Chapter 41
GRADY
I woke to pounding on the door. My eyes popped open and I looked around. It took me a few seconds to figure out where I was. The spread of red hair across my chest and tickling my chin was a reality check.
I was in Cece’s bed. We fucked most of the night, which explained why I was a little out of it. I probably got three hours of sleep, all of which were spent dreaming about her.
Someone banged on the door again. I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what to do next. It had to be Lina or Felix. Thank God I locked the door.
“Cecily, are you awake?”
It wasn’t Felix or Lina’s voice. My brain fog evaporated in an instant, then short-circuited. Time stood still. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. It felt like I was underwater. Everything was in slow motion.
I felt Cece stir beside me. “Grady…” she whispered. “Shh, go back to sleep, baby.”
She actually patted my chest. Her leg hiked up a little higher. Her left leg was thrown across my thighs and her head rested on my shoulder with her hand on my chest. At any other time, it would have been the best feeling in the world.
Oh fuck, oh fuck.
I pushed her leg off me. “Cece. Babe. Wake up. Quietly.”
“It’s early,” she moaned. “But fine, I’m ready to go again if you are.”
“Cece, no, please get the fuck up.”
Her head jerked back and she looked up at me. “Excuse me?”
“Dean Carver,” I whispered in her ear and pointed at the door.
That’s when I heard Felix talking to the dean out in the hall.
“Dean Carver?” Cece looked absolutely confused. “Is this a nightmare?”
“Yes and yes.” I got out of bed and searched for my pants. Where the hell had I thrown them?
The sheets tangled around my feet. My underwear was by the door and my pants were nowhere to be found. I glanced from my feet to the boxer-briefs, the distance feeling like a mile.
Cece seemed to suddenly understand what was happening. She sat up, the sheet around her waist. And fuck if I didn’t want to say screw the dean and jump right back on her and devour those amazing tits.
The sound of the lock clicked, followed by the doorknob turning. Cece’s eyes practically popped out of her head.
With agonizing slowness, the door swung inward.
Dean Carver stormed in like she owned the place. I did the only thing I could do and cupped my hands over my cock. She was going to figure out I was fucking naked. I didn’t need her seeing all my junk.
Once again, time stood still. The dean stopped inside the room. Her eyes raked over my naked body. Starting at my feet, rolling over my cupped hands that weren’t doing all that much to hide shit. She barely looked at me before checking out my junk and then turning toward Cece.
Her eyes went wide, taking in the scene. Cece was still sitting in bed with the sheet pulled up to cover her breasts. Her leg was crooked with her knee exposed. It wasn’t hard to figure out what we’d been up to.
I swore the dean smiled. Like she was thrilled to have walked in on the situation. She turned her attention back to me.
“Professor Stone?” Her tone was cool and full of accusation.
I swallowed. Couldn’t speak. Everything in me was freaking out.
I had a fleeting thought that the feeling was panic.
Probably similar to what Lina had felt yesterday.
The fight or flight reaction was very real.
Running sounded like a great idea, but I found myself frozen to the spot. I’d never felt more exposed.
We were fucked. I could see how embarrassed Cece was. She didn’t deserve the humiliation. I had no idea why the dean thought it was okay to just let herself into Cece’s room. That was fucked up.
“Explain,” Dean Carver said flatly. Her tone wasn’t a request. She was the judge after a trial looking for a confession. Honesty might earn me a lighter sentence. But I doubted it. Not with her. She’d been looking for a reason to fire me and I had given her one.
I opened my mouth—then shut it. What could I say? That we kissed? Admit to the sex? That she’d saved Lina just yesterday and I loved her for it and life was too short to run away from a connection like ours?
“What are you doing here?” I asked instead.
“I heard there was an accident.” She glared at me. “You nearly killed a dear friend of the family. And Seraphina Reese’s daughter, I’ll remind you.”
Why wasn’t I surprised? Of course Lina would call and complain.
She had made the stupid decision to go into the ship alone.
She had put her life in jeopardy. She put my life in jeopardy.
But I should have known her near-death experience wouldn’t change her.
Lina had pouted all night. She hadn’t come out to eat dinner with us.
Cece said she was tired after the day. I believed it, but now I had a feeling she was too busy calling anyone that would listen to her whining.
