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ChapterSix
Carla had made it a point never to speak to Ashley on campus. From the outside, nothing had changed. No one would have suspected that anything was going on between them. Ashley was one of hundreds of students she taught each year, and other than that evening she’d bumped into Ashley as she left her office, they’d never interacted at college.
It was probably a little dramatic, but that was the line Carla had drawn, because she knew if Ashley made it a habit out of dropping by her office, they’d end up on her couch or… Carla sucked in a breath as she leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes, blocking out the glow from her laptop screen, that fantasy of taking Ashley on this very desk invading her mind once again, in shocking detail.
That fantasy was one that was never far from her mind when Carla was sitting in this chair. But it had evolved over the last few months. It had been five months now since Carla had wandered into that wine bar with the lowest of expectations about her night would turn out.
How wrong she’d been.
Carla’s eyes fluttered open, leaving behind detailed images of Ashley on her back on this desk, her hands pinned above her head as Carla unbuttoned her jeans and made just enough room to slip two fingers inside her, a throaty moan that Carla knew so well escaping Ashley’s lips.
Carla blinked, her eyes refocusing on the email open in front of her. It was only Tuesday, and now she wasn’t even sure if she’d see Ashley this weekend. Carla stared at the screen with no idea how to reply to an email her ex, Shawna, had sent her, but it couldn’t go unanswered either.
The last thing Carla wanted to do was see her, but she was in town to see her family, and because of the way things ended, they’d never really spoken since Carla had told her to pack her bags and get out.
She shook her head, wishing she could erase the image of her ex in their bedwith a woman half their age. Although, if Shawna could see her now. Ashley might not be half her age, but it was damn close.
And she’d had the perfect out. Carla could have ended it when Ashley told her how they’d really met.
If Carla had wanted an easy way out of this, Ashley had handed it to her on a platter.
Yet, in the moment, when she’d seen the tears in Ashley’s eyes, the panic almost, as she waited to see how she would react, Carla never thought about ending it.
What that said about her, she didn’t know. If Carla had any sense at all, she would have used that as an excuse to walk away and not feel guilty about being the one to do it.
But no. She was still sleeping with one of her students, and it was when she thought of it in those stark terms that Carla wondered how she’d ended up here.
Not only was Ashley one of her students, she was also twenty-two.
Carla blew out a breath, leaning back in her chair. She’d managed to forget about those two details these last few weeks, but for some reason, an innocent email from Shawna asking her to meet up this weekend, had Carla questioning everything that was happening with Ashley.
Carla didn’t really care what Shawna thought of her if she ever found out about Ashley. It wasn’t that. It was that Shawna was the type of woman that Carla was used to dating. Shawna was one year older than her. She was a professor too.
They moved in the same social circles, and no one had ever looked twice at them when they’d gone on vacation together or arrived at a restaurant looking for a table for two.
Carla hadn’t done either of those things with Ashley, but she knew that they could be mistaken for mother and daughter even if they looked nothing alike. What else would a forty-year-old and a twenty-two-year-old being doing together?
Carla stared at the email again. Shawna wanted to know if she was free on Friday night. She’d suggested dinner, and Carla rested her hands on the keyboard, typing a few lines before deleting them, her initial reply too formal for someone she’d spent years living with.
She’d have to find a way to let Ashley know not to come by her apartment Friday now. Carla would still keep Saturday and Sunday free.
As much as she’d rather be spending Friday night with Ashley, Carla hit send, agreeing to dinner with her ex, not entirely sure how it would go but knowing that it was just something she had to do.
