Page 19 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Thursday

“She’s going to be the death of me,” I said.

Ian laughed.

“I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun watching this conversation.” I watched Penny down a shot.

“Absolutely.”

I ended the call and hurried out into the hall. There’d just been detectives in here and Penny was drinking underage? Serving alcohol to minors didn’t exactly paint me as the good guy she claimed I was. And yes, I’d let her drink in front of me before. But I hadn’t known her age back then.

She downed a second shot as I walked into the kitchen.

"I see you've found the liquor,” I said.

She looked up at me.

I was pretty sure she was waiting for me to reprimand her.

But no one was coming into this apartment without my knowledge after the security updates.

And it wasn’t like I’d been sober when I was 20, so I wasn’t one to talk.

If she was going to drink, I preferred if she did it around me.

And I needed a drink too. I hadn’t had a sip of alcohol since we’d gotten back together.

Because I didn’t need it. I also knew I wouldn’t lose control if I had some.

All I truly needed was her. And right now, she needed us to be on the same page.

So I grabbed a shot glass for myself and slid it toward her.

She poured some vodka into the glass.

"You know, I could get in trouble for this," I said and held up the glass.

"Is that the only thing you're worried about getting in trouble for?"

I lowered my eyebrows. "What, did they tell you what supposedly came up during their investigation?” I already knew.

But Penny was upset about the allegations from these two girls.

The last thing she needed right now was to know I was lying about cameras all around the apartment.

I could hear Ellen yelling at me in the back of my head.

But I was right about this. One hiccup at a time.

Penny shrugged. "They knew you lured me into your office so you could seduce me."

"That's not exactly how I'd put that." I downed my shot.

"Then how would you put it?"

"That I was mad at you. And I wanted to see you.

" I ran my hand through my hair. "I didn't want to have to share you with Tyler.

I wanted more. I wanted you to want more too.

" I hesitated for a second. "And at the same time I didn't. I wanted to get over you.

I wasn't really thinking clearly. I couldn't get you out of my head. "

"But how did they know that? How did they know about the fake grade? And me going into your office?"

I have no idea. No one had seen us. I was sure about that. I’d locked the door. And yet…the detectives knew. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for that."

"Right. I'm waiting for the explanation. What is it?"

"I don't know. That's their job. They're the investigators. They must have pieced something together."

She looked down at her empty shot glass. "They didn't actually know if that had happened. They just inferred it."

"Inferred it? From what?" I poured myself another shot and downed it. Because I already knew what they’d inferred it from.

"From what two other girls said during their interviews. Apparently both of them said that you lured them into your office to seduce them under that pretense of a poor grade."

"Penny, you know I didn't do that. That's ridiculous." I stared at her. She’d told the detectives off. But…I saw the doubt in her eyes.

"Is it that ridiculous? You kind of did that to me."

"And I just told you that was different. I've said it a million times, Penny. It's only ever been you. You know that. You know how I feel about you."

"But why would those girls lie? Why would they say you did that?"

"I don't know." Probably because the detectives were pushy and promised them an A in the class like they’d promised you your scholarship back.

"And in the exact same way? How would they have known that if it wasn't something that you just do to tons of students?"

"Is that really what you think?" This conversation wasn’t going well. And I had the vague thought that I probably shouldn’t be drinking.

"I don't want to think that. But..."

"But you do?"

She didn’t respond. She just stared at me.

Breathe. But it was a lot easier to lash out than breathe slowly.

Especially when she was accusing me of this stupid shit when I’d made my feelings for her perfectly clear.

"You think I gave my prettiest female students bad grades in hopes that they'd come to my office hours?

So that I could get them alone and then what?

Bargain with them to improve their grades?

I didn't bargain with you, Penny. You kissed me.

You asked me to punish you. I can get any girl I want.

I don't need to make deals with immature college students to suck me off.

I'm not desperate." Yeah, I really shouldn’t be drinking.

"Then why are you dating me?" she asked.

