But the intensity of his gaze tells me that he does.
There’s no denying who’s responsible for those gunshots I heard before he opened the van door. Professor Segul killed those abductors.
To save me.
Gratitude fills my chest until it’s hard to breathe. The backs of my eyes sting with the onset of tears. I blink hard, forcing them back.
“There’s something you must know,” he says.
There’s an ominous tremble to his voice that makes my heart skip. He’s about to say something I won’t like.
“What?” I whisper.
“I am nothing like my father.”
“Of course not.” My hands slide up to his shoulders, and my breath shallows from the confession that he really is the son of the country’s most notorious trafficker and pimp. “I’ve heard all kinds of rumors about that man, but nothing about you says you’re anything like him.”
His arm wraps around my back, and he brings our chests close together. “Thank you,” he says with a deep sigh. “And you know I hold you in the highest esteem?”
My eyes widen. Why is he saying this and why does he sound so much like Mr. Darcy? “Professor Segul?”
“You know you have my utmost respect?” he asks with more bite.
“Of course, but why—”
“Because I’m about to fuck you here in this alleyway like I don’t,” he growls. “Any objections?”
ChapterForty-Nine
PHOENIX
My jaw drops. I would glance from side to side, but I’m still locked in his gaze, which now burns like molten fire.
Warmth shoots down my spine and settles between my legs. He can’t be serious about having sex in an alley.
Not with hundreds of people crowding Sydney Crescent. Not with his house burning to ashes less than a hundred feet away. Not with the road filled with fire engines, police cars, and ambulance trucks. Not where anyone walking past can see us fucking.
“What?” I blurt. “Here?”
He pulls down the bandana, revealing his lips. Lips I’ve always longed to kiss. I raise a hand and cup the side of his face.
“Right here.” He shoves his knee between my legs, quickening my heart. “You remember your safe words?”
“Yes, but—”
He cuts me off with a kiss that conveys the depth of his lust and fury. It’s hard and demanding, yet the knee pressing into my clit makes my nerves tingle.
My mind tosses away all fears of public indecency. Any scrap of modesty I might be holding onto drift like smoke in the wind. My pulse rolls a rapid drumbeat, wanting him to escalate.
I need this man. Need him to fuck me right now against the fence
His hands are everywhere—around the back of my neck, on my thighs, around my waist. As he devours me with his lips, it’s like he can’t get enough of touching my body.
I fist the fabric around his shoulders, holding him in place. There’s no telling what will happen next, but I need to commit this first kiss to memory because it might be our last.
Professor Segul hooks his hands beneath my thighs and raises me higher up against the fence post, so I can wrap my legs around his hips. I cling onto him like he’s the only thing keeping me upright.
“You’ll be punished,” he mumbles.