He nudged his face against my neck. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“Shit happens. Talk to me, I’m here.”
He shook his head and his stubble tickled my skin.
Grinning, I gave him a hug. “Now. Tell me.”
The longer I held him the clearer it became that something was wrong. Normally he was quick to speak, even if he was worried about my reaction to what he had to say. He shivered and licked at my neck, a warm flick of his tongue that had me thinking about shoving him back on the desk and getting into his body again.
“I’ve got you. Talk.”
“I quit,” he murmured.
Flinching, I held him closer. “What? Why?”
He shook his head and buried his face closer to me again.
Shock had me stilling and I swallowed hard. “What the hell happened? You said this would be fine.” Guilt smashed into the warm afterglow I had going on and destroyed it. I tightened my arms around him, and he grunted. “I can fix this. Do they think you started things?” I pressed a kiss to his head. “Fuck. I’ll go tell them it was all me. You shouldn’t be in trouble.”
Flynn sighed and sat back. I’d never seen him give me the exact look he was right now, and it made me uncomfortable. It was stuck somewhere between condescending and pitying and made me feel like an idiot...or a kid.
“I will do whatever it takes to help.”
He shook his head. “There is nothing to do. I did the best thing I could and left. It isn’t in my contract explicitly that I can’t date a student, and if we’d been smart about it, maybe I could’ve skated by, but we weren’t. There were security cameras in the library. It doesn’t matter what you have to say, I did something sexual on school grounds where anyone could have seen us. Nothing screams poor judgement like public sex.” He shrugged.
My gut turned into stone. “I’ll fix this.”
“Sir, this isn’t yours to fix. I made a choice. Yes, you started it, but I chose to go along with it. I... can’t imagine anything you could do to make this go away.”
“I’ll tell them I made you,” I whispered.
He shook his head and scowled. “I wouldn’t let you do that even if I thought it would do any good. It sounds bad, Judge. And it isn’t quite the truth, but people would misinterpret it. A rumor like that could burn all your future bridges.”
“This isn’t right.” I stared at him, mind spinning. “There must be some way to make this go away. What if I call my—”
“Your parents’ money can’t fix this. I’m in the wrong here. I wanted it, end of story. More than I wanted this job or I would’ve never allowed it to happen.” The smile he flashed me was small but warm and didn’t do much to make me feel better about him losing his damned job.
“Fuck, I didn’t think anything like this would happen. Maybe I can—”
“It won’t matter,” he said quietly, throwing his arms around my neck. He hugged me, and I slumped into his arms.
“You don’t sound pissed off. You should be.”
“I am far more upset by your black eye than getting caught on camera. And losing all my savings. And... this isn’t the end of anything I cared about, and you’re... the beginning of something I really want.”
The silence in the room dragged out, and I thought of a thousand things I should say, or maybe justwantedto say, but in the end I hugged him back and held on for dear life.
“I’ll make this up to you somehow. Anything you need, tell me.”
He sighed and sat back. I loved that he wasn’t rushing to hide from me. His body was on display and he was comfortable. I rubbed his hips and kissed his shoulder. “Well, there are a few practical things I need to think about.”
“Shoot,” I said.
“I hate to ask, but now I really don’t have the money to go rent a new place. Could I crash with you for a couple of weeks? I know it isn’t really your house, but I can’t afford a hotel room or anything, not with no money coming in. I would be flat broke in two weeks.”
Shrugging, I nodded. “Done. I didn’t want you to leave anyway.”
He rolled his eyes and smiled. “It isn’t your house. Should you maybe ask before agreeing?”