"Because I love you."

"You can have any girl you want, James. Maybe you should go try to find someone a little more mature. You know, someone who isn't a college student."

For fuck’s sake. "That's not what I meant." My hands were gripping the countertop so hard that my knuckles were turning white. I liked her anger better when it had been directed at the detectives.

"It's what you said, James."

I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair.

"I don't understand why you believe them over me.

I just need you to believe me. I need to know that you trust me.

" Why did our fights always seem to come back to the issue of trust?

Why did she always purposely push my buttons?

If she wanted angry makeup sex, we could have stopped this conversation five minutes ago and just jumped to the good part.

"I do trust you,” she said.

"Okay."

She glanced down at my shot glass and then back at me. "Should you really be drinking that?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Should you?"

"No, probably not." She gave me a small smile.

Yeah, me either. I leaned against the counter and looked down at her.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear.

The tabloid you read that interviewed my ex-wife, these detectives.

..they have other motives. I don't want to fight with you every time something like this happens.

And it happens more than I'd like. It comes with the territory. "

"The rich, successful, eligible bachelor territory?"

"Minus the eligible bachelor." I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm taken."

She smiled at me. "I'm sorry. The detectives just made it seem like they were so sure that you had done it."

"I mean, if you were told you had to make up a story about your male professor doing inappropriate things, wouldn't you just automatically go to sexual favors in exchange for good grades? It's not even clever."

"Right. So they're lying. But why?"

"Maybe they hated me? I could be rather distracted in class. Sometimes I was so focused on you that I'm pretty sure I was an awful professor." Half my classes in Comm deviated from my lesson plans because I’d get so focused on the beautiful redhead in the back row making sex eyes at me.

"I don't think anyone hated you. Especially in Comm. At least all the girls loved you. Oh." She looked up at me. "Maybe they're just jealous you didn't choose them. Maybe they think you'll notice them now?"

"By dragging my name through the mud? Smart."

"Well, I don't know. I'm not them." She closed the distance between us and put her hands on either side of my face. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

I slid my hands to the small of her back and pulled her even closer. "If a bunch of pricks in suits told me that you had been doing stuff behind my back, I think my reaction would have been a lot worse than yours."

"My reaction was bad with the detectives too. I'm pretty sure I threatened to kill them."

I laughed. "Wait, really?” I said, even though I’d seen the whole thing.

“You can't threaten a cop, Penny." But I’m damn proud of you.

My hands slid up her waist, pushing up the hem of her shirt a bit.

I loved the feeling of her skin beneath my fingers.

And I was ready for my makeup sex now. I was thinking right on this counter.

"I know that now."

I laughed again. "You're full of surprises."

"Am I?"

"Mhm." I placed a soft kiss against her lips. My hands slowly pushed her shirt up even more. Yes, I loved the feeling of her skin pressed against my palms. But I loved her breasts filling my hands the most.

"Would it surprise you if I told you that alcohol tends to make me incredibly horny?" she said.

"Incredibly horny? That's quite the predicament.

" I grabbed her ass and lifted her up, setting her down on the kitchen counter.

I wanted nothing more than to partake in my new favorite dessert.

But… I put my hands on either side of the counter and stared at her.

Everything about her was a contradiction.

I knew her. And yet…she never ceased to surprise me.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You defended me to the detectives even though you doubted me."

"Of course."

"But why?"

"I'll always defend you. I love you."

I lowered my eyebrows. I think that was the whole problem. I was still getting used to feeling loved. Because I’d never felt it before. She was choosing me. Always.

Like when she’d grabbed my hand at her parents’ house. And when I woke up yesterday before our meeting with dean and she was still lying next to me. She had my back. And I wasn’t used to it. The only person I could ever really count on before was Rob. And half the time he wasn’t in the country.

"I swear to you that I didn't do what they said. I've been completely consumed by you. All I ever do is think about you."

"I know,” she said with a smile. “I've been completely consumed by you too."