Page 90 of Three Pucks and a Baby

With a grunt of frustration, I finally bit the bullet and started over to the main desk. To my dismay, a coed with jacked-up cleavage was the only one in sight. At the sight of me, her eyes lit up. “Can I help you?” she practically purred.

“Yeah, I need to talk to Vivian.”

Her brows furrowed. “Vivian Whitlock?”

“That’s the one.”

With an expression of disdain, she said, “What could you possibly want with her?”

I narrowed my eyes. “That’s none of your business.”

She rolled her eyes. “She’s in the Special Collections room.”

“Where the hell is that?”

“Downstairs.”

“Thanks. You’ve been so helpful,” I retorted.

After making my way to the elevator, I rode it to the bottom floor. When I got off, I glanced left and right. Okay, no Special Collections room. Just when I thought the coed had been fucking with me, I saw a sign at the far end of the hallway.

Jesus, it was back away from everything.

The door to the room was open. After stepping inside, I didn’t initially see Vivian in the vast shelves. Then I craned my neck and saw her.

She was on one of those antique-looking sliding ladders like you might see in a movie. When I cleared my throat, she whirled around. Her surprise at the sight of me was evident on her face but then was amplified when she lost her balance on the ladder. Shrieking, the books in her arms fell to the ground as she tried to stop herself from falling.

Rushing forward, I swept her into my arms. My chest clenched at the feel of her soft curves against me and the sweet smell of her perfume in my nose. For what felt like a small eternity, we stayed stock still, staring into each other’s eyes.

I broke the spell by immediately sticking my foot in my mouth. “What the hell were you thinking being on a ladder in your condition?”

Vivian blinked at me. “Excuse me?”

“What if I hadn’t been here and you’d fallen? You could’ve hurt the baby.”

Her green eyes narrowed to fury-filled slits. “Oh, now you care? Two days ago, you were advocating for me to get an abortion.”

I grimaced. “I know. I was so fucking wrong for saying that to you, and more than anything in the world, I wish I could take it back.”

Vivian stared up at me. After another small eternity passed, she cleared her throat. “Can you put me down?”

Nodding, I replied, “Right. Yeah. Of course.”

Once I eased her gently onto her feet and reluctantly let her go, Vivian gave me an expectant look. “What are you doing here, Theo?”

“I needed to see you.”

Her brows furrowed. “Really?”

“But besides wanting to see you, I wanted to say I’m very sorry for reacting the way I did.”

Vivian’s mouth gaped open. “You are?”

With a nod, I replied, “There aren’t words to express how sorry I feel for the horrible things I said to you.”

Eyeing me suspiciously, Vivian asked, “Did Bennett or Grayson put you up to this?”

I threw up my hands in frustration. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I’m here of my own volition because I truly feel bad for how things went down with us.”

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