“Every way I can think of.”
“Good. I like that even more.”
Chapter Twelve
Amber
We spend the night like that talking, and the next morning I wake to find my lover has already slipped from our love nest.
I pad my way to the kitchen after a quick shower to find all my clothes neatly folded on the end of his bed with a quick note and her car keys.
“See you at school. Come to my office at noon for a quick lunch with me.” -M
I smile. “Oh, Dean Spencer, kinky office sex?” I like!”
I pour a quick cup of coffee and shoot off a text to my now former boss. Maddox was very firm and made sure I knew I would never have to spend another day on stage again dancing for other men.
I grab my keys and purse and step out and nearly fall flat on my face, trying to back track.
“What the hell?” I lash out. I take a step back and another. “How did you find me?”
A grin that no man should possess crawls across my father’s face. He hooks a thumb toward his girlfriend I didn’t see creeping up on my left. She has a gun in her shaky hand.
“Stupid girl,” he snarls. “In your hurry to get out of town you left this in the trash for Tori to find. How could you leave me like that when I needed you? Just like your momma.”
His eyes are glazed over, and I can tell he’s been pushing the needle.
My heartbeat races and my eyes dart around for help. Anything that I can use to dive behind if the bullets start flying. I’m out here all alone. I pat my pockets. Ohhhh. Crap. No phone and not a chance in hell against him or the gun his flat-out crazy bitch of a girlfriend is swinging around.
“The only thing you ever needed me for was dope money. I’m not your money bag anymore. Now leave.” Probably not the wisest move to antagonize the man, but I can’t help it. Because of him so much bad has happened in my life, and I’m done with him and his problems.
“You need to leave before Maddox gets back,” I warn.
“Your fuck buddy ain’t gonna do shit to me once I tell the school what you two have been up to all alone out here.”
My blood runs cold. “And we have pictures to prove it.” Trixie jumps in waving her gun an inch from my face, phone in the other hand. They have me pinned in and I can’t get past them.
“You wouldn’t dare! How did you even find me here?” I seethe with anger.
“Easy—we followed him back here this morning, you little whore. I shoulda known you’d be just like your momma. Selling your pussy to any man to get what you want.”
My blood is molten lava in my veins as my father slurs the feelings I have for Maddox, and I want to heave knowing my father looked.
“You watched?” I ask unable to fathom what kind of man would do such a thing.
“I did.” Tori waves her phone at me and takes another step toward me. “Got the pictures to prove what a dirty little tramp you are.”
“Shut the fuck up!” I command, sounding a lot braver than I feel. But I hold my scowl in place, knowing one slip up and he would exploit even the slightest of chinks in my armor.
“You wouldn’t dare use those against me. He’s a nice decent man and we’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Dare me. All we want is simple. Give me a little money and I’ll be outta your hair. You’ll never see me again.”
“Yeah,” Tori snorts, waving her gun in my direction. “Money is all we want and it seems you have plenty of it,” she says looking around Maddox’s pristine lawn.
I stumble back but find the door locked behind me. I try the handle only to find it locked.
Shit. Now what?
“Or the school head honchos will love these little nuggets of gold.”
“Look, let’s talk later. Why don’t you come by the school around noon and I can show you around? We can talk then and I can get money from Maddox. All you want.”
The deep ruts in my father’s face scrunch with a scowl. “Nah you call your boy toy down here instead nice and quiet like? We don’t want trouble.”
“Not on your life or mine,” I counter like an idiot and when the back of my father’s hand raises, I turn, anticipating the harsh feel of his knuckles across my already battered cheek, only it doesn’t come.
I hear a snarl and a crack before I open my eyes, and my father is flat on his face in the rocky driveway.
Stunned, I don’t realize Tori had weaseled her way behind me until I hear the hammer of the gun cock.
“Let him go,” she squeaks, and Maddox is right there in front of me his chest heaving and eyes trained on Tori. I peer behind him and see my father knocked out cold with blood trickling down the side of his face and feel nothing for the man.
“I’ll give you anything you want. Just put the gun down.” Maddox winks at me. What the hell. Odd but okay.
He slowly takes out a stack of bills pinned with a silver clip and tosses it on the ground a few feet away from my father.
“Just keep your eyes on me, sweetheart. You’re safe. I have you.”
My heart rate is beating every record it’s ever set, and to be honest it’s hard to breathe with a barrel pointed at my head. Fun fact I’d rather not know.
Only thing keeping me from passing out or doing something crazy like telling Tori to fuck off is Maddox’s calm, steady voice. I keep my eyes trained on his chest and match my breathing with his.
He jerks his chin in the direction of the money. “There’s over three grand in that money clip and it’s all yours, but you better grab it and leave. Cops are already on their way.”
As Maddox predicted Tori can’t resist and dives for the money, but the second she moves so does he and somehow manages to strip her of the gun and restrain her on the ground alongside my dad.
