Her Dirty Professor Series (21+)

Vito

“FUCK.” I LOOK DOWN at my phone and see there still isn’t a message from Esme.

I told her to message me when she woke up, and it’s now almost 11 a. m. She could still be asleep, but I’m anxious as fuck that something could be wrong.

“What the fuck is your problem today?” Malcolm Fideri sounds more curious than irritated. He’s a work associate and my friend. He’ll be working with me more now that I’ve broken away from Salvatore, and today we had meetings with a few contractors about doing work on our new offices.

I want to lean toward looking, and being, more legit. Meeting Esme last night has only fueled my fire to live a life I can be proud of.

A life we can both be proud of.

Because that’s how I’m thinking now. I can’t help it-she’s in every thought I have. How what I do in every way could affect her and our life.

Our. Life.

“Nothing, I’ve just got things on my mind.”

“I’ve seen you with things on your mind before. You’re never like this.”

“New things. Personal things.”

He chuckles. “You have personal things? Since when do you have personal things?”

“Since last night,” I bark back.

He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Does this something have a name? Does this something have anything to do with you sending the workers to your house and all that other shit you’ve been doing all morning on the computer?”

“Maybe,” I answer, at the same time replying to a text message from the owner of the security company that services my home.

I have them doing a complete upgrade on my system to include more interior and exterior cameras, infrared sensors, anything and everything that I need to be sure she will be safe when she’s home. Things I should have done years ago but never got around to while it was just me.

“You got any pictures of this something?”

Before I can shut him down, Malcolm grabs the phone out of my hand, dodging my attempts to snatch it back long enough to bring up a photo I took last night of Esme while she slept. Luckily, all it shows is her face. I don’t know what I’d do if he got even a glimpse of what’s mine.

“Give the fucking phone back, Malcolm, or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

He laughs, but he hands it over. “Jesus, you’re serious?”

“Deadly.”

“And her name?”

“What are you? Like sixteen and female all of a sudden? What do you care?”

He shakes his head. “No, but I’m fascinated by this turn of events.”

Malcolm and I haven’t known each other all our lives the way that Salvatore and I have, but what our friendship lacks in history, it makes up for in trust. Malcolm has had my back on more than one occasion, and he’s never had much love for Sal.

“Fine,” I mutter. “Esme.”

“Esme have a last name?”

I cough, then mutter under my breath, “I don’t know. Yet.”

Malcolm laughs. “Wow, this just gets better and better.” I glare at him, and he takes the hint to veer in another direction. “So, where’re things with Salvatore? I get that you clearly had other things on your mind last night, but you cancel on him again, that might fuck things up.”

“We’ve come to a semi-agreement. I talked to him last night when I couldn’t make the meeting at his place, and we agreed to meet at Paesano’s tomorrow.” I shrug. “Not much more to do but argue about who has the biggest dick, find a compromise we can both live with and seal the deal. This shit he’s getting into pisses me off, but for now, I’m just trying to ignore it. We could both destroy each other; the trick is to be the first to launch the attack. I don’t think it’s going to come to that… at least I fucking hope not. I just want to move on.”

Malcolm nods. “We’ll get there. You still have people that are loyal to you.”

I think about that for a long moment before responding, “Yeah, but I’m trying to find my exit plan.” He stares at me, crossing his arms. “I need to go straight, man. I’ve thought about it a long time, but now it’s what I need.”

He shakes his head. “You know that’s going to make people nervous. Especially Sal.”

“Fuck everybody. Especially fuck Sal. It will be okay. If you need to keep your distance, I’ll understand.”

“I’m not keeping any fucking distance,” he barks. “Loyalty is exactly this. You want to clean up a bit, I’ll help you. Can’t say I’m looking to do the same, but I’ll try not to muddy your waters, and I’ll go in on deals as best I can to support you. But…” He sniffs and finishes. “What’s really going on? Yesterday you were talking about dropping by your old office, getting your books so you could set up a delivery of AK’s. Today you want to go white picket fence and a day job?”

