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  It didn’t take long before the volume in the room rose to a new level. Sabrina lifted onto her tiptoes to see what all the hoopla was about.

  And then she swayed forward, almost falling on her face before she could stop herself.

  Emily grabbed her arm to steady her. “Careful.”

  Sabrina swallowed over her shock, not wanting these two women to find out she actually knew this “Gladiator,” as they called him. Her face heated. Stunned, she took a few steps forward, as though drawn to Dr. Bascott by a magnetic pull.

  Holy mother of God, he was gorgeous. He’d made her panties damp and her voice squeak so many times over the last nine months, she couldn’t count them. But this was an entirely different level of hot.

  Sabrina’s mouth was dry. She couldn’t even lick her lips. They were parted. Hell, she was panting. Her nipples pressed into the lace of her bra, making them feel suddenly too large. And there was no describing the knot of lust in the pit of her stomach that made her pussy pulse.

  Dr. Bascott. My, oh my, are you a pile of surprises. First BDSM. Now MMA.

  The man was ripped. Huge. Even bigger than she’d thought. Or perhaps that was just the impression she had with his shirt off, wearing nothing but thin shorts. His chest was scattered with a dusting of hair that made her want to plant her hands on his pecs and squeeze.

  And then there was his tattoo. She couldn’t swallow. She understood why they called him “The Gladiator.” His right shoulder and pec were covered with the intricate design of some sort of leather armor. Absolutely stunning and gorgeous. Making the superhuman man more out of this world.

  She swallowed. Get a grip on yourself.

  “…And in the blue corner, we have, Conner ‘The Gladiator’ Bascott…”

  She thought she might faint. He had that much of a pull on her.

  “You okay?” Emily asked.

  She nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to tear her gaze off Dr. Bascott, her professor slash Dom slash fighter slash one-time lover. He’d never taken his shirt off that day at King Pizza. If he had, she might have collapsed into a pile of goo on the bathroom floor.

  “I know he’s hot. Warned you.” Kayla giggled.

  “You did.” Sabrina licked her lips again. She still didn’t glance in the direction of Kayla and Emily.

  Before the fight began, the two men took the center of the cage and bounced on their feet. By some strange aligning of the planets, Conner’s gaze landed on Sabrina. The shock on his face was palpable. His eyes widened, and he hesitated long enough to make both Emily and Kayla turn in her direction.

  Sabrina could feel their gazes. The heat in her face increased. She knew she was beet red. Just as quickly, Conner jerked his gaze back to his opponent as the bell sounded.

  “Do you know him?” Emily asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Kayla asked.

  “I didn’t know he was a fighter. I had no idea he was ‘The Gladiator’ you spoke of.”

  “Really? It’s a coincidence?” Emily’s voice rose over the crowd.

  Sabrina didn’t take her gaze off Conner. “Sort of.” No way was she going to tell these two she’d followed him here.

  The shorter man swung at Conner, landing a punch to Conner’s cheek.

  Sabrina winced.

  “Shit. You have him flustered.” Kayla stepped closer, aligning herself with Sabrina. “I’ve never once seen him off his game like this.”

  Sabrina cringed. If she thought the man was an ass in class and at the club, she couldn’t imagine how much his asshole-ishness would increase if her presence broke his concentration.

  Although a part of her secretly felt a surge of pleasure she had such an effect on him. Served him right.

  After several tense moments, Conner found his groove. He straightened his spine and took control of the match. The crowd roared. His opponent backed up several paces until he hit the fence.

  Conner spun around and kicked the guy high on his bicep. The man stumbled but didn’t go down.

  Sabrina held her breath. Her heart pounded in her chest. She’d never been so invigorated by anything in her life. Her best submissive scenes did not compare to this. Conner Bascott screamed virility. And she had never wanted him more than she did right then.

  When the bell sounded, ending the first round, Conner headed for the corner farthest from Sabrina. Just as well. She felt a twinge of guilt for her presence. Like the girls had said, the minute was far too short. It didn’t seem that Conner had caught his breath when the bell sounded to begin the second round. His heaving chest was nothing compared to the other guy’s, however.

  The man had a fierce look on his face, but it didn’t match his ability to deflect Conner’s advances. Suddenly, Conner circled behind his opponent and grabbed him in a chokehold.

  Sabrina gasped.

  “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt him,” Emily said. “Not permanently, anyway.”

  The man’s knees buckled when Conner swept out a foot. They both went to the ground, Conner on top, straddling the man’s chest and holding him down by the neck with his forearm. The referee circled the action, taking in every angle.

  Sabrina hoped his main goal was to ensure no one got killed. That seemed imminently possible.

  “Conner is well known for his ability to pin a man to the ground,” Kayla said.

  Suddenly, the man tapped the floor, Conner leaped to his feet, and the crowd went wild.

  Emily and Kayla jumped up and down, screaming along with the rest of the spectators.

  Sabrina stood rooted to her spot, staring at Conner’s fucking hot body and wondering how in the hell she was going to explain herself.

  She flinched when Conner turned toward her and made eye contact. His face was hard. He gave no indication of his mood, but he did glance to the side at Emily and Kayla and furrow his brow. And then he was gone, his back to her as he left the cage.

