Page 123 of Illicit Education

“Already done, babe.”

“Cancel it,” Cabot barked.

I laughed as I walked out of the kitchen. He had another thing coming to him if he thought he could get away with talking to Greer like that.

I made it to the stairs, then sat down on the third step and waited for Cabot to join me because I knew he would—when Greer was finished giving him a piece of her mind.

Things quieted down in the kitchen, then angry footfalls alerted me to his approach. When he stopped in front of me, looking down in that dominant, powerful way of his, I patted the stair beside me. “Please sit.”

His jaw tightened. I could see the battle warring within his brain, but I could be patient.

Finally, he sat down. “I won’t let you walk away from the internship, Rylan.”

“It’s not your decision,” I said.

He whipped his head toward me so fast I jumped. “Don’t do this. Don’t push me on this.”

“Reed–”

“I hand-picked you for that internship, Rylan. Before I knew you.Before,” he emphasized. “You beat out all those other applicants because you’re that good. Do you understand me? I give you manuscripts to read because you are that good.” He searched my gaze, desperation in his onyx eyes. “No one will take this away from you.”

Oh, the irony… I took it away frommyself.

“And what about you?” I asked. “What will they say about you, when you allow me back?”

He gave me a disgusted look. “Do you think I care about what they say about me?”

I thought back over the last few weeks and smiled, shaking my head. “No, I don’t think you do.”

“Then it’s settled.” He went to stand and I pulled on his hand until he sat back down.

I searched his eyes, pleading with him to hear what I was about to say. “You know what they’re going to say about me, right?”

The muscle in his jaw ticked. That vein rose up like an angry giant.

“I’m just the girl who tried to fuck her way to the top.”

“Jesus,fuck, Rylan.” His mouth dropped open, his expression pained. “Don’t do that. Don’t–” He shook his head in frustration. “Don’t make that what this is.”

“It’s what they’ll think.”

“Is it what you think? Is that what you’re doing?”

“You know that’s not what this is.”

He held my gaze for a long time, then he cupped my face and pressed a kiss to my lips, long and firm, just his lips on mine.

A promise.

When he pulled back, he said, “You said you trusted me.”

“I do, but–”

“Trust me on this.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Cabot

---