Page 54 of My Forbidden Professor

But for me. For Emily.

“I’ve come to tell you I love you. And the best thing I can do, is leave you. Don’t come back to the university. I’ll ensure you can transfer. It might mean a delay with the dissertation, but—”

“Jacob.”

“I thought I’d come here and ask for your forever, but now I know that’s wrong. Your future is too bright. You’re too smart to be kept down and used and I won’t be that selfish—”

“Jacob.”

That revelation detonates like a supernova inside me, searing away any doubt that what he’s telling me is the ultimate truth.

“And Daniel, that scum. I’ll wear whatever he has on you too. I’ll do everything I can so you can be free. I’m going down for extorting the university, I’ll go down for that too. I’ll say I forced you. I’ll tell everyone I coerced you. I have a record of past transgressions; they’ll believe me—”

“Jacob.”

He really can see past the money.

He sees me.

He sees me.

He sees ME.

In this moment, I know with crystalline certainty that no force in existence could make me turn away from him. This man is too beautiful. Too damn good, and I—can’t let him go.

I simply can’t.

So I won’t.

“You’ll do none of those things.” I step close enough that my breasts are crushed against his chest and put my hand over his lips. He stares down at me. I swim in twin pools of blue ocean. “Because I love you too much to let you destroy yourself.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Steph

I press my lips to Jacob’s in a gentle kiss. He stiffens against me, then pulls back, shaking his head.

“Steph, you’re too good for me. Did you hear anything I just said?”

I meet his tortured gaze. “I heard every word.” This man, with all his flaws and scars, is it for me. There will never be anyone else who reaches into my soul the way he does.

“Then you know I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for my mistakes.”

The words hang between us, stark and unavoidable. “And you won’t sacrifice yourself for mine either.”

His brow furrows. “What are you talking about?”

I take a deep breath. “You never coerced me, Jacob. I always wanted you. Even when I knew what we were doing wasn’t right.”

His eyes flare and the color deepens. “What we did was always right!”

There’s a wildness to him as his hands come out to band around my biceps. He collects himself, shakes his head again, anguish etched into every line of his face. “God help me but I’m not good enough for you. I know I’m not. I’m broken, tainted. You deserve so much more than the mess I’ve made of my life.”

Self-loathing pours out of him but I see the truth blazing beneath it all. He’s never once looked at me and seen money. Everything he’d done has been for me. He doesn’t even realize how different he is to everyone else I know.

I want him. No, that isn’t right.

I…I need him. Need him like I need my next breath. So stupid not to realize that before stepping foot back in New York.

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