Pulling up to the café, I grip my steering wheel tightly. I don’t want to let Ines go. I want to drive her back to my house, and I want to keep her there. This weekend was the best one of my life. I can’t remember ever feeling so relaxed.

Being wrapped up in Ines for an entire weekend was more than I could have ever imagined. She’s my home, my fucking home, and I don’t know if I can keep my promise to Danielle. I don’t know if I can stay married to her and continue to lie by omission to Ines. The more time I spend with her, the harder I’m falling for her. She’s special, and I feel whole while she’s around.

“When will I see you again?” she asks, her hand on the door handle of the car.

I don’t have an answer for her, I wish that I did. I want to tell her, right now, to stay and be with me, but I know that I can’t. Not only do I have Danielle, but the school would fire my ass and expel Ines without blinking an eye. Letting out a breath, I scrub my hand down my face.

“I don’t know,” I admit. I can’t cancel my office hours many more times, or someone will ask questions.

Ines’ eyes lower and she nods. “I understand,” she whispers.

I watch her open the door and stand. She walks to the back of the car, and if I were a bigger man I would get out and take her duffle out, but I can’t. I pop the trunk and I watch from my rearview mirror as she takes her bag out, slamming it closed, then she walks away from me. I’m a goddamn pussy. Ines walks away from me, and I fucking let her. I grab my phone from my cup holder and pull up her name on my text app.

Pressing send, I keep my eyes on her, glued to her as she walks. I watch her stop, dig her phone out of her purse and then a few seconds later she turns around, facing me.

Her simple words cause my chest to ache. Fuck yes, it’s hard. It’s hard and it’s fucking ridiculous. I wish that I could change our circumstances. If it were just Danielle, I would send her papers today. I don’t really give much of a shit about our relationship, her little bullshit about my father ended any kind of compassion I had for her already.

I’m only doing it to keep everything simple and clean, to keep her from causing problems. She wants her promotion, and I want Ines. However, even if Danielle weren’t in the picture, I can’t really have Ines, not yet anyway.

Honest to fuck, I don’t know what else to tell her. She lifts her chin and then turns around, leaving me to go back to campus. I wait until she’s completely out of view before I head home. I have classes tomorrow, I start my torture for the week. I have to look at her from across the room, I can’t touch, and I can’t speak to her.

Fucking hell, what am I doing to myself?

I drive home almost in a daze, my mind running with ideas on how to have all of Ines sooner, rather than later. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to live without having complete access to her. As soon as I pull into my driveway, I pick my phone up and shoot her another text.

I open my car door, and walk around to the trunk, grabbing my own bag before slamming it closed and heading inside of the house. My phone alerts me to a new message as soon as my door closes behind me.

My lips tip into a smile at her words. I’ll be wishing those fucking hours away too.

* * *

Monday morning comes far too quickly. After my evening of doing laundry and staring at my phone, scrolling through the pictures I took over the weekend, I’m not ready to start today. I’m not ready to see Ines, and not be able to kiss and touch her. I’m not ready to pretend that she doesn’t exist to me when she’s all that I see.

The sound of the classroom door opening signals that it’s almost time for students to begin filing in. I always have one student who is extra early, and I know without lifting my head that it isn’t Ines. Not only is she never early, but her presence fills an empty room, giving it a warmth that wasn’t there before.

I continue to read through papers that I should have finished going over, over the weekend. Papers I ignored because I was buried deep inside of my woman. She is that too—mine. I don’t know that Danielle ever was truly mine. I would like to think that she had been in the beginning, but after learning that she had always been after my father, I find that hard to believe.

However, Ines, she’s mine. When she looks at me, I know that there is no other man in her life. I consume her, just as much as she consumes me. I’m unsure how our arrangement can go on like this much longer, especially after this last weekend.

My alarm sounds on my watch and I glance up to see her seat is empty. I stand and step toward my podium just as she slips through the door. My eyes track her, but I try to keep my face expressionless.

She gives me a bright smile and a small wave as she hurries to her seat. She’s wearing a pair of tight jeans with huge rips in them something I’ve noticed she wears often, and a black low-cut top. Her tits look fucking delicious and I don’t know how I’m going to keep from tasting them between now and tomorrow evening.

