To Professor, With Love (23 page)

She ignored him, smiling almost pleasantly at Reese...almost being the key word because there was nothing pleasant about the glitter in her eyes. “Reese,” she murmured, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “It’s been too long since I last saw you.”

“I know, hasn’t it?” Reese answered with the same fake pleasantry before she sneered. “My hand’s stopped ringing from the last time I bitch-slapped the shit out of you.”

“Ohh!” Ten cried, smacking his knee and hooting. “
Burn
.”

Mrs. Garrison narrowed her eyes. “You need to release him, dear. He doesn’t belong here.”

Reese cracked off a laugh. “Me? Release
him
? Are you kidding me? You’re the one who—”

Lowe covered her mouth with his hand, muffling her words. “We’re not getting into this,” he told the old crow. “The only person who needs to leave Illinois is you.”

Mrs. Garrison’s voice broke as she asked, “But what about our baby?” just as her lashes did their fluttering thing.

Visibly shuddering, he shook his head. “You’re not even pregnant. I don’t know why you’re making up this lie or what you think it’ll accomplish, but nothing you can do will get me to leave my life here or split me away from Reese.”

“Oh, I can guess why she’s doing it.” Reese pulled Lowe’s hand off her mouth. “I bet her fiancé left her, and she had no one left to torture.”

By the way the older woman glared, I figured Reese must’ve hit the nail on the head.

“If I’m not pregnant, then how do you explain this?” Again, she made a dramatic performance of ripping open her coat and showing off her stomach.

“Oh, please.” The blonde Reese had called Eva laughed. “That’s the fakest pregnant belly I’ve ever seen.”

When Mrs. Garrison pierced her with a frown, she pooched out her own stomach. “This is the real deal, honey. So why don’t you stop picking on Mason and my cousin Reese, crawl back home to Florida, and find someone new to harass. In fact, look up Madeline and Shaw Mercer why don’t you? They actually
deserve
your brand of attention.”

The woman merely sniffed at her. “I should’ve guessed you were Reese’s snooty little Mercer cousin. Eva, isn’t it? The one who tried to trap Alec Worthington into marriage by getting herself knocked up—”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Reese snapped. “Why are you still here? No one wants you.”

“And no one believes you either,” Lowe added.

“So, you’re really going to bank on the chance that this bump might be fake?” Mrs. Garrison lovingly rubbed her belly. “Are you sure you can live with the uncertainty of knowing whether you have a child out there or not?”

Lowe’s eyes grew tormented. He tugged his girl in closer to his chest. Reese impressed the fuck out of me when she rubbed his arm soothingly. It made me wonder what would happen if I were ever put into this situation. After nearly raising Caroline, Brandt, and Colton, I knew I could never turn my back on the likelihood of being a father. But now that Aspen was in my life, it’d kill me think of having anyone else’s child.

Realizing what I’d just thought, I sliced her a startled glance. But had I really just—? Did this mean I wanted no one’s babies but hers? Whoa. I think I
had
just thought that.

That was whacked out.

“Hey, I’ll volunteer to find out if the bump’s real.” When Ten rubbed his hands together with a leering grin and took a step toward Mrs. Garrison, she yelped and hopped away from him, raising her finger threateningly.

“Come near me, and I’ll call battery so fast your head will spin. No one touches me.”

“Then I’m not convinced you’re pregnant.” Lowe nestled his face against Reese’s, seemingly emboldened by her presence. His skin tone was no longer ashen, and now he looked more pissed than scared.

“It’s a boy,” the persistent woman went on. “I bet he’ll have your eyes and your beautiful hair. I’m thinking of the name Christopher Mason.”

When Lowe once again went sheet white, I decided I’d had enough. Someone needed to take control of this situation and nip it in the bud.

“Stop already,” I said, glaring down Mrs. Garrison.

“You’ve already gone too far,” Aspen added, slipping off her stool and opening her purse. “Because this is one lie you can’t support. We can stand around here, bantering all night and accomplishing nothing. Or we can prove whether you’re telling the truth within minutes.” Pulling a small brown paper bag out of her purse, she opened the end and extracted a box. When I squinted to focus on it, I realized it was a home pregnancy test.

What the—?

