Words of Lust (25 page)

“All I do is think about all the ways I want you. All those raunchy things—I’d never have guessed that you have such a streak of it in you but how to choose? I’d like to bend you over the sofa and take you hard. I’d love to watch you fuck yourself with a toy. Of course, I really loved having you on your knees with my cock down your throat.”

“I’m thinking there’s something else you’ve given a lot of thought to.” She wiggled again and he nudged himself deeper between the cheeks of her ass. Her blood pounded a little harder.

“You have no idea how hot that makes me.”

“I think I’d like it.”

“Have you ever let anyone fuck your ass?” He ground the length of himself against her.

“No.” She should have been embarrassed having the conversation in the bright light of the loft, fully clothed, while they waited for a policeman to show, but the intensity of the moment overcame her trepidation. She could not control how ravenous she was for this man. There was nothing they couldn’t say to each other, nothing they couldn’t explore together. She recalled the thrilling pleasure of his fingers thrusting into her ass.

“I think it would feel very, very good.” She leaned down and kissed him, reveling in their provocative wordplay. Thinking about something so taboo excited her to the point where she could almost forget everything else. The image was sharp and clear in her mind and she could almost feel him inside her.

“It would be amazing. I guarantee it.” His kiss was rougher now. His tongue swept across hers and he was gripping her ass with possessive hands. Letting her imagine how he’d take her. She sucked on his tongue and he responded and soon they were getting urgent in their sounds, their touches. Naturally that was when the buzzer rang.

“Fuck. Why does this keep happening to us?”

“The perfect Anglo-Saxon response to this situation.” She smiled, feeling sexy and so wanted. He now sported a hard-on, but her own body throbbed with frustration, so she decided to let him know he wasn’t suffering alone. “I’m very excited right about now.”

He smiled down at her and she wished the entire Boxer thing would just go away, wished they could just love each other without the world trying to thwart them. Maybe they could escape to his cabin in the woods and make love for an entire weekend. She’d have to suggest it.

“Calm down, Professor. We have company.”

“Yes, I know.” She patted his erection and smiled as he went past her to take the elevator down and let Mac into the apartment.

She took a few deep breaths, straightened her clothes and was waiting at the entrance when he returned with the man he introduced as William MacGregor.

“I’m so glad you came. I’m sorry we’re dragging you around like this.”

“No worries. Besides, if this guy’s escalating his stalking behavior, it’s definitely something to be concerned about. Let me see this picture he sent.”

She pulled out the envelope she’d put into a plastic bag so that she wouldn’t have to touch it, and handed it over. Mac pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket and slid them on. He opened the package and she watched Nick’s furious expression. Mac’s was a more clinical look of disgust.

“I’m pretty sure that he, you know, ejaculated on the picture.”

“Looks like it.”

“Could you get DNA from that?”

“Probably. I’ll get it to my techs and see what they can come up with. The problem is, we’ve got to catch the guy doing something. This is dicey, what with him sending it through the US mail, but I’m not thinking that would be enough.” He turned to Nick. “Have you been checking the video surveillance to see if he’s shown up again or made any attempts to get into the building?”

“Berto’s got one of his guys on it. So far, nothing.”

“Too bad. Okay, I’ll take this with me. I can also run some searches through our databases and see if we’ve got anything else on this guy, or any similar cases recently. But beyond that, there’s not much to be done. For one thing, we’re assuming he’s the guy behind all of this, but so far, there’s no proof it’s him. I mean, neither one of you has actually seen him in any of these cases, correct?”

“Just my doormen and the witnesses from the accident.”

“Okay, now it’s obviously pretty unlikely you’ve pissed this guy off and, just coincidentally, managed to attract a stalker who’s after both of you at the same time. But until we can get this guy’s prints or DNA results or catch him in the act we’re still working on supposition. The only advice I can give you is stay on your toes. Alert the campus police at your college this is happening, and they should spread the word about this guy. He might be after you, Serafina, but he could also be a very dangerous guy in general to have wandering around, all angry and looking to take it out on somebody.”

At least the college security could be alerted. Why was this happening to her? He had tried to make her a victim that very first day, and was now succeeding in his attempt to victimize her again.

“Nothing else we can try, Mac?”

The detective looked at Nick and then glanced at her. “Man, I can’t tell you what I’d do if this sicko was after my lady. Just do your best to protect her.” He shrugged in apology.

She saw Nick’s face, dark and dangerous. He nodded to Mac and she understood the unspoken warning: be prepared to protect her against this guy, whatever it takes. She shivered at the threat of violence. She’d been afraid for herself and now she’d have to be more afraid, for him. Because while all she wanted to do was avoid trouble, she suspected he’d go out hunting for it.

