Page 142 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Monday

Penny’s lips traced my collarbone.

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. Light was shining through the blinds. And I’d never seen Penny’s hair look so bright. The morning sun made it look like there were a million different colors in the strands.

She kissed my collarbone again then underneath my chin.

"Mmm.”

"I like waking up next to you,” she whispered.

"I could get used to this." I ran my fingers through her hair, letting them disappear into the symphony of colors.

She laughed. "So what does the elusive Professor Hunter usually do when he wakes up in the morning?"

I just wanted to stare at her. "Are you a morning person?" I mumbled.

"I signed up for classes late and got stuck with all 8 a.m.s. I've gotten used to waking up early."

"Well." I reluctantly rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. "You're like clockwork then. It's 7:30."

"Is Comm the only 8 a.m. class that you teach?"

"Yes. It's funny, I didn't want to teach it at all. I kind of got stuck with it. But I'm so glad that I did."

"Me too." She kissed my collarbone again.

I really liked when she did that. And I liked last night.

How easy it was to show her parts of my life I’d kept hidden.

I wanted to keep doing that. And that meant answering all her questions.

She wanted to know what my morning routine was.

I yawned and sat up. "I usually go for a run before breakfast. But I just want to hang out with you today. What do you want for breakfast?"

"What do you usually have?"

"Ellen usually fixes me something. But I gave her the next few days off."

"Is that your chef?"

Ellen was a lot more than that. My friend.

My surrogate mother. One of the only other people in this world that gave a shit about me.

"She cooks and cleans and does everything that I don't know how to do.” Which was a lot of things.

“You'll like her. Come on, let's get up. " I lightly slapped Penny’s ass.

Penny laughed and climbed out of bed. Instead of any of the little satin nightgowns I’d bought her, she was just wearing one of my t-shirts. And I’d never seen her look sexier.

"Does Ellen know about me?"

"Yes. She was the one who went grocery shopping for you.” And bought all those clothes. “She's excited to meet you."

Penny followed me into the kitchen. "And she's the one who buys you juice boxes?"

"Mhm. She's a keeper." I opened up the fridge. "How about a bagel?"

"That sounds perfect."

I grabbed two bagels, sliced them, and put them in the toaster. I was glad I at least knew how to do this. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Do you have any orange juice?"

"That I do." I poured us each a glass.

"So I was thinking a little about my speech. And I'm not really sure what to talk about this time. Usually I was flirting with you or losing my mind. I guess I should just do something normal for once?"

I wasn’t sure Penny was capable of normal. Everything she did was extraordinary. But I was biased. And we both knew it. "I wouldn't worry about it too much." I winked at her.

"I haven't even thought about a topic yet, though."

"Certainly you'll get an A. You're sleeping with your professor, after all."

"What happened to no perks?"

"Well, Miss Taylor. That concept kind of flew out the window when I fell in love with you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Besides, even though she was nervous when she did her speeches, she was my only student that put any thought into them. She deserved the good grades I gave her. The toaster popped and I grabbed our bagels and some cream cheese.

"Maybe I should give detailed instructions on how to seduce your professor."

Well, that was adorable that she thought she seduced me. I took a bite of my bagel. "You didn't seduce me. I seduced you.”

"No way. Short skirts, my best push up bra, uncalled for texts, and my unbelievably illicit answers in class seduced the crap out of you."

Fair. But I’d gotten her to storm into my office hours.

We were sitting here because I always got what I wanted.

And I only wanted her. I was borderline stalking her for Christ’s sake.

It was a game of cat and mouse, although I was pretty sure I was actually a much more sinister animal than a cat.

I was the hunter and she was my prey. The thought made me frown.

I tried to shake it away. Breathe. "I had you right where I wanted you. "

And I was pretty sure she knew it. Because she had no rebuttal.

"So what do you usually do after breakfast?" she asked.

"Go to class."

"What other classes do you teach?"

"I teach that grad class twice a week. And I have a few 300 and 400 level marketing courses."

"That's vague. Tell me what the 300 level ones are and I'll try to sign up for one next semester."

"You probably shouldn't take any more of my classes."

