Chapter 17 #2
“I’m sorry. When did she—”
“She recovered,” he says sharply.
“That’s good. I’m glad.” I inhale.
“This is even more of a payback. I’m lucky my mother pulled through.” He tents his fingers and looks out the window.
“The management office is on the next block, on the right,” I say, pointing.
The SUV pulls to the curb and idles in front of a hydrant. Dr. O’Rourke sets his feet on the ground, then turns, holding out a hand to help me out of the SUV. I take it.
Heat and sparks fly up my arm. As soon as I’m on the sidewalk, I let go. He struts to the glass door and opens it for me. I step in first, but then he skirts around me to address the woman at the staff desk.
“Can I help you, sir?” The woman stands wide-eyed, taking him in.
By the voice, I recognize it as Kay, who called me earlier.
“This is Scarlett Ford. Do you have an apartment for her?” Dr. O’Rourke says firmly.
I just give a dumb wave.
“Yes. ID please, Miss Ford,” Kay says, taking a seat and typing on her keyboard.
I reach into my wallet and hand it over. Once she scans it, she gives it back.
“Here is the lease.” She hands me a folder with the rental agreement and points to the lines that require my signature. “Read through the agreement, then sign here and here. And as I said on the phone, we need—”
“Do you accept credit cards?” Dr. O’Rourke says, taking out his wallet.
“Cormac, no,” I say, shocked that his first name drops so easily out of my mouth. And more shocked at how he reacts to it.
“Um, yes, we do,” Kay says, twirling a pen. “There’s a large service fee. We prefer to do auto billing through a bank.”
“Miss Ford here is waiting for tuition money to clear from her school. Hamilton Medical College. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. I’m giving you my credit card as a hold until those funds clear. Can you do that?”
“Oh, um…” Kay smooths her hair down her neck. “Yes, we do. Parents use credit cards as a placeholder to guarantee housing for their kids all the time.”
Parent. God, does she think he’s my father? And why didn’t my father offer to do this? Has he maxed out all his credit cards?
“Great,” my professor says, smiling. “Keep it on file as a guarantee.”
Okay, he’s not paying. He’s my…guarantor. I can live with that.
Kay takes the card and runs it, then hands it back to Cormac.
First the hotel, now my apartment.
I look down at the stack of papers for me to fill out. When Kay is typing something into her computer, I pull Cormac aside.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “The bank said the money should clear in a few days. This is my fault. I got the process moving too late.”
“I need you focused, Ford.” A hand sweeps under my jaw, but he shakes his head and steps back.
The way he says my last name gives me chills. “I will be, Cormac.”
“Professor. Or Doctor.” He leans in. “Do not call me Cormac.”
“Yes, professor,” I say in a sex kitten voice.
Despite my heart hammering, this is a lot of fun.
That same blush spreads across his cheeks. “That will get you into the kind of trouble you can’t argue your way out of.”
Promise?
I hold the folder against my chest. “This is going to take me a while. You can go. I can get a cab when I’m done.”
“Do you need help moving?”
“You got a guy for everything, don’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
“No,” I say, putting distance between us. “I just have some clothes at my friend's place. Books and school stuff. She’ll help me.”
“Good.” He slides those tattooed hands into his pockets. “Don’t be late for class next time.”
“You were the one who was late,” I say, being a brat and sounding flirty.
“You like having the last word?”
“Usually.” I shrug.
He smiles, and I enjoy the soft blush that colors his cheeks. “See you Wednesday, Ford.”
I watch him walk out, get back into the SUV, and it slowly rolls away.
I sit and complete the paperwork, willing my hands to stop shaking. After I finish, I leave, keys in my hand, and a smile on my face.
I need a drink. Just one. Something to calm my pulse. Something to make the world quiet for five minutes. Something to make me feel like I’m not standing on the edge of a cliff with the wind trying to push me off.
I shove the thought away, and in its place, Dr. Cormac O’Rourke’s voice returns, echoing in my bones.
If you stay in that class, I’m going to want you.
I’m staying. So that means he will want me.
With my head in a whirl, I opt for the subway to head back to Regan’s apartment.
She’s home and studying a sushi menu. “Hey, how was your first day back?”
I collapse onto a kitchen chair. “I don’t even know where to start.”
My friend sits down across from me, and her jaw is on the table when I tell her how my professor is the man I slept with.
How he was once a student of my father’s, and now my dad is his boss.
And how he put down his own credit card so I could get the apartment I want. A place I need her help to move into.
Looking like I slapped her, Regan puts down the menu and says this calls for shots at the pub.
I run through my assignments, and figure I can squeeze out one more day of being irresponsible.
“Let’s go.”