Stunned speechless, I gaped at it, my mouth dropping toward the floor. Lifting my gaze, I met Aspen’s apologetic cringe just as Ten exploded, “Shit, Gamble. You knocked up
Dr. Kavanagh
?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” - Margaret Mitchell,
Gone with the Wind

~ASPEN~

Noel wouldn’t stop staring. Unable to answer the blaring question in his eyes, I turned toward Mason and Reese. “Here. Get your answers.”

They looked about as shocked as Noel did, though. Finally, Reese shook her head as if to clear it and slipped the box from my hand. “Thanks.” Her jaw setting with determination, she faced the woman who was too freakily like my mother. “Well, alright then. Where’s the bathroom in this place?”

“I’m not taking that thing.” Mrs. Garrison took a horrified step back.

“Yes, you are,” Mason said, his voice determined and hard. When she looked as if she was going to object, he smirked. “I’ll tell you what. You take that test, and if it comes out positive, I’ll go with you right now.”

“Excuse me?” Reese spun to gape up at him. He clasped her shoulder as if begging her to trust him.

“But if you refuse, I want you to leave and never enter this state again.”

A moment of indecision crossed the older woman’s face, but she finally nodded.

“Okay, then,” Reese said. “I’m watching every step you make until this is over.”

“You’re not going with her,” Lowe insisted at the same moment Mrs. Garrison bristled and said, “You’re not coming with me.”

“I’ll go.” Eva, the true pregnant woman, raised her hand.

But Pick grasped her elbow. “I don’t think so, Tinker Bell. If Lowe doesn’t trust his woman alone with that broad, then you sure as hell aren’t going near her. Not in your condition.”

I had a feeling Mrs. Garrison would try to trick Eva into peeing on the stick for her. So, I drew in a deep breath and took matters into my own hands. “Give me the box.” When Reese readily handed it over, I glanced at Mrs. Garrison. “This way.”

“And who do you think you are?” she sneered, not moving.

“She’s
Dr.
Kavanagh,” Reese answered for me, emphasizing the doctor part as if she wanted Mrs. Garrison to think I was a medical doctor, not an academic one.

Mrs. Garrison merely narrowed her eyes. “Well, isn’t that nice?”

“Pleasantly so.” Well acquainted with how to treat her kind, I gave a stoic nod, demonstrating my stiff indifference. “Now, shall we?” I turned away, not waiting for her and not surprised when I heard her fall into step behind me. “Mr. Gamble,” I called, notching my chin high. “Would you please escort us?”

He was out from behind the bar before I could blink, taking my elbow gently. Without saying a word, he directed us into the hallway. No one else followed. We were halfway down the dark corridor before he leaned in close and whispered into my ear. “We are so going to talk about this.”

I nodded. “It’s the reason I came to see you tonight.”

He blew out a long breath. “Shit. Do you really think you’re—”

“I hope you don’t expect me to pee on a stick in front of you,
Doctor
?” The grating voice behind us caused Noel to dig his fingers a little deeper into my arm. I could tell he was about to say something degrading, so I quickly spoke up.

“Oh, you won’t be going near the stick. But I do think you can handle the rest on your own.” I paused in front of the bathroom door and held out a cup I’d swiped off the bar. “All we need is a sample.”

Mrs. Garrison glared at the cup a moment before snatching it from my hand. Then she threw it against the wall, seething. As the cup shattered, she demanded, “Where’s the fucking back door in this place?”

Noel just chuckled. “Sorry, we don’t have one.”

She glared at him for a moment before spinning away and stalking off.

Sharing a glance with Noel, I lifted my eyebrows. “Well, I guess she
was
bluffing.”

He looped an arm around my waist and kissed my hair. “She might not be pregnant, but what’re the odds that
you’re
not?”

When his hand settled low on my stomach, a wash of heat spread through me. “I...I’m not sure. I’m only a few days late, but...”

“The closet,” he said. “No protection. I remember.”

“Yeah.” I closed my eyes and breathed through my teeth. “I’ve never been regular. So it might not mean anything. I just...needed to know.”

Noel cradled me close, burying his face in my neck. “It’s strange. But I’m not nearly as freaked out as I thought I’d be.”

I lifted my face as his fingers lightly traced my jaw. “What’re you saying?”

