Chapter Five #2
His more relaxed grin puts me at ease. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”
I pick up my drink to take a sip just as my phone chimes, and I recognize the sound. “Sorry, it’s L.J. on FaceTime.” I hate to ever not accept my son’s call.
“Take it,” he says. “And maybe you could introduce me? As your friend?”
He sounds eager to meet my son, and a warm feeling wraps around my heart. I hit the accept button and my little boy’s face shows on the screen.
“Mom! We went to the Statue of Liberty!”
I grin at his excitement. “That’s so cool. Did you see the whole city?”
“It was amazing.”
“Are you going to the beach this weekend?” Carrie and Samuel have been taking him to the Hamptons on the weekends to a house they rented for the summer, and during the week, they are staying with Landon and touring Manhattan.
“Probably. I hope my friend Andrew is there. He’s from a place called Long Island.”
“That sounds great, honey.” I glance across the table at Shane, my heart in my throat.
I’ve never had reason to introduce a man I am seeing to my son. For one thing, I’ve been careful before bringing someone into his life who would only disappear a few weeks or months later, and for another, no man has been that interested.
Swallowing hard, I gesture for Shane to sit in the chair beside me. “Speaking of friends, I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Shane Warden, honey. I met him this summer.” No reason to explain to my ten-year-old that Shane is my professor.
I turn the phone so Shane can see my brown-haired little boy. “Hi, L.J. I’m Shane. Your mom has told me so much about you.”
He lifts his hand in a shy wave.
“Say hi to Mr. Warden, honey. I mean, Professor Warden.”
“Shane is fine. I hear you’re having fun with your grandparents in New York.”
L.J. nods. “Next week we’re going to a Yankee game!”
Shane grins. “I also heard you love baseball. Maybe we could play some catch when you get home. I could dust off my catching mitt.”
An excited light hits my son’s brown eyes. “That would be awesome!”
“I’ll look forward to it. Here’s your mom.” He fully turns the phone back to me.
I have to fight back the lump in my throat and the tears forming in my eyes. This man, he’s barreled into my life or I’ve barreled into his and turned my world upside down. He makes me feel things long forgotten, and now he is including my son.
I swallow hard. “Hi, honey. I need to go. I’m sitting in a restaurant.” At least no one is around us, or I wouldn’t have taken the call and disturbed other guests’ lunch.
“Okay. I love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, baby.”
“I’m not—”
“You’ll always be my baby,” I say before he can finish. Laughing, I say goodbye again and we each disconnect the call.
I draw a deep breath and meet Shane’s warm gaze.
“Well, that went well,” he says.
“It did.” Acting on impulse, I lean forward and kiss him, expressing everything he makes me feel without using my words.
His tongue slides against mine, the moment quickly heating up, the kiss going on, arousal settling low in my belly, desire pulsing between my thighs.
He places a hand on my leg and breaks the kiss, his dark eyes meeting hers. “We really need to get back to your place.”
“We so do.”
He straightens in his seat. “But there’s something we need to talk about first.”
With my mind still hazy from his warm lips on mine, I’m not thinking all that clearly. “What is it?”
“Where we go from here. At least for the next two weeks while class is still in session.”
I freeze, knowing the wonderful feelings I’ve experienced since he showed up on my doorstep are about to disappear. Temporarily, I hope, but it hurts. Still, I am adult enough to understand and handle it.
I straighten my shoulders. “I get it. We can’t be seen together.
” But is he going to disappear from my life as if our time together never happened?
“What are you thinking?” It is his job on the line.
No matter how my heart feels, because I know I am falling hard for him in a very short time, I can handle a few weeks apart. I have to.
“I need every possible angle of professionalism covered. To start with, nothing changes in public. I’m the professor, you’re the student.”
I nod in understanding.
“And for the final exam, I’m going to have my teaching assistant proctor the exam. I’m going to assign random numbers to each student and grade anonymously. If anything ever gets out about us, nobody can say I favored you at all.”
“Makes sense.” I pause. “You’ve really thought about this.”
“The whole trip here. My time with you is precious.” Taking my hand, he holds it up to his face. “I don’t want us to risk anything or have anything taint our future.”
I blink, shocked by the tears that suddenly fall from my eyes. “Future?”
He meets my gaze, staring into my eyes. “I know it’s fast. I know we have a lot to learn about each other, but that’s what I want. The chance for a very real future.”
“I want that, too.”
“Good. Then let me do everything I can to protect it.”
I nod. Because I’ve never wanted anything more.
* * *
Shane
Is there really such a thing as the one? Because I sure as hell am certain Amber is it for me.
The whole way home from the hospital, my focus wasn’t on my sick father but his attitude towards Amber. I’ll be damned if I’ll tell her the rude things my father said. Instead I’ll do everything in my power to get through the next two weeks and move on with our lives.
I drop her off at her house and walk her to her door, stepping inside.
“Can you stay?” she asks.
“I wish I could, but I think we need to just say goodbye.” Before I can react, I step closer, easing her against the wall.
“But don’t think it isn’t hard for me. Don’t think I don’t want you.
I’m just trying to be smart.” I’ve been weak the last two days, giving in to my need for her, but we need to walk a fine line from now on.
She strokes her hand down my cheek, her gaze soft on mine. “I understand. There will be plenty of time after class ends.”
I brace a hand on the wall behind her, dip my head, and close my mouth over hers, devouring her, my entire body consumed with desire.
My cock throbs against the rough denim of my jeans, and I rub myself against her.
Moaning, she threads her fingers into my hair and holds me in place, rocking her hips against mine.
Dammit, I am too close to saying fuck it and taking her to bed. But if I do that, I won’t want to leave in the morning. There will never be a good time to part ways, and eventually we’ll get caught by someone and my worst nightmare will happen all over again.
With regret, I step back, leaving the warmth of her body, and she releases her hold.
“Go, Shane. Just leave now.”
I nod, drawing in a rough breath. “Bye, beautiful. I’ll talk to you soon.”
She smiles, but I catch the sheen of frustrated tears.
Forcing my heavy legs to move, I head out to my car and close myself inside.
I lay my head on the steering wheel and groan.
Doing the right thing shouldn’t feel so damned wrong.
I console myself with the fact that the next two weeks will pass slowly, but they will pass.
And then nothing will stop us from being together.