Seduction

  Seduction

  By Ivy Smoak

  Copyright 2022 Ivy Smoak

  All Rights Reserved

  Want a behind-the-scenes look at my journey as an author? The ups, the downs, the movie deals…I’ll share it all!

  And as a special thank you for joining, you’ll get an exclusive copy of a super steamy bonus scene of James and Penny.

  CLICK HERE to join the party!

  To my Hunted series family.

  Writing about these characters always feels like coming home.

  CONTENTS

  Title

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Steamy Bonus Scene

  A Note From Ivy

  Chapter 1

  Tuesday

  James would be home any minute. I’d spent all day cooking a homemade meal for my husband. Yes, I could have just asked our housekeeper, Ellen, to prepare something. Her cooking was better than mine. But it was the thought that counted. I even set the dining room table, which we rarely ever used. We tended to eat at the kitchen island together most nights. But tonight was a special occasion. I lit the last candle and stepped back. It was perfect.

  The last few weeks James had been busy getting ready for his first day back teaching. He’d gotten a job at a university in the city. Today was his first day and I just wanted to show him how happy I was for him. For taking this big step. For doing what he loved again.

  “He’s going to be excited, isn’t he?” I said and put my hand on my stomach. I had a very tiny baby bump. And ever since I’d started showing I’d been talking to him. No, I didn’t know if it was a boy. But James’ brother, Rob, talked about it being a boy so much that I believed him. Rob could be very persuasive. Besides, I loved the idea of having a little James running around.

  My phone buzzed and I hurried back into the kitchen. I picked it up off the kitchen counter to see Ian’s text: “We just parked. He’s on his way up. Have a fun night!”

  I texted our driver back: “Thank you so much, Ian.” I put my phone back down on the counter. Oh, I hoped James would like this surprise. I’d somehow managed to squeeze myself into the outfit I’d worn the first day I’d met him. A pair of leggings and a tank top. I’m pretty sure the leggings were about to rip though and I was suddenly overthinking all of it. I wasn’t a 19-year-old college student anymore. My pregnant belly made the outfit look anything but sexy. Yes, it was a super small bump right now. I only just started showing. But every time I looked down I felt like I looked bigger. And now that I was thinking about it…this outfit had never looked sexy. I looked down at my red rain boots. What had Melissa constantly called them back in school? I was pretty sure the word hideous had been tossed around quite a few times.

  But before I could kick them off, I heard the front door opening. I couldn’t help but smile. James was home. I ran into the foyer.

  My smile grew when I saw that he’d pulled on a sweater over his button-up shirt. One of the sweaters he used to wear when he’d been my professor. I didn’t even know he still had those. It felt like we were completely in sync. Me wearing my leggings and rain boots and him wearing that sweater.

  I wasn’t sure if he’d worn it all day or if this was just a treat for me. But I didn’t care either way. God, he was so freaking handsome. It was like I was transported back in time to the coffee shop when we first met. And for just a second I stared at him. Losing my words again like I had when we first met.

  “Hey, baby,” he said, his eyes trailing down my body. “You look amazing.”

  His words snapped me out of my trance. I wasn’t just some random student he’d just bumped into on the first day of classes. I was his. Forever and always. “Happy first day…” my stomach churned and I put my hand over my mouth. Shit. I ran to the downstairs bathroom, dropped to my knees in front of the toilet, and threw up everything in my stomach. Which fortunately wasn’t very much.

  I closed my eyes tight. Damn it. That was not the way I’d wanted to start tonight. I heard James walk into the bathroom. I hated when he saw me like this. I always told him to just leave me alone when I had morning sickness, but he swore he didn’t mind. How could he not mind? I unceremoniously spit once more into the toilet bowl. It was disgusting.

  “They shouldn’t call it morning sickness if it’s not just in the morning,” I said and leaned my back against the vanity.

  He sat down next to me on the bathroom floor, pulling me close so I could rest my head on his shoulder.

  “I was trying to plan the perfect night and now I smell like vomit.”

  “No. You don’t.” He kissed the side of my forehead.

  It was a lie. But I didn’t even care. I was just glad he was here beside me. I was happy he was teaching again, but I’d missed him today. “It’s supposed to be over by now. Why won’t it stop?”

  James kissed the side of my forehead again, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. “I’m sure it’ll be over soon.”

  “I hate being pregnant.”

  He laughed. “Yesterday you were just saying how much you loved being pregnant. You said you wanted a million babies.”

  “I thought my morning sickness was over yesterday.”

  He grabbed my hand, running his thumb along my palm. He always knew just how to calm me down. But now when he did this, it also somehow made my stomach settle. Like his hands were magical.

  I looked up at him. “What I was trying to say earlier was happy first day of classes. How did it go?” I kept going when he didn’t respond immediately. “I really hope it went well. I missed you so much today. And I really like your sweater.”

