“Professor?” she slurs, her thick lashes fluttering.
“Shhhh.” I slip a forearm beneath her legs and cradle her to my chest. “Go back to sleep.”
Phoenix’s head lolls on my shoulder and her arms flop to her sides. I kick the car door shut and hope to tuck her into bed without incident. The moment we cross the villa’s threshold, she releases a suspicious-sounding sigh.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
With a groan, she spasms once, then twice.
I rush across the black-and-white-tiled hallway into the downstairs bathroom and position her in front of the toilet bowl.
“Professor,” she groans. “I feel—”
Her entire body seizes.
All I can do is pull her hair off her face as she ejects the coffee-and-alcohol scented contents of her stomach.
My lips tighten with disapproval. The Campus Café has no business allowing students to smuggle in bottles of alcohol. Phoenix had no business getting so drunk.
I shudder at the thought of her at a party with those musicians, immobile, inebriated, and unaware. Thank providence I was there to save her before one of those entitled little bastards took advantage of her vulnerability.
When she stops retching and slumps to the side, I hold her steady and rub her back.
“Feeling better?” I ask.
Phoenix stares up at me with a confused scowl.
I take that as a positive sign.
After a count of thirty, her breathing slows, and I help her to her feet.
“I can’t believe how much I drank tonight,” she says with a groan.
“Tomorrow, you’ll learn the consequences of overindulging.” I flush, pick her up, and carry her out of the bathroom and across the hallway.
“What does that mean?” she slurs into my chest.
“You’ve been racking up transgressions the entire evening.” I glare down into her curtain of hair. “Punishment awaits you tomorrow.”
“Let’s go downstairs.” She raises a hand, slips it beneath the opening of my jacket, and fumbles over my chest.
“Not when you’re too drunk to consent.” I mount the stairs.
She buries her face in the crook of my neck. Her hot breath sends tingles across my skin, making my cock twitch.
“Green,” she says with a soft laugh, her hand snaking down to my waistband.
My jaw clenches.
The little minx.
“Stop that unless you want to suffer through a round of tease and denial.”
She kisses my neck, making me groan.
“Keep doing that, and your punishment will double.” I reach the top of the stairs, carry her into the bathroom, and set her on the edge of the bathtub.
Phoenix dips her head and giggles. “Why can’t we go to the basement again?”