Page 74 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

James shoved his hands into his pockets as he watched me examine the statue. “No, I wasn’t aware of that.”

I looked back up at him. “What kind of professor were you?”

He smiled in that seductive way of his. “A bad one.”

I walked back over to him. “You were a great professor. With a bad habit of seducing students.”

“Student. Not plural.”

“See. You were a good professor. And you still are back home. Let me see if it still echoes.” I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming before I proceeded to climb up onto the concrete book.

James laughed as I started clapping in the center of the book.

“Am I centered? Or is over here better?” I stepped to the side and started clapping again.

James started laughing even harder.

“Why are you laughing at me?”

“Because you look like a lunatic.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and looked back down at the statue I was standing on. “It doesn’t echo back. This stupid statue ruined everything.”

“Everything?”

“Fine, not everything.” I let James help me down from the hideous monstrosity. “Just this circle. And those huge new residence halls they built.” I pointed to the buildings in the distance. “Hideous, right?”

“But you still love it here, don’t you.” He didn’t phrase it like a question. He knew I loved it.

“Of course. Coming to this college was the best decision of my life. It led me to you.”

He cupped my cheek in his hand. “How much would it upset you to know that some of our donation probably helped pay for those huge hideous buildings.”

“A travesty.”

He laughed. “And the hospital. That wasn’t a travesty.”

“No. That was a life saver.”

“The personal attention we got at the hospital was impressive," said James. "I don’t want to know how much money you donated, but do we practically own that hospital because of all the donations we’ve made?”

“Probably. But if we ever have any health problems, we know where to come.”

His hand slid down the side of my neck in the most distracting way. But the way he was staring at me made it impossible for me to think about anything else.

“Or maybe we should just stay,” he said.

“Stay.” I stared into his eyes. “In Newark?”

“I can’t remember the last time I saw you this happy, Penny. I want to see you smile as much every day as you have in the past few days.”

“I smile plenty.”

“

You haven’t smiled plenty. You’ve been upset in New York. You think I didn’t notice you crying after opening the mail? And I’ve never heard laughter flowing out of your office while you work. You haven’t been happy. And somewhere along the way you forgot that I’ve always seen you, Penny.”

I moved a fraction of an inch closer to him. “Are you not happy in New York?”

---