“Please, get me out of here.”
Anya accompanies Niall’s daughter out of my office. Once they’ve disappeared down the corridor, he goes over to the door and closes it.
“What is wrong with you?” he cries immediately.
“Me? Nothing!”
“Then why are you yelling?”
“You’re yelling, too!”
“Only becauseyou’reyelling!”
I sink back down into the armchair and lean my elbows on the desk, massaging my temples slowly.
“I wish you’d told me before.”
“Before what? Before you slept with me?”
I glare at him. “It’s unprofessional. I could get into serious trouble for this.”
“I promise, I had no idea.”
“Of what? Of the fact that I’m the head teacher of the school you want your daughter to go to?”
“Your surname,” he says suddenly. “Your…oh, my God.” His face, which was a violent shade of red from our previous argument, whitens instantly. “You married Steven Hill.”
The sound of his name causes the bile to rise up my throat once again, threatening to upheave the contents of my stomach.
“We’re not together anymore,” I say defensively.
“Since when?”
“Why does it matter?”
His eyes trail down to my hand. “I can still see the mark where your wedding ring used to be.” He gestures towards it.
I instinctively move to touch my finger.
“Since when?”
“I don’t believe it has anything to do with you.”
“You slept with me.”
“It was just one night, Kerry. And it’s caused me a whole lot of problems.”
He sits down again, running a hand through his hair.
“This is Skylar’s last chance,” he says, his face drawn, tired. There’s no trace of his charming, devilish smile.
“I know.”
“Please, don’t punish her for my mistakes.”
He just called me a mistake.
It’s not the first time someone has called me that, but right now, I can’t be angry with him – not when his eyes are begging me to give his daughter a chance.