I shove my hand in my pocket, in hopes of hiding my semi, as I begin to lecture. Ines’ eyes stay glued to me, and I try not to stare at her, but I know that I’m doing a shit job of it. Someone raises their hand with a question and I call on her, trying to concentrate on the student’s words, all while trying, and failing, not to imagine Ines on her knees in front of me.

I am so fucking, fucked, with this girl. There is no way I can finish the semester this way. I’m not even halfway through, and I’m already finding it difficult to concentrate.

Somehow, I make it through the entirety of my lecture and breathe a sigh of relief when the alarm on my phone alerts me to the end of the class. I walk back to the desk and jot down a couple of notes on things that I need to discuss Wednesday. I feel the presence of someone standing in front of my desk, looking up, my eyes widen when I see that it’s Ines.

“Thomas,” she whispers.

She looks almost worried and I frown. “You okay?”

She shakes her head and walks around the desk. I have another class that comes in here in a few hours, but I’m fairly certain we’ll be alone for a while. Although, the door isn’t locked and I don’t have the key for it even if I wanted to lock it.

“I can’t keep my mind off of you, I can’t concentrate. It was bad before, but after the weekend, it’s impossible now,” she murmurs.

I nod, completely understanding the feeling. Reaching up, I wrap my hand around her small waist and give her a squeeze. Her brows furrow as she sinks to her knees in front of me. “Angel eyes,” I groan. She’s exactly where I’ve pictured her for the past ninety minutes.

Taking my hand from her waist, I use my index finger to lightly trail between her cleavage. Her tits are so warm and inviting, I know that come tomorrow night I’m going to need to fuck them. It’s an image I’ve had since meeting her and I don’t know that I’ll be able to keep from feeling them wrapped around me anymore.

Ines’ fingers quickly unbuckle my belt and tug my zipper down. I wrap my hand around her wrists to stop her, but she shakes her head. “Let me, Thomas. I want to. I love the way you feel inside of me, I don’t care what part of me you’re in.”

Her wide caramel eyes look up at me through her lashes, and although her statement was probably meant to be innocent enough, I can’t help thinking about sinking inside of her tight ass. I lied when I told Danielle that college girls loved that, in truth, I’ve never done it before. Something calls to me to claim Ines there though, to claim all of her—everywhere.

Her tongue peeks out and licks the head of my cock, then swirls around it. I close my eyes and allow her to take me. I don’t fuck her mouth or do anything but enjoy the way she consumes me and takes control. I sift my fingers through her hair at the side and just hold her, opening my eyes to glance down at her.

Ines’ caramel gaze looks up at me through her lashes and it sends a shiver up my spine. She’s so sexy, so sweet, and all mine. Never have I possessed a woman quite like her, never have I wanted to keep a woman as badly as I want to keep her.

“Fuck, angel eyes, you wreck me,” I state.

She hums around my cock and I feel that tingle in my spine. My balls draw up and I know I’m close. I don’t want to come down her throat though.

I roll back in my chair, letting my hand fall from her hair as I stand. Her eyes widen and I shake my head, picking her up from beneath her armpits. Turning her around, silently, I unbutton her jeans and push them down to her thighs.

“Thomas, Papi, fuck,” she hisses as I press my hand against the center of her back.

Leaning over her, I press my mouth to her ear. “You’re going to need to play with your clit, sweetheart, this is going to be hard and fucking fast,” I mutter.

I hear her gasp as I align my cock with her pussy, then I slam inside of her. She’s so fucking wet, my Ines enjoys sucking me off and playing with me. Reaching for her hair, I twist my fingers in it and tug her head back, my other hand wrapping around her hip. I show no mercy, my movements hard and brutal as I take her.

Releasing her hip, I slap her ass and she lets out a moan. Her pussy becomes wetter, and tighter, signaling that she’s close. I can hear her breathing coming out faster, and her moans louder. Anybody could walk into this classroom at any second, and I should be fucking terrified of losing my job, but I can’t stay away from her, I have to have her.

“You need to come. Squeeze my cock tight, like only you can.” I grunt with each pump of my hips.

I feel her thighs shake and then she lets out a sob that rings in my ears. Her pussy squeezes, pulsing around my dick, and only then, do I allow myself to come. I close my eyes and fuck her, faster, before burying my cock as deep as I can. I fill her with my release on a moan of my own, staying inside of her until my balls are completely empty.

“Ines, fuck sweetheart,” I groan as I gently slide out of her.

