I pull out the knot at the back of my head, letting a wave of black hair fall around my shoulders and cascade down my back. We check ourselves in the mirror before we head out to join everyone at the table.
I slip into my seat beside Dwight who swallows hard when he eyes my dress, a dress that hugs every curve of my body. He leans across, his breath warm against my ear and the skin of my neck. “Fuck, Quinn. This dress is dangerous,” he growls. “The thoughts going through in my mind right now…”
“You can demonstrate for me later,” I reply with a teasing smile.
Just after we’ve eaten, Dwight gets a phone call and excuses himself from the table, only to return a few minutes later.
“Everything okay?” I ask as he sits back down beside me.
“Everything’s perfect. I applied for a position back at the University, I spoke to Richard Harris earlier. I got it.”
“What! That’s amazing!” I reach over and wind my arms around his neck, planting a kiss to his lips.
For the past two years he’s been working as an English teacher at the local high-school. He enjoyed it, but not half as much as being a Professor. For a while I’ve been worried, worried that he made the wrong decision two years ago when he gave up his job at the university for me, but I guess everything works out in the end.
“I start in September, I got my old position back.”
“And I just got used to calling you Mr. Evans. I guess I’m going to have to start calling you Professor again,” I giggle.
“You can keep calling me Mr. Evans, as long as you agree to be Mrs. Evans,” he says with a nervous smile.
My heart stops and I stare at him.
Is he asking what I think he’s asking?
“W-What?” I stutter.
A hushed silence falls around the table as Dwight rises from his seat, moves his chair out of the way and drops to one knee beside me. My hand flies up to my mouth as I stare down at him, my vision beginning to blur from the tears.
“Quinn Taylor, you are the reason for living that I never anticipated. You stole my heart and moulded it around your own, and I can’t imagine my life with you not in it.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black velvet box and opens the lid, a simple diamond ring, the silver band encrusted with tiny diamonds that flank the huge rock that sits in the middle.
It’s perfect.
“I would love nothing more than to call you my wife. Will you marry me?”
I burst into tears, overwhelmed by what is happening. I can’t even form words I’m so hysterical, all I can manage is to nod my head rapidly, bending forward and capturing his lips with mine.
He reaches between us for my left hand, where he slides the ring onto my finger, then he stands, pulling me up with him where he lifts me off my feet and spins us around on the spot, his lips never leaving my own.
The restaurant roars in cheers and applause as they watch the spectacle, and when Dwight finally puts me back on the ground, he swipes away my tears and cups my face in his hands.
“I love you,” he whispers.
“And I love you, so much,” I whisper back, peeking down at my hand where my ring sparkles brightly around my finger. I return my attention back to Dwight, who’s eyes shine as bright as my ring.
It’s so surreal. The whole day too much to even comprehend. Even as we step through the doors of our house, my brain can’t seem to catch up.
The second Dwight closes the door behind us, I’m swept up into his arms as he carries me upstairs. Once we reach the bedroom, his sets me back down on my feet at the foot of the bed and crashes his mouth to mine in a searing kiss. His tongue sweeps inside my mouth, tangling with my own as his fingers lace into my hair, holding me tight against him.
I’ll never get enough of this feeling, and I have the rest of my life to feel it. Like, every kiss is our first, the same amount of excitement coiling in my belly, every touch lighting fires across my skin, every word making me fall in love even harder every single day.
When we met, it was never simply about him being my professor, and me his student, this was about two people who never knew they needed each other and found that they each filled the empty space inside the other.
He pulls back. “What do you want, baby?” he asks, his lips just brushing my own, his lust-filled eyes gazing into mine. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”
“Strip me down, Professor.”
