Page 58 of The KING Review

My skin crawls just thinking about it—until I remember the way she looked at me. She was watching me, but I was watching her watch me, and there was nothing in her eyes but pure, unadulterated hunger. She wanted me. She wants me.

It’s such a foreign feeling.

I hated admitting to her that nobody had ever called me beautiful before her. I didn’t even mean to say it at all; it just slipped out.

God, I felt pathetic. Until she said what she said—that I’m beautiful, that I haunt her waking hours, that she dreams of me—and I felt ten feet tall. She makes me feel ten feet tall.

It feels insane to the highest degree that I’m already developing real feelings for this impossible woman. This woman, who is far too young for me, who is a huge conflict of interest, who is my student, and the sister of a colleague. A colleague I lied to about whether there was anything going on between us when directly asked.

But it feels inevitable. I’m drawn to Neve Hart like gravity. Trying to resist would be futile.

The light in Lab C is always a little too bright, but today it’s a migraine. The overhead fluorescents strobe off the fake leather chairs and the gleaming, glass-topped side table. I thumb through the session notes, getting my script in order, but all I can think about is her.

Her hair is down today, even more vivid than usual, and she’s wearing a yellow top that matches her eyes and fits her curves so perfectly it’s like she went to a tailor and said, “Make me a weapon.” She crosses one leg over the other, chin up, totally undeterred.

She’s burning with it. Determination. I don’t know how anyone ever told her she could be too much, but if they did, I hope she told them to fuck off.

I try to keep my face neutral and professional, but I bet it doesn’t work. My skin’s tight, heart pounding. All I can think of is her voice in my ear.

Worse, I hear my own.

Is that it? You want to be Daddy’s baby girl?

I’ve never been into that before, but hell, if I didn’t almost come on the spot.

I glance up at her through my lashes. She’s pretending to take me seriously, but her lips are fighting a smirk. I want to drag the chair closer and see if she can keep a straight face when I have my hands on her. I want⁠—

I shift; she clocks it.

The smile that curls her mouth is all edges, like she’s already figured out the move I haven’t made yet. I watch her watching me, and if there’s a single cell in my body not strung up with want, I can’t find it.

Her knee bounces. “You ready to start, Doctor King?”

“Ready when you are,” I force out.

She snorts, and the sound cuts straight through me. “Patient’s presenting concern today,” she reads, “is difficulty in the sexual component of his relationship. Specifically, partner has stopped initiating intimacy and, quote, ‘never seems turned on by me anymore.’”

Her eyes flick up, challenge in the golden amber. She wants me to blush. She wants me off-balance, but I’m not letting her have it. I have to keep some of my control.

I lean back in the chair, stretch my legs out a little. She watches. “I guess I want to know if it’s me,” I say, doing my best to play the part. “Like, am I doing something wrong? Or is he just… not attracted to me anymore?”

She hums, making a note. I wish I could read what it says. “A lot of people think it’s a personal failing when their partner loses interest. But there can be a million reasons. Stress, communication breakdown, mismatched desire. It’s almost always just about being honest with what you want.”

Her voice is cool, measured, but her knuckles are white around the notebook. She wants me to push her.

I drag a hand through my hair, letting the silence stretch just a beat too long. “What if I think about it all the time?” I flick my gaze up to her, pinning her with it. “That I can’t stop wanting him, even when it’d be easier to just forget about it?”

Neve’s expression flashes.

“That’s… pretty normal,” she manages, voice warbling at the edge. “Wanting someone, even when you know you shouldn’t, or when it feels one-sided. It can actually make you obsess more. Like, the forbidden element makes it hotter.”

My mouth tastes like copper. “Have you ever wanted something you can’t have?”

Her eyes go bright and hungry. “Yes.”

God, I almost can’t bring myself to ask, but I have to. “Yeah? What?”

She shakes her head, huffing a breathless laugh, like all of this is hilarious, and I’m the oblivious one. “You really are completely blind to it, aren’t you?”