Page 4 of Loved

Penny had been so positive last night. I’d been spiraling and she’d pulled me out of it. But it had been a lot easier when she was wrapped in my arms in the comfort of my bed.

This morning I was a professor.

But in a few hours, I probably wouldn’t be.

My pestering thoughts didn’t stop the incessant beeping of the alarm though. I turned it off and rolled over to look at Penny. Part of me was surprised she was still here. It would have been a hell of a lot easier for her to come away from this unscathed if she changed her story. She could tell the dean I forced the situation. That I pressured her. That I was a fucking pervert. Disgusting. Violent. That I used my title to take advantage of her. She could throw me under the bus. But she wasn’t Isabella.

Still.She could have saved herself. And I wouldn’t have blamed her one bit. "You're still here."

Penny smiled. "Of course I'm still here." She propped her head up on her hand.

All I wanted to do was sink my fingers into her hair.

"I need you to promise me something," she said.

"Name it."

She pressed her lips together as she stared at me.

That was more like how I’d been expecting her to look last night. Unsure. I just wanted to pull her into my armsand ignore the world. When we’d gone to New York for the day, I’d wanted to be out of our bubble. But now I just wanted to stay in it forever.

She took a deep breath. "No matter what happens…please don't resent me."

How could she think that? "Penny..."

"Promise me."

"I don't resent you. Please don't think that I'm mad at you about any of this. This is everything I ever wanted. Actually, it is tempting to just run away with you. For you, I'd leave it all. I need you to know that." And I was prepared to. I’d already written my resignation letter. I’d go anywhere with her. As long as we were together, I didn’t care where we were.

"I'd leave it all for you too. But I'd be uneducated."

I laughed. "You're very intelligent. A diploma doesn't change that."

"I forgot that you just want me to be a housewife anyway."

Was there really something so wrong with that? I smiled and ran my fingers through her hair like I’d wanted to. "Well today can't go all that poorly because you just told me you want to be my wife. I'm certainly in a good mood."

"I..." her voice trailed off and her cheeks flushed.

God I loved when she blushed. But she had no reason to be embarrassed. "Don't be flustered." I moved my hand to her cheek. "I'm 27 years old. You're the love of my life. I know you feel the same way. You risked everything to be with me. So you must realize that I have every intention of marrying you, Penny Taylor."

Her throat made that adorable squeaking noise. "But we..."

"Are you going to fight me on this too?" I flashed her a smile.

"No."

I smiled and climbed out of bed. I knew this conversation was a lot. She was only 20. I was her first real boyfriend. But…everything felt right. And I knew she felt it too. This was how love was supposed to feel. And as long as we had that, how bad could today really be?

I quickly pulled on a pair of navy blue dress pants and buttoned up a grey dress shirt. I rolled the sleeves up my forearms as I walked out of the closet.

Penny was standing there in just one of my t-shirts.

I smiled and glanced at my watch as I finished rolling up my sleeves. "Ellen's already here. So unfortunately you'll need to get dressed."

Penny nodded and disappeared into the closet.

I finished getting ready while she was changing. And then I walked over to the window in my bedroom. There were more news trucks outside my apartment building and there were dozens of people standing outside. A combination of reporters and paparazzi. Probably a few nosey students too. My chest felt tight as I stared at the chaos.Fuck.I raked my fingers through my hair.

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