Perfect Chemistry Read online

  "Which part were you struggling with?"

  "On page forty-five…" Her elegantly painted fingers flipped the pages.

  I wondered what they'd feel like dragging across my back as she came. I shook the thoughts away as I listened to the rest of her question. She leaned over me and I caught a burst of her scent, shades of vanilla and citrus with something else. I didn't know how I was going to focus on teaching a goddamn thing after that.

  She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she continued, explaining why she thought the publishers had missed an important element.

  My eyes rose as I listened. Christ, she was smart. Like really fucking smart. I’d never had a student pick up on this, and it was the very thing I'd planned on teaching today. How on earth had she beaten me to it? She obviously had a natural ability for the sciences and damn if that didn't turn me on even more.

  "Funny you should bring that up. It's actually the very thing I'm teaching today."

  Her eyes widened before a small smile pulled at her lips.

  "Good job, you're reading critically. I like that."

  Karoline's cheeks brightened with embarrassment before she stood up straight, her tits pushing against the taut fabric. I caught just the faintest outline of her nipples peeking through her bra.

  Restraining myself from plucking the rosy little buds actually made a grimace pull at my mouth.

  Karoline's face fell instantly before she snatched up her book. "I'm sorry for bothering you. Next time I’ll just wait until class starts."

  "No, sorry, I… I can't explain, but it's not you." It's definitely fucking you. You're so fucking smart and sexy I can't clear my head long enough to even hold a conversation with you.

  "Oh." She paused as if deciding whether or not to believe me.

  "Sorry, it's been a rough few days."

  "Oh, I'm sorry." She gnawed on her lip.

  I wanted to pull it from her savage teeth and suck on it until she felt better.

  I pushed a hand through my hair and went to stand up before realizing there was a reason I'd sat down in the first place—one angry cock that wanted to be buried deep inside her body. "Perhaps you could pass these out for me?"

  She took the stack of papers, my fingertips brushing against her wrist and sending fireworks shooting between us. I watched goose bumps roll over her skin. Damn, could I really affect her like she affected me? Was it possible I wasn't the old, dodgy chemistry teacher and actually still a man worth admiring?

  "Sure, Mr. Walsh."

  The way she called me Mr. Walsh made me want to bend her over the desk and fuck her with my tongue to teach her a lesson. I didn't like formality between us. I wanted the name Devon falling from her lips when I gave her the orgasms I wanted to give her.

  I watched as she walked down the rows, placing each sheet carefully on each desk, her ass shaking in those little denim cutoff shorts. She may think she’d covered herself up, but those weren't the kind of curves that could be hidden. She'd look dead sexy in a potato sack, and still I'd obsess over those long legs that were made to be locked around my body.

  I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her until neither of us could see straight, but that would violate every code of conduct I'd ever promised to uphold.

  A small groan fell from my lips when she bent over to retrieve a stray pencil.

  Goddamn this girl. She was unraveling me one day at a time and she didn't even know it.

  FOUR

  Karoline

  I peeled the cardigan off my shoulders, cursing the broken air-conditioning as I huddled in the back corner of the library with books spread out around me. It'd been so humid the last few days that I'd been avoiding going home. Our small house was no match for the hundred-degree temperatures. I tapped my pencil on my notebook, taking a few notes for chemistry tomorrow and jotting down extra questions for Mr. Walsh.

  "It should be right here…" the librarian's squeaky voice said in the next row. "I just put it back on the shelf…" She turned the corner and her eyes landed on the book lying open before me. "Ah, here it is."

  My jaw dropped when Mr. Walsh came around the corner behind her. His eyes locked with mine and I felt flames heating my chest and face.

  His jaw hardened for a moment before he spoke. "Thanks, Ms. Murray."

  The librarian, Ms. Murray, looked at him with dreamy eyes before nodding once and walking away slowly, looking back once at the sexy chemistry teacher before she turned the corner. I knew her pain. He was beautiful. A beautiful, moody, mysterious bastard.

  "I was just leaving. You can have it," he said

  "No worries, I was just leaving to walk home anyway." I stood and held the book out to him.

  He took it, his eyes burning into mine. "You're walking home? This late?"

  His voice was rough, as though he didn't approve.

  "I always walk home."

  "Not like that you don't." His gaze traveled up and down my body, and I was instantly self-conscious.

  "Don't take it personally, but you might draw some attention."

  I crossed my arms, feeling insulted, before pulling on my cardigan despite the heat. "Thanks for your opinion, but I don't need it."

  His eye widened as he watched me gather my things and shove them into my backpack.

  "I didn't mean to insult you, Karoline."

  My full name on his lips left my limbs feeling like Jell-O. How did he have that effect on me? Obviously it was something he did to all women, if Ms. Murray was any indication.

  "Everyone calls me Kari," I said before sending him one last glance. I turned around the table and headed for the front doors.

  "Wait up, I'll walk with you."

  "I don't need the company."

  Mr. Walsh's chuckle surprised me. Hearing him laugh was so endearing that seeing him shed his surly exterior for just a fraction of a moment softened my attitude toward him.

  "Well, I do, Karoline. It's been a long week, and it's not often I laugh."

