Professor Valentine: Kirk University, #1

By Diana Vale

Love tastes sweeter when it's forbidden…

 

Diego Valentine is gorgeous. Infamous among the psychology department, Cassie knows of his dashing looks and charming demeanour. But she doesn't predict her secret yearning for their private weekly tutorials in the confines of his office.

Overtime, their friendship blooms into something more, and the two can't ignore their fiery chemistry.
But he is almost twice her age and going through a divorce.

 

It is so wrong yet feels so right.

Can they act on their feelings or push them aside?

A steamy forbidden age-gap love story. Perfect for those who daydreamed about their hot university lecturers and schoolteachers.

Contains cursing, alcohol, and on-page sex. No cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA.

This is book one in the Kirk University series, a collection of sexy new adult contemporary romance books that can be enjoyed as standalone books in any order. A quick read of 23,000 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diana Vale
• Release date: Feb 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201325435

Book preview

Professor Valentine

Professor Valentine

A Student-Teacher Contemporary Romance Novella

Diana Vale

Copyright 2021 Diana Vale

Diana Vale asserts the moral right to be identified as the author and publisher of this work.

This first edition published 2021.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events, places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover illustration: oliviaprodesign

Edited by: Anastasia Cole

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

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Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

End Note

One

Diego Valentine was gorgeous. Most of the girls on my psychology course thought so. He was infamous among us freshers. But I didn’t think much of it. He was our lecturer, and rumoured to be going through a divorce. I barely entertained thoughts of him until he switched to teaching my seminar group and I started having him for weekly tutorials.

Little did I know what I was getting into.

Okay. Cue the backstory. I was in my first semester at Kirk University, having moved up north from London. Studying psychology, planning to specialise in cognitive developmental psychology. Small English towns up north are incredibly different to the rowdy rage of city life. But I needed a clean, fresh start. A break, you know? My parents were always fighting, my brother was going through his moody teenage-boy phase, and I just needed to get out of the city. Plus, it wasn’t like I was leaving much behind. Most of my mates were also off to uni, in London or other parts of the country.

I upped and left, ready to start my new life. All mapped out. Go to university, study hard, make something of myself. Boyfriends were out of the question. Sure, I’d had a few, but nothing important. I’d been too busy ploughing through my A levels. Super studious, hardworking Cassie.

Everyone always said that I was too serious. Prior to uni, I was the girl who didn’t know how to have a good time. Uni was a time to let loose, but also knuckle down. I was down for fun. What I wasn’t down for was anything serious. Nothing was going to distract me from my overall goal.

You see, I’m not a mega-romantic person. I know many girls — and guys — go to uni hoping to meet their future spouse. But I just wasn’t fussed. In my eighteen years of existence, I’d never even had a valentine.

Okay, I won’t lie. The desire had seeped through my veins once or twice. In public, I brushed it off. I’d never been one for romance books, seldom swooned over male heroes or lapped up bodice-ripping book covers. Disney movies were meh: I could take them or leave them. And yet, deep down, I secretly dreamed of having a man to pine over. Someone to kiss goodnight and curl up with, to hold me close to his heart and tell me that I was his everything.

I just didn’t think it would happen for me and never gave it much thought.

So what changed?

Two

It all started around November 2016, when I was a few months into uni. I was fifteen minutes late for my tutorial. It had been a rough night: bad hangover, curly hair sticking up everywhere, sunken bags under eyes. I stumbled my way into the tall brown building, trudging upstairs and opening the door to the office. My tummy was in knots, squeezing my intestines together.

Diego glanced up, his eyebrows slightly raised. I drank in his tanned skin, black gelled hair, and a perfectly chiselled jawline. He was wearing a white shirt with a black blazer and shiny black shoes, and I couldn’t see his trousers, but I imagined that they were shiny and black, too.

I swallowed hard as I entered, my hands trembling. Sorry, I’m so sorry I’m late. Crap, what is with British people and overdone apologies? Still, he didn’t look terribly fazed. In fact, he was rather amused. He glanced up from the papers he was marking and nodded at me.

Cassandra, right? He pointed his finger at me, and I suddenly melted inside at the sound of him saying my name. It sounded gloriously delicious on his smooth tongue. You wrote that mini-essay last week on neurological disorders. It was really good.

Yeah, my uncle has dementia. Oh god, why did I say that? I shook my head, laughing giddily. I mean, I was just trying to, erm, apply personal knowledge… My voice trailed off. He sat back in the chair, sticking his legs out and crossing them. I scuffed my feet against the floor.

You’d better sit down. I was starting to think you’d forgotten I had you today.

I swallowed again and bit my lip, pulling my curls out of my face.

He smiled. Don’t worry. I was a university student once too, you know.

How long ago? I wanted to ask. He had to be in his early thirties, even though he looked barely older than me. I wondered how long he had been teaching at the university. I racked my brain cells, standing there awkwardly in the doorway. Yes, I was still standing there.

I let my eyes trail around the room, taking in the pictures stuck up on the wall. I nodded at one. Where’s that from? It was a certificate.

He followed my gaze and turned around. Oh, that’s from when I was at Cambridge. That’s where I did my master’s.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I shifted from foot-to-foot, feeling more lame and inferior standing beside this utterly gorgeous intelligent man, who probably thought I was some idiot who got drunk every night and slept in late and missed all her lectures and seminars. I had attended them all so far…mostly.

He sat forward, flexing his fingers together. Do you want to sit down?

I nodded, aware that this was the second time he’d mentioned it. I thought he meant the hard seat in front of his desk. But he gestured to the soft accent chairs in his office. They looked so warm and comfortable that I just wanted to sink my butt right into them. I swallowed and sat down, chewing the ends of my curls. Such