Page 38 of Teaching His Babygirl

“Love you too.”

I dry off my tears and collect myself. Class will be starting soon. I need to get my crap together. The rest of the day is a blur of looking over my shoulder and fending off questions about Leon from my students. To say the afternoon was a rough one is putting it mildly.

When the final bell of the day rings, I feel an immense amount of relief. I get my stuff together—shoving the envelope of pictures to the bottom of my bag—and head to the office like Colt, Jasper, and I discussed this morning. Judy waves as she leaves for the day, then I’m in the office alone with the man I’m falling in love with.

“Babygirl,” Colt says with something like relief.

I close the small distance between us and sink into his arms. My eyes fall closed as I rest against his chest, feeling safe and secure for the first time since I left him this morning. I feel completely drained and exhausted. Even knowing I’m being protected hasn’t eliminated my fears. Now that I know he can get to me even with people watching, I feel even more vulnerable.

“Hey, hey,” Colt says, cupping my cheek and turning my head up so I’m looking at him. “What’s wrong?” he asks, wiping tears from my cheek with his thumb.

I didn’t even realize I was crying. I’ve become quite the sad sack today. It’s obvious that I don’t handle stress well. At least, not of the stalker variety. I almost laugh at that. Someone is stalking me? Of all the people in the world, why would he fixate on me?

“Just relieved to see you.” Though that’s only part of the truth. The biggest reason for my tears is that this is quite possibly the last time I’ll be held by Colt like this until this whole thing is over and Levi is caught. Maybe longer if he doesn’t forgive me for what I’m about to do.

“I missed you too, babygirl,” he says, kissing me sweetly. I open for his stroking tongue, offering myself up to him. Our kiss is slow and savoring. He runs his fingers through my hair, tilting my head exactly how he wants it, deepening the kiss.

My heart sings at being reunited with Colt. Everything in my being wants to crawl into his lap and let him hold me until everything is right in the world. But that’s not how the world works, and I have no choice but to make the hard decision to break things off.

“Are you ready?” he asks.

I shudder at the reminder that I get to walk home by myself and see if we can flush Levi out. “No… but yes. I just want this whole thing over.”

“Me too. We’ll catch him soon and things can go back to normal.”

I give him a sad smile and a nod. He gives me a curious look but doesn’t call me on my non-answer. Nothing will be normal again after I break things off with him. Like a chicken, I don’t break up with him in person. No, I kiss him, pouring every bit of my desire and love into it deciding to take the easy way out and break things off by phone.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I make my way home, desperately trying not to run like I want to. I do my best to remind myself that Ransom is out there somewhere looking out for me. I’m in no danger. I repeat it to myself like a mantra until I get to my apartment. I let out a little scream when someone steps out of the shadows. Jasper.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m here to look through your apartment to make sure there’re no surprises inside.”

I nod, still holding my hand to my throat. My heart is racing a mile a minute, and I’m so on edge that I can’t get my key in the lock. Jasper’s big hand takes the keys from me and unlocks the door for me.

“Thanks.”

He walks into the apartment, and I follow. He does a cursory look through the front room, then pulls me inside and puts me in front of the wall beside the door. He shuts and locks the door and tells me to stay put before he goes through the rest of my apartment.

“Everything is good.”

“Thanks for doing this for me… I know it’s not exactly your job,” I say, indicating his uniform.

“My job is to serve and protect. I say this is exactly what I need to be doing right now.”

“I appreciate it.”

After making sure I don’t need anything else, Jasper leaves, instructing me to lock and chain the door. Which I do the second it closes behind him. My phone rings in my bag, and I grab it seeing it’s Colt.

“Hey, babygirl. I’m going to stop and pick us up some dinner. What sounds good?” he asks.

“I… um… well, I think maybe you shouldn’t come over tonight. Maybe if I’m alone Levi will-”

I can hear Colt suck in a breath. He absolutely wants to argue with me. Though, the fact that I’m walking to and from school alone, it arguably makes sense to not have him here. Besides the fact that him not being here keeps him safe…

“If you’re sure?”

No, I want to shout. “Yeah. It just makes sense.”

Nothing about being without Colt makes sense,I think to myself.

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