  "You don't say. And why do you keep calling me Karoline? No one calls me that," I sniped as I pushed open the heavy school door and walked down the steps.

  "Karoline is beautiful and classy. It fits you."

  He stopped at the bottom of the steps, forcing me to turn toward him. Did he just call me beautiful and classy? No one had ever called me beautiful. I was called hot or sexy, but not beautiful. I felt a blush flow up my face.

  "Does that mean I get to call you Devon?" My brash response shocked me, but I had never seen him so unguarded. The warmth in his eyes was undoing me.

  He shook his head, a small grin splitting his lips before he leaned in, one palm resting on my elbow. "That wouldn't be appropriate."

  The way his buttery voice spun through my veins made me weak with something I’d never felt before. He was part man, part god, his power over every woman undeniable.

  "Touching me wouldn't be appropriate either and still you do that."

  His fingers tightened for a second before he murmured, "Not as much as I'd like to." My heartbeat roared in my ears with his words, but before I could respond, he continued. "Now let's get you home. It's late, and I've got a long night ahead of me."

  He escorted me to the parking lot, my mind spinning with a thousand and one possibilities, all starting with Mr. Walsh's lips on mine. He reached into his pocket and dug out a set of keys before hitting the fob.

  The rapid beep beep of unlocked doors pulled me from my inappropriate thoughts. "Oh, I don't need a ride. I live just around the corner.”

  "Nonsense, I've got a perfectly good car and am going that way. Get in."

  I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes. Sure, he was a teacher, but why should I trust him?

  "Karoline." He walked around the vehicle and opened my door before leaning into my ear. His breath washed across my neck when he spoke. "There're all kinds of men out there looking to take advantage of a pretty young girl late at night. Don't make me carry you home."

  I swallowed, shifti
ng on my feet as something pulsed deep in my body. "How do I know you're not one of them?" As soon as I realized what I’d said, my eyes lowered to the ground.

  A small grunt fell from his lips as he gently placed two fingers under my chin. His touch was so gentle, similar to that of someone trying to coax a small child or animal. He was trying to make me feel safe.

  "You make a good point." His other hand connected with my lower back as his eyes pierced mine. "But I would counter with the fact that I'm a public figure in the community, and you hold all the power. You could go to the school board and ruin my career and life instantly. And I can promise you, I have much more respect for you than that."

  His words ran on a loop in my head. What was I thinking? What was I doing? Taking a leap, that's what. I'd never met a man so incredibly intelligent who'd paid me this kind of attention. He was gruff on the outside, but deep down, I knew he was soulful, gentle, and kind.

  "Okay." I locked eyes with him, his golden-brown ones shimmering in the moonlight sending butterflies fluttering around my vision.

  "Thank you." He smiled before removing his hand from my back as I slid into his car.

  Cool leather hit the backs of my thighs and I shifted, wondering how I was going to stand being in the small space with him. Mr. Walsh ate up the space around him, making me feel somehow more like a woman and aware of every breath and movement.

  I didn't know what was coming over me, but I'd never been so turned on or consumed by a man in my life. Maybe I'd just never been around the right man. "Left, off Bleecker Street."

  "Perfect." He put the car in reverse, and we pulled out.

  The air conditioner blasted while soft music piped through the speakers. My nipples hardened in the cool air, my thighs shifting slightly as I tried to keep my eyes on the road and off his large palms on the wheel, the way his muscled thighs filled the seat, and the tightness in his jaw that I'd come to learn was what he looked like when he was thinking.

  "This is it," I said a few minutes later. "I told you I could have walked."

  "It's quite all right, Karoline. I'm just glad to get you home safe." He pulled into the driveway, putting the car in park before turning to me. "Stop by my classroom if you're going to walk home late again. I stay late a lot of nights, correcting papers."

  The air hung heavy between us. A shiver ran through me as the cool air curled around my body. Why did it feel as though his eyes were burning up the space between us whenever I was in his presence? And why did I like it so much?

  I was supposed to be finishing my last year of high school and preparing for college, not mooning over my handsome chemistry teacher. If I wanted to get into a good engineering school, I needed to ace his class.

  "Until tomorrow?" he said.

  Then the unthinkable happened. I felt his fingers move a stray lock of hair off of my forehead and tuck it behind my ear. How did he make me feel so safe, so comfortable, so cherished? Mr. Walsh really had a gifted touch.

  "Yes, Mr. Walsh," I responded lamely, holding his gaze, before I opened the door and crawled out of the car.

  The urge for a cold shower had never been stronger.

  FIVE

  Devon

  I needed a freezing cold shower, and I needed it right fucking now.

  I wanted to beat myself with a barbed baseball bat for thinking these thoughts about a student, but lust-fueled logic had started to creep in. She would be eighteen soon, and if this was as real between us as it felt, a few months was a small price to pay to have her in my arms.

  As I watched her walk up to the front steps of her house, I sighed, trying to keep my urges at bay. I had no idea what kind of spell this girl had put on me. My mind raced and my heart beat wildly. I felt caged, and I saw no way of freeing myself. I would be a goddamn madman by the end of this semester if this kept up.

