Forbidden Fruit

by Eden Bradley

  It wouldn’t help. He knew that. He was twenty-six years old, for God’s sake. He could have hard-on after hard-on, no problem. Except that it was getting to be a problem, with Mia Rose.

  She was his professor, and the only way to get around that was to drop the class. But he didn’t want to do that, especially this close to graduation, just because he was hot for his teacher.

  Hot didn’t even begin to describe it. He was fucking obsessed with her, and he knew it. He just didn’t know why.

  She had secrets, that woman. He could see it in the tight bow of her shoulders when he asked about her family. Fascinating. People always did fascinate him, hence his study of psychology. Her secrets only made her more tempting.

  Not the kind of woman he really needed in his life right now. Not after the promises he’d made to himself when Elena had left. He always fell too damn easily, he knew that.

  Not that he was falling for Mia Rose.

  No, all he wanted was to sleep with her. Spend a little time with her. Nothing more. No expectations.

  No opening himself up to be fucking crushed again.

  He was done with that. That’s how he’d been operating for the last year. Finally his father’s son.

  Something for Dad to be proud of. Even if Jagger wasn’t entirely proud of himself.

  But he’d learned his lesson after Elena. He’d spent this year learning to protect himself. He wasn’t falling for a woman again anytime soon. And definitely not a woman like Mia Rose. A woman with secrets.

  Yeah, get what he needed from her, needed, damn it, then walk away. He knew what he had to do.

  Why did he have a feeling he wasn’t going to be able to walk away from Mia Rose Curry?

  chapter three

  KARALEE BRACED HER HAND ON A PIPE

  ABOVE HER HEAD, holding herself up as she rode Gideon, her legs wrapped around his waist. His hands were on her hips, digging into her flesh as he pistoned into her.

  “God, Gideon, harder!”

  Pleasure swam through her veins with every luscious thrust. The single lightbulb hanging overhead barely illuminated his strong features, just enough that she could see the desire on his face: his mouth soft, his brown eyes intense.

  “Fuck, Karalee. I’m going to come.”

  His panting breath matched her own as he shoved her back harder into the wall. He slipped a hand between them, pressed hard onto her clitoris.

  “Yes, just like that, Gideon…”

  She bucked her hips into his hand, her clit swollen and pulsing with need. And his powerfullcock drove into her, impaling her, over and over. The tension in her body built, crested, and in moments pleasure flooded her, centering in her throbbing clit, spreading through her sex, her breasts, her entire body as she came. Gideon clamped a hand over her mouth as she cried out. She loved it.

  “Christ, Karalee, someone will hear you.”

  But she didn’t care.

  And in moments he was tensing, shivering, panting her name as he came inside her. Jesus, they hadn’t even used a condom. What was she, some slutty teenager?

  But she’d loved every second of it. Loved the way they’d passed in the hallway, stopping to talk for mere moments before he’d grabbed her and dragged her into the janitors’ closet, kissed her breathless as he stripped her panties from beneath her skirt and plowed into her.

  She was trying to catch her breath, Gideon’s flesh softening inside her.

  “Jesus, Gideon.”

  “Yeah.”

  He was still panting, his breath coming in soft gasps.

  And he was still standing, one hand braced against the wall behind her, the other under her ass, holding her up. He caught her gaze, his eyes that smoky, sexy brown that had caught her attention the moment she’d seen him, when he’d been introduced at the first staff meeting of the semester two weeks earlier.

  The new dean of the History Department. She’d loved his tall, lean form right away, those square, masculine features, even the bit of gray at his temples, in sharp contrast to his nearly black hair.

  He looked like some classic movie star to her. But mostly it was his eyes: dark, hooded, sexy as hell.

  They were locked on her now. He reached up and stroked her cheek with his thumb, a surprisingly tender gesture. Her heart gave a sharp squeeze.

  Come on, Karalee. This was nothing more than hot, spontaneous sex.

