Concealed Desire Read online

  CONCEALED

  DESIRE

  By

  Eliza Quinn

  Copyright © 2020 Eliza Quinn All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.

  All characters are 18+ years of age and all sexual acts are consensual.

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  My Free Gift To You!

  Rule #1: Never get involved with a student.

  Professor Patel Park knows better than to risk his career on a student. It was right there in the rules; rule number one, to be exact. So what if it was his own personal rule? But when Tatiana Edwards enters his classroom, he knows things are about to heat up. Because she’s attractive as can be and there’s a look in her eyes begging him to dominate her.

  Tatiana wants to seduce her anatomy professor.

  Tatiana isn’t happy about her unexpected move, but when she meets her new anatomy professor, she can’t stop thinking about him. She can’t stop imagining him taking control and taking her. Is he the kind of guy that’s into all the dark things she wants? Or is he as vanilla and boring as most of the guys that try to come on to her?

  There’s only one way to find out!

  Get your free copy of “A Strict Lesson” today!

  I hope you enjoy the story!

  Stay Sexy and Sassy,

  Eliza

  Table of Contents

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  My Free Gift To You!

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  My Free Gift To You!

  About the Author

  Other Books by Eliza

  Review the Book

  Chapter One

  If there was anything Nora Alcott knew, it was that there was no place on earth like the Van Der Meer library. She’d been going non-stop for the last few months and it was one of the few places where she felt completely normal. It was like a dream come true when Leslie asked her to cater for an event for the library. Nora was ecstatic. A book reading with Duncan Jones, a horror fiction writer who hit the New York Times best seller list with his debut novel A Grave for Lily, would be an amazing job to add to her resume. She’d devoured the book because she had a morbid fascination for horror and true crime, one that was puzzling given her history. Nora suspected that she’d gotten the offer to cater for the book reading because the girls at the library were obsessed with the pastries and coffee she made. It wasn’t bribery that she was currently taking cupcakes and lattes to the meeting; at least that was what she tried to convince herself of as she walked into the library, smiling a greeting to Celine who was standing by the desk that dominated the front room. Celine’s eyes lit up at the coffee.

  “I’m going to get fat and I’m not even mad about it,” Celine said, chuckling. “C’mon. We’re upstairs at Asher’s office to straighten out the details of the reading.” Celine nodded up at the stairs as she walked toward Nora to help with the paper bags of cupcakes. Nora carefully laid the coffee tray in Celine’s hands and trailed behind her as she made her way up the stairs.

  “Are the girls upstairs already?” Nora asked. She hadn’t seen Kay, Charlie or Leslie around.

  “Yeah. We had an early morning meeting. The library is thinking of expanding into weekly events, themed type dinners or lunches and stuff. And with Duncan’s reading, Asher is thinking of including the library as one of those locations for book tours. Since there’s a café practically next door, it might be easy to cater to casual events. Plus, we need a few new hands for the merchandising aspect of things. We don’t really sell books as of now, but Asher thinks we should. He’s got publishers vying for it and the library is to die for in terms of looks and location. We’ve been at it for a couple of hours but it’s exciting,” Celine whispered conspiratorially.

  “Woah. It would be nice to get some bookings. I love working at the café, but to be honest, the library feels like my soulmate. I’m glad that other people will get to experience it,” Nora agreed as they walked into the room.

  “Nora! Coffee!” Kay squealed as they walked in. Nora chuckled.

  “Welcome. We’re just about to start your portion of the meeting shortly. We’re waiting on one last member before we begin,” Asher said.

  “We are?” Leslie asked with a frown. She was Asher’s secretary—she should have known about this.

  “Yeah. Duncan has grown quite famous and fancies himself in need of better security than we’re providing so he’s brought in an outside security consultant. He’ll be here shortly.” Asher shrugged.

  Nora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What writer needed a bodyguard? She had barely finished the thought when a man strolled into the room, exuding all the confidence of someone who was used to commanding and keeping the attention of those around him. Celine strolled in with him and Nora wondered how she hadn’t even seen the woman leave. The thought faded as soon as she looked at the man properly. He was tall and built. She could get why the writer had picked him because if he had to throw his body in front of Duncan, that was a lot of body. Muscled arms tapered off into elegant fingers, and a chiseled face with sharp planes where his cheeks were smoothed out into a short beard. Green eyes were framed with expressive eyebrows, the left one scarred. The scar was a thin line that ran from his left eyebrow all the way to the corner of his full, luscious lips. With jet black hair going slightly grey at the tips, she wondered just how old he was. Definitely older than her twenty-eight. He oozed such sophistication, in a way that told her he would be just as comfortable in a formal event as he would be in a back alleyway. This was a man who knew how to handle himself and next to him she felt small and sheltered. His green eyes clashed with her baby blues and he smirked for a second before he rearranged his features into the placid mask of indifference, which Nora figured was his default expression. He barely glanced her way again as he strode into the room and sat next to Asher.

