SEDUCING MY BIKER PROFESSOR

CHAPTER 9: Heat and Blood

NIRVANA'S POV

I sat on the edge of the marble counter for what felt like hours, letting the darkness of the kitchen swallow me. The only light came from the faint orange glow of the street lamps filtering through the windows.

My fingers were clamped so tightly around the sketchbook that my hand ached. I couldn't bring myself to let go.

I was so angry my chest actually hurt. The fear I had felt standing in that university hallway had burned away, leaving behind a suffocating rage that needed somewhere to go.

When I finally heard the front door click open, my whole body went rigid. Adrian's boots thudded down the main hallway. He didn't turn any lights on. He just walked through the dark house, bringing with him the smell of cold night air, leather, and cigarette smoke.

He stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and stared at me.

I didn't give him a chance to speak. I raised my arm and threw the sketchbook directly at him.

It hit him squarely in the chest with a satisfying thud. He didn't flinch. He just caught it before it fell, looked down at it, then slowly looked back up at me.

"Who was in my room, Adrian?" I demanded, my voice ringing out louder than I intended. "Who came into the penthouse, walked right past my brother, and stood over me while I was sleeping?"

He tossed the sketchbook onto the counter without opening it and took a slow step into the kitchen. He already knew what was inside. That annoyed me even more.

"Lower your voice, Nirvana. Ronan isn't home yet, but the security outside can hear you."

"I don't care who hears me!" I pushed myself forward on the counter. "You promised I was safe here. You both act like you have everything under control, but some creep picked the lock to my locker today and left a drawing of my face. So tell me the truth. Was it you? Or is it any of the secrets you both carry around?"

"I didn't put that book in your locker," Adrian said, his voice low and calm. "And nobody is going to touch you. I will handle it."

"Handle it?" I let out a harsh laugh. "You didn't look like you could handle anything today. You looked like you were putting on a show. You humiliated me in front of an entire lecture hall, Adrian. You stood up there and made me feel like an i***t while you showered Sienna with praise just because she tossed her hair and batted her eyelashes at you."

His jaw tightened.

He took another step forward. "What happened in that classroom had nothing to do with Sienna, and you know it. I have a job to do. I have a position to maintain, and I cannot show you any favoritism."

"Favoritism?" I nearly screamed the word. "I wasn't asking for favoritism! I was just asking you to look at me! You didn't even acknowledge that I was in that room. You treated me like dirt, and then you expect me to come back to this house and pretend everything is normal. You told me on the phone that I meant something to you, but the second we are in the real world, you push me away."

My eyes were burning now.

"Because you are driving me crazy, Nirvana!" He snapped, his voice booming through the kitchen. He ran a rough hand through his hair, losing the cold control he had held all day. "You are pushing every single boundary I have. You show up in my classroom looking like that, demanding my attention, and you expect me to just smile at you when there are people actively watching my every move?"

"How am I driving you crazy when you won't even look at me?" I pushed back. "You ignore me. You act like I am a burden you are forced to carry. You told Ronan I was a liability, and you treat me like one. I won't leave the university, and I won't leave you alone just because you are scared of what people might think."

"This isn't about what people think," Adrian growled, stepping closer. "You don't understand the world I operate in, and I am trying to keep you away from it."

"I know enough," I said, dropping my voice to a hard whisper. I looked directly into his eyes, refusing to let him hide. "I know you want me. You can play the indifferent professor all you want, but I remember how you touched me by that door." My voice softened. "I remember how you always sounded on the phone. You want me just as much as I want you, and you are terrified of it."

He stopped right in front of me. He didn't agree. But he didn't deny it either.

The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy. I could see the muscles in his neck working as he swallowed hard.

"You are Ronan's sister," Adrian said, his voice rough. "You are off-limits, Nirvana. I am supposed to protect you from men like me. I am practically a brother to you."

The word hit me like a slap.

He was using my family as a shield because he was too much of a coward to admit what was happening between us.

"You are not my brother, Adrian," I said, my voice steady and certain. "Obviously."

That single word broke him.

Whatever restraint he had been holding onto snapped. He closed the distance between us so fast I didn't have time to move.

His hands clamped down on my bare thighs, fingers digging into my skin as he dragged me to the edge of the counter.

The cold marble pressed into my lower back while the heat of his body trapped me completely from the front. His chest was flush against mine, rising and falling with ragged breaths that matched my own.

I looked up at him, lips parted.

"You are driving me insane," he repeated, but the anger was gone. It was a low, desperate confession. He leaned down, face close to mine, breath washing over my skin.

But he didn't kiss me.

He turned his head and pressed his open mouth against the skin below my ear, his lips hot as they grazed along my jaw.

I gasped and tilted my head back, giving him more access. My hands came up on their own and gripped the leather of his cut. I pulled him closer, wanting the weight of him against me. The boundaries he had enforced all day shattered completely in that dark kitchen.

He wasn't my professor right now. He was just the man I had been craving for months, and he was finally letting himself touch me.

His hands slid up from my thighs to my waist, grip tight and possessive. He buried his face in my neck and inhaled slowly. The rough stubble of his jaw scratched against my skin and the friction sent heat pooling low in my stomach.

He shifted, his hand sliding up to cup the back of my neck, thumb pressing into my pulse point. He pulled my face toward his, our lips just inches apart.

A click sounded at the front door.

Adrian yanked himself back so fast I gasped from the sudden loss of his heat. He put several feet between us and turned his back to me, hands rough over his face as he pulled himself together.

I sat frozen on the counter, chest heaving.

The front door opened and closed as footsteps came down the hallway, followed by Ronan's voice.

But the tone was completely wrong.

"I don't care if he begged," Ronan said, his voice carrying clearly through the corridor. "Sink the car and get rid of him."

A chill washed over my skin.

Ronan stepped into the kitchen doorway and stopped. He lowered a cheap plastic burner phone from his ear and shoved it into his pocket the second he saw me. His eyes moved from Adrian standing rigid near the sink, to me sitting on the counter trying to catch my breath.

He narrowed his eyes.

He let out a tired sigh and reached up to loosen his tie. He shrugged off his suit jacket, muttering something about an exhausting day at the firm.

I didn't respond. I knew he was trying to pull my attention away from the burner phone. But as the dark jacket slid off his shoulders, my eyes went wide.

The left side of his white shirt was stained in blood.