He looks up at me as sirens blare through the morning air in the near distance and he makes quick work grabbing my dad’s cell phone from Tori. With a few flicks I watch as he erases all the private photos that were snapped of our intimate moments.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“Me? You’re the one who talked a crazy—might I add loaded—lady down from shooting me. Lucky you had that money on you or God knows what could have happened.” And that’s a sobering thought. I’ve never feared losing someone as much as I do right now with Maddox.
“I was going to take you shopping, but I guess that can wait,” he says simply before several cop cars fill the driveaway. It takes about an hour for them to haul off my father and his floozy after getting our statements. With everyone gone and the peace and quiet, I fall to my knees on his front doorstep unable to catch my breath.
Warm protective arms are around me before the first tear has a chance to slide down my cheek.
I peer up at him. “You could have been killed. You could have died because of me. I’m so sorry. I’ve brought all my bad luck into your life and now you’re cursed.”
He pulls me into his lap, and I snuggle close. “Correction,” he rumbles. “I would have died for you. And what curse? The way I see it you’ve lifted one, if anything.”
I push up in his arms, tears running down my face. “No! Promise me right here and right now you will never do that again.”
He cups my face between his strong, capable hands. “You’re not going to get that from me ever and I’m not sorry.”
He pulls me in and kisses my lips tenderly.
I pull my lips from his. “You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes when you think you’re going to die?”
He nods and waits for me to continue.
“Maddox, there’s so much in life that I want to experience. You need to know I want the mundane, the normal and the adventure. I want to study, learn all I can about law, but I also want to travel, see the world’s beautiful beaches, swim naked in Fiji’s warm waters, test my limits rock climbing and babies. Babies. I want a huge family with all the babies.”
“In that order?”
“Not necessarily. It migh
t be hard to go rock climbing with a baby bump.”
Maddox draws me into his arms and traces lazy circles on my thigh with the pad of his thumb. To calm me, no doubt. “I promise to give you all that and more with my last breath I promise you will never have to face your father again and you will never be alone if that’s what you want. For as long as I live. And since you brought it up, I’d love to see your belly round with my child.”
His lips are on mine, and I’m drowning in his taste, heat and all things Maddox Spencer.
He stands, hauling me up his body, and I wrap my arms around his neck, taking the kiss deeper.
“Show me you love me.”
“My pleasure, but this is going to take a while. Like a lifetime. Can you handle that?”
I nod, laughing through happy tears. “Yes, I think I can take on forever with you.”
Epilogue
Amber
Three years later…
Is it fate or our mistakes that get us rolling in the direction we’re supposed to be heading?
Does it matter?
Some think so but I think as long as we get to where we are needed everything works out in the end. I used to think I had a curse on me that came in threes every few years. But love showed me otherwise. I just needed to be patient and take the opportunities life brought me. It took me a little while to catch on but when I finally did, oh boy did my life turn around. All it took was a little fortune cookie, a challenging dare and a fierce desire to change my life.
Easy, right?
Not so much but worth it and you can take that to the bank.
So here’s my challenge to you, my dear reader. Be bold. Explore all those tingly feelings you get for the hunky, single professor with the rolling muscles or hot bachelor cop with the massive shoulders and thick…biceps. You know what I mean! Let your body feel those hot flames of desire for the hunky firefighter with the big hose and chiseled abs and let your heart feel the rush of love for that special someone. I dare you!
I read over my piece for a New York paper I write for part-time before shooting it off to my editor, smiling. I took on the advice column gig right after the incident with my father, not realizing I had so much to offer others in that department. The letters of thanks and stories I get back from my readers have filled my heart to overflowing.
Silver linings have a way of showing up through the storm and that job offer paid my way through school and paid Maddox back for the funds he fronted me…even if he didn’t want it.
I graduated summa cum laude and have met a lot of people in the last few years.
After the incident with my father and moving in with Maddox, I got to meet all of Maddox’s friends, who quickly became my friends. I got to meet Rosalee’s beau who turned out to be the related to the founder. Imagine my shock when he and Rosa hired me as their personal lawyer the day I graduated. It’s an understatement to say I’ve been blessed.
I have so much to be thankful for and silver linings abound in my life. Truth be told, I have so many that I have to really force myself to think of the bad. And maybe it took trudging through the swamp of life to get to this moment. I don’t know. I’m no goddess with an all-knowing power despite what Maddox professes. I’m just a girl with a full heart.
I dig my toes into the sand and soak in the beautiful rays of warm sunshine on my skin and let my mind wander a moment longer. I drink in the view of my husband walking up the beach wearing low-slung trunks and a wicked smile. Three years since he got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever, and I still lose my breath when he looks my way.
He comes to stand over me and falls to his knees, taking my lips in a crushing kiss.
He pulls away, pressing his forehead against mine. “Now that I’ve taken you mountain climbing and snorkeling and have fed you chocolate under the northern lights, how about we check one more thing off your list of adventures?”
I dig my fingers into his hair and ruffle the long ends. “Oh yeah, what do you have in mind, professor?”
He closes and takes the laptop from me to lay me back in the sand. Leaning forward, he teases my sun-warm skin just above my navel with the tip of his tongue and a dark glint in his eyes.