Mac stayed only another minute, and then Nick thanked him and took him out. She watched from the window as Mac climbed into his car, then waited impatiently for Nick’s return. When he came back into the loft, he looked thoughtful. Their moment of foreplay was clearly over. She suddenly had no desire for hot sex with Nick. And how sad was that?

Chapter Eighteen

She spent the night tossing and turning, which he knew because he couldn’t sleep either. He hated knowing there was nothing, at least nothing legal, he could do. It made him feel totally helpless. He’d briefly toyed with the idea of getting his brothers and paying a call on Boxer, but the guy was seriously nuts, and that could set him off. He certainly didn’t want his family involved in the mess too. Mac had told him on the way to the car that statistics showed Boxer probably wouldn’t escalate to violence. He’d been skeptical and reminded Mac about the push and shove. Mac had obviously been reluctant to make that jump since they really didn’t know for sure Boxer had been the culprit.

“Look, you’re doing the whole bodyguard thing and I think since this guy’s been making moves, he’ll probably show up here sooner or later to fuck with you some more. Be careful, but don’t be stupid.”

He’d thanked Mac, but without a solid game plan they were in exactly the same place as before. One comfort was the fact his shift of supervision on the work site by her apartment would be over by the end of the following week. He had plenty of vacation time coming and he could put in for it so he’d be free to focus on guarding Serafina. She’d hate being babysat, but he’d keep her mind on something fun, like working their way through the
Kama Sutra
. She’d be on vacation after finals and they could really take their time. If Boxer hadn’t made any further moves, they could retreat to the cabin for a week and maybe throw the guy off the scent until he cooled down. Or got caught.

He was still pondering possibilities when the alarm went off the next morning, and he felt like crud as he crawled out of bed. She was quiet, and he was doubly pissed that Boxer had intruded on their love life too. Putting the moves on a woman being stalked had somehow lost its appeal for him the night before and they’d just held each other in the dark, listening to music. Another reason to get Boxer gone as soon as possible.

He made her coffee, adding lots of milk and sugar, and they were both quiet as he drove her to Wharton. They were almost there when she gave a little squeak.

“I almost forgot! The dean of the English department gives an end-of-semester cocktail party every spring, and it’s tomorrow night. I always hate to go because I never have a date, but now I have you.”

He liked the way she said that.

“So, will you be my date? You’ll have to get all dressed up in a suit and tie, which I know is probably annoying, and the food is pretty awful, but think of it as helping out a damsel in distress. We know that’s your forte. Pretty please?”

“Well, I don’t know.” He grinned and slid his hand up her thigh. “You’d have to make it worth my while.”

“Bedroom blackmail? My, my, I like the way you think. I’ll come up with a few ideas, but since I’ve already RSVP’d, you can’t say no. You’ve got fans too, and the ladies have a nickname for you, so you’re guaranteed to be a hit.”

“Nickname?”

“Lord Byron.”

“Huh?”

“Because you’re mad, bad and dangerous to know, Niccolo.”

Having the ominous mood lighten a bit made him feel better, and he liked her joking with him. He hated to have to bring her down again. He braked at the curb in front of the English department building.

“When do you have a lunch break? I’ll take mine then and we can come down and talk to campus security.”

“That’s going to be so embarrassing.”

“But it means there’ll be eyes watching out, and if we catch this guy roaming around campus, it would go a long way toward getting him locked up. Folks freak out about campus violence. They’d take extra precautions to make sure he won’t be able to cause trouble.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I have a break at one.”

“I’ll meet you then.”

“All right.” She sighed and it made him want to hurt Boxer again. He’d figure out a way to get the asshole out of her life and then they’d get on with their own. He put a hand around her neck and pulled her in for a kiss.

“I’ll watch from here until you get in the doorway.”

She slid from the truck and adjusted her bags and he scanned the area around the building until he assured himself that it was psycho-free. She stopped and waved from the door and then it closed behind her.

As he headed to the work site he got Berto on the phone and brought him up to speed. His brother said they’d go back and check the footage again, just to make sure. Beyond that, he tried to focus until it was time to meet Serafina. Once he got there, just before one, he parked and headed into the building because she’d texted him she’d be in her department’s offices and gave him her office number. When he got upstairs she was talking to a pretty young blonde who did a double take at the sight of him. He walked over to Serafina, put a possessive arm around her and then smiled down at the other woman.

“Nick Stellato, meet Alice Keyes.”

“The talk of the campus. Nice to meet you, Nick.”

“Would you be the source of my new nickname?”

“Nah. That was one of the poetry TAs. Fits, though.”

“I’m flattered.”