  “Come on.” Emily grabbed Sabrina’s arm and tugged her through the crowd.

  “Where’re we going?”

  “To wait for the guys to come out of the locker room.”

  Sabrina gasped for a breath of air to no avail. It seemed the room was suddenly devoid of oxygen.

  When they stepped into the lobby, the two women regaled Sabrina with ten thousand questions about how she knew Conner. Where did she meet him? How long had she known him? Was she attracted to him? Wasn’t he the sexiest man ever?

  Sabrina dodged most of their questions easily since they piled them on so fast neither Kayla nor Emily paused long enough for Sabrina to answer.

  She did manage to piece together more details about Conner. For one thing, he seemed to be a member of some sort of fight club. Kayla’s and Emily’s men were also members. There were six in all, and if she wasn’t mistaken, Sabrina was pretty sure, from reading between the lines, all six men were also Doms. Interesting.

  •●•

  Conner couldn’t believe his eyes. What the hell was Sabrina doing at the arena? Not just at the arena, but front and center, and seemingly chatting it up with Kayla and Emily.

  He lost his concentration for several moments, his mind racing to the woman standing next to the cage. He could feel her gaze boring into him. He’d never once in all the years he’d been fighting, found himself distracted by a woman, or anyone for that matter.

  This wasn’t good.

  She was under his skin. Had been for a week. Or perhaps months, but definitely worse in the last week.

  Luckily, he pulled himself together and managed to put an end to his fight by the second round. Now what? Would she be waiting outside the locker room with the other women?

  He didn’t say a word to Gage or Rider while they showered and dressed for the evening. The plan had been to head to Extreme next.

  Conner took a deep breath and followed his friends out of the locker room.

  And there she stood, for once looking timid and chagrined.

  Conner glanced a
t the four other people staring at him and made a quick decision to drag Sabrina out of the arena before saying a word. He wasn’t about to confront her in front of everyone. Hell, he didn’t have the first notion what to say. He narrowed his gaze on her and wrapped his hand around her bicep to lead her away from the crowd.

  Sabrina had the good sense to keep her mouth shut too. Neither of them spoke a word as Conner marched her out the front door and straight to his car. He didn’t release her arm until he leaned her against the passenger side with a hard stare, hoping to convey that he intended for her to remain where he left her.

  He rounded to pop the trunk and dropped his bag in, slamming it shut harder than necessary. With his fob, he unlocked the car, and without making eye contact with Sabrina, yanked the passenger door open. He nodded for her to get inside and waited until she was seated before shutting the door and rounding the hood.

  As soon as they were closed off from the world, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He wasn’t sure it was wise to look at her. The woman could be hell on wheels most of the time, but he didn’t know how to interpret this new facet of her personality.

  Her scent filled his car, which infuriated him. He had no idea why he was so pissed, but he needed to get a grip before he said something he couldn’t take back. He closed his eyes and breathed in her floral shampoo and the faint scent of her perfume. From the thorough look he’d had before the fight started, he knew she wore a tight, pink tank top that revealed enough to entice any man. Her jeans fit her ass to perfection.

  He knew from staring at the ground as they’d walked to the car she had on pink flip-flops that matched her shirt, and her dainty toes were also painted the same shade.

  His cock was rock hard. He held himself in check to keep from spinning toward her and yanking her mouth to his. He needed to rein in his aggravation, realizing he was mad at himself for allowing any woman to get the best of him. And she most certainly had gotten the best of him, considering she’d hunted him down while he’d had no clue how to find her.

  “I followed you,” she blurted.

  “What?” He turned to face her, confused.

  “From the university. I followed you here.” She held her head up and kept her face devoid of anything discernable, but her hands were fisted in her lap.

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “I was pissed. I wanted to confront you, but not on school property.”

  “I appreciate that.” He frowned at her.

  “You ruined a perfectly good relationship with the Dom I was with.”

  “That Doug guy? He wasn’t right for you.” Inside he was secretly happy to hear this news.

  “Really? How the hell would you know? You got one glimpse of our scene, and suddenly you’re an expert on everything?”

  “Yep.” He knew he was being an ass, but he couldn’t stop himself. For his own personal sanity, he needed to put an end to this thing between them. She was twelve years younger than him. And even if he could overlook that small detail, he hated the way she made him lose all brain cells in her presence. Nope. The idea of seeing her ever again was a bad one.

  Even if that did make him an asshole for also ruining the relationship she was in.

  Sabrina lifted her arms and crossed them under her breasts.

  His gaze roamed from her face to her nipples, which were beaded beneath her shirt and bra. He licked his lips, fighting the urge to rip her shirt off and see them again. The edge of her dark pink lace bra stuck out the top of her tank top, making him nearly groan.

  She was small. Tiny. And her breasts were also small. He was a boob man, but not in the same sense of most men. He loved the female chest, no matter the size. And frankly, dainty women with small breasts made him harder than huge boobs any day.

  He remembered the pink tips, small but hard. The image was burned into his brain forever.

  When she spoke again, he jerked his gaze up to her face. “Doug is a perfect gentleman, both inside and outside the club. I liked him. Who do you think you are waltzing into my life and threatening my date for no reason at all?”

