Page 73 of Devoured

"But our relationship is a secret and you still have a wife. How happy do you think we can be for the next two years like this?"

What did she want from me here? Was she asking me to throw my career away? Was that the only thing that would show her that I was serious about us? "What if I disclose our relationship to the dean?"

She stared at me. "What?"

"Is that what you want? Will that prove to you how I feel? We won't have to hide our relationship anymore."

"We'll get in trouble."

"Not necessarily. Only if someone complains."

She pressed her lips together. "What about Comm?"

"I'm not sure what will happen with that."

"I don't want to have to take it again."

I swallowed hard. Now that we were having this conversation, it didn’t seem that hard. I felt empty without her, just like how she felt without me. I wasn’t sure I’d feel empty without teaching. Maybe I would. But the alternative of having to be without her for two years was worse. I knew that. I took a deep breath. "So how about I quit?"

"Teaching?"

"If it's the only way."

"I thought you loved teaching. It's your fresh start."

"You'remy fresh start. And I don't love teaching nearly as much as I love you." It was the truth. If I had to give one of them up, it wouldn’t be her.

She straddled me on the couch.

My hands settled on her waist as she leaned forward and hugged me.

"I don't want any of that,” she said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Because even though my mind told me it would be okay to give up teaching, I worried. I knew what kind of man I was before I changed professions. What if…what if I slipped again? What if I lost teachingandher?

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I just want your divorce to be official. I don't want you to have to change who you are. I love who you are." She put her forehead against mine. "I don't want to wait. I just don't want to have to feel guilty about not waiting."

"There's nothing to feel guilty about. But I'll have my lawyer figure something out, okay? I'll take care of it." This shit with Isabella ended now.

"Soon?"

"Soon."

***

"Favorite soda?" I asked.

"Cherry Coke."

It was my lucky day. "I had my fridge stocked with a bunch of things when I thought you'd be staying here more often." I pulled out a Cherry Coke and handed it to her.

She grabbed the fridge handle before I closed it. "Let me see." Her eyes wandered the shelves and she grabbed a pack of juice boxes. "Juice boxes? Seriously? How young do you think I am?"

Shit."Those are actually mine." I grabbed them from her, put them back in the fridge, and closed the door.

"Why don't you just buy a bottle of apple juice if you like it so much?"

I tried to think of something to say. I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t sure why my first instinct was to lie. We were trying to get to know each other here.Breathe."I was never allowed to have them when I was a kid." There. The truth wasn’t so hard.

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