“What are you doing here, Alex?”
I stopped in the doorway, mustering all my courage. “What do you think?”
He stood behind his desk and shook his head. “I think there’s no way the boy turned you down looking like that.”
“You’re right,” I said.
He placed just his fingertips on the surface of the desk. “Then, again, I ask—why are you here?”
I needed to feel him. I shifted on my feet, fighting the urge to run into his arms. “I don’t know,” I said softly.
“You got what you wanted.”
“Yes. I did. But it’s not what I want anymore.”
“We can’t, Alexandra. It would never work.”
“It would,” I said. “This is what I want.”
“You should go.” He turned his back to me. “You’re too young. Gary—he’d never understand. And college is the time for…it doesn’t matter. Just—go.”
I swallowed, at a loss for words. I didn’t know I wanted this but suddenly I couldn’t live without it—withouthim. In his perfect suit, he was commanding and broad, but his shoulders fell slightly. Without thinking, I dropped to the floor on my hands and knees. I tossed my purse aside, and he turned at the noise it made.
“What are you doing?”
I crawled slowly to his desk, never removing my eyes from him. He watched, motionless, until I was at his feet.
“Go back to him, Alexandra.”
“How can I?” I asked, tears threatening. I was overwhelmed, not just from the fact that I wanted him, but with how badly I did. And how stupid I’d been to think I’d actually missed Trey, when that hadn’t even scratched the surface of how much I’d missed Dean. “How can I possibly go back to Trey now—or anyone else for that matter?”
“You have to. Our lives are too different, and you need someone your own age.”
“I don’t,” I said. “That week changed me.”
He swallowed, looking down and shaking his head. But I could see his eyes giving into me.
“Yours,” I said.
“You never cashed the check.”
“I want to be yours—not just for a week.”
“Mine,” he repeated and sighed. “Get off the floor.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“Not until you tell me yes. Not until you say—”
“You’re mine,” he said.
I stood and stepped under his chin. “I don’t care if it’s wrong. I don’t care what they say. Make me yours, and none of that matters.”
He grasped my cheeks and pulled me close to his lips. He kissed me ravenously, and my entire body wilted against him. Sturdy arms caught me, holding me upright as he consumed me.
“I hope you’re ready to stay,” he said. “When you walked out of my apartment last weekend, it took all my willpower not to pull you back in. And that’s the last time I’ll ever fight that urge.”
I touched his cheek and smiled, my heart expanding in my chest.
“And you were right,” he continued, his hand trailing down my back to rest on my zipper. “You look amazing in this dress. But let’s get you out of it.”