I pull my pants up and fasten myself, then I reach for her, helping her to stand and adjusting her own clothing, regretfully covering her body from view.

“Sweetheart, that’s kind of new,” she says in her husky voice.

Lifting a brow, I look down at her, cupping her cheek and running my thumb along her bottom lip. “If we were caught…” I let my words trail off.

“I know,” she nods. “I’m sorry, I would never want to jeopardize your career, I’m so so sorry.”

Shaking my head, I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I could give a fuck about me, Ines. I’m concerned with you,” I admit.

She gives me her beautiful, light-up-the-room smile and it melts my fucking heart. “I’m good, Papi,” she rasps. “Tomorrow, six?”

I nod, unable to verbally answer her. Something is caught in my throat, and I feel too much fucking emotion right now. She stands on the balls of her feet and presses her lips to mine quickly. Then, she hurries out of the classroom and I watch her go.

Running my hand over my face, I let out a groan. I’m gone. Completely fucking gone, and I really don’t think I’ll be able to wait until Christmas break to file for divorce. I need to be free so that I can give every single part of myself to Ines, she fucking deserves it.

My phone buzzes in my pocket with a notification and I look at it before I cringe.

I frown, my heart rate speeding up at the thought of having to leave Ines for the entire weekend. It’s the absolute last thing I want to do, but I’m a man of my word and I promised her that I would play the part of the devoted husband for the next few months. The thought makes me feel fucking sick to my stomach.

Something isn’t right. Thomas was so quiet all evening, it was like pulling teeth to have a conversation with him. Our date was all of an hour long, and he didn’t touch or kiss me even once. Sometime between yesterday and tonight, he changed. I don’t know what it is, and I was kind of afraid to ask him. I didn’t want it to be about me, I didn’t want him to tell me that he’s having second thoughts about us.

I want to live in blissful denial. I have a feeling that I won’t be able to for long though. That other shoe, that one that has my stomach twisted in knots, I feel like it’s about to drop at any moment.

Quietly, I walk into my room and see Jessa sitting at her desk. She looks up with surprised eyes.

“Where have you been lately?” she asks, turning her attention back to her books.

Without so much as a thought to what I’m about to say, I blurt out, “I met someone.”

I watch as Jessa turns in her chair and looks at me in surprised shock. I know she’s probably waiting for me to elaborate but I don’t know what to say, not really. Do I tell her who Thomas is, or what he does here at the school? Do I admit that I’m sleeping with a man who is almost thirty years older than me? Then as she watches me, trying to figure out exactly what’s going on, I decide to just say it.

“He’s a professor,” I admit in a whisper. “One of my professors.” I suck in a breath before I continue. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I went to his office to talk about a paper, a paper that I failed. One thing led to another. The man is nothing like the teacher part of him, and I’m falling, Jessa. It’s so stupid, and we could both get into so much trouble, but I can’t stay away,” I ramble.

“Cole is on staff here, too,” she admits, speaking about the man she’s been cheating on her douche boyfriend with. Although, I personally don’t consider it cheating since her boyfriend is only using her to scratch an itch and do his homework for him.

“What are we doing?” I ask, making a noise in the back of my throat.

Jessa shakes her head. “You’re breaking the rules, but you’re single. I’m cheating, or I was.”

The sadness in her eyes tells me more than her words. She wants this Cole guy, she wants to be with him. I hate that she thinks she has to stay with some abusive jerk just because his parents did her a solid when she was younger. Nobody should feel forced to be with anybody.

“It’s not cheating on Trent, Jessa. What you have with him isn’t a relationship. You aren’t in love with each other. He uses you, and you feel guilty, like you owe him something, which you do not. It’s okay to grow apart, and you can thank his parents and be grateful for all they did for you without making yourself miserable by being with their asshole son,” I try to explain.

I can tell by the look in her eyes that she’s not buying what I’m telling her. I watch as she closes her eyes, and I see the guilt wash over her, and the pain. “It is cheating, Ines. And I’m never doing it again,” she murmurs.

I watch as she turns back to her studies. I don’t say anything else, I don’t have anything else to say. Jessa’s a big girl, and she’s smart, I just hope she’s smart enough to get the hell away from Trent Keller before it’s all too late.

