“In love,” he said, completing the phrase.
“Yes. That we can’t be involved until I graduate. Professor Oliver won’t stand for hanky panky or else an F, as you know. And I have to get my degree. Not just to get the investment, but because I want to. So we have to really, truly, for real this time put everything on hold. Yes, we could sneak around. Yes, we could try not to be caught. And maybe we’d be successful, but I just don’t want to take the risk, especially with all that happened with Wilco. I feel like we only narrowly escaped. I want to do things the right way. I want to start over with you in the open, not in hiding.”
I’d always swayed with him, bent to my own wishes to be with Bryan no matter the cost. But there was more at stake now than us. “So I guess what I’m saying is you kind of have to be my mentor. You can’t recuse yourself or I might not be able to finish school.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you’re kind of giving me an order.”
“Kind of. Or more like a request. Can you please let Nicole know you have to stay as my mentor for the next several weeks, and that we’re going to be good boys and girls, and then when I graduate, we can…”
“Be together?”
“Yes. But we really have to cool it til then. No taking chances. No calls. No nothing.”
“I think I could be amenable to waiting for you under one condition.”
“What’s that?”
He put his good hand on my waist and gently pulled my chest to his. Then he whispered in my ear, his voice low and smoky. “Let me touch you tonight.”
“Bryan! That’s not fair.”
“Fair to who?”
“You’re all hopped up on pain meds. I’m not going to take advantage of you.”
He scoffed. “First off, you could never take advantage of me. I will always want you.”
“But we’re supposed to be behaving! Didn’t we just agree to that?”
“Yeah. But think of me like a wounded soldier. You wouldn’t leave me without giving me a little something to keep me going for the next several weeks.”
“You’re terrible. We might as well just have sex then.”
“What a brilliant idea.”
I wagged a finger at him as if he were a very naughty boy. “The answer is no, no, no.”
He pressed his palms together – a sight that looked as amusing as it was sympathetic given his gauze-wrapped hand – and batted his eyelids. I pretended to swat him, and he deftly reached for me with his left hand, shifting my body alongside his and spooning me on the couch. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, his right hand resting carefully on the couch. He layered kisses on the back of my neck that turned me inside out. He pushed my hair out of the way and traced his tongue lazily across my skin, over my earlobe, and down to my shoulder blade. He moved his hand to my waist, slipping his fingers underneath my sweater. I gave in to the feeling of his fingers dancing on the waistband of my jeans. His hand was warm, his skin was soft, he felt amazing. I closed my eyes.
“Good thing I’m left-handed,” he said.
Even though I could feel the soft little hairs on my arms standing on end, I moved his hand off my belly. “Yes. That means you can use your left hand to work the TV remote.”
He heaved a long, laborious sigh of playful resignation.
“You have a will of steel, and it only makes me want to get you naked even more. But for now, I surrender. Want to watch a movie?”
“I’d love nothing more.”
I handed him the remote and settled in next to him. We scrolled through the options on-demand, debating whether we wanted to see Pitch Perfect or Bridesmaids. Anna Kendrick was my girl crush, so that movie won. Plus, I didn’t have to worry about whether that sexy scene where the cop and Kristen Wiig spend the night together would make me break my vow.
Besides, it was better this way, curled up and warm in his arms. For tonight at least.
Chapter Nineteen
I surveyed my open suitcase, thumbing through my folded clothes and neatly aligned shoes. I was ready for four days in Paris. As I doubled checked that I’d packed a power adaptor, and triple checked that I’d included extra tights since November is cold in the city of lights, I chewed the inside of my cheek with worry.
What if I returned from Paris empty-handed? Or worse, what if I brought back a brilliant prototype for a new line of necklaces and it still wasn’t what Claire and her contacts at the Elizabeth’s department store had in mind? Where would my parents be then? I had a chance with Claire; it was in my grasp, and I needed to hold on tight and not let go.
I took a deep breath, shut my black suitcase and reminded myself not to catastrophize.
I left the suitcase in the middle of my purple comforter, and checked the inside pocket of my carry-on computer bag. My passport was safely tucked away, zipped up and secured. I looked up the weather on my phone. A storm was headed towards Manhattan in a day or so. I would probably just miss it, and escape the city in the nick of time. Maybe that was a favor from the universe for being good again.
I lifted the suitcase and computer off my bed and placed them on the floor, then pulled back the covers and slid into bed. I turned on my eReader, closing out the sexy Simone Noelle novella I’d finished last night and toggling over to the new book I’d downloaded about a college girl in love with insanely hot twin brothers. The story had started to steam up when I heard the sound of the door crashing wide open. Jill always had to make an entrance.