  Dangerous sex, which only made it better. But she was as turned on as she’d ever been in her life. By him. By the taboo nature of what had just happened, the fact that at any moment, someone could have opened the closet door and found them. And it was even better that they’d hardly ever even spoken before, had never done more than exchange a few words, a few flirtatious glances. That he’d known in some mysterious way she wanted this, wanted him, simply seeing him in the hall today.

  Lifting her, he pulled out of her, zipped his fly. Her legs were a little shaky, and she had to stand there and breathe for a moment as she pulled her skirt down. He handed her discarded panties to her and she stepped into them. She wished he’d say something.

  Gideon smoothed back his dark hair with one hand.

  She noticed then the faint five o’clock shadow on his jaw. Sexy. Like everything else about him.

  “So. I’ll see you around campus, Karalee.”

  He straightened his shirt, flashed her a smile, opened the door to the closet, and walked out.

  Jesus! He was just going to leave her standing there with that for a parting line?

  Her heart was still thudding in her chest, her body still buzzing with orgasm. She ran her hands over her hair, her face. She wished she had her purse with her. She was going to have to walk out of this closet with no idea of what she looked like.

  What the hell had she just done?

  But she was smiling as she shook her head, smoothed her skirt down, tucked in her blouse, and drew in a deep breath. This was ridiculous.

  Dangerous. And the most thrilling thing that had happened to her in a very long time.

  Perhaps ever.

  She wanted it to happen again. But the way he had simply left her there, without talking about what they’d done, she had no idea what would happen next, if anything. It was frustrating as hell. Yet some small part of her was as absolutely thrilled by the uncertainty of it as she was by everything else about him, about this experience.

  She really ought to have her head examined.

  Karalee cracked the door open and peered out into the hall. Empty, thank God. Slipping out, she headed for the ladies’ room to wash her face, pull herself together. That was going to be a challenge, though.

  Because sex with Gideon Oliver had left her head in as much chaos as it had her body.

  Mia pulled into the campus parking lot, cursing her luck. If she didn’t get to schoollearly enough, she always ended up here, at the lot farthest from her classroom.

  She pulled her purse and her briefcase from the backseat and grabbed her coffee thermos before she locked the door. Dark and strong with plenty of milk and three sugars. The sweet coffee was a treat she used when she was nervous or bothered by something. Just like her mom had when she was a kid. Of course, the sugar load may have been more about the drugs her mother did than anything else; heroin addicts were famous for their sugar cravings.

  But she really didn’t want to think about her mother right now. She sipped the hot liquid, willing her pulse rate to slow. Why was she so scattered today?

  As she started the walk toward the humanities building, her cell phone rang. It took a moment to dig it out of her purse.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mia, it’s Karalee.”

  “Hi. How are you?”

  As she skirted the edge of another parking lot, she noticed a construction crew working, muscular men in white tank tops, sweating in the muggy air, their arms and shoulders cording as they worked. Her nipples tightened as one of them leaned into a jackhammer, worn blue jeans pulling taut over muscled thighs.


  Nice.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering Jagger’s scent, the heat of him sitting next to her…

  Why was she so man-crazy suddenly?

  “Sorry, Karalee, what was that?”

  “I said I had sex with Gideon Oliver the other night.”

  “The new dean? Do you even know him?”

  “No, I don’t.” Karalee paused. “We had sex in a janitors’ closet at school.”

  “Well, that makes my problems seem minor. How was it?”

  “It was amazing. Probably the hottest sex I’ve ever had. We ran into each other in the hallway. And he just looked at me and it was this sort of surreallmoment, and he said ‘come with me,’ and I did. He pulled me in there, stripped my underwear off, and shoved me up against the wall. We didn’t talk about it. We didn’t talk about anything. It just happened.”

  “Wow.”

  “I know. I had to tell someone, Mia.”

  “How did things end?”

