by Shayla Black
Hazel nodded. “We had a mid-semester meeting and she talked about how grueling it is to be an actress and how much easier it is to be behind the scenes…”
I growled. I didn’t mean to growl like some sort of feral animal. It just slipped out.
Hazel’s eyes snapped to mine even though she didn’t move her head. “What?”
“You are a spectacular performer. You belong on a stage. A real stage. Not just in front of boozed-up patrons. And anyone who says differently is jealous of you.”
She cleared her throat. “Look, I know burlesque seems sleazy, but it’s not. Most of our patrons recognize the art form for what it is. Yes, there are some bachelor parties who come in just for the tits, but honestly, people who want that? They just go to a real strip club. People come to us for ambiance. For a mood. For skill.”
I nodded, understanding what she was saying. “Even still. You had the most skill of anyone on that stage. You have the most talent of anyone in your class. Your star shines brighter than any of theirs.”
She tugged at her cotton sleeves until they were nearly covering her hand entirely. “Yeah, right. I can’t get more than a glorified ensemble role when I audition.”
“And that’s why you decided to switch into stage management and assistant directing? Because your professor told you this and you believed her?” My question hung between us like a pendulum swinging dangerously, edging closer and closer to striking either one of us.
“I have no reason not to believe her.” Her brows knitted, pulling in the center of her forehead. “For years, I tried to make a living as an actress in this city. Auditioning, barely even getting callbacks before I finally got accepted into this program. After two years of auditioning and getting nowhere, I hit a point where I just needed to pay rent. I needed money and I needed it consistently.” She looked down at her fingers, stroking the stem of the wineglass between her thumb and forefinger. She shifted in her seat, her knee bumping against mine, drawing out those strange, tingly sparks that I’d felt with her before at the club. She wore denim cutoff shorts, revealing her muscled thighs that begged to be spread wide for my mouth to rest between.
Fuck, what was I doing? I had to stop thinking about her like that. She was my student for the foreseeable future. Not an available woman I desired.
But, fuck, did I desire her...
She drained the last sip of her wine, then reached for the bottle, shaking it, checking that it was, in fact, empty.
I drank the last of mine as well and pushed the glass toward the edge of the bar, pulling out my wallet. I dropped some cash on the bar for my original whiskey and stood, holding out a hand for her to take. “Come on,” I said. “I’ll walk you home.”
She lifted a brow at me. “You sure that’s a wise idea?”
“I didn’t say I was coming inside. I just want to make sure you get home okay.”
She rolled her eyes before taking my hand and standing, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “I’m not drunk. I swear.”
I believed her…mostly. She didn’t seem drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, but not sloppy drunk. “My late mother would kill me if I didn’t make sure you got home safely. Don’t make me disappoint my mom.”
“Jeez,” she muttered, leading the way out of the bar, “I can’t now that you played the dead mother card.” She held the door open for me and jerked her head to the right. “I’m this way. Down in Alphabet City.”
I felt my expression shift, surprised she lived in such an expensive area. I half expected to have to take her home to Queens or Brooklyn. “Fancy,” I said.
“Not really. It was my aunt’s place and it’s rent controlled. She moved to Florida a few years ago and I sort of illegally took over the lease.”
“It’s still fancy…even if you’re not paying top dollar for it.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes, every so often our knuckles brushing each other’s. A cool October breeze blew by us and took with it her scent, blowing right across my nose. A light lavender floral with just the lightest touch of something sweet—vanilla maybe.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I sighed, the vibration so loud that it could be heard over the quiet hum of the city around us. It was the eighth time it’d rung since I sat down next to Hazel and I swallowed my groan, refusing to look at the call. I already knew after stupidly glancing at my inbox that a few were from students about the casting and I had no doubt that was what these calls were also related to. My friends were right. I needed to turn off my phone and not look at it again until morning.
Hazel lifted a dark brow in my direction as we crossed over onto Avenue B. “You going to answer that?”
“No,” I answered, my voice grimmer than I intended.
