“I…can’t,” I said, running a finger down his beautiful jawline.
“Why not?”
I blinked. “Because…” It took me a minute to remember why I couldn’t. “I can’t go into work with the same clothes two days in a row.”
“I have clothes you can borrow,” Alec said. “They’re in the room next to Evanne’s.”
I leveled my eyes at him. “Women’s clothes?”
“It’s not like that.” He smiled. “I have many siblings. Including sisters.”
“Wow. Sisters.”
“I can show you a picture if you’d like.”
“Is that so?” I hoped he could hear the teasing in my voice.
“I can prove it if you really want,” he said, tucking strands of hair behind both of my ears. “I’m sure I have a picture of all of us around here somewhere. Or you could take me at my word that none of my family would mind if you helped yourself.”
I lifted a playful eyebrow. “You’re sure about that, are you?”
“Aye. I mean, this hasn’t happened before, but…”
“Good answer,” I said wryly.
He chuckled. “I’m telling the truth, Lumen.”
He did look genuine, but that was only one of the things I knew we had to think about. Things weren’t that simple.
“What kind of message would this send to Evanne? And the other teachers might find out. It’s a brand-new job, and–”
“I hope it would send the message to my daughter that there is nothing shameful about what we did.” He ran a thumb over my bottom lip. “But, I can make certain no one finds out we were together. I will not let anything bad happen.”
Exhaustion settled over me. “Are you sure?”
“Lumen, I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it.”
“All right, then.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I’ll stay.”
Twenty-Seven
Lumen
I wokeup next to Alec at six o’clock sharp thanks to my built-in alarm clock. Last night, we’d agreed that I’d be dropped off at school before Evanne woke up, so I’d made a mental note to wake early, but Alec was still sleeping. As I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen him set an alarm when we’d moved from his office to his bedroom. I lay in his huge bed watching him and trying to decide what to do. He looked too peaceful to disturb.
How much did I really want to wake him up just so he could call his driver to take me to work early? I could call for my own ride, but if I didn’t wake him up, how weird would it be for me to use his shower, find clothes in the guest room, and then leave?
My stomach rumbled, interrupting my train of thought. I had an hour and a half before I needed to be at school to teach. If Alec’s driver took me there this early, I’d be stuck with a vending machine breakfast or none at all. Or I could get a ride from the school…
I shook my head. It was far too complicated. And for what? To keep Evanne from seeing me here in the morning? Was it really that big of a deal? If Alec didn’t care, should I? He was the parent, not me.
Going in now also meant I’d be alone at the school until everyone else arrived. It wasn’t the solitude that bothered me, but rather the knowledge that Cornelius Harvey was generally the first person to work. If he realized I was there too – which he would unless I turned off the lights in my room and hid – he could easily continue to pursue the conversation from yesterday, and no one would be there to help me if things got out of hand.
Maybe I just wasn’t in a hurry to go back after what’d happened yesterday, or maybe I was just too hungry to think. Either way, I didn’t want to wake Alec. Instead, I decided I’d make him and Evanne breakfast. All other reasons aside, I thought it might be better for Evanne to find me in the kitchen rather than her father’s bed.
I carefully slid out of Alec’s enormous bed, watching his face to make sure I wasn’t waking him. He twitched and mumbled, but he didn’t open his eyes. Good. He hadn’t said anything, but intuition told me that he’d been more tired than he looked.
I hadn’t gotten out of bed last night, which meant I hadn’t put on any clothes. A shower and clean clothes had to come before anything else, no matter how hungry I was.
