“Thank you.” He threads his fingers through my hair, making everything inside of me hum. “Heather stopped by my parent’s place with her parents spouting off how you’d picked some blonde bombshell as your future trophy wife. She wanted to shove it in my face that you were off the market. Apparently, I’ve not been overly successful at convincing her that I’m head over heels for you." I wrinkle my nose. "But she has zero belief that I could earn that same response from you.”
“Well, she’s dead wrong because I about shouted it to my father when he wouldn’t let the topic drop. I’m so tired of his attempts at manipulation.” He shakes his head. “I’m about to tell him, I’m leaving the company.”
My heart lodges in my throat. “You can’t. You can’t give up everything you’ve worked for since you were a child. For me. That’s….” I shake my head. “I can’t live with that. You’d lose your birthright and millions of dollars.”
His eyes flash in anger as he leads me to the sofa and settles me on his lap, facing him. “It’s not only unfair, but also ridiculous. I don’t want the company if it’s going to come between us. Right now, I can’t tell people we’re together because he doesn’t want my reputation to harm the company, but he doesn’t care in the least what makes me happy.” He abruptly stops his tirade and strokes his hands along my back. “You make me happy. Touching you makes me happy.” He leans down and trails his tongue along the column of my neck. “Loving you makes me happy.”
“Stop,” I groan, but despite my protest, I’m putty in his hands. As he explores my body, stroking from my back down to my ass, I whimper and grind against his erection. What were we talking about? Damn it. His future. I press my hands against his chest and push. “Stop. We need to focus for a second. What did your father do when you refused to pick a fiancée?” I tip my head sideways and study him. “You didn’t pick one of them, did you?”
“Daisy,” he growls and swats my ass. “Keep that up, and I’ll have to punish you.”
My clit twitches as visions of his punishments fill my head with desire. But this is serious. His father is never going to approve of us together. “What are you going to do? What if he refuses to give you the company once he finds out about us?”
He shakes his head. “Let me worry about that. I told him I’m seeing someone, so all these dramatics were unnecessary. He pushed to know who it was, but I told him it’s a new relationship, and I wanted to ensure it’s solid before telling you about the company. He was content with that answer. Despite the gold diggers he’s traipsing in front of me, he wants me to be happy and not marry someone who only wants me for my money.”
“But how long will that hold him off?” Unease settles on my stomach. “What happens if he disapproves of us together? No matter what, you’ll have always been my professor, which will paint an ugly image over our relationship for people who care about those kinds of things, and your father appears to be one of those people.”
“Baby, don’t worry about it. It’s eight weeks until the semester is over. When he meets you, he’s going to love you. You’re smart, caring, and determined, and you come from a good family. There’s no reason he should oppose.”
Except for the big, fat reason he’d oppose us right now. He’s my professor, and that’s going to ruin everything. Why didn’t I drop the class the second I saw him standing behind the lectern?
Because I’m weak, and it was the only way I could be close to him. But the selfish, childish decision I made all those weeks ago to be near him an hour a day, three days a week, will ruin our entire future.
It feels like a bomb has been strapped to my chest, waiting to detonate.
Chapter Forty-One
Alexander
A Few Days Later
I push back my chair, stand, and shake Wes’s outstretched hand. “How is everything going?”
“Great, man.” He pumps my arm and settles into the seat across from me. “I was meeting your old man to walk him through the new software system. He loved it.”
As I lower into my chair, he leans back into his and studies me. “I’m glad you told me he had no idea you were the program designer, or I would have said the wrong thing.”
“He questions my competency outside of pushing a pen.” He barely considers me capable of chewing gum and walking simultaneously. So why is he ready to hand the company’s reins over to me? Unless he’s sick. That’s the only thing that makes sense.
Or he has no intention of doing it and is trying to lead me around by the nose to get what he wants. Yeah, that’s sadly more like it.
“Well, he’s wrong, and his loss is our gain. I was able to get you a top contract on distribution.”
“Thank you.” I cross my arms over my chest, causing my chair to squeak. “Anything else moving?”
“Jason is interested in designing a new app with you.” He arches an eyebrow. “Interested?”
Jason Highland is one of the top software designers in the US. I’d be stupid to turn down the opportunity, but it’s a huge time investment. Can I juggle everything I have going on and have time for this project? “Timeframe?”
“Starting next week.”
“Shit.” I shove out of my chair and walk to the window overlooking the parking lot. A steady stream of people come in and out of the building going to and returning from lunch.
“I would love to do it, but I don’t–”
“It’s an app for one of the top cell phone distributors in the world.”
I spin to face him. “Come again?”