  I pulled out of her driveway, her sweet smile still burned into my mind. She lived so close to the school, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed her walking back and forth before. I was sure I would have recognized her. The depth in her eyes pulled at my soul. There was something about her that made her so different from any woman I'd ever met. In all my years of college, through functions and school events, after blind dates set up by my parents, I'd never found someone who made me feel anything close to this.

  Karoline was my equal. I could see the intelligence and wit burning in her eyes. She asked real questions. She was thoughtful and so well-spoken. Everything about her made me want to be the man she deserved. I wanted to move her into my home, take care of her for a lifetime, and gorge myself on her body every night of forever. I could please her. I could make her happy. We just had to get the timing right.

  I pulled into the driveway of my condo and launched out of the car, pounding up the steps and unlocking the door quickly. I peeled off my clothing as I walked through the apartment, then I cranked on the water in the shower and stepped into the cool spray and fisted my aching cock. A satisfied sigh hissed through my teeth when I tugged on the steely flesh, tightening my grip as I thought of her waiting for me in class the next morning.

  I thought of lifting her over my shoulders and turning her against the wall, my head between her thighs and licking her to a wild orgasm. A grunt spilled past my lips as I imagined the sweet nectar of her arousal covering my face, the scent of her claiming me. I’d read her poetry at night, cook her breakfast in the morning, and listen to her during all the hours in between. No matter what it took, I would claim her heart. I imagined the way her body would arch and sing when I sank into her for the first time, filling her up with my cock and kissing her until she didn't know where I ended and she began.

  My thighs shook and strained with impending release when I thought of her long, silky locks gliding along my body, teasing my muscles with their soft touch. I longed to feel her lips swallow my cock for the first time.

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck, Karoline," I ground when an orgasm pummeled through me, cum filling my palm and washing down the drain in satisfying surges.

  "Jesus Christ."

  I sucked in a ragged breath before ducking my head under the water and letting it wash away the shame of jerking my dick to one of my students.

  I knew it was wrong, but she was the only thing I could think about. It wasn’t all about a release. If it was, I could have lost my virginity long ago. Karoline was the sun, and everything I was wanted to be lost in her orbit. She was mine, no doubt about it. She was made for me, and I was made for her. I’d never really believed in soul mates, but she was the other half of my heart. Who was I kidding? Karoline was my heart. I had walked this world empty, not knowing what I was missing. I didn’t know what beauty was until I laid eyes on her, my beautiful, smart girl. My love.

  But I had to keep my head about me or I’d risk losing my job.

  I sighed, thinking this situation was the most hopeless one I'd ever been in. Karoline Kingston and her sweet smile were going to be the death of me.

  The next few days passed as the days before. I taught her while desperately trying to squelch my desires. I couldn’t help but glance her way when I thought no one was looking. She was pure beauty, a work of art meant to be stared at for hours just to unravel the mysteries of her decadent curves.

  She stayed at the library late a few nights, waiting for me to correct my papers before we headed home together, but only on the nights her parents worked late. By the time she’d finished studying and I was done with my work, it was often past eight and the halls echoed with uncharacteristic silence. We were safe here. Even if another teacher or student spotted us, I could explain that we were working on an advanced project together. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for me to stay late to assist students or drive players home after a late practice, so I knew we wouldn’t raise suspicions.

  In those five short minutes it took to get to her house, I stole greedy glances at Karoline and learned more about her. I lived for those car rides home. The moments alone with her helped, in some small way, to cont
ain my raging desire. Most days, watching her from behind my desk as I taught chemistry to twenty fidgeting teenagers, I felt as though I were in the desert, hallucinating a mirage. I couldn’t believe that something so devastatingly beautiful existed, yet I wasn’t allowed to touch. My eyes crawled up every dip and curve, imagining what they’d feel like when I finally could claim her. She owned me so completely. Her mind and her ambition and her innocent eyes drew me in.

  Five minutes alone a few times a week wasn’t nearly enough to quench my thirst for her, but I cherished those minutes. During those drives home, I learned all the things that made her so special. She wanted to get a degree in engineering. She wanted to travel, learn different languages, and work overseas. She loved animals and often volunteered at the animal shelter on weekends.

  I also learned the trivial things, like her favorite food and that she loved the smell of lavender. I made mental notes of each, then I went home, thoughts consumed by her devastating smile and the way she squinted so adorably when she giggled. I thought about our future, the life we could have together once she graduated, and how we could work her upcoming college schedule around my teaching one. But if she wanted to go to school out of state, I would make that work too.

  I glanced at the clock. For the first time in a while, Karoline wasn't the first one in class. Ten seconds before the bell rang, the door swung open and in walked my girl.

  In a skirt.

  Fuck me.

  I choked on a pained grunt as she cast me a quick smile before turning to sit in her seat. The skirt wasn’t immodestly short, but seeing Karoline in a skirt at all made me think a thousand inappropriate thoughts. If I bent her over my desk and pulled up that sweet little ruffle, what would I find?

  My cock throbbed painfully, and for half a second, I considered darting from the room to relieve myself for the second time this morning. Jerking my dick to thoughts of her once at night and then again in the morning before school wasn’t cutting it.