Page 82 of Strictly Against Policy

“Does it?” I asked, glancing at the setup. “It doesn’t feel like it to me.”

Lina smiled widely and laughed. She selected a seat and sat down. I sat down next to her, feeling as nervous as this morning.

“It looks like it to me, and . . .” She glanced at my perfectly cooked food. No charred food in sight. “You didn’t burn my place down. At least.”

I laughed. “I told you I’m a good cook.”

She gave me a sideways glance as she ate her first bite of the medium-rare steak. She wore no expression on her face, and her slow, deliberate chewing alone made me question whether I’d cooked it right. Searing a steak wasn’t complicated, but fucking it up was easy. She could be chewing on leather for all I knew.

“This is delicious, Jonathan,” she finally said with a small smile. She moved onto each of the roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes, but her pace was deliberately slow. Her smile grew as she sipped her glass of wine. “I suppose you’re a decent cook after all.”

I raised a brow at her. “Decent, huh?” I asked. I brought up a slice of my medium-rare steak to my mouth and groaned triumphantly at how well I’d made it. The butter and rosemary infused well into the meat. It was perfect. “You know perfectly well I’m better than just decent.”

She laughed. “If this is dinner, what’s for dessert?”

A grin tipped my mouth into a lopsided smile. “What would you like for dessert, Lina?”

She sipped from her wine glass before answering me, letting her dark eyes dance over the edge of the glass, taunting me. “What options do you have for me?”

I glanced at her lips for a moment before I pulled my gaze down the column of her neck to the plush bathrobe adorning her. “You tell me.” I nodded at what she was wearing. “Do you have a dessert ready for me to unwrap?”

“Perhaps?” She gave nothing away as she continued to eat, but there was the tiniest tilt on the corner of her lips.

My grin tugged wide as she gave me another sidelong glance. “I look forward to it.”

Due to our nervousness, the both of us only finished half our plates. I cleared everything and decided to bring out the dessert now rather than later. Lina looked genuinely surprised when I set down plates of tiramisu in front of her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You don’t like tiramisu?”

“No, it’s not that.” She grabbed her fork and nodded at the dessert. “We’re well rested, well fed, and now we’ll also be slightly caffeinated.”

I hummed as she smiled softly at me. “Well, I believe we’re going to need that extra bit of energy.”

Lina dug into the tiramisu first, moaning as soon as a forkful of it entered her mouth. Her tongue darted out to lick the corner of her lips where there was a speck of cocoa powder and mascarpone cream. It was a planned and measured flick. I didn’t pick up my fork once as I watched her eat another bite of the dessert. This time, the mascarpone cream and cocoa powder smeared the other corner of her lips.

Before she could pull her tongue back in, I took hold of her chin with both my hands and tugged the corner of her mouth into mine. I lapped her clean until I could no longer taste the bitterness of the cocoa powder and the sweetness of the cream on my tongue, until all that was left was the flavor of Lina Lee. Our breaths shook as I pulled away from her.

“You can have your two slices of dessert,” I stated, getting out of my chair with a loud screech. I got to my knees in front of Lina and looked up at her. “And I’ll have mine. Two fresh servings of you in my mouth.”

She ate another bite of her tiramisu. As she swallowed the cake with a thick gulp, she leaned over and reached out to me. Her hand ran through my hair, down my face, and to the back of my neck. Her nails lightly scraped across my nape and down to my clavicles as her pretty lips curved into a sensuous smirk.

“Are you begging me, Professor Lo?” she asked, her hand reaching up to take hold of my chin. Desire burned behind the veil of her dark eyes, her smile growing wider. “Or has the student become the master this time?”

She tipped my chin up sharply to make me look up at her. We both blinked slowly. I tipped my head coyly to the side.

“My lady,” I crooned. “May I have the honor of having you as my dessert tonight?”

Her thumb drew over my lower lip as her mouth drew wider into a playful smile.

“You’re so polite, Mr. Lo. I never would’ve thought I’d live to witness how courteous you can be,” she said, laughing. “I like this.”

Her hold on my chin tightened; on my mouth was a mirror of her smile. “Well, my lady, may I have the honor of eating you to my heart’s content?”

The collar of my shirt was tugged so sharply toward Lina that I lost balance and fell into her lips. We sighed loudly into our kiss. She parted her legs for me, allowing me to slink my way between her warmth. A small whine fell from her when I grazed my teeth across the fullness of her cheek, ready to bite. Her fingers slipped into my hair, tugging too lightly. I wanted more from her as I placed my hand over hers, demanding her to grip tighter.

She did so beautifully, and the harsh tug from her elicited a sharp wince from me. I pulled away from her just enough to see her face. I wanted to see the way I made her feel with each excited heave of her chest. I wanted to see how much she wanted me. But, most of all, I wanted to see with my own eyes how much she wanted me to make another mess of her.

“Jona—” was all she managed to breathe out.