“A baby.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise. “You want the pinnacle of our vacation to be getting me pregnant?” We haven’t taken a real vacation outside of the US since our honeymoon, so he surprised me with a trip to a private island with crystal clear waters and a little cabana and all the beach to ourselves. After our first time didn’t result in me getting pregnant, we decided to wait until the time was right. And it seems like that time might be now.
His lips peel back in a devilish smile that has my heart swooning for the man all over again. “Can you think of something better? I’m ready to ditch the rubbers and take my wife bare again. See my cum drip for that beautiful hole. What do you say?”
“No, I can’t think of anything better. Not in a million years, Maddox Spencer.”
A couple of pulls and tugs and the sides of my bikini bottom and top fall away. Sunlight glints off the new piercings adorning my nipples with sparkling rubies. A wedding gift for him and one I had no idea I would love just as much as he does. I guess that made it a gift for the two of us.
“Give me a baby, lover. Let’s make a family,” I husk, dragging him up my body and wrapping my bare thighs around his waist.
“I intend to.”
I groan when the heavy weight of his cock springs free from his swimming trunks. Seeing him hard and ready has me wet instantly.
I take him in my hand and guide him to my entrance. I arch off the sand when he takes me in a single thrust and I’m that student all over again, greedy and hungry for the man I love.
He slips an arm around me and holds me close to his heart. I can feel our breathing fall into sync like everything else about us.
“Ah sugar, so tight for me. Wrap your legs around me and hold on,” he orders in a masculine husk. Then he kisses me with all the love in the world, and I give it right back, knowing I’m right where I belong. I’m with my family, my protector and anything in the world is possible with the right people by your side.
I’m home.
Epilogue
Amber
Twelve years later…
As it turns out, getting pregnant nine years ago was the second-best decision of my life. I adore being a mom just as much as I do a wife. Marrying my professor was the first. But our happily-ever-after doesn’t end there. We had three more children after Maddox Jr was born. The last two were twins. A boy and a girl. Oh man did our lives change then. Having kids ranging from nine to five has kept me and Maddox busy and then some. On top of all the work we have it took a while to learn how to balance all the chaos. We’re still learning but it’s all good. I wouldn’t mind a little more quality alone time with my husband, though.
Good thing we have great friends for support. When the founder of my university and his wife hired me as their personal lawyer, I never saw it becoming my full career or that they both would become such dear friends to me and Maddox. I might have gone to college with Rosalee, but the time we shared during those difficult days were limited. Now I can’t see my life without her or her husband.
“Mommy, can you play dolls with me?”
I look down at the raven-haired beauty I fell in love with the second the doctors laid her across my chest and tap her nose. It’s summer time, the last one before all our children are off to school. We’ve rounded up all our friends for a backyard pool party and I’m clinging to each hour trying to make the most of it.
“Let me finish all the prep work for the food and then I’ll make sure to bring my own dolls for a pool party okay, sweetie? How about you wait until Aunt Rosa and Aunt Emberly are here and see if they want to help get your dolls in their bathing suits.”
“Hey, did I hear my name?” A blonde head pops around the corner.
“Aunt Rosa!” My baby girl squills all grins, running for m
y best friend’s open arms as she walks into the kitchen. Rosalee picks her up and twirls the happy little girl in her arms. “Hey I have an idea, how about all of us go get some ice cream so mommy and daddy can finish up getting everything ready for the party?” Rosa throws me a wink. I’ve been going full steam on helping her set up foundations across the globe for six months solid. Good work. Humble work, but a little down time for just me and a glass of wine would be much appreciated. Gideon slides in beside his wife with our other friends, Samuel, Elliot and their shared wife, Emberly, in tow.
“Hey guys! You made it!”
“Traffic was a witch!” Emberly states setting down bags of refreshments and what looks like a bag of pool toys for the kids.
Strong, warm arms wrap around me from behind and I’m instantly relaxed all the worry of our babies growing up too fast and making sure the potatoes salad isn’t too dry fades away.
Gideon dangles his car keys. “Everyone is waiting in the car, let’s go get some rocky road.”
Before I know it, all our kids are shuffled out the door and are off to get ice cream with all our friend’s kids.
I wave and before I can get the door closed strong hands are on my hips turning me around and pushing me against the door. Hard lips are on mine and I’m left breathless when Maddow breaks away long enough to sling me over his shoulder.
“Hey!” I smack his tight ass and get only a grunt in return. “Did you set that up?”
“I might have texted the guys before they arrived to help give me a minute alone with my baby. Get gotta hurry we only have an hour tops.”
I’m thrown down on the bed with a hulk of a man coming over me and I can’t stop the laughter bubbling up. “Someone’s horny,” I tease and those are the last words I have to say. Maddox works his magic and our clothes are off and he’s back on me. I’m too busy moaning and grinding my pussy into my husband’s face as he devours my clit like I’m prime meat to think of anything more to say. Hey, I’m not complaining. Mindless love making is a language of its own.
Forbidden Professors Boxed Set: A Forbidden Professor Student Romance Collection Page 26