out of the air without thought. Those lips settled on the hollow next to her shoulder and sucked ever so gently.
“Oh God,” she breathed, lost to the fantasy of this moment. Drowning in pleasure.
His hand worked up her thigh, kneading along the inside, nearing her apex. Shivers of delight racked her body. Her eyes closed and her body overheated, desire flooding her. Barely able to keep from spreading her legs, she tried desperately to get herself under control. To claw her way to the surface.
“Don’t bite me,” she said, her voice wispy.
“You’ll like it,” he said in her ear, his tongue flicking out to lick along the ridge. He turned her face with his finger. “I know you’ve liked me for a while,” he murmured against her lips. “This is what you’ve wanted. I’ll give you everything you’ve wanted, starting now. We’ll go to dinner.”
Suddenly the class was on the move, standing and putting their stuff away. Her phone was vibrating again. Where the hell has the time gone?
“I can’t,” she said in the same wispy voice. It felt like her brain had detached from her body.
She felt his fingers between her thighs, massaging exactly where she needed it. Her legs spread of their own accord. Their kiss deepened. One hand pulled her into his body, branding her with his heat, while the other massaged in tiny circles, tweaking that little spot that made her speechless. His lips moved lower, down the side of her chin, the classroom suddenly quiet. Empty. Her body wound with tension, his ministrations having taken her to the brink. She moaned and clutched him, needing his touch like she’d never needed anything in her entire life.
The world condensed to his fingers and his heat. Everything else disappeared.
His lips worked down the side of her throat as he pushed her back against the chair, moving around her. Those fingers worked faster, her body responding with an animalistic intensity. His mouth moved low, over her artery.
“Charity!”
She heard her name through a wind tunnel. She clutched tighter to Donnie—to the beautiful creature that Donnie had become. She begged him to take her, to take what he needed from her. To claim and consume her.
“Charity!”
It was the fear in Devon’s voice that brought her struggling to the surface.
Teeth scraped against her neck as she heard feet pounding up the aisle between the seats. Pressure pushed against her skin, dull and painful.
Alarm finally registered. Those red ants felt like they were tearing her flesh. Pleasure turned into pounding fear so great that she choked from it.
Donnie’s face ripped away from her throat. In the next second, he was standing in the aisle, claws elongating from his fingers. A terrible hiss worked around two huge fangs. His lips turned black and his perfect face turned into something inhuman.
Charity flinched back as Devon reached them, a long knife in hand.
Donnie surged toward the attack quickly. Devon, faster still, dodged to the side and struck. The knife plunged toward Donnie.
“No!” Charity screamed.
The blade rammed into Donnie’s chest, piercing his heart before he could turn away. His hiss turned into a monstrous squeal, his body writhing, his claws slashing at the air. Devon dodged around him and gripped the back of Charity’s hoodie. He yanked, impossible strength dragging her out and over the back of the chair, and threw her into the aisle behind him, shielding her body with his.