15. King

FIFTEEN

king

THE FIRST FACE I saw when I walked into Astor on Monday had me wishing I could turn on my heel and walk right back out.

"Professor Kingston, good, you're here." There were still breakfast pastry crumbs at the corner of Professor Rathborne's mouth and dusting the front of his khaki members-only jacket, and I had to force my eyes up to his as he blocked my path.

I plastered on a smile. "Dennis. What can I do for you?"

"I thought you should know I have some intel." He looked over his shoulder and then lowered his voice. "The kids, you know. They tell me things."

Here we go. "Do they now?"

"I guess they feel they can confide in me, since I'm one of the favorites here."

"Sure, sure." I shifted my briefcase to my other hand and brushed by him, leaving him to trail after me.

"There's rumors of a senior prank happening soon."

"I imagine so. It's the end of the year."

"They said it was those prince troublemakers cooking something up."

James Easton's face flashed through my mind then, but it was an entirely inappropriate visual for where I was currently standing. As his former professor, I shouldn't be thinking about him bent over naked while Zac plowed into him from behind?—

"Did you hear what I said?" Rathborne rudely interrupted.

"I did."

"So what should we do about it?"

"About a harmless senior prank?" I said as we rounded the corner toward my office. "Nothing."

"Nothing? Don't you remember what those troublemakers did to the dean's room? Or tying up those poor boys?—"

I whirled around and held my hand up. "Pure speculation on that last charge. Although from what I've witnessed, those ‘poor boys' were entirely deserving of what they got."

"But—"

"I'm not here to discuss any more hearsay with you, Dennis, so unless you have something specific and more troubling than a senior prank, I suggest we both get on with our day."

Rathborne's cheeks flushed as he opened and shut his mouth like a fish, and when he couldn't seem to form a response, I turned and made my way to my office.

The staff here gossiped more than the students, and it was East's name, as well as those of his fellow princes, that came up the most often. Whoever would they talk about once they all graduated?

Again, East laid out beneath another naked, hard body assaulted my brain, and my hand hesitated on the door handle as the other man in the memory came into focus. The one who was probably already in my office.

Zac Fletcher.

The last thing I'd expected had been for Zac and East to confess their fantasy for me.

Strike that. The last thing I'd expected had been to give in to them in any way. It was a reckless action in the heat of a moment that never should've happened.

A moment that made me hard just thinking about it.

But that was then. It wasn't anything that would bleed over into what happened between these walls. My life was full of carefully compartmentalized boxes, and I was a master of keeping them right where I wanted them.

I opened the door, and just like I'd expected, Zac was already inside, standing at the printer and pulling sheets off as they came through. He looked up as I shut the door behind me and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Morning, professor."

"Good morning, Zac."

He turned back to what he was doing like nothing had changed between Friday and now.

Very good.

"Is that this week's schedule you're getting together?" It was, I already knew that, but the last thing either of us needed this morning was an awkward silence.

"Yes." Zac glanced at me as I made my way to my desk. "There was a last-minute change needed, but it's all in there now."

"Thank you," I said as he handed over the papers. "I'll go over it in a second."

"Sounds like a plan."

The words coming out of Zac's mouth were nothing but professional. But there was an underlying clip to them, a tense undertone that he was doing his best to hide in the face of this new situation we found ourselves in.

I settled in at my desk and opened my laptop, and as it powered up I ran through the detailed schedule in my hand. It was perfect, of course—Zac rarely turned in anything that was less than, which was why he made such a terrific TA. He was conscientious, studious, smart as a whip, and I wouldn't let him spend the last couple of months feeling uncomfortable around me.

"This all looks great," I told him, holding the papers up. When all I got was a cursory glance in my direction, I decided on a different approach. "Did you do anything fun this weekend?"

Zac's shoulders stiffened slightly as he brought his head up."No. I had pretty big night out Friday, so I decided to stay home and recoup."

"I see." And I did, in vivid images flashing through my mind. I'd never thought of Zac as anything other than another one of my students—a highly capable and intelligent young man who would go far in whatever he chose to do.

But when he'd confessed to wanting me, when East had spilled Zac's deepest, darkest fantasy out for me to see, it'd been like the filter I'd been looking at him through was removed. It was as though I was seeing him for the first time.

