Chapter 22
Cormac
One week later, Darragh is waiting for me on the leather sofa in my office. I’ve just come back from a meeting in the lab with Professor Alderton and a few students who needed a mediator to settle an argument.
“Morning,” my twin says, like he was invited.
“Morning to you.” I head to the desk and put down my laptop. “Is this a check-in?”
“I hadn’t heard from you.” He glances around the small but adequate space for an adjunct teaching one class. I assume I’ll get a better one after I get hired full-time. And a better desk where I can litter it with pictures of the poor woman who will agree to be my wife.
“You get me a time-consuming, demanding job and wonder why you haven’t heard from me?” If I bite back on anything else, he’ll ask more questions.
My time to lesson plan, grade papers, and evaluate student lab reports amounts to about thirty hours a week. Darragh doesn’t know about my night shift.
“But it’s going great,” I say to ease his worry.
Plus, it’s not exactly a lie.
“Glad to hear that,” he says. “How are you other than that?”
“Good. How are you?” I echo. “How are the kids? Is J.P. over his cold?”
He nods. “Yep, until Sophie came home with one from school and now we’re all carrying packs of tissues everywhere.”
I fold my arms. “But you’re not here to tell me about your family sniffles. You could have called. You wanted to see me.”
He blushes because I’ve caught him. As much as he knows me, he forgets that I know him, too. Not only are our bodies identical, so are our brains. “This is your first real responsibility since Cascadia. I’m looking out for you. Any cravings?”
Always. Every goddamn day. But that’s not something I’ll worry him with. Plus, I have a feeling he knows. He has to. And it’s not if I have cravings, but have I given in to them? That answer is a giant, fat no.
Including the burning need to fuck Scarlett. I haven’t given in to a single one, unless endless masturbation counts.
And if I’m going to talk about those cravings, then I need to lock the door.
“I’m fine,” I say to be obtuse and annoy my brother. “Focused and busy. And thanks for warning me that writing a midterm exam is fucking hard.”
“You didn’t ask,” he says, smiling and crossing his legs.
“And?” I know there’s more.
He pulls at his tie. “Have you met anyone yet?”
My spine goes rigid. “Dar—”
“We talked about this.”
We did. Last month. And his words still haunt me.
You need stability. A partner who anchors you. A wife.
Why is it that the people who got lucky in love always preach relationships like they’re the easiest thing in the world? He and Ana had to have been lovers in another life. I think she was in his house for a week, eight months pregnant with my child, and he was already fucking her.
I rub a hand over my jaw. “I’m figuring it out.”
Darragh cinches his brows. “I know you’re tighter with Trace and the Quinlans these days. There must be a deal to strike, an alliance that Griffin wants.” He taps a finger against his knee. “Maybe someone has a daughter—”
Daughter? Yeah, I want my boss’s daughter.
“Trace offered to set me up with a sister of one of his guards.” And I’m fucking considering it. It may be the only way I get Scarlett off my mind.
Darragh nods. “Let’s set a goal. Go on two dates this month.”
Date… Scarlett and her dark hair, her laugh, and her wicked temptation about not wearing panties on a date are all I want. It’s one thing to go into an arrangement with a clear head. I’m so fucking fixated on Scarlett, I might actually blurt her name during sex.
God, my dick just shriveled a little, imagining sleeping with someone else.
I straighten. “I promise, by the end of the semester, I’ll have someone.”
His brows arch into his forehead. I want to shoot myself for making a promise I know I won’t keep.
But he somehow believes me. He must want it so badly, he’s ignoring the warning bells going off in his head like sirens. There’s even a hint that he’s pleased, relieved in a way I haven’t seen from him since before I fucked things up in Seattle.
“Good,” he says quietly. “That’s…good.”
I want to bring up regular visitation with J.P. outside their home. About being more involved. But when I open my mouth, the alarm on my phone chimes.
Shit.
I sling my bag over my shoulder. “I’ve got class.”
And I have to propose creating a team to assist me when treating Quinlan Empire medical emergencies.
Darragh stands with me, following me to the door. But he stops me before I can leave. His gaze softens in a way that steals my breath. “I’m proud of you.”
That hits harder than it should. A second chance I still don’t believe I deserve. Especially when I look at Scarlett, I’m reminded how easily I can be ruined.
My brother watches me for another beat, searching, maybe sensing the storm under my skin. But he doesn’t ask me any more questions. He turns and heads for the stairwell, and I jog in the opposite direction, adrenalin tightening my chest.
The hallway leading to my classroom stretches long and endlessly because I know I’ll see her waiting for me.
No panties.
That is on a loop in my head, and I can’t fucking stop it.
I force my breathing to steady as I enter the classroom.
The students’ conversations end when I step to the podium and quickly scan my opening monologue to discuss an important case study.
I’m about to relax and dig in, until I glance in the one direction I shouldn’t, and my gaze collides with Scarlett’s.
Christ, she’s the only woman I want.