  “Now that everyone is here, we may begin. This is Dax Quentin. He’ll be in charge of security for the event,” Asher introduced.

  Nora gulped and moved next to the girls, trying to make herself smaller. Her reaction to Dax had been instantaneous. She’d promised herself she would stay away from males in general, and powerful mean-looking males specifically. Dax was just overpowering enough to make her worry, yet she could not seem to look away from him as the meeting progressed. She darted glances at the other women, trying to see if anyone was having as much trouble as she was concentrating. She hoped as she avoided staring yet again that her nervousness was not so palpable that everyone in the room could pick up on it.

  Dax finished the briefing and felt his gaze stray yet again to the beautiful woman in the corner. He didn’t know what he’d expected from a bunch of librarians—old, maybe? She’d shocked him. The rest of them had too, but meeting those cerulean eyes had been a sucker punch to the
gut. The way her wheat-colored hair caught the light, the way she pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling…he had to draw upon all his willpower to keep himself from staring. She kept shooting him furtive glances that were both horny and fearful. Horny he could understand. The moment they met their attraction had been instant. But fear? It pissed him off. The idea that she could be scared of him pissed him off and the idea that something else could have scared her made him want to smash something. He never had such a protective instinct for a stranger before. He was determined to get to the bottom of it because even though he knew his job was to keep some hotshot writer safe, he really wanted to make sure she was safe. Burying his cock in her pussy like he craved would just be a bonus.

  Chapter Two

  Nora managed to get through the meeting without blurting out something embarrassing. She made her way out of the room to the kitchen downstairs. It wasn’t really a room that guests of the library used, but she’d become close enough to the girls that they considered her part of the library. She walked in with the others trailing behind her, chattering amongst themselves. It had been a while since they had actually begun their friendship but she still felt like the odd one out. They didn’t really know her because she’d barely spoken about herself other than generic facts. It was safer that way.

  “Holy hell. Asher was going to bring in a hot security guy and he saw it fit not to share that information with me?” Leslie gasped in faux outrage.

  “What do you need a hot security guy for? You’ve got Damien,” Kay teased.

  “A little heads up would still have been nice,” Leslie insisted.

  “Plus I saw the way Nora was staring at him.” Charlie wriggled her eyebrows.

  Nora sighed inwardly. She hadn’t been as subtle as she’d thought. If they had noticed, he’d definitely seen it too.

  “Guys there’s nothing there. I was just attracted by his good looks, that’s all. Let’s not get crazy. I’ve seen lots of other good-looking guys at the library too and I haven’t been interested before.” Nora rolled her eyes, lying through her teeth.

  “Why is that anyway? I mean, you seem to like our company just fine but you never really hang out with us outside the library. We don’t even know whether or not you have a boyfriend, yet you know all about our crazy love lives. You even watched Damien and I make up in this kitchen. So what gives? You’re not the kind that trusts easily?” Leslie nudged Nora softly while the other girls nodded in thought.

  “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to seem like I was always the pushy one. You should come hang out with us. We have the best ice cream and vodka in the tri-state area and we give great advice.” Kay smiled.

  “Sometimes if the other person needs a shoulder to cry on or whatever, we deliver it no questions asked, no judgments passed. If that’s all you want, we still wanna hang out with you. Especially with the new blood coming in. We have to present a united front,” Celine added, smiling encouragingly.

  Nora frowned. She really hadn’t been paying attention at that meeting.

  “What new blood? You guys make it seem like I work here. Maybe I should just quit my job and come work here.” Nora laughed.

  “We’re hiring. Did you not get that part of the meeting? I’ve been doing interviews all week. We’ve got about five new hires. Delia will help Kay with maintaining the library, since Kay has to leave soon because of the book tour with Asher. You remember right?” Celine prompted.

  “Yeah. Congratulations on that by the way. I read the early reviews—some of them are speculating the New York Times best seller’s in a couple of months. To think you were nervous about it,” Nora said, smiling at Kay.

  “Call me pessimistic but I’m willing to settle for people not laughing at the book. A horror thriller with elements of sci-fi and romance? Not to mention the erotica bits. One of you should have talked to me to talk Asher out of publishing but that ship has sailed, so I’ll just settle for not dying slowly of embarrassment.” Kay sighed.