“I’m saying if you are, it’ll be okay. Maybe better than okay. A little premature, but I’d be...okay with this.”

My breath caught in my chest. But had he just told me he actually
wanted
to have babies with me? I didn’t know how to answer. An immediate joy bubbled in my chest just knowing he felt that way, but I knew the idea of a baby right now would be bad. Worse than bad.

And yet...a part of me wanted it to be true, wanted Noel and me to stay together and make a family. Someone to love and love me in return.

“So,” Noel prodded, catching my chin and lifting my face until I was forced to look at him. “Would
you
be okay with it?”

I opened my mouth, but I still wasn’t sure how to respond. My initial gut instinct was to scream yes and jump into his arm so we could hug and live happily ever after. But every time I tried to picture our future, it just looked doomed.

“Dr. Kavanagh!” Reese Randall’s ecstatic voice hurtled down the hall before she raced to us and hugged me tight. “You did it. You were right. She was totally lying. Oh, my God. Thank you.”

I was too startled by the contact to hug her back before she was pulling away and pushing her hair out of her face. “I don’t think we could’ve handled that so diplomatically without you. You’re such a lifesaver. Oh, and thanks for, you know, going along with me when I made it sound like you were a medical doctor.”

“Not a problem,” I told her, trying to sound gracious and teacherly, even though I totally ruined it by grinning and adding, “It was kind of fun.” There was just something eternally perky about Miss Randall; she always filled my World Masterpieces class with a cheerful vivacity and drew out the carefree goofball in me.

But then she completely killed my glow by leaning in to whisper, “And good luck on your own test, however you want it to go.” When she glanced conspicuously toward Noel, I realized she knew...
everyone
here knew he and I were together.

And Noel didn’t help the situation in the least when he walked me out of the hall a minute later, calling across the bar to his roommate that he didn’t need a ride home while he proprietarily set his hand at the small of my back to lead me toward the exit.

Mr. Hamilton waving us goodbye and politely calling, “Good night, Noel. Night, Dr. Kavanagh,” only made the situation worse.

If I ended up being pregnant, everyone would know my student was the father.

***

“You don't love someone because of their looks or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song only your heart can understand.” - L.J. Smith

***

“So why do you think she did it?”

Biting my bottom lip, I pulled out of the parking lot of Forbidden. In the passenger seat, Noel nervously drummed his fingers on his knee. He did that a lot when he wasn’t quite comfortable. Well, I wasn’t exactly ready to put on my fuzzy, bunny slippers and curl up with a good book myself.

After the anticlimactic departure of Mrs. Garrison from Forbidden, I was ready to move past that scene though, while Noel obviously was not.

“I mean, what the hell?” He glanced across the interior of my car toward me. “I don’t get it. The woman came all the way from Florida to tell Lowe a lie he would’ve caught on to eventually. Why even bother?”

I focused on his question because I didn’t like thinking about how perilously public our relationship was becoming, and that was the only thing zooming through my mind right now.

“Women like her use whatever they can to manipulate people,” I told him. “She knows she’s a quick thinker. Maybe she was hoping Mason would blindly follow her back to Florida so she could bank on the chance she could come up with something else to use against him to keep him there.”

Noel snorted. “Yeah, but...why go through all that trouble for someone who wants nothing to do with you?”

I shrugged, picturing my mother. “It’s all about control. She thrives on managing the people in her life. And every little thing they do.”

“I like control,” he argued. “I’m the freaking quarterback of my team, and I consider myself the head of my family. Hell, I’ve practically taken over at Forbidden. But I’ve never—”

Reaching out, I set my hand on his to stop his drumming fingers. “That’s because you know the difference between leadership and dictatorship. And you have a rational functioning brain. She does not. I doubt either of us could understand the way she thinks. She’s gotten so used to manipulating, blackmailing, and doing whatever she wants to get her way, she has this whole ego trip going on and thinks she can’t fail at anything. In her own mind, she’s invincible.”

Turning his hand over so our palms were facing, he laced our fingers together and gave a warm squeeze. “You sound like you have some experience with people like her.”

I nodded and paused at a four-way. “I do. Mrs. Garrison is the spitting image of my mother. I know her type well.”