“Ex-girlfriend?”
I glanced over at her as she blinked innocently, peering at me from behind those impossibly long eyelashes. The warm light of the streetlamps made her skin glow in the twilight. Did she have any idea what she did to me? That those gorgeously deep blue eyes and pouty scarlet lips made my pulse speed up in a way that if a doctor had me hooked up to a blood pressure machine, they would surely think I was on the verge of a heart attack?
“Worse,” I said. “A student.” Her gaze darkened, her mouth hardening. “One of your classmates, actually,” I added, clarifying. “Probably pissed about the cast list.” My mouth went dry when I brought it up. I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up. I wanted her to mention it to me. But she hadn’t. Surely she had seen the cast list by now, right?
“The cast list?” she repeated. “It’s up?”
Or maybe not. “You didn’t see it yet?” I asked on a sharp inhale. Maybe my wish would come true. Maybe I’d get to see her reaction after all.
She shook her head. “Not yet, no…” she answered carefully. “I was…I thought it wouldn’t be up until tomorrow.”
I shrugged, shoving my hands deep into my pockets to stop myself from doing something stupid like linking my fingers with hers. “I figured Clay and I kept you all waiting long enough. I posted it to the chat board a couple hours ago.”
I watched as she looked up at the moon, glowing bright against the navy sky. Her fingers clutched her phone tighter and she turned it over, looking at its dark screen before dropping her hand at her side once more, without opening the browser.
“This is me,” she said, stopping in front of a red door and pointing at it.
I stopped as well, leaning against the wrought iron fence. “So,” I said. “You going to check the list?” I asked, tilting my chin toward the phone in her hand.
There was a tic in her jaw as she stared at the blank screen in her hand, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth before glancing up at me. “Is it weird that I’m looking at the cast list with you right here in front of me?”
I chuckled and pulled my hands free from my pockets. “It’s… untraditional. Then again, nothing about our relationship is traditional.”
She swallowed and I followed the line of her throat as the muscles there tightened. Her neck was long and delicate and I licked my lips, wishing I could nibble my way down that damn neck. “Relationship?” she repeated on a whisper.
My gaze jerked from her neck to her eyes. “For lack of a better word.”
She inhaled a deep breath through her nose. “I’m scared to look at the casting,” she admitted.
I slid my hand to hers, threading her fingers into mine. Her skin was soft and warm and did things to my insides I didn’t want to admit. “Don’t be.”
She inhaled another sharp breath and I resisted the urge to look at her breasts as they hitched. “But I am.”
“Hazel,” I said pointedly and dipped down to catch her gaze, which was very intentionally not set on me. “As the director…and the person who helped cast this in tandem with the writer, I’m telling you…don’t be scared.” I lifted my brows, my smile growing, as I tried to convey to her that she had nothing to be nervous about without flat out telling her she got the lead role.<
br />
Her brows dipped as she continued chewing that lip. I lifted my free hand to her mouth and tugged her lip free from her teeth, relishing the tiny gasp that escaped, the hot air brushing over my thumb. Then, realization lit up her face and her brows lifted, disappearing behind the dark fringe of her bangs. “No,” she whispered.
I wiggled my brows. “No what? You have to check the cast list.”
Her smile lit up her face and she brought her phone under her nose, punching in the website. The screen illuminated her face and she grinned wildly, clutching the phone to her chest with a squeal. “I got the lead?” she whispered, this time biting that lip through her grin.
My thumb circled over her knuckles, squeezing her hand tighter. “You did. You earned it.”
Her hand clasped mine, squeezing tightly. “Thank you.” Tears filled her eyes and she leaned forward, arms outstretched, yanking me into a tight hug.
I groaned. Fucking groaned out loud when she pressed her soft breasts clad in a jersey long-sleeved T-shirt against my body. Despite the fact that she’d had her bare breasts in my face two weeks ago while I was knuckle deep inside of her…this felt more intimate than that.
