A Forbidden Finale (Student/Teacher Romance)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

My body burned. Ethan's hand brushed against my lower back and I wanted to slip my eyes shut, but I kept them staring into his, my breathing heavy. I leant back, bending over his arm and allowed his fingers to brush down the length of my torso and over my leg. I wanted to sob. It was so unfair.

He brought me up, our faces so close together that our breaths mingled, but I couldn't kiss him. That wasn't part of the choreography. We shared a tortured, heated look, and then I spun away. The clock had struck midnight, and it was time for Cinderella to leave.

Ethan paused the music and my chest rose and fell heavily. I'd have given anything to drag him back to his room, to let him really put his hands on me. I turned back and read the same desire on his face.

"That was good." His voice was lower than normal and his dark gaze clung to my hips. "Very good."

"Thank you." It was killing me. I was hot and bothered. Ethan looked so gorgeous, trying to restrain himself, staring me with that outright lust. "We can't dance with the thirteen year-olds. It would be scandalous."

He laughed, forcing himself to turn away and run his hand through his hair. His erection wasn't tell hidden beneath the tight clothes. If that happened and we were surrounded by pre-teens, it was going to be a disaster. "You're probably right."

I stretched, trying to get rid of the tension that filled me. "We'll do it, just the two of us. I really think I'd like that better, anyway. It's more romantic."

He scrubbed at his eyes with the heel of his palm. "You're really killing me."

"I know. I'm dying over here, too. "

"Let's work on some of the solo stuff."

The solo work didn't last long—Ethan and I were back dancing with each other within ten minutes. This was as close as we could get to sex, and it was addictive. Our touches lingered more than the choreography dictated and with each near-kiss, a soft gasp left my mouth.

We he lifted me, dragging me down his body and over his hard length, the low groan at the back of his throat sent me into a frenzy. I needed him, so badly. I needed release that only he could give me.

But it couldn't happen. So, we kept dancing. Back and forth. Spinning into each other, our bodies pressed entirely together, and then back out. It was an intense tease that was never going to end.

When the music stopped, signalling a change of scene, we stopped, practically slumped against each other, our chests rising and falling. "I'm not sure how much longer I can do this." Ethan's voice was against my ear, and a shiver ran down my spine.

I brought up my hands, pressing them against his muscled chest. "I want to keep doing this forever."

"I want more."

I bit my lip, shut my eyes, and tried to resist. Ethan's thumb brushing against my bottom lip made me jump, and I swallowed a moan. Just one kiss. Just his lips on mine.

We separated. "We should walk. I need to talk to you." He moved to the other side of the room to grab a jumper. "And I need to cool down."

He pulled a pair of trackies on and I slipped into my coat. I'd taken to bringing it to my lessons with Ethan, since we ended up strolling around outside most times.

When we walked past the corridor that led to the dorms to get outside, I looked at them longingly. Ethan caught my gaze and his gait faltered for just a second. No one would know if we disappeared into his room and acted on this feverish desire that burned between us.

We strode past them, though it was almost physically painful to do so.

"I've looked into the people who might have a motive to be blackmailing you." Ethan started talking closer to the Academy than he normally would have done just to try and disperse from of the sexual tension that was clawing at me; begging me to ignore everything and just kiss him senseless. "There were only a few names." He handed me a piece of paper.

"I mean, I know some of them." A couple were from the younger years and I didn't recognise them. "How would we narrow them down, though?"

"I have no idea. This is the best I could do. I'm sorry."

I waved him off. "I'm not complaining. This is great, and I'm still not convinced you didn't risk something to go sneaking through student records and printing them off."

He shrugged. "Nothing significant. But, yes, this is what I could get. I have no idea what we're supposed to do with them now."

We picked the closest bench and sat down heavily. There were people around, but no one close enough to overhear us. It was for the best—it would be enough of a deterrent to keep our hands to ourselves. "I don't know, either. I guess I'll look out for them and see whether I see any of them giving me or the trio malicious grimaces every now and then."

"Hopefully someone will stand out. I'll keep doing what I can, but I'm not sure how much that will actually be."

"That's okay, you don't have to do anything. Besides, this person hasn't contact me again and the end of year performance is in two weeks now. Maybe I'll actually get to do it."

"Nothing is going to stop you performing it." Ethan was resolute. "There's no way, after everything you've been through, you're not performing in that ballet."

My mouth twitched. "Yeah. I just want to do it now, to prove to everyone that I'm not behind the pack. I made it, after all. And I did it in six months. Couldn't have done it without you, though."

"You make it easy to enjoy my job." Ethan chuckled, looking up at the grey sky. "You're a great dancer now, you know. I never say things like that to stroke your ego or anything."

I grinned. "I know you don't. That's why it means so much to me when you say them."

It was beginning to get dark, and I watched as the sky became a dramatic scarlet. I dragged my knees up to my chest. "I'm really excited for the end of year performance, even if I'm just a backing dancer. I really thought I was going to quit and go home so many times."

"I'm very glad you didn't."

"Me too."

He stood up, offering me a hand to help me up. It was the most contact we could get away with, but it was enough. "Let's get back. I don't want you to get bored of my company."

I chuckled, wishing he could wrap his arm around my shoulder as we headed back to the Academy. "I don't think that's going to happen any time soon."

We reached the studio and Ethan turned out the lights, shutting the door. "I'll see you tomorrow?" Ethan and I had steadily upped our lessons until we were practising together every day. It was the only excuse we had to see each other, so we snapped it up and spent as much time as we could in each other's arms.

"You will."

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