To Professor, with Love (Forbidden Men #2)(96)

One girl was even nice enough to bend down and fetch my note for me. I took it with a stone-faced nod and curled it into my fist. After the place cleared out, I packed my briefcase and walked to my office before shutting myself inside alone. I collapsed into my chair and sat there another five minutes before I opened my hand to read the note crumpled inside.

It was another quote for my board: “You know what the crummiest feeling you can have is? To hate the person you love the best in the world.”- S.E. Hinton (from That Was Then, This is Now)

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“Would 'sorry' have made any difference? Does it ever? It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions.” - Sarah Ockler, Bittersweet

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NOEL



Sober and feeling like shit, I fisted my hand and pounded on Aspen’s door. She didn’t open it until about thirty seconds after I started shouting her name at the top of my lungs.

As soon as the dead bolt sounded and it cracked open, I set my palm on the surface and started to push...until the chain caught. Glaring at it, I lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Stop pounding on my door or I’ll call the police.”

I pressed my forehead against cool wood so I could see her through the small slit and wedged my fingers into the gap. Risky move, but I knew she wouldn’t smash my digits. My dick might be another matter, but my fingers seemed relatively safe. I hoped.

“Please. I just came to apologize. I’m sober now, I swear.”

“You could apologize out there just as well as you could in here.”

But I wanted to be in there. “Aspen,” I choked out, dying a little from her rejection. My eyelids squeezed together. “I’m sorry. I’m so f*cking sorry. Let me in. Just let me in.”

She gave a surrendering sigh. To me, it sounded like the creaking of the pearly gates as they opened to allow me entrance into Heaven. “Get your fingers out of the way, so I can unlock the dead bolt.”

I opened my eyes to consider her. She could be lying, but I decided to chance it.

“I trust you,” I whispered before I slowly slid my hand free.

The door immediately popped shut. I swallowed, fearing that was it. I was forever forbidden entrance into her home. A second passed, and I just stood there, terrified, and not sure what to do with myself now, because everything I wanted was on the other side of that door.

Then the chain rattled and my heart lurched with shock and elation.

Grabbing the handle, I turned and bulldozed my way inside.

“Hey—”

She could scowl at me in disapproval all she wanted, but I was inside. With her.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I caught her by the back of the neck to yank her against me. She didn’t get out much more than a surprised squeak before my mouth covered hers and my tongue dove deep.

One thing she’d never been able to deny me was a kiss. As I plundered, she crawled up me, clinging and digging her fingers into my hair as her nails gripped my scalp. It felt so f*cking good, I slung my arm around her waist and picked her up. And as naturally as breathing, she wrapped her legs around my hips.

Anchoring her higher than me so that we had to change positions and she was the one tipping her face down, I lifted my chin to keep my mouth fused to hers. For now, that was my main goal. As soon as our lips lost contact with each other, she’d start in. She’d try to push me away. But I wouldn’t let that happen.

I spun us until I propped her spine against the wall and there I dry humped her through our clothes. The warmth between her legs spread through all the layers of cloth and hugged my dick with a dirty tease. When she whimpered and ground back against me, I groaned.

Her head slammed back, making me lose contact with her lips.

“Stop,” she breathed, even as her body rubbed against mine.

“Never.” I kissed her throat and peeled down the collar of her shirt.

She shoved at my shoulder, but I kept licking and nibbling, determined to change her mind.

“Noel. I said stop.” When she sucked in a breath, I glanced up. She’d closed her eyes and was biting her bottom lip. I knew her release was coming, so I pushed my hips harder against her, knowing I was hitting her sweet spot, dead on target. In mere seconds, she’d be breaking apart in my arms.

“No,” she moaned, even as she started to come.

“Yes,” I hissed right back, watching her face as she fell apart in my arms. She fought it, thrashing her head back and forth. But I could tell just how hard it hit her when she cried out and strained against me, seeking what she knew I could give her. She took it all, and was left panting and limp when she came back down from her peak. Finally cracking her lashes open, she gazed at me from glassy, dazed eyes.

“You. Are. Mine,” I told her. “I don’t care how many times you break up with me or how many other men you try to take on a date. I don’t care how wrong we are for each other. I don’t care that I’ll never be good enough for you or that we’re risking everything to be together. Your mother would never approve. Whatever. Fuck it all. You are f*cking mine. And I’m yours. And we belong together.”

“No,” she whispered.

“Damn it.” Fisting my hand, I pounded the wall next to us. “Yes!”

She jumped, and a tear slid down her cheek. “Noel, stop. Please. Stop. I don’t want this. I don’t want this.”