Or another side of him.

"What about you?" Zac shifted in his seat. "Did you do anything exciting?"

The move was slight but the undercurrent pulsing between us told me his mind was on the same thing as mine.

"No. Like you, I had a big night Friday and took the weekend to grade some papers."

"Oh?" A frown pulled between Zac's brows. "I could've helped you with that."

"At my house?"

"I… No, of course not, sir. I just meant I could have collected them and taken them to my house to work on."

Zac being anywhere near my house after I'd come all over him and East was a monumentally bad idea. But try telling that to the dick now throbbing between my legs.

"You could have," I said, and thanked God for the desk shielding me from his direct stare. "But I managed on my own. I can do a lot of things on my own."

Twin spots of color hit Zac's cheeks as my double meaning hit, and when a knock sounded on the door, both of us startled.

"Come in," I called.

A freshman from my upcoming lecture this morning—Holly—stuck her head inside the office, looking back and forth between Zac and myself.

"Oh I'm sorry. I can, um, come back."

"No, it's fine. Come in, Holly." I gestured her inside and watched the nervous way she fidgeted with her hands as she looked anywhere but at me, and I already knew where this was going. "What did you need?"

"I… Well, the assignment for class this morning?"

"Yes?"

"I didn't get to it and I was wondering if I could maybe get an extension?"

"Is there a reason why?"

When her eyes dropped to the floor and she gnawed on her lower lip, I had my answer—no. Clearly we weren't the only two who'd had a busy weekend. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't known for my leniency. But that was only because I wanted the best for my students. I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to get the most out of their education here at Astor. They were paying enough for it.

"Without a reason, there's no extension. You know the rules, Holly."

"But—"

"Yes?"

Her chin started to quiver, and I sent up a quick prayer that tears wouldn't follow.

"If I fail this paper I won't get to go to Venice for spring break."

Zac's cough in the corner was barely muffled by his hand as she stood there, waiting for me to feel some sort of sympathy for her situation.

I didn't.

"That's unfortunate. I hear it's nice this time of year." I pulled up my email and began to respond to the most pressing ones, giving her a clear signal that this discussion was over.

She hesitated like she wanted to say something else, but then nodded and left the room.

Zac wasn't looking my way, but I could still see his lips pressed together out of the corner of my eye as he tried not to chuckle.

"Something you'd like to add?" I asked. "You think I was too harsh?"

"Actually, I think you did her a favor, sir. Venice in late March is a little chilly."

A grin threatened to crack through my controlled exterior, but unlike Zac, I'd had many more years of schooling my expressions.

I did appreciate a smartass, though.

"Speaking from experience?" I asked.

"My parents dragged me to every restaurant in Italy when I was growing up, so yes. What about you? Ever been?"

"No. I'm not really a European vacation kind of guy. Give me the Caribbean, a private beach I can lie out on in the sun with a cocktail in hand, and I'm in heaven."

Zac's eyes ran down over me as if he were imagining that exact scenario. "Sounds nice."

I knew I shouldn't continue with this conversation, but the dark flash of arousal that flickered in his eyes was very similar to the one I'd seen when he looked at me the first time he slid inside of East.

"The private beach? Or my lying on it?"

Zac sucked in a quick breath, but before he could answer, I gestured to his laptop.

"Better get to work on today's first lecture, yes? You don't want to end up like poor Holly and get in trouble."

Zac swallowed and returned his attention to his laptop. But it wasn't lost on me the way he reached down to readjust himself beneath the table.

Had I crossed the line I'd promised myself I wouldn't this morning? Yes. But then again, I'd already crossed every line on Friday, so what was one more?

As Zac worked away quietly, I allowed myself a moment to appreciate the fact that I was right—he'd turned out to be exactly as expected, yet completely unexpected at the same time. He knew how to keep himself together even after learning information that must've shocked him, and he had a hidden fire in him that, once unleashed, was very appealing.

Something I was glad to have learned with only months left in his scholastic career as opposed to years. I wasn't sure I could've resisted temptation otherwise.

But for the time being, I had to. Here, I was his professor, and though he must've been brimming with a multitude of questions, he continued to keep his mouth shut, typing away like any other day.

It was exactly what I would expect from my diligent TA. James Easton, on the other hand? That remained to be seen.