Page 66 of The Headmaster’s Rule

I squeeze her gently, wondering how I ever doubted this young woman. She’s wise beyond her years.

“We do what we want,” I say firmly. “Without worrying about others.”

She draws away to meet my gaze. “But… the school…”

“I know. We’ll need to be discreet. Nothing can happen at work.” I touch my fingertips gently to her cheek, and she closes her eyes with a soft smile. “But I can’t keep lying to myself, Eleanor.” Her eyes open, searching mine. “And I sure as hell can’t keep lying to you.”

She leans in, taking my lips in a slow kiss, then tugs me down so we’re lying on the sofa, her back flush with my front. The sofa is too small for me, my feet hanging off the end, my neck at an odd angle, but I don’t care. I grab a nearby throw blanket and drape it across us, tucking my arm around her waist, holding her close. Even though it’s cramped, I can’t remember the last time I felt this content.

And with Eleanor in my arms, sleep comes easily.

CHAPTER 22

Eleanor

Iwake up alone, and for a few moments in the cool morning light, I wonder if I dreamed it.

Theo. In my house. On my sofa. Inside me.

I can’t keep lying to myself, Eleanor.

Pulling myself up on the sofa, I spy two coffee cups on the counter, reassuring me it wasn’t a dream. Proof.

Only…

As I glance around my quiet house, I know he’s gone. The bathroom door is open, the kitchen empty, my bed still made, untouched. A strange sense of unease washes through me.

I hadn’t expected him to stay—I hadn’t expected him to show up at all—but he left without saying goodbye. Has he had a change of heart? Has he realized, in the cold light of day, what a truly terrible idea it really was?

The thought nags at me as I shower and dress for the day, too nervous to contemplate breakfast. I gather my sketch and notes from the counter, remembering his request to see them today. In the process, I knock a bunch of other papers to the floor, but I’m too jittery to care. Too anxious to see him again, to get him alone. To ask if he thinks this was a mistake.

When I arrive at school, I remember the lesson planned for this morning, and how I haven’t done all the photocopying I need. There’s a queue at the photocopier, as usual, and I lose fifteen minutes waiting my turn. By the time I’ve dropped the copies on my desk and set up for the day, there’s no time to stop by Theo’s office before the faculty meeting.

Instead, I hurry up the stairs to the conference room, pulse whipping through me as I find a seat at the long wooden table. Juliana’s a few seats down from me, and I could shuffle along to sit next to her, but she might ask questions about last night.

Questions I’m not sure I know how to answer.

At least, not from Theo’s perspective. I know how I feel. That is unequivocal. I’m elated. Dizzy. Hornier than before, somehow. And my heart… If what I’d said to Juliana last night about falling for her dad hadn’t been true then, well, it is now. The way he stroked my hair so gently, called me sweetheart, held me so close on that sofa as we fell asleep… And, God, the way he spoke to me as I straddled him, loving every thick inch of him inside me…

Look at you, so good at riding my cock.

I blow out a breath, pressing my fingers to my hot cheek. Now is not the time to think about that.

Danny files into the room, beaming as always, followed by Headmaster Wright. Theo. My Theo, I’d called him in the heat of the moment. And as his gaze lands on me briefly, then slips away without so much as a pause, I wonder if it was too much. If I was too much for him last night. I mean, asking about what happens next? I may as well have asked him to go steady and take me to prom, for fuck’s sake. Talk about not giving the guy a second to breathe.

I cringe as Danny opens the meeting, refusing to let myself look at Theo. To give the guy some space. To not ruin this before it even begins.

But it’s no use. My eyes stray back to him across the table, hands clasped firmly in front of him, brow low as always, gaze fixed on something on the other side of the room. He still hasn’t shaved, and I ache to climb across this table and stroke the rough stubble of his jaw.

Look at me, I plead silently. Look at me and let me know, somehow, that you feel what I feel.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he looks everywhere but at me. The table. Danny. His daughter. The ceiling. Every other person on the damn faculty.

Except me.

A tight knot coils in my stomach as he swiftly exits the room at the end of the meeting, and it stays there all day. I avoid Juliana, avoid the faculty lounge, humiliation clinging to me like a foul odor.