Teacher's Pet

Ana's new teacher grabs her wrist on day one

Ana Burns arrives at Spokehaven University carrying two burdens: her father's cancer and a secret her ex-boyfriend Cole holds over her—a hit-and-run that killed a boy.

Ana's new teacher grabs her wrist on day one

Ana Burns arrives at Spokehaven University carrying two burdens: her father's cancer and a secret her ex-boyfriend Cole holds over her—a hit-and-run that killed a boy. She finds refuge in two friends, her roommate Megan and the irrepressible Elijah, but her first day in Classic Literature delivers a shock. The elderly Mr. Matthews has been replaced by Noah Ackerman—thirty years old, six-foot-four, and radiating authority that makes her blood heat. When she mouths off about his qualifications, he seizes her wrist and warns her to check her tone. She fires back with a remark about headboards. He assigns her the front-row seat—the only one with a seating chart. The semester's war has begun.

Cole chokes Ana against a wall; her new professor intervenes

Between classes, Cole corners Ana behind the cafeteria pillars and wraps his hand around her throat, hissing warnings about a police investigation closing in on the hit-and-run. He squeezes until her vision swims, then forces a kiss onto her mouth. Noah arrives mid-assault. Cole plays it off as an ex saying goodbye. Once Cole leaves, Noah demands to see Ana's neck. When she refuses, he grabs her face, tilts her head back, and traces his fingers down the reddening bruises. Her pulse hammers under his touch—fear and arousal tangling into something she can't name. He tells her that next time he gives her an instruction, she should listen. She walks away shaken, unable to separate terror from desire.

Banter turns physical when Ana straddles her professor in the library

Ana retreats to the library's top floor to read Orwell in peace. Noah appears, collecting the same books. What starts as an attempted truce dissolves into charged proximity on the window seat. He asks her to look him in the eye and say she wouldn't kneel for him. Instead of retreating, she leans over him, hands braced on the glass. He yanks her down by her shirt. She lands in his lap, straddling him, feeling him hard beneath her. They grind against each other, trading whispered provocations about what they both want. A thud from the bookshelves jolts them apart. Ana calls it a one-time slip and bolts, damp with evidence that contradicts every word of her exit.

After Walker's assault, drunk Ana finds Noah's classroom unlocked Walker, Ana's scene partner, tries to pleasure her—but she closes her eyes and moans Noah's name. Humiliated, Walker demands she make it up to him. What starts…