  “She’s just being melodramatic. So there’s Delia. Hope, to manage the sales desk, Levi will help, and then there’s a guy called Mark who’s taking over from Charlie because Charlie is taking over from me, so I can have time to deal with Asher’s duties while he’s away. There’s going to be a lot of new faces in a few months. Fair warning.” Celine sat on one of the chairs and the others followed suit.

  “Don’t think you got away with some of that massive deflection you just pulled off. If you don’t want to talk about yourself or your love life just say so and we’ll leave it alone. It’s cool. We’ve all been through stuff.” Leslie pinned her with a stare.

  Nora knew she was busted. How could she explain to them? What had happened to her, and how she’d gotten out of it was so far beyond the realm of normal, and she didn’t want her new friends to look at her with pity. Besides, she didn’t know what to say about Dax. Sure, he was the most attractive man she’d ever seen and they had shared a moment, but it didn’t mean much. She wasn’t ready for a new relationship; she didn’t feel ready for a new relationship.

  “I know it seems like I have been holding back so much from you guys and that’s true, but I still have a long way to go before I can explain. I don’t want any one of you to be hurt or in danger because of me. So for now, can I not talk about it until I’m sure? I promise you I have a reason,” Nora said softly.

  The girls shared a look.

  “If you’re in danger…” Celine started.

  “I’m not. Not as long as I keep my head down. Don’t worry,” Nora tried to assure them. It didn’t look like they bought it but before they could argue Dax strolled into the kitchen, staring straight at her. Nora swallowed as butterflies took flight in her stomach and something far naughtier heated her body temperature.

  “Nora, I need to talk to you,” Dax declared as soon as he stepped into the room.

  “What…” Nora was confused. What did he want?

  “Now Nora. Let’s take a walk. It’s important.” Dax softened his tone and held out his hands.

  His tone, gentle but firm, left her defenseless. How could she refuse?

  Chapter Three

  Nora stared up at Dax as they made their way out of the library and onto the sidewalk. It was a cool New York morning, slightly before midday. Time had passed but not so much that she would dread having to do nothing all day. Dax seemed unperturbed by the time. She didn’t think he was worried about the amount of spare time he had. He seemed content to walk in silence while Nora’s mind spiraled in different directions, trying to figure out what he wanted. He was only going to secure the event, she was only supposed to provide food—they didn’t need to be having conversations and taking walks but her feet tried to follow and match his footsteps nonetheless. He slowed down for her, and watched as she rubbed her arms that had picked with goosebumps from the cold.

  “Cold?” he asked, even though he knew she was.

  “I’m okay.” Nora clenched her teeth. It had seemed like a good idea to wear the dressy chiffon blouse for her meeting earlier. Now she couldn’t remember why. Dax sighed, shrugged out of his soft leather jacket and draped it over her small shoulders. His hands lingered on the soft skin of her arm. The pads of his fingers brushed against her skin and she shivered for a different reason. Before she lost her mind and began begging him to touch her, preferably naked, she took a deep calming breath, inhaled the spicy scent of his aftershave and tried to clear her thoughts.

  “You said you wanted to talk to me,” Nora reminded him, hoping she wasn’t as flushed as she felt. Dax let out a breath and took her hands in his. Tiny jolts of electricity burst from his fingertips to her skin. She shivered again and leaned into his touch. He let out a slow breath, trying to convince himself that kissing her on the sidewalk was a bad idea. Her lips looked so damned kissable, full and bubblegum pink, shiny with gloss. The more she leaned into him, her large eyes on fire for him, the more he wanted to stoke those flames until they burned
them alive. He knew he had a job to do but he couldn’t push Nora out of his mind. Something about her sent his sixth senses ablaze, and it wasn’t just the fact that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  “I was doing a run of the library and I heard you tell your friends you don’t want to put them in danger. Is there…are you in some kind of trouble? It’s my job to make sure the library is safe,” Dax said softly.

  Nora paused on the sidewalk and frowned. She took her hands out of his—she couldn’t think when he touched her and she needed to think.

  “It’s not your place,” Nora stated emphatically.

  “To eavesdrop or to ask?” Dax asked sardonically.

  “Both. Your job, Mr. Big Shot Security Guy, is to make sure Duncan isn’t killed. Which shouldn’t be hard seeing as to how he’s attending a book reading in a library, not getting into fights with Vin Diesel in plummeting elevators or dodging bullets Dan Brown style on the streets of Paris. Your job, does not in any way involve listening to private conversations or prying into my life. I can keep myself safe; I have and I will continue to do so. Stay out of my life and my business. I don’t care how hot you are, you do not get an all access pass into my life just because you demanded it. Understood?” Nora shot back hotly. Dax merely lifted a brow and folded his arms. Nora noted how his biceps bulged in the black t-shirt he’d worn.