11. Chapter Eleven
Weak sunlight filters through Jacob’s blinds and strikes me across the face. It’s early. And yet too late. Early risers will be jogging across campus to get in their daily exercise, using the pathways between the staff faculty and the student dorms. My eyes snap open. I sit up but Jacob’s arm about my waist clamps me in place.
“Don’t move. You’re letting the cold air in.” The eye that isn’t smooshed into the pillow opens beneath a mop of ruffled curls and focuses on me. I don’t understand how he was deep asleep one moment but came so quickly awake when I moved.
I sink back to my elbow but not into his waiting arms, instead hooking the one thick curl that always manages to fall across his brow. He’s sleep mussed and beautifully warm all over. “Which is why I have to go soon. Before everyone wakes up.”
I don’t relish the thought of getting dressed and facing the cold morning, but there is no choice. We need to keep our relationship a secret from the world.
I haven’t even told Adeline about Jacob. It’s only for a time. Once I graduate, it won’t matter who we are to each other.
My heart flutters because I’m thinking long term with Jacob instead of weeks and when did that happen?
Jacob turns to lie on his back. He catches my bicep, tugs and topples me on top of him, crushing my breasts to his firm chest. “It’s a long weekend coming up. Come with me to Stamford. We’ll get off campus and stay in an Airbnb. We’ll be able to go anywhere we like. No sneaking around.”
“You want me with you for the whole weekend?” I ask. I calculate in my head the three days and two nights I’ll have him all to myself. I narrow my eyes, and let a smile play on my mouth that begs for the feel of his lips. “Did you read my mind?”
He chuckles. His voice is a freshly-awoken growl that sends hot shivers skating over my body. “If you’re thinking that a long weekend with me is something you’d like to do, then yes. I can read your mind.” His eyes grow serious. “I want you in my arms as long as I can have you.”
“The lecture room isn’t enough?” I say with a little sass. “What about the library? The store room? Your desk?” Illicit images fly through my mind at the many uses we’ve discovered for his desk other than housing an in-tray and a laptop. He has an uncanny ability to know where I am at all times and we’ve both been taking advantage of it. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were the campus stalker.”
“Only with you.” His eyes darken. He lifts his head and captures my lips with his. His kiss is slow. Sensual. And makes me want more than just one kiss.
We both groan when I rub his erection with my thigh. We made love all night, but my clit throbs with renewed interest and I’m suddenly slick between my legs. I really do need more than just this kiss. I want everything. The hardest thing in the world, apart from his erection, is pulling back. “If I have to have a stalker, I’m glad it’s you.”
“Better me than Daniel,” he says, and a frown creases his brow. “He hasn’t been inappropriate to you again, has he?”
Inappropriate is the least of what Daniel is to me, but strangely I haven’t seen him since that day in the lecture theater. Perhaps that’s because I’ve been consumed by Jacob and every available moment together we’ve either made love or worked on our dissertation. I’ve lost hours just talking to him and learning how he sees the world. Days thinking about him when we’re not together.
I hear Adeline in my head. You’ve got it so bad, Steph.
I know I do.
That’s a problem in its own right.
It’s unlike Daniel to keep his distance. He’s never had any hesitation digging for as much money as he can out of me. I’ve cleaned out my personal account on more than one occasion with his greed. He’s probably skulking around campus looking for the first moment he can catch me alone. Which is why I’m careful. So much more now that I’m holding another secret.
It would ruin me if Jacob found out the hold Daniel has over me, but it would be ruination for both of us if Daniel found out about Jacob.
“I don’t understand how he was allocated into my class. There’s a lot he doesn’t know,” Jacob says.
I pull back, some of the sensual fog disappearing, leaving me cold. Jacob’s assessment doesn’t surprise me. It was only through me asking a favor of Dad that Daniel has gotten so far at Blue Sky. Jacob catches my biceps, keeping me against him. His gaze searches mine. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned him.”
I needed a mood killer and Daniel is exactly that. “It’s okay.”
