Then I was standing in front of Emerie’s door, and it dawned on me for the first time that I had no idea what I was going to say. Two hours on the plane, and I hadn’t come up with an opening statement. Good thing I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy when it comes to oral arguments.
I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and knocked.
When the door opened, I realized how completely unprepared I was.
Because it was Baldwin staring at me from inside.
Drew
“Where’s Emerie?”
“She’s getting dressed. We have a breakfast meeting at the college to attend this morning. Not that it’s any of your business.”
Professor Putz was still standing inside, and I was the one out in the hall. The symbolism ate at me. I brushed past him and went into Emerie’s apartment.
“Sure, come on in,” he mumbled, sarcastically.
I turned to face him, folding my hands across my chest. “Now leave.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I need to speak to Emerie alone, so I would appreciate it if you would disappear.”
He shook his head. “No.”
My brows lifted. I didn’t think the peckerhead had it in him. If it were any other time, I might’ve been impressed with his tenacity. But right now, it just annoyed the shit out of me.
I took a step forward. “You can either leave on your own, or I’ll help you leave. Either way, you’re leaving. What’s it gonna be?”
Finding I wasn’t playing around, he took the smart route and opened the door. “Tell Emerie I’ll see her at school later.”
“Yeah. I’ll be sure to give her the message.” I gave the door a shove, slamming it closed on his heels.
Turning around, I found Emerie’s living room cluttered with office furniture. The place barely had enough room for a couch and chair before. Now it was also filled with a desk, office chairs, file cabinets, computer equipment, and everything else from her office.
The door to her bedroom creaked, and Emerie walked out, looking down as she scrolled through something on her phone.
“I pulled up the psychology department bios on the college’s website. Tell me again who we’re meeting? I’m so bad with names.”
My answer stopped her in her tracks. “It’s just me and you.”
Emerie’s head whipped up, and she blinked a few times as if she were imagining the man standing in her living room.
“Drew. What are you doing here?” She looked beyond me. “And where’s Baldwin?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
I looked down at my feet for a minute, then caught her in my gaze. There was a crushing sensation in my chest as I found the same sadness that loomed inside of me behind her eyes.
My voice was low and hoarse. “Do you love him?”
She stared at me for long seconds, the wheels in her head turning. I held my breath the entire time. Finally, she shook her head.
Thank God.
That was all I needed to hear. Anything and everything else we could work out. I could make her forgive me, she could learn to trust me again, but I couldn’t make her not be in love with another man. She was still standing in her bedroom doorway, and suddenly there was way too much space between us. I stalked over to her, not giving a shit if it was a caveman move. The overwhelming urge to touch her outweighed any need for etiquette.
She didn’t move. With every step I took, my heartbeat grew faster. She still didn’t move when I reached out, cupped her face in my hands, and slowly brushed my lips against hers, testing the waters. Taking that as a green light, or at least not a bright red flashing one, I went back for more. Planting my lips over her mouth, soft went out the window, and I kissed her hard. She opened, moaning as I pulled her flush against me. The sound shot right to my dick, and the hard kiss quickly elevated to a frenzy. She smelled amazing, tasted as sweet as I remembered, and the feel of her body pressed to mine was better than I’d ever experienced.
God, I was such a fucking idiot. How could I have ever walked away from this?
The kiss went on for a long time. When it broke, it didn’t take long for her doubt and fear to creep back in—not to mention anger.
“You can’t just show up—”
My lips crashed down on hers, cutting her off. This time, she tried to fight me. She gave one weak shove to my chest, which only made me wrap my arms around her tighter. Eventually, her fight went limp, and she gave in again. When our kiss broke, I left my lips inches from hers as a reminder that I’d be on her in less than a heartbeat if she started again.
“Just give me a minute before you rip into me, okay?”
“Sixty seconds,” she said.
The corner of my lip twitched. God, I missed that mouth. And not just the feel of her soft lips and submissive tongue—I missed her sass. Brushing two fingers across her cheek, I gave it to her straight. My voice was raw as I laid it all at her feet.
“I love you.”
A hopeful smile rose on her beautiful face. But then she remembered. She remembered what I’d done to her the last few weeks, and her smile fell.
“You have a funny way of showing it. You love me, so you dumped me?”
“The judge didn’t change my visitation schedule with Beck, but he allowed Alexa to stay in Atlanta. I have to move.”