  He focused on the word liked and its past tense, fighting a grin. Apparently even without her phone number and address, Conner would win the prize. Hell, she’d come to him. He hadn’t had to hunt her down through less than reputable means. The only personal information he had on her was an e-mail address. He’d made no decision to hunt her down her yet. Even though the woman had his cock in her grip, he had spent the week trying to talk himself out of contacting her.

  Sure, twenty-six was far better than eighteen. But still, that made him twelve years older than her. What sort of life experiences had she had? Questions had kept him up at night, tossing and turning as he pictured her submitting to Doug. How long had she been a submissive? If she could so readily bend over for a public spanking, she had to have some experience. She wasn’t a newbie.

  In seven days, he hadn’t shaken her from his system. He wanted her more now than he had last weekend. He decided to push. “Yeah. I’m sure you did like him. But he didn’t make your panties wet and your nipples bead like they are now, did he?” It was a bold move on his part, and he turned to face her more fully, leaning his left forearm on the steering wheel.

  Sabrina blinked. Her mouth fell open, and she tightened her arms around her middle, which only made her breasts stand out more, her sexy nipples more prominent. “Are you always this cocky?”

  “Yep.” Conner leaned closer. “He’s too old for you.”

  Sabrina’s eyes widened. If actual flames could have come from her ears, they would have. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Nope.” He had to fight to keep from grinning. “And don’t cuss. Like I said the other night, I don’t like to hear those words coming out of your mouth.” He wanted to bring this woman to her knees and teach her a lesson about disobeying him. His hands twitched at the desire.

  “And like I said last time, fuck you. I’ll bet Doug is fucking younger than you. Who the hell do you fucking think you are?”

  Conner laughed. “You aren’t a very good submissive, are you?” Her feistiness only made him harder. He wanted to drag her across his lap for her blatant defiance, yank her sexy jeans over her sexier ass, and spank her foul language out of her until she begged him to fuck her in the sweetest words he’d ever heard.

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Doug? He seemed to find me perfectly demure. You, on the other hand, bring out the worst in me.”

  “Are you still seeing him?”

  “None of your fucking business, asshole.” Now she was goading him. He seriously doubted she talked like that normally.

  Conner lurched forward and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I do not let my submissives cuss, Sabrina. I don’t like it. Save that foul mouth of yours for someone else. You’re far too pretty to have that shit spewing out of your lips.”

  “Good thing it doesn’t fucking matter what the fuck you think, since I’m not one of your submissives.” She yanked her chin free and leaned against the door. Two seconds later, she surprised him again by jerking the door open and climbing out of his Mustang. Before he could comment, she leaned in to meet his gaze. “Nice knowing you.” She slammed the passenger door shut and walked away.

  Conner watched her through the rearview mirror as she waltzed across the parking lot to a car nearby and climbed inside. She held her head high the entire time, never once glancing back. He smiled as she started the engine of her cute little red Honda and drove away. Oh yeah. She was totally his. There was no denying that anymore. Whatever notion he’d had of shaking her vanished under her sharp tongue. He was going to love training her to obey him.

  And she was going to love submitting to him even more.

  She was his.

  He chuckled when it occurred to him he was right back where he started, however. No address. No phone number.

  But he knew she was into him. Nobody gave a man that level of shit without wanti
ng him to fuck her hard. In addition, she’d followed him to the arena. She could just as easily have smoothed things over with Doug and been out at another club with him. Instead, she’d spent her Friday night stalking Conner and getting in his face.

  Sexy as hell.

  He moaned, wondering how long it would be before he would see her again. Without waiting for him in the parking lot of the university again or hanging around Extreme, she didn’t have any more information about him than he had about her.

  He wasn’t concerned. She’d come around. Or he’d find her.

  There was always that e-mail address…

  Chapter Four

  The beginning of Conner’s second workweek since Sabrina came back into his world was busy. Besides the usual classes he taught, midterms to grade, and office hours to hold, he got called into the dean’s office on Monday afternoon.

  After his second class, he trudged to the building two doors down from him, wondering what the hell this meeting was all about. He’d never once been called to meet with the dean in all his years teaching.

  The receptionist smiled and nodded at the closed door. “Go on in. They’re waiting for you.”

  They? Conner adjusted his tie and entered Dean Sheffield’s office.

  Dr. Sheffield stood from the mahogany table next to the window as Conner stepped inside. “Dr. Bascott. Please, have a seat.” The woman didn’t smile as she lifted her gaze. Two men sat around the table. They both glanced up uncomfortably. Conner knew them in passing.

  Shit. This couldn’t be good. What sort of “fuck me” sign had he been wearing attached to his back lately?

  Conner took a deep breath and made his way to the empty chair.

  Dr. Sheffield held a stack of papers in her hand and tapped them on the table as if they needed to be straightened as Conner took his seat.

  “Is something wrong?” Conner glanced at the two men flanking Dr. Sheffield before aiming his gaze straight at the dean.

  “I sincerely hope not, Dr. Bascott. But we do have reason to be concerned.”

  Conner furrowed his brow. “Go on…”