“Great. I’m glad you have one less professor to pay.” I gather up my things, but honestly, whatever isn’t broken isn’t worth taking. I end up with half a box of items. I load it into my truck and drive back to her apartment. When I get there, my phone is on the grass. I pick it up and fucking freak out. Alyssa sent me a text. Your student took me. Help.
I’m rushing as fast as I can back to my truck and hit the tracker on her phone. Okay, I’m a bit obsessed and might have set it up before she even got home from school. It helps to have years of mercenary work under my belt, but that’s another thing. I call in a favor from a friend, and we track the sick fuck down to a dock that leads up the damn Mississippi River. Where the fuck does this asshole think he’s taking her?
We arrive just five minutes after them. It’s amazing what you can do when you have friends in the right places. He’s about to speed off, but I can’t let that happen. That’s when I see it. She jumps into the water while he’s not looking. Good girl. I rush to get her before her kidnapper can. When I look toward the boat for threats, my guy has a gun trained on Ben Lee of all motherfucking people.
The cold water doesn’t affect me because I’m too damn busy on a mission. This water can be treacherous and unforgiving. People take the river for granted, but the undercurrents drag people down and roots that trap people under the surface, drowning them. I can’t let that happen to my love. I find her pulling her head above water, trying to stay afloat. Fuck. I grab her and pull her close. “Alyssa,” I brush my lips against her forehead and swim to the shore.
I climb the bank with her in my arms just as the police and paramedics arrive. I want him dead, but now is not the time or the place for that bullshit. First, I need my woman looked after.
“Thank you, husband,” she whispers, kissing my cheek. I turn my head and take her mouth.
“Sir.” The paramedic smirks, waiting to do his job.
“Sorry.” I let him do a cursory examination.
“I’m fine, really. I’m tired and cold, but I’m okay.”
“Ma’am, we’re going to need a statement,” my detective friend Chris says.
“Sure.” She tells them what happened, and that Ben had mistaken her for Alexa, but she couldn’t convince him otherwise.
“Baby, I need a minute. I’ll be right back.”
I walk with Chris. “I need a minute with him.”
“You know I can’t let you.”
“I’m not going to touch him. Trust me. I need to be back with Alyssa, but I have something to say.” He nods, and I walk over to the patrol car. With the window down, I frown at my former student. “This explains why you got a ‘C’ on the exam. Just so you know, that’s Alyssa. For a supposedly obsessed freak willing to kidnap a woman, it’s pretty pathetic that you couldn’t tell them apart. I noticed the first second I saw her. And now, Alexa’s in Paris staying in the same hotel room as Alyssa’s boss. I hope you enjoy prison.” I don’t know if that’s true, but I loved the look of utter misery on his face.
I stand straight and tap on the top of the car. “Thanks, Chris.”
“No problem. Did you get what you needed?”
“For now. I’ll be home if you need me. Oh, and so you know this fucker’s more than likely the one who ransacked my office.”
“Noted. Take care of her. She seems like a good woman.”
“I will.” We shake and then I head back to the ambulance. When Alyssa spots me, her frown disappears.
“That was more than a minute,” she huffs with a teasing tone, crossing her arms, pushing her tits upward.
“I’m sorry, babe.”
“I refused treatment, so they’re letting me go. Can I get a ride?”
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“To bed.”
“Okay, that sounds great. I think a trip to England is in order as well.”
“Why?”
“Where else do you think I’m hiding a castle?”
“Are you going to lock me in a tower?”
“No, but the moat option can happen. Especially if we have daughters.”
“One day at a time Professor. I still have a lesson that I need to be taught.”
“And what would that be?”
“How to suck your cock until you come down my throat?”
“Wow. To what do I owe the pleasure of that lesson?”
“Catching me after I tripped was worthy of a date, as I remember, so I’m guessing upping the ante is necessary for saving my life.” She playfully rolls her eyes as if sucking my cock is a bore.
“No, I think the only thing that will be suitable repayment for such a gesture of pure heroism is marriage. Marry me, Alyssa.”