“Shit.” He shakes his head and inhales as if he finally understands the severity of my issue. I drop into the chair, sinking into the cushions. “Is she pregnant?”
“Who?” Confusion swirls in my head as I replay his words. Pregnant? My tongue nearly lodges itself in my throat. What if she is pregnant? There’s nothing worse that could happen. I can’t pretend we never had sex if an eight pound, twenty-one-inch-long baby boy pops out of her vagina in nine months. I rake a hand through my hair.
“Okay, you need to breathe.” He places his palms on his desk and waits. I inhale, causing my chest to rise. “That’s better. Now exhale.” The air flows out of my lungs, and the room stops spinning. “You’ve got to calm down. Becoming a father is a big deal, but it’s not the end of the world. You love my kid. Outside of Ann, there’s nothing I love more than Nate.”
“I know. Your kid is great.” I’ve got this. I straighten my shoulders. “The woman is not pregnant. At least, I don’t think she is, and the note she left said she was on the pill.”
He tilts his head and presses his lips together. “She left you a note?”
“Yes, asshole. I know that makes me sound like a loser. I pick up a girl at a wedding, and she’s the one that leaves thehave a nice lifenote.” My nostrils flare as the image of the paper on her pillow rears its ugly head again. That was a slap in the face to go with the kick in the nuts.
“It was that bad, huh?” The tattoos on his forearms dance as his muscles flex.
“Fuck you.” My eyes narrow until he’s barely visible from three feet away. “It was phenomenal. The best sex I’ve ever had.”
“Ah….” His eyes light up as he readjusts in his seat. The prick is enjoying himself too damn much at my expense. It’s unfair.
As I fill him in on how we met, what transpired, and how she left, he makes the proper interested–I seeandthat’s too badgestures.
“She sounds like a keeper, and now you can’t find her? You know her name from the wedding. It should be as simple as plugging it into a people finder website. Hell, man, she’s your cousin’s wife’s sister. Just show up at their house.”
“I know where she is.” I swipe my palms over my jeans. “She’s in my calculus class at one o’clock on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She’s in the third row, five from the right wall.”
“Oh, fuck.” Sean lurches forward. “Shit. Well… Damn.”
“Exactly. I destroyed one of my students in the best way possible. And now, what do I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
Toss her over my knee for leaving and paddle her ass. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit.” He rolls his eyes. “Go ahead. Play your little game. But I’ve never seen you pace an office over a female, and that’s what this is about. You’re not a tenured professor. You’re filling in for another professor who’s on sabbatical. Which is over in four months.”
“But if word got out that–”
“You had sex with a willing female before classes started. An adult woman who gave consent. When she wasn’t your student. And you each had no idea who the other was.”
“Fine.” I raise my hands in the air in mock surrender. “I wouldn’t get fired. It’s not the first time this has occurred. The most they’d do would be to have her drop the course until next semester, but she needs this class. This semester. There isn’t another calculus class to send her to and she needs the course to get into medical school in January.”
“So don’t force her to drop the class. Teach her the information, let her finish the course, and move on with your life.”
“It was my intention when we talked after class, but I can’t stop the skin-crawling sensation along my spine that tells me it’s all going to blow up in my face.”
He arches his eyebrows. “Unless you want to admit you want something more with her?”
“No.” I jump out of my seat and thrust my hands into my pockets. Stay in one place. Don’t move. Don’t pace. God, I want to pace. “I don’t want anything more with her. It was a one-night stand.” That’s what I’m going to do. Leave it in the past where it belongs. “If we pretend it didn’t happen, everything will be fine.”
“Let’s navigate risk. You know that’s what I do.” He rolls his chair backward and stands, causing the bearings to squeak under his weight. The musky scent of his aftershave tickles my nose when he stands. “What originally made you think everything would blow up in your face?”
My stomach churns as thoughts of my father handing the company to a homeless man fill me with dread. “Her cousin is in the class.” I force my jaw to relax. “She’s a bitch and hurls insults at Daisy like she’s throwing shot put in the Olympics. It’s constant.”
“So, you’re worried you’ll punch her in the throat at the first insult?”
“Yes. I don’t like her condescending attitude. She’s rude and hateful.”
“What else?”
“Her best friend is in the class, and the looks she gave me were a clear indication she knows about our night together.”