He brought my knuckles up to his mouth to kiss them. “I knew there was a reason I already didn’t like your mother.” Then he changed gears, holding up the bag containing my pregnancy test and shaking it. “You’re still taking this when we get home, right?”

A rush of air exited my lungs. “Of course.”

His fingers returned to tapping. Silence filled the car. I was actually tempted to reach out and turn on the radio to kill the tension.

“So, tonight kind of turned into baby-palooza, huh?” Noel glanced over and sent me an unreadable look. “I mean, what with that lady coming in to harass Lowe, then the chick with his girlfriend who really was pregnant. My sister’s knocked up. And now you...”

When his eyes revealed just how nervous he was, I realized that was why he’d been rambling about Lowe’s problems. He’d been afraid to bring up the real issue.

Us.

“I’m probably not,” I tried to reassure him. “Like I said, I’ve never been regular. But it’s been long enough to get some accurate results, so—”

“No, it’s fine,” he told me. “I get it. And I’m with you one hundred percent. I don’t want to wait to find out. I want to know tonight.”

I nodded and pulled into my drive. After I killed the car, we both continued to sit there, facing forward without moving, until Noel burst out, “Okay, is it totally weird that I’m completely turned on right now?”

I twisted to gape at him. “What?”

He turned to me, too. “I can’t stop thinking about it.” He reached out and touched my shoulder tentatively before his fingers slid down my arm. “What if a part of me is growing in there? In you? I feel like I branded you, like we’re just so explosively amazing together, a whole new life form developed to contain the overflow.” His touch scaled my abdomen before pressing lightly. “It’s so fucking hot. We could’ve just created art together, Aspen. A masterpiece.”

Leaning across the center console, he nipped at my mouth and then slid his tongue inside. The kiss started warm and slow, but it didn’t take long to gain heat and fervor. Before I knew it, we were both panting and straining across the front seat to reach for more of each other.

“I can’t wait.” He peeled my shirt up over my head and flung it into the backseat before grasping my waist and hauling me into his lap. “Get over here, woman.”

“But what about—” We were still in my car, the front steps were only a few feet away. It was dark, yeah, but still...anyone could walk by and see.

“I don’t care,” he rasped, pushing down the cups of my bra. “I need you. Now.”

When he sucked one of my aching nipples into his mouth, it rendered me brain dead from thereon out, and suddenly, I didn’t care either. I cupped his head and gathered fistfuls of his hair into my hands as I rode his erection through our clothes. The suction he had on me seemed to tug on a nerve linked directly to the bundled core between my legs because it lit me up until I was writhing against him, begging him as I fumbled between him to tear open the fly of his jeans.

Pulling him into my hand, I pumped him, loving the feel of velvet over steel. His mouth popped free of my nipple so he could groan and slam his skull back against the seat’s headrest.

“Damn, that feels good.” He jerked his hips up, letting me know he wanted more. I squeezed harder and went faster. “Yes,” he hissed, bowing his head forward and straining. But just as quickly, he grabbed my hand and pulled me away. “Wait. I want to come inside you.”

Getting my pants off was quite a trick. We both fumbled clumsily, he cursed in frustration, and I had to throw my head back to laugh over the silliness of it. But as soon as they were out of the way and smacked against the driver’s side window, Noel grasped my hips and led my body where he needed me.

Since my legs draped over his, he spread his own knees as far as he could in the confines of the seat so he could in effect spread
me
apart. Then he yanked me down and impaled me. The shock of it caused me to gasp. The muscles inside me clenched around him, needing something to hold on to, to ground me to this moment so I couldn’t just float away.

“God damn.” His fingers bit into my hips and he yanked me up, only to jerk me back down. It was just as filling as his first thrust. I bit my lip and gripped his shoulders, hanging on for dear life. “I love this,” he panted. “I fucking love being inside you.” His breathing was rough and eyes hooded as he met my gaze. “You’re so gorgeous. Jesus, Aspen.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Nothing should be this good. I don’t want it to end.”

The literature professor in me immediately had a Robert Frost moment.
Nothing gold can stay
. Well, Noel Gamble was the golden pot of happily ever after at the end of my rainbow. Did that make him my fleeting glimpse of joy? My gold that could not stay?