"But I like taking your classes. It means I get to stare at you the whole time."

"Which is very distracting."

"You seriously don't want me to take your marketing classes?"

"Well, I was thinking about it. And I think after this semester it really would be best if we disclosed our relationship to the dean. Maybe after winter session? That way your Comm grade won't be in jeopardy." And maybe if I was lucky, I’d somehow be able to keep my job.

"Which means I can't take any more of your classes?"

"It does."

"Pros and cons,” she said.

"We can spend more time together at night that way.

We won't have to worry about people seeing us together around campus.

It'll be really nice." It was probably all wishful thinking. The dean had every right to fire my ass, even though I technically hadn’t broken any rules.

Which was why I was working on that new camera design for my next business venture.

I was pretty sure the tech was already perfect though. I certainly used it a lot.

"I'll think about it,” Penny said. "So what do you do after breakfast on the weekends?"

"Work."

"On your new company?"

"There's always something to do." I shifted in my chair. I should have told her about this last night, but she’d been rather distracting with her wandering hands. "Actually, there's something I wanted to discuss with you."

"Okay." She was looking up at me with a worried expression. She was probably afraid I was going to tell her something awful. And I hoped this wouldn’t be. I really wanted it to go well.

"My brother is coming back from Costa Rica this weekend,” I said.

"That's fantastic. I can't wait to meet him. I want to get to know your family."

That was great, but it was a little more than just a visit. "I invited him here indefinitely. Earlier this month. We weren't together and..."

"James, that's fine. He's your brother. It'll be fun."

Hmm. "Yeah, he's definitely fun." And for just a second…I felt a little nervous. I took a sip of orange juice. Rob was younger than me. More fun. He certainly had less baggage. He was a better fit for someone like Penny. He’d make her laugh every day. He could love her in public.

Breathe. I could make Penny laugh too. And I could love her in public soon enough. And it wasn’t like she was a teenager anymore.

"Where will he stay?" she asked.

"There are guestrooms in the hallway before my office."

"Did you not want me to stay over while he's here?"

"Were you thinking about staying over more?" I smiled. I liked the sound of that.

"Well, you were right about your bed. It's a lot more comfortable than mine."

"Is that the only reason?" I pulled her into my arms.

"I'm only in this relationship for the sleeping arrangements. Did I not make that clear when we started this?"

Naughty girl. "No, you failed to mention that."

"Well now you know.” She smiled up at me. “I'm going to go brush my teeth." She unwound herself from my grip and disappeared back into my bedroom.

I smiled to myself as I pulled out my phone. I shot Rob a text, confirming that he’d be here this weekend. I’d already told Ellen and Penny that he would be. And the last thing I wanted was for him to flake on me.

My phone buzzed with an incoming text: “Be late and miss out on my surprise? Never. I hope it’s two hookers.”

I laughed. Why two? Nope. I didn’t want to know.

Penny walked back into the kitchen and I slid my phone into my pocket.

“I’ll be right back,” I said. When I grabbed my toothbrush from the holder, it was already wet.

Did Penny use my toothbrush? I wasn’t sure why, but it made me smile.

That she felt that at home. I probably should have put one out for her though.

I quickly brushed my teeth and went back out into the kitchen.

When I saw her sitting there, I couldn’t stop smiling.

"What?" Penny asked. She could probably tell that I was amused by this. Or maybe she was embarrassed that she’d done it?

"Did you use my toothbrush?" I asked.

"Maybe?"

I laughed. "You are definitely making yourself at home. Even though you're only after me for my sweet sleeping arrangements, you can stay whenever you want. You'd move in for good if it was up to me. I only brought up Rob because I wanted to warn you that we were going to have company for a while."

"I know. So what do you want to do now?" she asked.

"I can help you with Stat."

"All my notes are in my dorm. Besides, lame. We have a day off."

"So you want to do something more fun?"

"Yes. But I can't really go anywhere with my secret professor boyfriend and a huge bandage on my forehead."

I closed the distance between us and grabbed her chin.

She tilted her face up to me and I slowly took off her bandage.

