To Professor, with Love (Forbidden Men #2)(87)

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 f*cking 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?”