  “That’s the strangest part. After, he just zipped up and left. Like it was no big deal.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t, to him. I’m sorry, Karalee.”

  “No, it’s fine.” She lowered her voice. “Because, to be perfectly honest, I loved that. That we just did it without any working up to it first. But part of me wanted him to at least ask for my number. How juvenile is that?”

  “It’s not. I’d probably feellthe same way.”

  “You know how I am about men. It’s not that I want a relationship. But just to have him ask…but again, that part of it was hot, too. So, you’re the sex expert.

  What does this say about me? That the best sex of my life was with a virtuallstranger, in a place where we could have been caught? That even though I’ve always been the one in charge with a man, what I loved most about this thing with Gideon was the way he completely took over?”

  “I’m sorry, Karalee. I can’t even figure myself out right now.”

  “That guy again, Mia? Your student?”

  “Again. Still.” She shifted her purse and took a sip from her thermos. “I saw him. Jagger. I went to coffee with him.”

  “Jesus, Mia. Is that a good idea?”

  “Of course it’s not. But I couldn’t not do it. I don’t seem to have a lot of controllwhere he’s concerned.”

  “Why do you think that is?”

  Mia shrugged. She really didn’t want to get into it, even with Karalee, the first close friend she’d had in ages. It was too hard to open herself to people in that way. It always had been. With anyone but her grandmother, and she’d been gone for two years.

  She was out of practice.

  “He’s just…incredibly attractive.”

  “Mia, maybe I’m way off base here, but you’re not the kind of woman to have her head completely turned by a guy just because he’s attractive. You’ve always struck me as someone who operates on logic.”

  Then, when Mia didn’t answer, “Okay. We don’t have to talk about it. But you might want to spend some time thinking about it.”

  “I will.”

  She had better think about it, figure it out. Because spending time with Jagger was taking a foolish risk with her career. And if she was going to take a risk, she had damn well better know what she was taking that risk for. A sexy smile just wasn’t good enough.

  But she knew there was more to him than that. So much more after spending time with him last night.

  Dangerous.

  Oh yes. He was dangerous. But just as it was for Karalee, the danger was part of the attraction.

  “I don’t think I’ll see him again, Karalee. Other than in class.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.”

  Mia nodded to herself.

  No, she wouldn’t see him again. Even though this sort of thing really did happen all the time, professors sleeping with their students. Even though the mere idea of it made her shiver, lust surging through her system.

  She would not risk her career over this good-looking boy. But she knew that was a lie she was using to placate her sense of guilt. Because Jagger was no boy. He was all man. He made every girlish part of her go soft and hot. Something she hadn’t felt for far too long. And she had to admit, it felt good. Maybe too good to fight.

  Mia could barely concentrate. Jagger sat in the front row, watching her. Thank God she planned to show a film.

  She cleared her throat. “Today we’re going to see a documentary piece about the primitive culturallpractices which a number of fetishes are based on.

  I’m sure many of you have heard the term ‘body manipulations.’ For those of you who haven’t, this term refers to piercing, implanting metallobjects beneath the skin, stretching or binding certain body parts, any way in which the body is manipulated to appear different from its naturallform. Today you’llsee where these practices originate and also some of the people who practice these rituals, including Fakir Musafar, who is known as the master of body manipulations. We’re going to see some extreme material: branding, skewering, the use of flesh hooks. Please try to keep an open mind, to let go of any preconceived notions. And when comparing the primitive practices to the modern, remember some of the things you read in this week’s chapters about trance states, because that state of mind applies to both the modern and ancient practices.”

  She let her gaze range over the classroom, carefullnot to catch Jagger’s eye. But he was there at the edge of her sight. She could feel him.

  “I don’t happen to have any footage of it, but studies have been done in which the brain waves of meditating Buddhist monks were measured and compared against people practicing these sorts of body manipulations. The results were shockingly similar. The brain responds in the same way, whether that state of nirvana is produced through hours of meditation or by being pierced and hung from hooks embedded in the skin. As I’ve mentioned before, and will reiterate over and over during the semester, it’s all about what goes on in people’s heads, how our minds work.”

