Page 59 of Teach Me Your Ways

“Promise?” The word came out on a moan as I started moving inside her.

I built the tension between us with deliberate, measured strokes. I wanted to memorize every expression that crossed her face, every sound she made. Because even though neither of us was saying it out loud, we both knew this couldn’t last. Tomorrow we’d have to go back to being professor and student. But tonight? Tonight she was mine.

“Look at me,” I commanded softly when her eyes started to drift closed.

She opened them, pupils dilated with pleasure. The connection between us felt electric. More than just physical. Dangerous.

“That’s it,” I breathed, my rhythm never faltering. “Stay with me.”

Her nails dug into my shoulders as she exploded around me. I was lost in ecstasy too a second later. I kissed the side of her face and then nibbled on her earlobe.

“Stay the night,” I whispered.

She tensed against me, her body going from pliant to rigid in a blink. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” I asked, though part of me already suspected this had been too good to be true. “It’s Friday night. No classes tomorrow.” I hoped like hell she wasn’t going to tell me she had a boyfriend waiting at home.

She shifted uncomfortably beneath me, avoiding eye contact. “I have to get home. My daughter will be wondering where I am.”

The words stopped me cold. I pulled back, staring down at her. “Your daughter?”

“Sophie. She’s five.” The words came out defensive, like she was bracing for judgment. “My mom’s watching her, but I need to be there when she wakes up in the morning.”

I rolled off her, sitting up on the edge of the broken couch. A daughter. A fucking five-year-old daughter. My mind reeled, trying to process this information that felt like it should have come up before now. Before I’d had my hands all over her. Before I’d been inside her three times tonight.

“You never mentioned—” I started, then stopped myself. Because what was I going to say? That she should have disclosed her parental status before we fucked? That having a kid changed everything?

Except it did change everything, didn’t it?

“It’s not exactly something that comes up in casual conversation,” she said quietly, reaching for her clothes. “Especially not with professors.”

I watched her pull on her shirt, the easy intimacy we’d shared moments before evaporating like steam. “Cece, I didn’t mean⁠—”

“It’s fine.” But her voice was clipped now, professional. She was already pulling away, building walls between us. “I should have mentioned it earlier.”

“No, that’s not—” I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated with myself. “I was just surprised.”

She paused, looking at me with those blue eyes that had been soft with satisfaction minutes ago and were now guarded. “Surprised. Right.”

Fuck. I was handling this all wrong. But the revelation had knocked me completely off balance. A kid meant responsibilities I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It meant her life was infinitely more complicated than I’d realized. It meant she wasn’t just some graduate student I could have a casual fling with. And she definitely couldn’t hop on a plane and fly into the jungle to hide out for months at a time.

She got dressed quickly and grabbed her keys from where they’d fallen on the floor. “I should go.”

“Cece, wait⁠—”

But she was already heading for the door. “I’ll see you in class next week.”