I cross the threshold of his home, feeling a cool tingle across my heated skin. Up until this moment, the man was a mere fantasy. Now, he’s going to fulfill my every sexual whim.
My heels click against polished walnut floorboards set within a hallway twice the width of the one at home. The first room on the left is a lounge of white leather sofas, a black grand piano, and a huge fireplace with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the garden square.
His house is gorgeous, but needs the touch of a woman.
And that woman is going to be me.
When he doesn’t grab the back of my coat, and the door clicks shut behind me, my insides flare with triumph. With his silence, he’s accepted my indecent proposal.
“Miss Stahl?” he says.
“You may call me Phoenix.” I turn to him and grin.
Professor Segul stands perfectly still, his eyes darkening with each shallow breath. He reminds me of a cobra about to strike. A very sexy cobra with defined abs and a chest I want to explore with my hands and teeth and tongue, but the way he glares down at me makes the butterflies in my stomach want to cower.
“What’s wrong?” My words come out unexpectedly timid. I hug the wine bottle to my chest as though it could create a barrier between myself and the irate professor.
It’s about this time that my conscience rears forward to remind me she didn’t approve of this course of action. I can’t even tell her to be quiet because I’m locked in the professor’s malevolent gaze.
“Did you really think I would submit to a student’s blackmail?” he says in a voice as cold as the wind.
Actually, I did.
“If you’re thinking of doing something stupid, all my friends know where I went tonight,” I blurt. “They have your address and say they’ll call the police if you—”
“You did no such thing.” Professor Segul advances on me, his large frame seeming to take up the entire space.
My pulse quickens. I step back toward the stairs, my legs trembling. “Yes, I did.”
“The whole purpose of blackmail is to secure something of value in exchange for silence,” he says from between clenched teeth. “Once that information disseminates to a third party, it no longer holds that value.”
My mouth falls open. There’s no response to a statement like that because it’s true. Of course I told nobody where I was going. There was no way in hell I’d risk anyone finding out about my affair with Professor Segul.
His brows rise in a way lecturers’ do when a slow student is close to getting the correct answer. I squirm in my stilettos, my nipples tightening inappropriately while I wonder what I did to lose the upper hand.
“I repeat my question,” he says. “What do you want?”
“The Christian Grey experience.” The words tumble from my lips before I can stop them.
I clap a hand over my mouth to suppress a gasp, but it’s too late. He already sees me as a bumbling, desperate fool.
Professor Segul stands so close that his heat radiates through the fabric of my raincoat, making my skin break out in a sweat. I take another step backward to create a little room, a little breathing space, but my spine hits the stair post.
He grabs my arm, making me flinch.
“Did you really think I would submit to your blackmail?” he says, his voice low and deep.
“Why did you let me inside if you were going to refuse?” I whisper.
His brows rise. “Why don’t you hazard a guess, Miss Stahl, as to why a university professor might not want a half-naked woman caterwauling outside his front door.”
“But I’m not—”
“Red lipstick, stilettos, and no hint of stockings or a shirt under that long raincoat.” His warm breath fans across my tingling skin. “What else is a person supposed to think?”
The intensity of his gaze causes me to lower my lashes and exhale the longest breath. “Are you going to kick me out?”
Professor Segul chuckles, but the sound is more malevolent than mirthful and makes every fine hair on my body stand on end. “My dear girl, you have awoken something in me that must be appeased.”