Page 79 of The Professor's Wife

I set him down on his feet and turned us toward Oliver. My heart beat faster as Oliver approached Rowe and dropped down to his level. I looked down at Rowe, watching as his curious eyes ran over Oliver and then settled on the giant gift bag with the race car patterns.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Rowe,” Oliver said softly. “Your mom’s told me so much about you. In fact, she told me it’s your birthday today.” He moved in closer, whispering, “I’m somewhat of a big deal when it comes to birthdays. I get the best presents.”

Rowe’s eyes lit up, and a fast smile spread across his face. “Really?”

“Really, really.”

Oliver slid the bag closer across the carpet.

Rowe reached for it, then stopped and looked up at me.

I smiled and nodded.

Only then did he pull the bag into his lap.

I glanced at Oliver, but he was watching Rowe with such warmth that I felt foolish for noticing the pause at all.

Oliver continued to speak in soft quiet tones. My lips twitched as Rowe grew more excited, his body shaking withanticipation as Oliver told him how amazing his present was going to be. I looked up at June, a smile spreading across my face. June’s eyes were locked on Oliver. She was smiling, too, but her gaze looked heavy on him, like she was as dazed by him as I was.

Finally, her eyes jumped to meet mine, and I read her expression clearly. Just how did you get him?

I didn’t know, but I felt genuine fear in that very instant.

Fear that this wouldn’t last.

Fear that I would mess it up.

That Oliver would slip through my fingers, and I’d forever pine for him. I couldn’t ruin this. Not when Rowe was tearing through the bag, finding the latest console and games within. I had mentioned once that Rowe watched other children playing it through the shop window. I didn’t remember telling Oliver which model. My heart pinched.

Oliver’s laugh was smooth and wonderful, and it made my being come alive. He finally looked up and met my gaze. Pure adoration shone in his expression. I never wanted him to look at me any other way.

With Rowe’s eager acceptance of the professor, the last walls I’d erected fell down in a glorious heap.

I had fallen irrevocably in love with Oliver Black.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

NOTES FROM THE DARK:

We do not learn; we remember.

Truth lives inside us, waiting to be recalled.

I woke up to Tristan literally biting my ass cheek. His head was buried beneath my shirt, his hands sliding up and down my legs. I grinned into the pillow.

“What are you doing down there?”

“You have the most beautiful ass, Daze,” he said, licking where he’d bitten me. “I can’t help myself. You’re sticking it out at me all fucking day and night—”

“That bite hurt, Tristan.”

He bit me again, this time more gently. “Better?”

I hummed and shut my eyes. He didn’t move from where he was, worshipping the lower half of my body like a man possessed. His hands ran over my skin, back and forth, like he couldn’t get enough of me.

My chest panged from the feeling it gave me. I didn’t want to feel that pang at all, yet I was hungry for the softness of his touch. My lips trembled from emotion at the same time my body broke out in tremors, yearning for more.

It wasn’t long before he rolled me onto my back. His large hands trailed up my abdomen and wrapped around my breasts. He squeezed them needily, and I loved how they fit in his hands.