Page 105 of The Professor's Wife

I couldn’t keep pretending.

My lips trembled. I swallowed and whispered, “I have a boy.”

He didn’t answer.

I wasn’t brave enough to look at him.

A tear fell. “I love him more than life. He is my everything.”

I was panting. Tristan breathed calmly, his body completely still.

“I’m a mother.”

At this, I finally looked up at him.

I couldn’t read his expression. He simply stared at me like he was waiting for me to continue.

“Is he safe?” he asked.

The question struck something deep inside me. My breath caught, and I looked away.

“I can’t talk about that.Please.”

His face tightened, but he nodded slowly.

“I just thought you’d like to know,” I added. “So we don’t…you know, so we don’t pretend this is something more than it really is.”

“What is it really?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just…I think we’re moving fast. Don’t you?”

He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t think we were moving fast enough.”

I let out a shuddering breath. “You can’t say things like that, Tristan. They’re red flags.”

His brows pinched. “Red flags?”

“We’re moving too fast—”

“So what?”

“You don’t even know me!”

“I’ve been trying my fucking hardest to for the past few weeks.”

I winced. “And you swear so much—”

“So fucking what?”

I shrugged. “I’m just saying, Tristan. You swear so much.”

His gaze darkened. “You’re looking for an excuse to push me away.”

“I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are.” His jaw tensed, and then he took a step closer. “You fix things by running away from them, and now you’re itching to run from me because you’re fucking scared.”

My lips parted in surprise.