I slipped my hands around her narrow waist, squeezing her tighter into my body and burying my nose into her hair. The light scent of lavender and vanilla was like a balm to my jittery nerves and any anxiety I had about us being seen together in public melted away.
Her breath deepened against me, shifting from erratic and excited to deep and heavy. She slid her hands to my shoulders and pushed herself off of me, pausing inches from my face. Her gaze latched onto mine, lips wet and parted as we stood there in each other’s arms in the cool autumn evening.
She brushed her thumb across my bottom lip, the edge of her long nail scraping my tender flesh. “I want to kiss you,” she whispered, her eyes dropping to my mouth as she spoke.
My cock was hard and pressing viciously against the metal teeth of my zipper. It was already a bad idea for us to kiss as student-teacher. But now? Now that I had cast her in the lead role, it was even worse of an idea. Not only was she my lead actress, but if this worked out how I hoped, we would move into production with some of the team we formed here, like with most workshops. And my gut told me Hazel would be on our team. That she would be our star, or rather, we were going to make her a star.
It was so fucking complicated, but if there was ever something I refused to do again? It was date one of my actresses. I’d seen how that story ended and it wasn’t good.
I opened my mouth to say no, but before I could, Hazel leaned forward, taking my lips in a heavenly kiss. I didn’t even see it coming as she pulled me tightly against her, her tongue running slick along the seam of my mouth. I groaned, opening for her, and our tongues met in a tangle of silk. I lost all sense of where we were and sank into that kiss.
Before I could slide my hand down the side of her tight ass, she pulled away, still grinning from ear to ear, and took a casual step back. As if she hadn’t just kissed the fuck out of me and left me hard and panting on this damn sidewalk.
Fuck me.
I raked my hands through my hair and let my hands fall listlessly to my sides. My breath was heavy. Embarrassingly heavy, if I was the sort of man to get embarrassed. My cock was now fully hard. Maybe the hardest I’d ever been in my life. This made twice that Hazel was getting me worked up, only to leave me unsatiated, with a raging case of blue balls.
“Hazel,” I said, my voice deep and graveled. “I can’t. If I do this, I’m no better than Professor Lewis. I can’t be that guy. I couldn’t live with myself—”
She cut me off mid-sentence, taking one step closer. I countered her, backing against the wrought iron fence. “You are nothing like him,” she said, her voice sounding as needy as I felt. It gave me comfort…the fact that I wasn’t alone in these feelings. “To start with, we met before you were my teacher. We had an established attraction and chemistry before there was this power dynamic.” She shivered as she said power dynamic and I could see the goose bumps race down her legs. “Secondly,” she whispered, looking up at me with big, bright eyes. The streetlamp caught a gleam of blue and they nearly flashed at me. “This is consensual. I’m a consenting adult and I want you.” She slid her knee up my thigh. “I’ve been thinking about you nonstop ever since that night we met. And now? All I wish is that I would have gone home with you that night. Because back then we didn’t know any better. And I’m afraid that was my only chance to be with you.”
I scrubbed my palm over my stubble. I felt the same fucking way. That night was our one shot to be together without consequence. We could have truly said we didn’t know any better and been safe from the powers that be at the school. Now? We knew the consequences. We knew the sort of trouble we could get into. And fuck me, I didn’t care. It was worth it for one night with her.
“How drunk are you?” I asked.
“I’m tipsy,” she admitted. “Not drunk.” She licked her lips again and I made a mental note to buy the girl some damn Chapstick, because if I had to keep seeing her lick and nibble her bottom lip? I might explode.
Did she know how intoxicating she was? How utterly magnetic she was? And not simply because she was beautiful. There was more to her. She was charming. And witty. She made me laugh—which, since Faith left me, only a handful of people had truly made me laugh or smile.
And that was precisely why she was so dangerous. Why I needed to step away. And yet my feet…my damn feet…they weren’t moving. I cleared my throat. “I would rather you were sober. Completely.” If I was being honest, I would rather I was completely sober too. My head was spinning, and even though I also wasn’t drunk, I’d had one more glass of wine than I had planned tonight.