  He smiled. “You have a lot of pent-up energy, don’t you?”

  “I’m used to hanging out with you all day.” We’d been home together for months. He’d been recovering from his surgeries and we’d agreed to stay home together, enjoying the start of my pregnancy. The time had flown by way too fast. “And even though Ellen was here for most of the day, she doesn’t want me to help with anything. She swatted my hand when I tried to fold laundry.” Not that it mattered. I was supposed to be writing, not hanging out with Ellen. But it was easier to write when my laptop was in the family room and my feet were propped up on James’ lap. His face was always good motivation.

  “It’s only two classes this semester. And only two days a week. I’ll be home with you all day tomorrow.”

  “No office hours the other days?”

  He smiled. “I scheduled them for Thursdays while I’m already on campus. Why, are you worried about my office hours?” There was a teasing glint in his eyes.

  “I know girls are going to come in and flirt with you because of course they will. Look at you. But no, I’m not worried. If I recall correctly, it was never students plural that you were interested in. Just one student.”

  “Just you.” His eyes wandered down to my boots. “Those boots have always done something to me.”

  I smiled. They weren’t hideous at all. They were sexy. I knew it! All I wanted to do was straddle him and kiss him. But…I’d just thrown up a minute ago. I wasn’t about to subject him to that awfulness.

  Instead, I leaned forward, resting my chin on my knee. “I’m sorry. I just wanted tonight to be perfect.”

  “Every night with you is perfect.”

  “Not when your son is being terrible and making me sick.”

  James stopped rubbing my palm and put his hand on my stomach. “You mean when our daughter is being terrible and making you sick. I don’t know why you believe Rob is right about this. He’s rarely right about anything.”

  “That’s not true. And I really think he’s right this time.” I had no idea why, but it was like I just knew it was going to be a boy. Rob and I were both adamant about it. There was no changing our minds. I knew no matter how much I believed it, it didn’t necessarily make it true though. It could be a girl…not.

  A small part of me wanted to know for sure what we were having. But a much larger part of me liked not knowing. I wanted to believe we were going to have a little James running around soon. I put my hand on my stomach. “Despite what you think, Rob is rarely wrong about anything.”

  James shook his head. “Rarely wrong about anything? Do you not remember when he thought you were a prostitute?”

  I laughed and lightly pushed James’ shoulder. “Well he never would have thought that if you didn’t keep me a secret from him.”

  “Touché.” He pulled me back into his arms. “We did not stay a secret for very long though.” He kissed the side of my neck. “I couldn’t keep my hands off you.”

  I tilted my head back as his trail of kisses fell to my clavicle.

  “I still can’t.”

  God, just a few kisses and I was melting.
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  His lips wandered back up my neck to my lips.

  “James!” I pushed on his chest. “It’s one thing for you to sit here when I puke, it’s another to kiss me. I need to brush my teeth a thousand times first.” I slowly stood up, everything moving a little slower these days. “Give me a minute and then meet me at the front door. I want a do-over. Tonight is still going to be perfect.”

  “You got it.”

  I ran upstairs to our bathroom and brushed my teeth twice and used way too much mouthwash. I hurried back down into the foyer.

  James was standing at the front door, leaning casually against the doorjamb.

  My heart started racing when I saw him. That sweater on him really did something to me.

  “Happy first day back at teaching,” I said as I walked up to him. “If I recall correctly, you were not wearing this sweater when you left today.” I placed my hands on his abs, easily feeling them through the fabric.

  “No, this was all for you.”

  “Is that so, professor?”

  He nodded, placing a hand on the side of my face. “And if I recall correctly, you were not wearing this outfit when I left for work today.”

  I shook my head.

  His hand wandered down the side of my neck, down the front of my chest, pausing between my breasts. “You can still see the stain.”

  “What?” I looked down. And sure enough there was a very faint brown stain on my tank top where the coffee had spilled. How had I not seen that? “Well that’s not very sexy.”

  “Everything you do is sexy. If your goal was to seduce the new professor, you’re doing a very good job. I give you an A+.”

  I laughed, but the sound died in my throat when he pressed my back against the wall. “Dinner’s going to get cold,” I said, not that I cared.

  “I’m only hungry for one thing.” There was that hunger in his eyes. I loved when he looked at me like that.

  Again it felt like I was transported back in time. But this time it was like we were back in his old office at the University of New Castle.

  “Remember the last time we negotiated grades?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

  “I thought I’d fuck you that day and get you out of my system.” He knelt down in front of me and slowly pulled off one of my boots and then the other. “That I could literally fuck away the craving.” He reached up and grabbed the waistband of my leggings, pulling them and my thong slowly down my thighs. He leaned forward, leaving a trail of kisses down the path of my leggings. He pulled them the rest of the way off and then his hot breath paused between my thighs.

  He looked up at me. “But one taste was never going to be enough.” He thrust his tongue inside of me.

