“Mom and Dad were high school sweethearts,” I argued.
“Yeah, and they were both young. They grew together. You’re almost forty—settled. Is she going to want to settle with you when she grows into adulthood?”
Of all the issues that laid between us, her changing into someone I didn’t fit with never crossed my mind. We had too many other external forces working against us, I never looked beyond them.
I couldn’t deny his words. Jacob wasn’t wrong.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“Yeah. Fuck.”
“I just never thought about it.”
“I can see that.”
“She’s solid though. She’s confident in who she is. She’s not an immature girl searching for herself. I know that.”
And I did. Yes, his worries were valid, but only from someone who didn’t know the woman Olivia was. Despite his concern, I was confident in her—in us.
“Then there’s just one question you have to ask yourself.”
“What?”
“Is she worth it? Even if it all falls apart. Would she be worth it?”
Olivia’s playful smile and devious smirk flashed through my mind. The way she threw her head back and laughed, her blonde hair spilling down her back. The way my heart beat twice as hard when I walked into the hotel to find her sharing her brilliant ideas. The way my mind calmed as soon as she was in my arms. The way her eyes always dared me for more.
God, I loved her.
“Yeah, she’s worth it.”
“Good, because she may be all you have by your side after telling Daniel you’re fucking his baby niece,” Jacob said with a laugh.
Losing Daniel was the least of my worries.
What scared me more was even if we did tell Daniel, she’d still leave me.
And no matter how much I wanted to deny it, the fear planted itself deep.
25 Kent
“I really appreciate you coming, Mr. Kent,” Elizabeth Arden said, opening the door to the auditorium.
“It’s an honor to come and speak to our future entrepreneurs.”
“Hopefully, our future entrepreneurs. I’m not sure all of them will make it.” She sat her books and papers down and leaned against the wooden desk to face me. “Miss Witt seems like she’ll be one of the ones to make it.”
My heart galloped harder and squeezed in on itself all at once at the mention of Olivia’s name. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but I was sure a student fucking the man helping with a school project would be heavily frowned upon.
“I would expect nothing less,” I managed with a smooth tone.
“I was worried she would end up failing this class. She was very apathetic when she started, but once she began interning for your business, she seemed revived and more excited than I’d ever seen her.”
“She’s very talented. I—my company was very lucky to have her help.”
Dr. Arden’s hair fell forward when she looked down and laughed. “Yes, she bragged a bit about her ideas being utilized.”
I looked down too, to hide the smile I knew gave away my adoration. When I looked up, Dr. Arden was taking me in, biting her lip. “Maybe we can grab lunch after this if you’re free.”
She was a beautiful woman close to my age. This time last year, I would have jumped at the chance to fuck this woman, taken the opportunity to play out any teacher fantasies I had. But not anymore. Now, the idea of changing from one woman to the next sounded exhausting. If I had any teacher fantasies, I knew Olivia would be more than happy to play them out.
“I appreciate the offer, but I have to get back to the office before flying out.”
If she was embarrassed by my rejection, she didn’t show it. She simply shrugged a shoulder. “Of course.” Standing from her position, she turned to shuffle through some papers. “Feel free to set up whatever you need. The students should be piling in any minute.”
On cue, the door opened, and they trickled in. I did my best to not search for Olivia, but I didn’t need to bother. The energy around me changed when she was near, like her body called to mine. She held my gaze for only a moment. Just long enough to make sure I saw the way her tongue slicked across her lips, and the way she scanned me head to toe.
My cock hardened, and I shifted to stand behind the lectern to hide what she did to me. I struggled to get my arousal under control when she sat in the front row and kept running her fingers along her exposed collarbone just under the silver chain. She wore a floral print dress that teased around her thighs with thin straps. She had on a thick cardigan, but she let it slide off her shoulder, and even that simple flash of skin had me wanting to bite her—mark her there, so everyone knew she was mine.
Especially when that pencil-dick little twerp plopped down next to her and couldn’t take his eyes off her cleavage. Olivia glared, and tugged the sweater back up, scooting away as much as she could in her tiny seat.