“Technically, you’re right. It was perfect and you did an incredible job.”
“So, what then?”
“The couple standing beside Rebecca were the adoptive parents of those twins, and when you—”
Autumn sucks in a deep gasp, her hand flying to her mouth as she straightens on the bed, her back stiffening like a wooden board. Her eyes somehow fill quicker with tears as she gapes at me in horror. “I robbed that woman of the first hold of her son.”
My hand flinches at my side, and I use every little bit of will power that I have to stop myself from pulling her into my chest and holding her until the tears are gone. “It’s okay,” I tell her, pressing my lips into a tight line. “The adoptive mother came and spoke to me, and she said not to worry. This is her fifth and sixth baby, so she’s not put out, but had that been anyone else; perhaps a first-time mother who had been waiting her whole life for that very moment … Look, all I’m saying is that in the future, you need to be better prepared for situations like this.”
Autumn wipes the tears off her face and takes a few slow, calming breaths. “I promise,” she tells me, fighting the need to break down again. “I will never fuck up like this again. I want to be the best. I swear, I would never intentionally go out and try to hurt someone like that. I … I …”
Fuck it.
I reach out and grab her, curling my hands around her toned waist and pulling her into my lap. She instantly falls into me, straddling my lap and allowing me to crush her against my chest and hold her as she cries. “I’m sorry,” I murmur as I feel her tears on my neck and her soft hair brushing against my cheek. My hand roams up and down her back and despite her misery, I’ve never felt so content.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she tells me over the lump in her throat. “You had to send me away. It was the right thing to do. I can’t be getting special treatment just because …”
She cuts herself off as my hands pause on her back. “Just because of what, Autumn?” I prompt, gently pulling back.
Autumn straightens and pulls her face out from the curve of my neck. She meets my eyes before wiping her hands over her own. “Don’t act like you don’t know,” she murmurs, her heart on her sleeve. “Something is going on between us and I know you feel it just like I do.”
I reach up and curl my hand around the back of her neck, my thumb lazily resting along the curve of her jaw. “You and I …” I start. “No matter how I feel, you’re my student. We can’t be involved.”
Autumn nods. “I know,” she whispers, her heartbreak shining through as another tear falls from her beautiful eyes. My thumb reaches out and instantly wipes it away.
“Please stop crying,” I urge. “Your tears are killing me.”
She watches me for a quiet, drawn-out moment before slowly looping her arms around my neck. I sink into her touch. The longer she’s there, the more I seem to like it, which only has me pulling at her waist, drawing her body tighter against mine.
Without warning, Autumn closes the gap and before I know it, her face is hovering right in front of mine, her lips just a mere breath away. It would take no effort at all to pull her that little bit closer and finally feel her lips on mine.
I know I shouldn’t. I should be telling her to put herself back together and get back to work, but I can’t. This moment has been growing between us, every day, every minute spent together, leading us toward this. To send her away now would be to commit a heinous crime.
Her eyes bore into mine, silently begging me to leap with her. I can’t resist her. Those eyes are like a beacon pulling me in.
My hand tightens around the back of her neck and in an instant, I pull her in, closing the space between us and crushing her lips to mine. Her body relaxes into mine as our lips finally begin to move.
A soft moan rumbles through her chest as my arm wraps tighter around her, keeping her as close as physically possible. It’s as though her body fits mine perfectly, effortlessly resting beside mine like two puzzle pieces that were always supposed to fit together.
Autumn’s arms tighten around my neck as our lips continue to move in a dance. I’ve never felt anything so perfect, so right. Just like that, I know that every other woman is ruined for me. I will never find anything as good as this.