  “James,” I moaned, burying my fingers in his hair.

  His tongue swirled slowly at first, teasing me. He knew just how to get me to the edge of oblivion.

  But then his lips moved to my clit, his finger replacing his tongue.

  My head leaned back against the wall. I needed more. I needed everything.

  It was like he could hear my silent pleas as he slid another finger into my wetness.

  “Oh God, James.”

  His lips fell from my clit a second too soon. “Penny.” He kissed my hipbone. “We’re not in public. Don’t you remember what I told you all those years ago?”

  I swallowed hard. I remembered. We both had very fond memories of sneaking around. He’d always be Professor Hunter to me. “Then you should probably punish me, Professor Hunter.”

  He groaned and placed another kiss on my hipbone before standing back up. “Say it again, baby.” He slowly unzipped his pants, pulling out his erection. “You have no idea how many times I jerked off to you saying my name just like that. How many times I imagined your soft lips around my cock.” He ran his hand up and down his shaft.

  Each word out of his mouth turned me on even more. I watched him run his hand down his length again. I couldn’t wait another second. “Fuck me, Professor Hunter.”

  He lifted one of my thighs and slammed into me.

  Jesus.

  His thrusts fast and hard.

  “Professor Hunter!”

  His fingers gripped my ass, somehow pulling me even closer.

  “Just this once my ass,” I said.

  His laugh was hot against my throat. “We were never going to be a one-time thing. Not when you were everything to me.” He thrust into me faster.

  I moaned.

  He bit down on my earlobe, harder than I think he meant to, the pain somehow swirling with pleasure.

  “I feel you, baby. Let go. I want to feel you come.”

  I started pulsing around him.

  He groaned as he emptied himself inside of me. Again and again.

  We melted to the floor together as we caught our breaths.

  I nuzzled my face into the side of his neck, breathing him in. “How is it that we can have sex and I somehow wind up completely naked and you’re fully clothed?”

  He pulled off his sweater and handed it to me.

  I smiled and pulled it on.

  “I love you just like this.” He leaned over, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. “Flushed and happy.”

  “You mean freshly fucked?”

  He smiled. “Exactly. I think we really turned tonight around, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” I leaned closer, pressing my lips against his. “Oh my God, the dinner!” I stood up and ran into the kitchen. I was probably seconds away from burning the entire building down.

  Chapter 2

  Friday

  I should have been writing. Instead I kept stealing glances at James. We were sitting on the couch, my feet propped up on his lap. He was working on his lesson plans for next week. And he assumed I was working too. But…I wasn’t. I’d been distracted all day. By him. No one should be allowed to look that sexy in sweatpants. I looked down at my own sweatpants. I looked anything but sexy. But somehow James looked like a million bucks.

  Instead of working, I’d been taking turns staring at James and staring at a scene I’d already written. It was the third sex scene I’d put into the novel I was working on and I was only halfway done. I never meant for my book to be so explicit. But sex was an important part of my relationship with James. And I really liked reliving those scenes. A lot. That was part of the reason I kept staring at James. I was so turned on it was hard to think straight.

  And then there was a nagging thought in the back of my head. That things wouldn’t always be this way.

  I looked down at my stomach. A baby was going to change things. I knew that. In five months it wouldn’t be just the two of us anymore. It would be the three of us. I was so excited to meet our baby boy. It was easy to daydream about the three of us being a family. But I was a little worried about how different everything would be. I hated change. And I could already see my body changing.

  James seemed excited about having a baby. He kissed my stomach goodnight every night before he kissed me. It was the sweetest thing ever. He was embracing change so easily. He even seemed to be looking forward to it. But what about after the baby is born? When I’ll have stretch marks everywhere? And the baby will cry all night and we won’t be getting enough sleep? We had no idea what we were walking into. Would James still look at me with stars in his eyes then? When we’ll be sleep deprived and grumpy and I’ll be covered in stretch marks?

  I bit my lip. Maybe he’ll still look at me the same. Or maybe the next five months of just us were going to be our last semblance of normalcy. I needed to take advantage of that while I still could. And it needed to start right now. I’d dressed up to surprise him after his first day of classes. I never expected him to be wearing that sweater I loved so much. He wanted to take advantage of these moments too. I could tell. And I wanted to step up my game even more while I could still fit in normal clothes.

  “James, it’s past 6.” I lightly nudged his thigh with my foot.

  He looked up from his notepad. “We should probably get ready for dinner. I still need to shower.” He tossed his notepad down on the coffee table and stretched.

  We were going out with our friends tonight. One night a week we always went out with our friends. Which was always fun, but a little less so now when I was the only one not drinking. I’d been looking forward to turning 21 in the city two years ago. To finally be able to enjoy the city nightlife like all my friends. James had snuck me into the bars they went to before I was legal. But it was different when I could flash my ID and walk in without a bribe. Plus I enjoyed a good tipsy night.