‘It’s not okay. You should be safe on campus,” Jacob says.
I should be safe at the family business too, but that’s another conversation.
“I can handle Daniel,” I say.
The crease between Jacob’s brows grows deeper. He sits up, the sheets pooling on his lap and giving me a good view of his abs. “You shouldn’t have to handle anything. Tell me what he’s done to you and I’ll have him escorted from campus.”
I want to tell Jacob about Daniel. The weight of what he’s doing to me is unbearable. But that’s not fair to Jacob. I can just imagine what he’ll think. Sure, I’ll tell you everything. What do you know about extortion?
Daniel’s my problem.
Not Jacob’s.
Jacob’s gaze flits from one eye to the other. I keep my expression blank and let him assess me. “You have that expression on your face.”
“What expression?” I know I didn’t give anything away.
His fingers flex on me. “The one where you pretend nothing bothers you but it really does. What’s going on, Steph?”
I blink at him, understanding sucker-punching me straight in the gut. He sees past the fa?ade. He sees me.
I have to offer him something though, or he won’t give up. “I didn’t want to say anything to you, but Daniel keeps asking me out. He’s having a hard time accepting I don’t want anything to do with him. He likes me more than I like him, but the past is the past, you know? Besides, I have someone else I like now.”
He lets my joke slide. “That’s not everything.”
I settle for the truth. It’s not like I don’t want to tell him. I ache to say everything but that will tarnish what we have. I want some part of my life that Daniel can’t tarnish. “I’ll tell you everything, when the time is right. I promise. It’s just that…I can’t. Not yet.”
The breath eases from his lungs and his lips flatten into a straight line. “That ‘time’ will come. I can’t stand the thought he’s here and making you uncomfortable. Whatever the reason, it’s never right to make you do something you don’t want to do.”
I frown, feeling equal parts good because Jacob cares, and bad because the situation with Daniel has no good ending. “I’m a big girl, Professor. I can make my own decisions and look after myself quite well, thank you very much.”
His thumb swirls on my skin, leaving a tingly path and his eyes darken. “I’ll call extra time for the class to do their assignments instead of holding a lecture on Monday. We’ll go away for four days. Three isn’t enough. I want you all to myself as long as I can have you.”
I slide my thigh over his and straddle his lap. His erection pulses between us. I glide my damp cleft around him. Days away with him sounds glorious. I can pretend the world doesn’t exist except for the two of us. “If you want me for four days, then you’ll have me for four days.”
He bands his arms around me and kisses me. “Let’s start with this morning. Stay with me here. Now. I’ll sneak out of the window when I’ve finished with you.”
I chuckle, swiping my tongue along his bottom lip. “I should be the one to do that. It’s not like I should be in the hallway outside your apartment.”
“Then we’ll just to wait until dark before you leave. I can have you the whole day.”
I want to stay here.
I want the world to fall away and be cocooned with him forever.
“What about your classes, Professor?”
“I could send out a pre-prepared lecture online.”
I hum my approval with that idea, pressing my breasts against his chest. His tongue plunges into my mouth and he rocks his hips against mine. A drop of pre-cum leaks from the tip of his hard cock, adding to the slick mess between us. Just him and me. Bliss. I throb with need, looking forward to the day ahead.
His cell pings with a distinctive programmed sound. He goes from pliant to stiff in an instant. He draws back with a sharp inhale and reaches for his cell.
I slowly sit back, watching him angle the cell and stab the screen. His brow draws tight, his lips thin and when he looks at me I know our day of lovemaking has just gone up in flames.
“You have to go, don’t you?” I say.
He sets the cell on his bedside table and I see Dean Marcus Sotheby’s name with a message in capitals beneath. It doesn’t look pleasant but the screen goes dark before I can read what it is. He brushes the strand of hair that’s fallen over my face behind my ear and cups my nape. “You’re so beautiful. Don’t hide who you are. Not for anyone.”
Something in his gaze makes my stomach roll and, in that moment, I’m certain I’m not the only one keeping secrets.