Page 30 of Bleeding Hearts

Holding her in place, I feel her fingers tracing over my pecs through my shirt. “I was planning on a working lunch. I’ve got a lot I need to catch up on. Why are you here? Not that I’m complaining, but this is unexpected.”

When I release her, she stumbles, grabbing the desk for support. She uses it to guide her body to what I missed earlier, a walker next to her chair. Once she grabs it, she easily shifts around to face me.

“When did you get that?” Leaning down, I pick up her bag and toss it over my shoulder. “Show me how well you walk with it.”

Rolling her caramel eyes at my over-the-top excitement, she pushes it forward. “I’ve had it a few days now. I know I look like some old geezer ready for the retirement home, but it’s better than the damn wheelchair.”

It’s shocking how well she can walk with it. With her injuries, I expected the wheelchair for several more weeks. But this is Bethany and having lived across the street from her for threeyears, I should’ve known nothing would keep her down long. If pneumonia didn’t keep her from shoveling her driveway the winter we got almost four inches of snow—using a garden shovel, no less because snow is unheard of in Savannah—nothing can. I’d just moved in across the street, heard her coughing her head off and stomped over there, yanked that damn thing out of her hand, and sent her ass in the house.

I’ll never forget what she said for as long as I live.

“I was doing fine. Would’ve gotten it done, eventually.” She had to stop to cough. “But go ahead. Show off your sexy muscles for me.” Cough, cough. “I’ll go inside, make myself some tea, and watch you from the spare bedroom.” She coughed hard again, and I thought she was going to yak up a lung. “If you want to give me a better show, you could take off your shirt while doing it. I’ve always wondered if the firefighters in my calendar were real or just models they dressed up to get the ladies to buy those.”

She’s almost to the door before I move and catch up with her. “You don’t look like an old geezer. You look like a sexy professor, and now I wish I’d gone to college so I could live out a fantasy.”

Bethany waits for me to open the door and sighs. “If you were one of my students, it would remain a fantasy. That’s a good way to get fired.” Her eyes trail over my body as the left side of her lips curl up. “But maybe you can help me live out one of mine that includes a sexy firefighter.”

“As long as it doesn’t include rescuing you from a burning building, or another accident, then I’m game.” As soon as she clears the door, I step up next to her. “And if it involves the firehouse, we’ll have to be careful. It’s doable, just need to plan it out so we don’t have an audience who will have zero problem hosing us down.”

That causes Bethany to laugh. “Sounds like it’s happened to you before.”

“Me? No. But I’ve helped hose a few horny couples down.” With a shrug, I open the door to her office. “I’d like to talk about that little prick I ran off.”

“There’s nothing to discuss. He’ll be removed from my class whether he likes it or not. I’ll also be in touch with your sister-in-law to discuss some things. They finally came and picked up the SUV after I threatened to have it towed.” Bethany signals me to follow her. “I’m glad I didn’t accept his offer. It felt wrong. And now it’s probably for the best with this newest development. My question is, why did Theo sign up for my class? I don’t buy he didn’t know who I was. He knew. Or he had his suspicions, which weren’t proven until today when I showed up.”

She sits down at her desk and motions for me to give her the bag on my shoulder. I do and then take the seat across from her while she pulls out her laptop. With a few cord connections, the large desk monitor springs to life. I watch while she types like a madwoman, making the most adorable faces. When she catches me watching her so intensely, she doesn’t stop typing but gives me the side eye.

“Sorry,” I catch myself saying. “It’s just that I’ve never seen you work before. There’s a charisma about you that is turning me the fuck on.”

A sly smirk stretches across Bethany’s face before she clamps her lips together, a faint blush rising on her cheeks. “I’ll keep that in mind should I ever wish to seduce you. It seems we have some exciting role-playing ideas to explore later. I’ll find some good props.”

“Bethany.” I growl out her name as I reach down to shift my cock, now uncomfortably hard. “If you were healed more, I’dlock the door and bend you over this desk and fuck you so hard your next class would wonder why you’re walking funny.”

She squirms in her seat and clears her throat. “Promise?”

I’m going to have to stay on my toes around this woman. “Fuck around and find out.”

“Gladly.” She squints, sinking back in her chair and pressing a button on her desk phone before speaking. “Bridget, can you come in here?”

There is a buzz before a woman responds. “On my way.”

“What’s going on?” I stand and rest my hands on her desk so I can see her screen.

“Well, hello.” The woman behind me hums before letting out a soft, tinkling giggle. “I see you found her. Are you calling me in to send me on my lunch break a little early? Please tell me yes. We could come up with a code word. Like maybe five alarm fire.”

Bethany’s eyes meet mine, and she laughs. Probably because my head drops forward at how open these two are being about giving us space so we can get it on at her work.

“That’s three words and exactly what will happen when we get to that point. But we’re not there yet.” She reaches for something on her desk and hands it to her secretary. “Although you can go to lunch, that’s not the reason I called you in here. I need you to set up an appointment with Dean Bellows. I have a student who I need removed from my Psych 101 class. Conflict of interest. Tell her I’ll explain more at our meeting. I’d like to get this done ASAP. Student’s name is Theodore Stewart III. If she needs more information, tell her he threatened me after class today and I don’t feel comfortable with him in there.”

The woman’s face contorts with furious rage. “Please tell me your friend here took care of him?”

“He showed up before things got out of hand.” With a sharp shake of her head, Bethany swallows hard. “Mr. Stewart wassmart enough to heed his warning and took off. I want to take care of this before he has time to make it seem like something it wasn’t. If that happens, remind Dean Bellows of the cameras we installed during renovations to record classes. I hadn’t turned it off yet, so she should be able to see for herself what happened.”

Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t punch the kid.

Bridget says nothing, but I hear her footsteps as she turns and walks back to her desk, closing the door behind her. Her voice echoes through as she makes a call to who I assume is the dean.

Now that that’s all taken care of… “Lunch? You really have to work?”

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