He looks confused, and I don’t blame him. He’s right.

“Sometimes, something hits you, and you see things differently. Like someone turned the light on in a room you forgot you had and you realize that’s where you want to be. I guess my light got turned on.”

That’s not the only thing that got turned on.

Fuck, I’m losing my mind. Esme doesn’t even know me, and I’m planning our future together. I’m planning a fuck ton of other filthy things, as well, and I plan to get started on that later today.

But why the fuck hasn’t she texted me yet? Her friend Karen seems nice enough, but my guess is that she wouldn’t call me if something had happened. I throw my head back and growl, looking at the ceiling.

“You gonna make it?” Malcolm asks, stepping over to the console on the wall in my office and grabbing his leather jacket.

As he puts it on, I catch a glimpse of the special inside pocket he has in all his jackets, the one holding his nine-millimeter, and it reminds me of the dangerous life we still lead.

“Yeah.” I shove my desk chair back so hard it hits the wall, then stand, shoving my phone into my inside suit jacket pocket and locking my computer. “I gotta go.”

“Didn’t you say the Lucci brothers are coming in an hour to make a payment on the next shipment? You going to blow them off, too?”

“Fuck,” I grunt. “Just deal with them for me, will you? I need you on this, man. I’ll message them, tell them you’re taking point on this for now, I have an emergency or something.”

He shrugs but takes his jacket back off. “Okay. Like I said, I’m loyal.”

Before I can make it out of the office, there’s a quick knock at the door, then it opens.

“Hi there, boys.” Maria sashays in with a devious smile, wearing her scrubs from work and looking so much like my mom that a flash of melancholy tightens my chest.

But, as much as I love my sister, she can be a pain in my ass.

“I’m on my way out,” I grumble and hear Malcolm snort.

“You can’t spend a few minutes with your sister? Geez.” She shakes her head then shoots a smile at Malcolm and takes a seat in the chair next to him.

“You should call first if you want some time. You know I’m busy.”

“Yeah, yeah. You love to be busy. I was on my way home from my shift, wanted to see how the new digs were coming along.”

“Coming along fine,” I snap, then try to get a grip because she means well. “What do you think?”

Maria shrugs, looking around my sleek office. “Pretty good. Mom would like it,” she adds, and my heart twitches knowing mom would be proud of how I’m moving in my own direction.

I want to stay and chat, but my obsession with Esme is burning through me, and per usual, Maria narrows her eyes and reads me.

“What’s going on?” She studies me and looks at Malcolm, who raises his hands in a shrug of his own, then back to me. “Did you meet someone?”

“What the hell?” I shake my head as Malcolm chokes back a laugh.

She looks at Malcolm again. “He did, didn’t he?”

“I’m not saying anything.” Malcolm crosses his arms and gives me a sympathetic sneer.

“Who is she? When can I meet her-”

“I have to go,” I interrupt her rapid-fire line of questioning before she corners me for the next hour.

“Hey, I told you on the phone yesterday I’d bother you tomorrow, which is today, so you should have been expecting-”

I stomp out of the office listening to her voice fading into the background.

Avoiding her questions is one thing, but also missing a meeting is no small deal; the Luccis might feel disrespected if I’m not there. But at this moment the only thing that matters to me is Esme and if she’s okay.

Getting into my Mercedes, my text tone goes off. I pull my phone out and start to read as I climb into the seat. Immediately my chest is tight, and my cock is growing harder, but relief washes over me.

Esme: Hi. It’s Esme. I’m doing fine. Got up then fell asleep again. Head isn’t hurting. Thanks for your help.

I close the driver’s door and then reply.

Me: Good girl. I’m on my way to your place now. I was worried when I didn’t hear from you.

Esme: No need to come back. I’m okay.

I shake my head. There is nothing more important to me right now than her.

Me: Too late, I’m headed your way. Is your friend still there?

Esme: Yes, she’s sleeping. She worked all night, so this is her sleep time.

I take a deep breath. I’m not angry, but I don’t want her sitting there while someone sleeps. She still needs to be watched.