“Lina went off on her own,” Cece said calmly. “Grady—Professor Stone did nothing wrong. Lina broke the rules.”
Dean Carver dismissed Cece like she wasn’t even in the room.
Her focus was on me. I had never felt so exposed.
Yes, I was buck-fucking-naked, but it felt so much worse.
I wasn’t a shy man. But if there was one woman on the planet I didn’t want to see me naked, it was the dean.
I couldn’t explain it, but she made me feel gross.
“I knew it,” Dean Carver hissed. Her voice dripped with venom. She crossed her arms over her chest, her lips curling into a smug, self-satisfied smirk. “I knew you couldn’t keep it in your pants with the students, Stone. But I never expected to catch you literally with your dick in your hand.”
My jaw tightened, but I didn’t respond. What could I say? She wasn’t wrong. I was standing there, naked, cupping myself like some idiot caught in the act. I was caught in the act. My mind raced, trying to find some way to spin this, but there was no spinning it. She had me dead to rights.
If she had not pounded on the door, she would have found me and Cece in bed. Cece’s naked body had been draped over mine. It was kind of a necessity given the size of the bed.
She turned her icy gaze to Cece, who was still clutching the sheet to her chest like a shield.
“And you,” she spat. Her upper lip curled into a sneer.
She sounded disgusted. Like she was staring at a pile of stinky shit.
“I did you a giant favor, Cecily. I gave you a chance when no one else would. And you looked me dead in the eye and promised to tell me if Professor Stone ever crossed the line with a student.” She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in.
“I never expected you to be the one offering yourself up to him like some common whore.”
Cece flinched as if she’d been slapped. Her face burned bright red. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. I could see the hurt and humiliation in her eyes, and it made my blood boil. I heard the words, but they didn’t hit. I was focused on protecting Cece.
“That’s enough,” I snapped, stepping forward despite my compromised state. “You don’t get to talk to her like that.”
Dean Carver’s eyes narrowed as she turned back to me. “Oh, I don’t? You think you’re in any position to tell me what I can and can’t do? You’re done here, Stone. Both of you are done.”
“You can’t just—” Cece started, finally finding her voice.
“I can,” the dean interrupted coldly. “And I will. This is a clear violation of university policy. A professor sleeping with a student? It’s unacceptable. And you—” She pointed a finger at Cece like a dagger. “You’ve betrayed my trust in the worst possible way.”
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Cece said quickly, though even she didn’t sound convinced by her own words.
“Really?” The dean raised an eyebrow mockingly. “Because it looks like I walked in on two people who couldn’t keep their hands off each other long enough to remember they have responsibilities and reputations to uphold.”
I clenched my fists at my sides, my anger bubbling over. “You don’t know anything about us,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I know enough,” she shot back. “And trust me, this isn’t going to end well for either of you.” She took a step toward the door, her expression triumphant. “I suggest you both start packing your things. Soon there’ll be two less animals at the Zoo.”
The look in Cece’s eyes was killing me. There was a haze of regret and flash of defiance. She kept her chin high. She was doing her best to look down her nose at the dean. It wasn’t working, but it was impressive she was holding on to her dignity despite getting caught in a compromising position.
“You can’t do that,” Cece said.
The dean completely ignored her.
“You know you’ve put everything you have on the line,” the dean’s attention was back on me.
“Your career, your department, your reputation—every bit of it’s up in smoke.
This will not stand. Not on my watch. I’ll expect your resignation letter on my desk within the next twenty-four hours.
Do not add insult to injury by forcing us to terminate you. ”
She spared Cece one last look. “Ms. Monroe. Monday. My office. Your future at this school is in jeopardy. I’d think about my options.”
Then she slammed the door behind her.
Cece gasped. I let out a slow breath. Neither of us moved. My ears were ringing. I removed my hands from my junk. I barely registered the fact I was naked.
For a moment, we just looked at each other.
I didn’t know what to say or do. I could hear the dean talking to Lina a few doors down.
I was hit with an overwhelming flood of emotions.
I felt like I was stuck in mud. Mind and all.
The dean’s words were rolling through me.
It was all disjointed and none of it was making sense.
Did the dean say Cece was supposed to be reporting back to her about me?