Page 74 of Loved

Penny glanced nervously at the walls. I knew people in the rooms next door could probably hear me, but I didn’t fucking care. What were they going to do…report me to the dean? I didn’t work here anymore. And I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. Including killing Professor McCarty.

"No, he shouldn't have,” Penny said. “But that doesn't mean you should kill him! He didn't even know that we were dating. I just want you to help me switch classes. I just don't want to see him. And I don't want to be expelled. I don't want you to hurt him. The last thing I want is for you to do something that'll get you in more trouble. I just don't know what to do."

I looked down at her left hand. "Marry me." The words just tumbled out of me. That predatory asshole hit on her because he didn’t realize she was with me. And I wasn’t going to let that happen again. Everyone needed to know that she belonged to me and only me.

"What?"

"Let's get married." I ran my hand through my hair. "And move somewhere where no one knows either one of us. We can start over together."Please, Penny. I can’t breathe here.

"James, you just told my parents a few days ago that you weren't ready to get married. You just got divorced. This isn't what you really want. You're just upset."

"I don't want anyone else to touch you ever again. I don't want anyone else to flirt with you. I want everyone to know that you're mine."

"I am yours."

"Then marry me. We can go to Vegas right now."

"James, I can't just marry you. I want my parents to be there. I want my friends to be there. And what about your family? I haven't even gotten to meet any of them yet. I want them to be there too."

"I don't want a big wedding. I've already done that."I just want you.

"That's not what I said. I don't care about having a big wedding. I just want a few people besides us to be there." She was staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

And fuck, maybe I had. Or maybe I was finally seeing everything clearly. But this wasn’t what she wanted. She was telling me no.Breathe."So that's a definite no?" I put my hands on her knees.

"No. I want to marry you. Just not...today. This was hardly a romantic proposal, Professor Hunter."

I looked down at her left hand again. I ran my thumb along her ring finger. She needed a ring. As soon as possible. No other guy would ever touch her again. "Romance, got it. Next time I ask, you'll definitely say yes." I met her gaze and smiled. She probably didn’t realize how serious I was about this. But I was damn serious.

"If you hadn't said we should go to Vegas right now I probably would have said yes."

Really?I pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "I wish I hadn't mentioned Vegas then." I smiled at her.

"Maybe we should just go somewhere that no one knows us, though," she said.

Yeah?

She wrapped her hands around the back of my neck. "I was prepared for other students being mean. I never expected my professors to..." she let her voice trail off.

"You won't be going back to his class. We can transfer you into a different one. Or you can withdraw from that too. I'll call Joe now."

"He's not going to let me do that. He's going to expel me."

"He's not going to expel you." I moved my hand to the side of her neck. "And if that creep wasn't on tenure, I'm sure I could get him fired."

"But are you sure you even want to stay here?" she asked.

No.I wanted to be anywhere but here. "If this is where you want to be, then yes."

She pressed her lips together.

I want to be in New York City again. Let me take you there.But for some reason, I didn’t say the words out loud. She’d already denied my proposal. I didn’t want another no right now.

"Can you wait to call Joe?” she asked. “Maybe we can see how we feel on Monday?"

"Okay.” I stared into her eyes that were still a little red. “Penny, I'm so sorry."

"You like to apologize when you've done nothing wrong."

---