Anyway, I have my own shit to deal with, with my own Husker staff member. I pull out my art history book and start to make flash cards for my next test. Jessa gets dressed and leaves without saying a word to me, and I don’t mind it. She’s as lost inside of her own head as I am in mine. When I’m finished with as much homework as I can handle, I grab my phone and just stare at it. I will it to have a new notification from Thomas, but it doesn’t.

When it rings in my palm, I jump. I feel a wave of disappointment at the name that pops up. It’s my sister, Lola. I haven’t heard from her since I’ve moved so I decide to answer it.

“Hey,” I greet.

I hear her hum and then with her freaky older sister intuition she demands to know what’s wrong with me. If it wasn’t so damn freaky, I would laugh at her. “I met someone, we went out tonight, but he was acting weird,” I admit, being sure to omit the part where he’s forty-four and my professor. Lola would freak the fuck out if she knew that, in fact, she would probably come out here and slap me around with her flip-flops.

“Maybe he really likes you and doesn’t know how he feels about that quite yet. Men aren’t like us, Ines. They freak out when they find someone they truly care for,” she states.

I let out my own hum. “Who did you meet?” I demand.

She laughs, her voice low and husky. “His name is Mark. He owns the construction company that is renovating the restaurant I work at. He asked me out five times before I said yes.”

I know just by her voice that she’s blushing. I hope that this guy is nice, Lola doesn’t need any other assholes, one abusive ex-husband is enough.

“He’s a good guy?” I ask, glancing over at Jessa’s empty bed with a frown. They’re so much alike, my sister and Jessa.

“He seems to be wonderful. Kosmo knows of him, and he said he’s never heard a bad thing about him. We went out a few times, and he seems really great.”

“Has he freaked out, yet?” I ask with a small laugh.

Lola joins in my laughter. “Not yet, probably after date five, especially since I won’t give it up,” she admits.

I cringe, not willing to tell my conservative sister that I gave a little up before I even went out on one date with Thomas. He brings something out of me, then I close my eyes, he brings the slut out of me. As much as I want to tell my sister that, I can’t, I don’t think that she would understand.

There isn’t a moment that I’m in his presence that I don’t want him or crave his touch. She wouldn’t get it, Novia might understand, she’s more like me. She’s freer, more open, but not Lola.

Lola tells me about her Mark, and that he’s divorced and has two children, which she’s met already. To me, that means they’re serious and I like that for her. I like that there’s this man who was persistent and has been open with her. Plus, Kosmo knows him, and that eases my mind a bit. When Lola’s ex became abusive and she finally left him, we all took to protecting her. I’m not sure that we’ll ever not worry about her safety.

“Talk to him, Ines,” she says.

I close my eyes, she’s right. I need to talk to him. “What if I don’t like what he has to say,” I admit.

“Then he’s not the one for you,” she announces.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Lola tells me that she loves and misses me before she ends the call. I stare at the black screen of my phone for a few more minutes, then I do what Lola suggests, but in my own way.

I send the text to Thomas, my heart racing, hammering quickly inside of my chest. The three bubbles appear almost immediately, telling me that he’s typing back to me. I chew on my bottom lip, waiting and trying not to hyperventilate as he slowly replies.

Then my phone rings in my hand and I’m surprised to see his name. I swipe my finger to accept the call.

“Hello,” I murmur.

I hear him sigh on the other end. “I have a lot of shit going on this week, and weekend. I’m sorry I was distracted tonight,” he admits.

I lay down on my pillow, rolling to my side and curling into a ball. “Is everything okay?”

He grunts before he answers. “It will be, angel eyes.” The minute he calls me angel eyes my entire body relaxes. There’s something about the way he says it, about his voice, I know that everything will be okay, just like he claims.

“So, do you not want to see me until next week?” I ask, my heart beginning to race again at the thought of not seeing him for at least five days, maybe six.

Thomas clears his throat. “I have to leave right after classes on Friday, and I won’t be home until Sunday evening. I have to make sure I’m caught up on all of my work. Good news is you won’t have a paper due Friday, bad news is you have a pop quiz tomorrow,” he chuckles.

“Is there extra credit?” I ask, my voice husky. I meant it as a joke, but it didn’t come out that way.

“Ines.”

Deciding to let it all hang out, I admit to him. “I can’t stay away from you for six days, Thomas. There’s no way.”

“Thursday night, stay with me before I need to leave.”

The smile that appears on my face is ridiculous. “Absolutely,” I whisper.