“Nick, we need to go.” Serafina tugged his arm.

“Nice to meet you, tall, dark and handsome.” Alice batted her eyes at him and gave a finger wave.

He rolled his eyes and let Serafina lead him away.

“Sorry about that.”

“I guess I should get a kick out of being ogled by the ladies, huh? Tells me I’ve still got it. Don’t worry about it, Professor.” He gave her a squeeze and a smile.

The humor of the moment evaporated when they introduced themselves to the head of security and laid out the situation for him. Fortunately, the guy took them seriously, and he was concerned that a potentially violent stalker might set foot on his campus.

“We’ve got a tough job here with the different areas scattered over several blocks, but I’ll brief all of the building teams. I don’t suppose you have a photo of him?”

“No. Wait, I might be able to get one from the union, if it’s not confidential or something asinine like that, but if we can’t, one of the witnesses from Serafina’s accident described him to a tee. He’s middle-aged, big, stocky guy, maybe forty or forty-five, two hundred eighty pounds, thick black hair and mean. Looks like Bluto, from Popeye, only without the beard.” He figured that was as good a description as any, but she added some details of her own.

“Ugly, no neck and bad breath.”

“He’ll certainly stand out here on campus, at least.”

They wrapped up and thanked the security supervisor. He could tell she was frustrated as well as frightened, though she was trying to put up a good front. He wrapped an arm around her.

“Just a couple more classes, and I’ll pick you up. You can help me pick out something to wear tomorrow night.”

“Can we stop at my apartment? I’d forgotten about the cocktail party and I don’t have anything I can wear.”

“Sure. Do you want to go out to dinner?”

“Would you mind if we just went back to the loft? I didn’t sleep very much last night.”

“Me neither. It’s a plan. We’ll go back, I’ll cook you something excellent and then we’ll see what we can do about wearing you out so you can get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

“That sounds terrific. I’m starved too, although my appetite just seems to disappear whenever I think of Boxer.”

“I’ll make sure to take your mind off him, then.” He kissed her goodbye before leaving her at her office and regretfully returned to his truck and headed back to the job site. It made him feel better to spread the word among the guys about what was going on, and he was rewarded when one of them turned out to have a picture on his cell that included Boxer. He emailed it to her, and she replied she’d forward it right away to the campus security guy. After a second, he sent it on to Mac and Berto too. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

He had trouble getting back into the swing of things, but wrapped up the day without stupid mistakes at least. Just another reason he needed to schedule some vacation time. It wasn’t just Boxer, it was Serafina and what was going on with them. He didn’t often sit around contemplating his feelings, but this time they were in his face and he couldn’t ignore how she made him feel. It wasn’t just that he loved her. It was the potential for a future together. What she made him want. Her anxiety over whether or not she could have kids made him sad, not because he was so desperate to have kids, but because she obviously was hurting. When things with Boxer were handled, he’d sit down with her and they could talk some more. Maybe she’d go to the doctor like his mom suggested and there’d be something they could do. If there was no help for her problem, they had each other and he would do everything in his power to make her world damned happy and beautiful, because she deserved it.

He mused as he walked back to his truck and when he climbed in and turned over the engine it struck him like lightning. He was walking around thinking about a life, possibly having children, with Serafina Luca. No hesitation, no vacillation. A family with The Professor. He wanted her for good. For better or for worse. Children, or not. She was the one he’d been waiting for and she’d appeared like a gift from the gods of love, a gift he had no intention of returning.

He was smiling when he got to the campus, and when he had her back in his truck, he pulled her across his lap and kissed her good and hard.

“I’ve been looking forward to that. You are one sexy lady, Luscious. Now let’s go home.”

* * *

“Oh, my God, this is incredible.” She was eating with gusto, which gave him a very satisfied feeling. They’d stopped at a greengrocer and picked up some fresh basil and tomatoes and he’d made a speedy pesto pasta with fresh diced sautéed tomatoes and shaved parmesan. They were drinking a great Chianti, and with a simple salad and some sorbet, they ate like kings.

She’d hung up a garment bag with her outfit for the next night, but he hadn’t gotten a glimpse of it before she packed it, and couldn’t wait to see her all dolled up. They’d pawed through his closet and ultimately decided on his sharpest suit. Black, with a plain white dress shirt and royal blue tie.

“This is lovely. As my students like to say, you’ll totally kill in this.”

“Maybe Professor Parker will fall in love with me.”

“I’d be careful with that one. She might have teeth in her you-know-what.”

That had started them laughing, the laughing led to tickling and then things got all hot and bothered for a while. He tried out a variety of mutually enjoyable ways of helping her relax and it turned out they all worked mighty fine.