Saffron by Taige Crenshaw and Aliyah Burke Page A

have got it made. Then he continued with his lecture. In spite of everything, his love of teaching and his love of the very subject, Damian Memphis Keith still felt that unknown presence.
    As the students were filing out of the lecture hall, Damian began to tuck his own papers in his satchel. A warm breeze blew over him, causing him to look up in suspicion. On the air, the faint scent of lotus blossom lingered, tantalising his nose like no smell ever had, at least not while he was awake. The hair on his body seemed to stand on end as if filled with an electrical current.
    What the hell? Damian shook his head and tried to focus on what he was doing. Instead his gaze was drawn to the far corner of the room. He could barely make out the image of a woman bathed in the sunlight from the large windows. At her side were two lionesses, at least he thought they were, for they were also hard to discern.
    Dropping his papers, Damian rubbed his eyes because he knew there was no way what he was seeing was real. For one, he didn’t know anyone who carried themselves with such presence. And two, he positively didn’t know anyone who had big cats as pets.
    “Professor?” A voice shattered through his haze.
    Inhaling deeply, Damian opened his eyes to see Kathryn Harrison standing before him. She was one of his best students. The only downfall…she wanted much more than a professor-student relationship.
    “Yes, Ms. Harrison? Something I can do for you?” Damian shoved the rest of his papers away.
    “I was just checking to make sure you were okay,” she admitted. “You looked a bit dizzy earlier and just now you were staring off into the corner at something only you could see.”
    Risking another glance to the corner, all he saw was the sunlight filtering in the window. No woman, no cats, nothing. He frowned briefly before he turned his attention back to the woman before him. “I’m okay. Thanks for the concern. I guess I am coming down with something.”
    Damian picked up his briefcase and tossed his leather jacket over his arm. “I will see you tomorrow, Ms. Harrison. Again, thanks for the concern.” Long strides took him up the steps in the lecture hall and through the door.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Touch me,” she commanded. The voice was sultry and hypnotic. “Touch me, Damian.”
    If he had half a mind to think of refusing that would have fled under the compulsion he heard in her tone. “Yes,” he murmured and reached through the dark.
    Skin softer than velvet lay beneath his hand. He groaned in pleasure. Sliding across the silk sheets, Damian pressed the length of his body against the one beside him as his fingers sank into the wet folds at the juncture of her thighs. His other hand delved into the thick hair that fell about her head.
    The scent of her sweat and arousal filled his nose and the room. Combined with the smell of his sweat, it added to his increasing pleasure. “Why can’t I ever see you?” he asked as his grip on her body turned possessive in the lightless room.
    A smooth hand reached around his head, teased the hair at the base of his neck, her touch driving him crazy. She tugged his lips to her full ones, her tongue slipping into his mouth to mingle with his. “Why do you want to see me?” Her other hand ran over the expanse of his muscled back.
    “Why wouldn’t I? You are beautiful.” He nuzzled her neck and traced his tongue along the beating pulse of her throat. The woman beside him remained mute and he felt her supple form shift, her strong thigh pressing against him as her other leg moved up across his hip, an act that brought his throbbing dick closer to her heated core.
    Damian couldn’t wait another second and climbed on top of her, groaning as her fingers closed around his rampant cock and guided it into her wet heat. Immediately her muscles closed about him, cradling him, loving him, embracing him as a lover would. Biting back his groan, Damian allowed his eyes to close as he began to move