Page 38 of The Teacher and the Virgin

“Where the hell is she?” I walked into Ford’s office with Emma’s panties in my pocket.

She’d run from me. Scared. I should have anticipated that, but I’d fucked up. I’d let her slip through my fingers. Should have told her what I felt for her. Why she was the only woman I'd ever taken into my home, into my bed. She thought I'd wanted a one-night-stand, that I'd fuck her and forget. Hell, even take her virginity and then walk away. She'dgivenit to me and I did not take that lightly. Apparently, she was under the misconception otherwise. It was time to set things right.

What we shared had been wild and dirty. Steamy hot. But it had also been… special. The connection we shared was unlike anything I'd ever felt before with any woman. I didn't just eat her out, I memorized her taste. I didn't just take her virginity, I watched her, listened to her and learned what made her hot, what made her cry out my name. What made her come on a fucking scream.

She'd fallen asleep a sweaty, panting mess, well satisfied and definitely no longer a virgin. Why she fled when it was so good between us was something I'd have to find out.

She said she had a meeting at nine. It was nine-fifteen, Ford was in his office and a woman I didn’t recognize was sitting at Emma’s desk.

What. The. Fuck?

If Emma thought she was going to get away from me that easily, she was in for the shock of her life.

Ford looked up from the report in his hand to inspect me. He looked like he always did, like an uptight prick. Which he was. If anyone needed to get laid, it was my brother. He looked like me, with lighter brown hair, milk chocolate instead of dark, green eyes instead of my brown, and our father’s scowl on his face. His eyes bored into me with the keen intelligence that had led our company since our father’s retirement two years ago. Ford was a merciless, brilliant asshole, and the Buchanan family counted on that fact every damn day. In fact, I often tried to emulate him. But right now, I was not in the mood to play games.

“Who?”

“Emma.”

“Oh.” Ford’s dismissive tone matched his expression and he returned his attention to the paperwork in front of him like I wasn’t standing in his office with my dick in my hand. “Gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?”

My brother didn’t bother to look up. “She’s at a meeting. Miller and Walsh. Two blocks down, shiny building on the right.”

“I know where their office is.” We’d been doing business with them for over a decade. Good god, was my brother purposely being an obtuse ass or was he blind? I sank down into the chair opposite Ford and put my feet up on his desk, just to piss him off. I slammed my heels, good and hard, on the polished wood to get his fucking attention. “Why is she there?”

Ford’s jaw clenched as he looked at my shoes on his sacred antique mahogany, but he put the fucking piece of paper down and looked at me. “She’s meeting her new financial team.”

“Why do you have a financial team at Miller and Walsh?”

Ford rolled his eyes and slowly smiled. Women tossed panties at him because of that smile. He didn't do it often, so that damn grin made me nervous. “I don’t.” Ford leaned over his desk, his arms crossed and resting on the paperwork spread out over his desk. “Why are you so interested in Miss Sanders’ whereabouts?”

“Because she’s mine,” I admitted it readily, especially since she'd been in my bed and I claimed her. The only thing left to finalize that was to forego the condom and fill her with my seed. Marking her with my scent.

Ford grunted. “Really?”

“Yes, really. She’s mine, Ford.” My brother opened his mouth, no doubt to lecture me, but I shoved my hand in front of him to cut him off. “Don’t fucking lecture me on company policy or any of that bullshit. She’s mine.”

Silence filled his office as we stared each other down. I wasn’t backing off. Not on this.

“Emma Sanders gave notice on Monday,” Ford said, his tone even, completely unlike mine. “She is, at this very moment, at a meeting with her new transition team at Miller and Walsh.”

“She quit?” She'd never mentioned it. But, she hadn't said all that much besides “more” and “please” and my name after I'd gotten her panties off. We hadn't had that much time for pillow talk with her walking out and all.

“She did,” Ford confirmed. “Her work here was only temporary. Being my secretary isn't a career job for her. She's too smart for that. She was only sticking around until she finished her master’s.”

Yeah, she was too fucking smart to be Ford's paper-pusher forever. Knowing she'd had a plan all along, that she had her head on straight, only made me admire her more.

Shit. I was a selfish prick because I wanted her just one floor down, not two blocks away. Two blocks. I could live with that, as long as she came home to me every night.

Ford leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers. “What’s going on between you and Emma?”

“I’m going to marry her, that’s what’s going on.”

Ford laughed like a bachelor who didn't have his heart—and his dick—in knots for one particular woman. “Does she know that?”

“No.”

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