She closed the distance between us, her breasts once again brushing my chest, and fuck me, I could feel her pebbled nibbles against me through my polo shirt. “Then let’s go make a pot of coffee,” she whispered, pushing onto her toes and devouring my mouth once more.
I let her take that kiss. I wanted it too. It was stupid to deny it. I scooped my hands into her hair, cupping her jaw and drawing her deeper against me. Lust clawed up my spine, tearing through me as my dick throbbed against her hip bone she purposefully thrust against me.
Her lips moved from mine, kissing across my jaw until she nipped my ear. She leaned beyond me, inserting her key into the door and opening it. After stepping through, she paused inside, jerking her head. An invitation to follow her. No, not an invitation. A demand. If there was one thing I could say for Hazel Stone, she knew what she wanted and she took it.
I hissed a curse, looking over my shoulder before following her into the building to her first-floor apartment. It was a pretty large apartment for the village. A small kitchen and living room were right when you walked in. And three doors flanked the main area. One, I could tell, was a bathroom. Another, I assumed, was a bedroom. I pointed to the third door. “Roommate?”
She shook her head, nipping at my ear. “Not since Rosa moved out. I couldn’t stand living with someone other than her.”
She didn’t give me much time to look around before she grabbed my hand, dragging me into one of the bedrooms. She scooped under my shirt, tugging it off and tossing it to the floor, kissing her way frantically up my neck.
“Hey,” I said, breathing deep and tracing my thumb up her jaw from her lips. “Slow down. What’s the rush?”
She inhaled a sharp breath and I saw a moment of panic in her eyes that caused my whole body to tense.
“I’m—I’m afraid you’re going to change your mind.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat, but it did nothing to relieve it. “You know how much trouble we—you—could get into for this, right?” I said. She needed to know…to understand…what we were doing here. I needed confirmation from her that she understood.
She nodded. “Yes. But I can’t get you out of my head. I’ve tried. No amount of time with my vibrator has worked.”
I growle
d, closing my eyes against the image of her pumping a vibrator in and out of her pussy while she gently circled her clit with her other hand…all the while thinking of me. Fuck, I wanted to see that. “Okay,” I said. “As long as we both know the consequences and still want to do this. Because fuck me, do I want to do this.”
“Just for tonight,” she clarified and a twinge of sadness spiked through my gut at her admission. Why? Why the hell did that strike me like a blow to the chest? I didn’t want a relationship. I had all but sworn them off since Faith. But I nodded all the same.
“Just for tonight,” I repeated. “Then we’ve got to make it good.” I took a slow step, walking her backwards until the backs of her knees hit the bed.
I reached for the button of her denim shorts, tugging at them and pausing as I slowly dragged the zipper down, kissing her once more. She tasted like the wine from earlier with hints of cherry.
I nibbled down the line of her jaw until I reached her neck, slowly dragging my tongue down her shoulder and tugging her shirt over her head. I’d been dreaming about what her nipples looked like beneath those pasties. With a flick of my fingers, I had her bra undone, and as the strap skimmed down her arms, goose bumps rose in a trail behind the fabric. The black lace cups fell from her breasts, perky, firm…exposed. And her nipples. God, they were more glorious in person than I had even imagined. Dark pink. Hardened into two tight nubs and calling for my mouth. I bent, rolling my tongue around one and basking in her moan as I palmed the other one, kneading it carefully in my hand. Not too gently. Not too rough. Then I switched, giving her other breast my mouth.
“Lie back on the bed,” I said, my voice a lower baritone than it was minutes ago. She did as she was told without any objections, her mouth forming a gorgeous O as she slid back on the bed. I crawled on top of her, and with a quick tug, I pulled the denim fabric down from around her waist, tossing it aside. A small scrap of black lace panties was all that separated my mouth from her pussy. I needed to taste her. I’d had one small sample that first night at the club when I licked my fingers and I couldn’t get her out of my head since then.