Page 89 of Every Bit As Perfect
But then I found out her daughter is actuallynice,and my empathy transferred to her.
Regardless, after what I’d learned from my mom about her book club ladies, Natalia’s insults weighed on me less and less.Perhaps not everybody in town saw me the way the Brady Bunch did.
In any case, I had no time and zero fucks for her this morning.
Daire was meeting me in my office for the world’s fastest coffee break before having to return to his classroom, and I wasn’t about to waste precious minutes on her bullshit.
Natalia tipped her chin down and offered a fake smile.“Grow up or glow up?”
Brittany snickered.“Some of us glow up.Some of us just keep growing.I guess I’d call that a blow up.Are you still struggling with your weight, Harley?”
My face burned.
Where was Daire?Did he hear what they said?Would he look at me differently?See what they saw?
The look of triumph in their eyes soured my stomach.
And steeled my resolve.
I tilted my head to the side.“You know, I used to feel sorry for you back when I wondered if something happened to twist you into these bitter, dried-up, Botox-ridden, overgrown teenagers.But now I know you’re simply an asshole, Natalia.And you, Brittany, are simply this asshole’s bitch.”I smiled brightly.“And now I don’t expend any energy on you at all!”
Brittany’s mouth opened comically wide while Natalia’s lips pressed so tightly together they formed a straight line.
I didn’t bother to wish them a good day.
Five minutes later, Daire knocked softly on my door before closing and locking it.“Come sit with me for five minutes.”
“Don’t you want a coffee?”
“Nope.I just want to cuddle you for five minutes before I head back to work.”
“Really?”I teased as I walked around my desk.“You slept with me last night, woke up with me this morning, you’re having dinner with me at my parents’ house tonight, and I assume you’re sleeping at my place, haven’t you had enough?”
“Nope.”He grabbed my hand and tugged me onto his lap.“Never going to get enough of you.”
Tucking my head against his shoulder, he palmed my thigh.
My nose to his neck, I breathed him in.He was beginning to smell like home to me.Safety.Pleasure.
Love.
The tips of his fingers pressed into my fleshy inner thigh.
“Skirt today,” he rumbled, his hand drifting back down to my knee.
“Don’t be getting any ideas, Professor,” I teased.
“Oh, it’s far too late for that.”Nudging my thigh, he hooked my knee over his and spread his legs wide.
“Oh, boy,” I chirped.
“Mhm,” he hummed.
“I’m at work,” I protested weakly.
“I see that.”
“Somebody could walk in at any time.”
