Libby also knew the comforts of the logic of mathematics. She saw its poetry, the beauty that it wrought in the world.
We had so much in common.
Her lips parted, and her tongue caressed the pad of my thumb. I groaned. She moaned.
Hudson snuffled.
“Come to my house,” I whispered. “Meet Escher. Let him fall in love with Hudson.”
Let him fall in love with you, like I am.
She pulled back, her gaze unwavering. How her classmates or other professors overlooked Libby Dagon was beyond me. Her strength was in her silence. She never backed away as she asked, “You want me because I’m a package deal with Hudson? You’re in love with him, so you’ll accept me, too?”
Her breath puffed on my drying skin, sending a shiver straight to my toes.
“No.” I crowded just enough closer for her to feel the evidence of my desire for her against the soft give of her belly. Even through her coat and mine, my pants, underwear, and her sweater, possibly a shirt, she now knew my shaft thumped with a soft pulse of its own.
“I want you because you’re brilliant, Libby. Your mind flows without restraint, and that is sexy. Such a turn-on, but…look at you,” I breathed.
I moved my thumb to trace the curve of her cheek, the sweep of her eyebrow, the softness of her long bangs she’d barely tucked behind her ear. I caressed the soft skin there, then down to her lips once more.
“It’s been tortuous to see you in my class, to keep a proper distance between us—to just be your professor when I wanted so much more.” As I said the words, the truth settled over me. “You are a bright star, my beacon. And I want to see what we are, where we can go.”
She swallowed, her eyes—those beautiful eyes—darkening with disappointment. “You gave me an A because you want to seduce me.”
“You earned your grade. I’d never insult either of us by cheating you of your work. I’m asking, now, as a man to earn a chance to be with you. I’d love to seduce you. Nothing is going to be as luscious as your body, quivering and naked, against mine as I drive us both to pleasure.”
Her eyes widened more, her lips parting again as she panted softly.
“You want that, too, Libby. Why are you fighting this—me?”
“Because…”
Hudson squeaked again, a higher, angrier sound.
“Because?” I prompted. She was slipping from me, her mind churning, her eyes dimming.
“Because everyone I love leaves me.”
Hudson woke with a cry. She gripped his stroller tightly, offering me her back. She fumbled with her keys but opened her door.
“I’m sorry, Jamieson. You’re my dream—a fantasy I’m afraid to reach for. If I lose that…”
She pushed the stroller into the apartment. She shut it softly with a click. I waited, and as I’d known she would, she murmured against the wood separating us. “I lose all hope.”
CHAPTER7
Libby
I cried with Hudson.Freshly diapered, I fed him, walking him through the apartment that was now mine. Laurel had moved out the day before—right after her last final. She’d wanted to spend the holidays with her family before she started her position in Lexington.
The place felt cavernous, echoing with my noises because we no longer had the rug in the living room or Laurel’s ancient side chair I’d preferred over my couch.
I sighed as I tipped my face toward the window, the grayness of the weather suiting my mood. My tears had dried, as had Hudson’s now that he greedily sucked at his bottle.
“You’re all I need, little man,” I said.
But my words rang hollow. He could leave me. Heshouldleave me at some point. I would be alone then, and I’d only have myself to blame. Jamieson Finch had offered himself to me.