"There, that's better." My phone buzzed. I hoped it wasn’t Rob asking for three hookers instead of two. And it wasn’t. It was Ian. "Hunter,” I said as I answered the phone.

Ian laughed. “So formal. Apparently Penny has a delivery at the front desk. And before you ask, no, I don’t know what it is. I have eyes on the front desk of course, but there are a lot of packages down there.”

Why would Penny have a delivery here? I swallowed hard, fearing the worst. There were only a few people who knew my address. One of them being Isabella.

“Want me to go grab it for you?” Ian asked.

"No, I'll come get it.” I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this in case it was a fucking bomb or something. “Thanks." I hung up and turned back to Penny. "You have a delivery."

"What? Here?"

"Apparently so." I was hoping she’d say she gave the address to her parents or something. But she seemed just as confused as me. Fuck. I walked into my room and quickly changed into jeans and a v-neck t-shirt.

I wasn’t scared of Isabella. Not really. But for some reason my heart was racing. If Isabella was off her meds, it was really bad. The way she was in high school was a little…murdery. I tried to shake the thought away as I walked out of my room.

Penny looked nervous too for some reason. "I haven't given anyone your address, Professor Hunter."

Yeah. This was definitely Isabella’s doing.

"I know. It's rather curious." I kissed her forehead next to her stitches. Whatever this mystery package was, I knew it wouldn’t be good.

I just wanted to have this one day where we could relax and be happy.

Just us. And it was already falling apart. "I'll be right back."

I got onto the elevator. What if it was pictures of me from that night Isabella drugged me? I was pretty sure my stomach sank as the elevator descended.

My phone buzzed again with another text from Ian: “Be careful. The package could be from Isabella.”

Yeah. I stuffed my phone back into my pocket. We were on the same page. I nodded to the small camera that I knew was in the elevator.

If it was pictures…what were they pictures of? Could it actually be images of me fucking her? I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn’t want it to be true. I reached for the rubber band around my wrist, only to remember it was no longer there.

Breathe.

No matter how hard I tried to remember that night, I couldn’t. All I remembered was leaving Ian’s car and then waking up feeling like my head was going to explode.

It wasn’t the first time I’d blacked out. But it was the first time I’d done something I really regretted. All the fights back in college weren’t great, but at least I hadn’t fucked someone and not remembered it.

Breathe.

Dr. Clark said it was different than a normal blackout.

Because I didn’t choose to overindulge. But I had grabbed the drink Isabella handed me.

A drink I shouldn’t have been having because I’d been overindulging that whole week.

In that sense, there was no difference. The blame was on me.

And I didn’t want to fucking see whatever Isabella had sent.

The elevator doors parted and I made my way to the front desk. Ian was right. There were packages everywhere waiting to be picked up. And a huge audacious bouquet of flowers in the center of the desk. I eyed the packages warily, almost like I was expecting to hear a ticking noise.

“I was told there was a package for Penny Taylor?”

The guy looked in his notebook. “Yup.” He pointed to the ugly bouquet. “I guess someone has a secret admirer.”

Wait, what? “I was told it was a package.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Should have said flowers.”

I just stared at him. “You’re shitting me.”

“What?” the guy said.

Fuck my life. “Who are they from?”

“I didn’t look at the card,” he said.

I sighed. I didn’t actually need him to look. Penny’s admirer wasn’t a secret. Because there was some dick in my building making passes at her. Brendan. It had to be him. No one else knew my address. Seriously, who the fuck was this Brendan guy?

All I knew was that he was rich, or he wouldn’t be living here. And despite his stupid flower arrangement, he did have good taste. Because he was after my girl.

I grabbed the vase and headed back to my apartment. Brendan . I needed Ian to run a background check on this asshole. I shot Ian a text as I got back onto the elevator.

“Brendan who?” Ian asked.

“I don’t know his last name. Some asshole who sent Penny flowers. He lives in this building.”

“Lol. Another guy sent her those flowers?”

Shut up, Ian. I gave the middle finger to the camera in the elevator.

“Lol,” he texted again.

I was pretty sure I would have preferred the bomb from Isabella.