  “So, you’re saying that sexuality is a mentallprocess?” Jagger asked. “What about chemistry, Professor?”

  She willed the heat from her skin, willed herself not to be shaken by his words, by the sound of his voice.

  “Of course chemistry plays an enormous role in sexuallattraction. But I’m talking about how people endure certain practices.”

  “If a person is turned on, then, they can do things they might not do otherwise?”

  God, yes.

  Her fingers gripped the edge of the wooden podium.

  “Yes, I would have to agree with that. Though most people have enough good judgment not to simply follow their urges without any thought for the consequences.”

  What the hell was she talking about?

  Get back on track.

  “Why don’t we start the film? We can discuss this more later. Alex, will you please turn off the lights?”

  The room went dark and she moved her chair to one side of the room. Not nearly far enough away from him. As the narrator’s voice began to drone, she lost all focus on what was happening on-screen. All she could think about was him sitting a few feet away in the dark, his silhouette in the flickering half-light.

  Hyperaware of his presence, there was too much time to let her mind drift into dangerous territory. To imagine his hands on her, his mouth. To imagine him cooking for her, feeding her as he had at the café…

  Her body began to heat. Even worse when she looked up to see him glancing over at her. When he smiled, her thighs grew damp, her breasts aching.

  She looked away, shifted in her chair, desperately thirsty suddenly.

  Keeping her eyes on the film, she watched as hundreds of people in Malaysia marched toward the temple caves of Kuala Lumpur during the annuallfestivallof Thaipusam, a sinuous, surging traillof humanity. Many of their bodies and faces were pierced by long skewers called vels, decorated with peacock feathers, beads, colorfullbits of cloth, an act of sacrifice to the gods. She’d seen this film dozens of times bef
ore, but now the writhing mass of bodies seemed utterly sensuallto her.

  Suddenly she was feeling things she hadn’t felt in years. Oh, she’d thought about it all, spent years studying alternative sexuality, but she realized she hadn’t really felt anything for a very long time. She hadn’t allowed herself to.

  But it was too much to grasp, sitting there in the darkened classroom, surrounded by her students.

  No, she had to pull herself together; the film was nearly over. She would deallwith it later.

  She’d been telling herself the same thing for longer than she cared to remember. But she meant it this time.

  A few more excruciating minutes and the film ended, the lights came back on. Mia went back to the podium.

  “Okay,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear, shuffling her notes. “Read pages one twenty through one forty-two, and we’ll discuss the materiallon Friday. And don’t forget to start thinking about your midterm papers. Anyone who’s having a difficult time with a topic or has other questions can see me during office hours on Tuesdays. Have a good night.”

  Everyone stood up and moved out the door as she went behind her desk and began to gather a few scattered papers together. Everyone but Jagger.

  Damn it.

  She picked up her water bottle and took a sip. He was making this too hard.

  She could smell him when he was still severallfeet away, that sex-scent of patchouli and him.

  God.

  “Hi, Mia Rose.”

  “Hi. What can I do for you?” She kept both hands wrapped around the water bottle.

  “Look, I’m sorry I overstepped the boundaries the other night. I didn’t mean to run you off like that.”

  “It’s okay.” She shrugged, but there were tremors of heat running over her skin.

  “Let me make it up to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He moved in closer, untillhe was right up against the desk. She swore she could almost feellthe pressure of his body against the wood. But that was ridiculous.

  “You did say you love good food, Mia Rose?”

  She nodded warily.

  “I’d like to cook for you.”

  She started to shake her head but he interrupted her, holding a hand up in front of him. “Before you say no, just hear me out. I told you I gave up cooking professionally because I was burned out. And I was. I still am, on that level. But cooking for someone, well, that’s different for me. That’s when I love it again.