Claiming Caroline (Claimed 3)

"Hey," Kennedy says from behind me.

I whip around, placing my hand on my heart when I see her standing in the doorway to her bedroom, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "You scared me."

"Sorry." She grimaces her apology and then sweeps her gaze across me. Her eyes widen when she realizes I'm still wearing my clothes from last night. "Are you just getting home?"

"Um...yeah. I accidentally fell asleep," I mumble, avoiding her gaze. It's the truth, but guilt twists my stomach into knots anyway. I did accidentally fall asleep…with her naked professor wrapped so tightly around me I wasn't sure where he ended and I began.

Even now, the magic of being in his arms lingers. My entire body is deliciously sore and littered with his marks. I can still taste the passion of his kisses and hear his dirty words ringing in my ears. I'm overflowing with love for the incredible, complicated man he is. But I can't tell her that.

We tell each other everything. She knows all of my secrets and I know hers. Until now.

My heart plummets toward my knees.

"Oh." She pulls her hair up into a bun, yawning. "At least you don't have to be in class until this afternoon. I didn't get home from the rehearsal dinner until almost eleven and I have an exam first thing." She pouts for a moment before her normally bright mood reappears. "Did you and Alexis have fun?"

"Yeah, I did." I'm going to hell for lying to her. I kick my shoes toward my bedroom, narrowly avoiding hitting Meeko in the head with one. "Sorry, big guy."

He squeezes past me, completely ignoring me.

"Meeko."

He glances over his shoulder at me and then trots to the kitchen.

"I guess he's mad at you," Kennedy says with a soft laugh. "He had to sleep alone last night. He'll probably pout about it all day."

"He could have slept with you."

Kennedy arches a brow at me. "We'd both end up in the floor." She's not wrong. For someone so tiny, she takes up an entire double bed by herself. Meeko tried to sleep with her a few times once she moved in this summer. It didn't last long.

I head toward the kitchen to feed him. He's lying in the floor in front of his bowl, waiting patiently for one of us to fill it. He's kind of lazy for a guard dog, but no one gets through him to us unless he decides it's okay. He's honestly as overprotective as our brothers are. Gaining approval for him to live here took more money than I care to consider.

"I made a decision last night," Kennedy says, rising on her tiptoes to grab a bowl from the cabinet. She holds it up as if to ask if I want one too, but I quickly shake my head. Food isn't appetizing right now. She shrugs and drops back down to flat feet to grab cereal. "I'm going to accept Professor King's offer."

My heart jumps into my throat. I have to take a breath to keep myself steady. "Yeah?"

She nods, pulling open the fridge. "I figure I should say yes before he changes his mind." She pauses in the act of pouring cereal into the bowl. "At least then he can't take it back."

My heart sinks again, an automatic denial rising up. I bite it back, reminding myself that she doesn't know him like I do. All she's ever seen is the exacting professor who demands perfection and doesn't try to dull the sharp edges of his criticism. She's never met the charming prince with the poet's soul or the fiercely possessive, attentive lover.

"Do you really think he's cruel enough to do that to you?" I ask, leaning against the counter to watch her rummage around the kitchen.

"Yes. No." She frowns, her face scrunching up in genuine confusion. "I don't honestly know. Maybe?"

"What if..."

"What?" she asks, looking up from her cereal when I don't finish my sentence.

"What if he's not...a terrible person?" I feel like I'm picking my way through a minefield trying to choose my words carefully. I don't want her to feel like I'm attacking her or taking his side because she has every right to be upset with him. "Maybe he's just..."

"Just what?" Her spoon drags across the side of her bowl.

"Trying to help?"

Her eyes widen and then narrow on me. "Maybe, but that doesn't excuse him being so mean. I thought all the rumors were just stories people told when he didn't love their work, you know? But they aren't. He really is a dictator with impossible expectations. Why? Did you hear something? Oh my gosh!" she gasps, her mouth popping open. Her gaze turns slightly horrified. "Please tell me you didn't confront him."

"What?" I blink, my heart pounding. "No, I just...I just wonder if maybe he's trying to help the best way he knows how. You said he didn't write anymore. I imagine helping writers like you follow their dreams when he's no longer able to follow his own is hard for him."

"I guess so." She eyes me suspiciously. "You think I'm being too hard on him?"

"I think you have a right to feel the way you do about him," I say carefully, "but I also think maybe the two of you are after the same goal. You took his class to become a stronger writer. He's trying to make you one, even if his methods are harsh. You always believe the best in everyone, even when they don't deserve it. Why not now? If he's trying...maybe you should too."

"I guess so." She takes a bite of her cereal, chewing thoughtfully. "I don't hate him," she says. "I honestly feel a little bad for him. He's so intimidating that no one really tries to talk to him. He's always by himself on campus. I guess he intimidates me a little bit, too."

"How so?" I cross to the sink to fill a pitcher with water to refill Meeko's bowl. Kennedy may be shy and soft-hearted, but she doesn't intimidate easily, especially when something matters to her as much as writing does.

"Um...because he's amazing?" she says, looking at me like I'm crazy as I fill Meeko's bowl. "His books still top bestseller lists and it's been eight years since he published his last one. He won a freaking Pulitzer! He could pretty much teach at any school in the world."