To Professor, with Love (Forbidden Men #2)(92)

Marci smiled and nodded. “It’s time to give me a chance with him now.”

Dear God, she liked him. She liked my man.

Banking on the fact that she didn’t want to hurt him, I said, “If you show that picture to anyone, Noel will get into trouble, too. After the scandal on the volleyball team, his coach told all the football players they’d be kicked off the squad if they were caught in a similar situation. And since he’s here on his athletic scholarship, he’d have to leave Ellamore completely. Do you really want that to happen to him?”

Marci paused. I prayed I had her bluffed out; I even took a relieved breath. But then she came back with, “Then I guess I’ll just have to show them this picture.”

She used her fingers to scroll to a new image, and I almost threw up.

Noel’s face didn’t make this shot. It was all me. My bra was gone, and I’d thrown my head back until my hair was spilling down my back with my bare breasts arched out. The only part of my partner was a strong masculine arm wrapping around my back. I was probably in the middle of my orgasm, and...okay, I had to swallow a little bit of vomit there.

But, oh, my God. This was bad. How many pictures did this bitch have?

“No one can tell who he is here because his face is cropped.” She sent me a little smirk, which I returned with a silent glare. “But you see... right there.” She pointed to his tattoo. “About a dozen other players have that same exact tattoo. So, it’s more than obvious you’re f*cking a current player on the football team, but no one has to know exactly which one.”

I kept my expression bland. It was the only thing I could do at a time like this. I mean, sure, I could leap across the table to strangle her to death, and that’s what I wanted to do. But that wouldn’t help Noel, unless I finally did come up with a way to sneak a dead body out of my office.

Damn it.

After clearing my throat discreetly, I asked, “Did you want that to be a low A or a high A?”

***

“The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.” - Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

***

NOEL



I decided to give Aspen some time. I know, that made no sense. Whenever she had time to reason things out, she decided against us. But I was banking on the fact she’d miss me.

Because I sure as hell missed her.

“Come on, man. You’re killing me here.” Ten reached past me where I sat at the table in our dinky kitchen with homework spread across the surface and slammed closed the textbook I was reading. “You’ve been working or doing homework all f*cking weekend. It’s driving me batty.”

I sent him a glare and reopened my book, muttering under my breath because the bastard had lost my place. “I told you, I need to catch up with this shit. Back the f*ck off.”

Ten slowly tipped the book shut again, lifting his eyebrows in outright challenge. “You’re not doing homework, *. You’re pouting because she dumped your ass.”

Clenching my teeth to keep my temper in check, I ground out, “She did not dump me.” She’d specifically said the word break. Break meant we’d get back together...eventually. Break meant there was still a chance.

When I opened the book a third time, my roommate snagged it off the table and out of my reach, holding it above his head like some kind of eleven-year-old bully stealing his little sister’s doll. “You just keep telling yourself that, bud. But we’re still going out tonight.”

I slapped the top of the table. “I don’t want—”

“Well, I’m starving, and there’s no food in the fridge. It was your turn to grocery shop. So you’re taking me out to eat. I’m craving Guido’s.”

I shook my head, startled by how specific he was. He never craved one certain place. Hell, the guy never craved one certain type of food. He was one of those vacuums that ate whatever you put in front of him.

“What is this?” I asked. “You asking me on a date?”

He winked and blew me a kiss. “Buy me enough drinks, and you might even get lucky.”

With a snort, I gave in and let Ten drag me out of my apartment. I wouldn’t admit it to him, but it was nice to get some fresh air. I’d holed myself up in the apartment for too many days, and getting out to breathe for a minute actually helped clear my head.

We found a spot a block down and across the street from Guido’s. Still flipping me hell about mooning after Aspen, my roommate bumped his arm into mine, trying to rile me up. But I ignored him for the most part.

Not until he breathed, “Oh, shit,” did I look up and catch how wide his eyes had gone.

“What?” I began to turn to see what he was staring at, but he caught my arm. “Nothing. I changed my mind. Guido’s sucks. Let’s get some Mexican or something instead.”

I rolled my eyes. How much more obvious could a guy get. I turned again. When he physically tried to bar me from looking, I shoved him back and faced the little Italian joint.

And there she was.

Across the street, in front of a wide, open glass window at a table for two, sat Aspen. In Guido’s. With Dr. Chaplain. On what looked like a f*cking date.

“Motherf*cker.” When I stepped off the curb to cross to her side, Tenning grabbed my arm.

“Whoa, man. What do you think you’re doing?”