Page 36 of Professor and the Seer
“Why?” she asked, a touch breathlessly.
“Because I purposely brought you here to kiss you.” Given her confused expression, he added, “Grams told me to kiss you when you smelled the roses.”
Her brow arched. “Did she now? What else did she tell you to do?”
Heat filled his cheeks. “Nothing.”
“Is that why you stopped?”
He blinked. “Uh, no. I stopped because it felt dishonest, and that’s the last thing I want with you.”
Her lips curved. “Apology accepted. Now, if I tell you I’d like you to kiss me again, would that be acceptable?”
“I thought you didn’t want us being involved.”
“It’s not that I don’t want it. More like we shouldn’t because of what I saw, but your Grams seems to think that the future can be changed.”
“And what do you think?”
A wistful expression took over as she murmured, “I’d really like for that to be true.”
He drew her close. “If we work together, then I’m sure we can ensure the future my Grams saw.”
Her nose wrinkled, “The one where I’m supposed to be your wife?”
“Would that be so bad?”
She stared into his face. “I never saw myself getting married.”
“Then the proposal will be a surprise.”
Her laughter warmed him through and through. “You really aren’t daunted at all by what I’ve seen.”
“I hate to be that guy, but my Grams is never wrong.”
“And I am?” She shook her head. “Don’t answer, because you know what? I have been wrong. Wrong about many things, and I want to be wrong about this too.”
“We can take things slow,” he offered, even as he burned with need. Holding her, having lightly kissed her, only fueled that hunger.
Her cheek dimpled with her mischievous smile. “What if I said I’d rather not wait?”
Forget resisting, he kissed her, meshing his mouth to hers, feeling the hot huff of her breath as she enthusiastically returned the embrace. Her arms were tight around him. Her essence wrapped him tight.
His hands dropped from her back and waist to cup her ass. She clung to his shoulders before sliding her hands lower to tease under the hem of his shirt, her palms skimming over his flesh, causing his breath to grow ragged.
He might have taken her then and there, like an impatient young man, only—
Click. Hiss. The watering system engaged, a light mist spraying the greenhouse and them.
She blinked wet lashes at him and laughed. “I didn’t see that coming.”
His own smile almost cracked his face. “Let’s get you dried off.”
Hand in hand, they ran to the house, soaked but still stopping for hot kisses. Once they entered the house, he put a finger to his lips and murmured, “Mum’s in bed.”
She giggled—the sweetest sound ever—then leaned close to whisper, “Then you’d better be real quiet.” She nipped his earlobe, and he just about hit his knees as she teased his sensitive spot.
He led her upstairs, aware of each creak of the stairs, once more a teenager sneaking in after curfew, only he’d never brought a girl home. He led her to the guest bedroom, the farthest from his mum’s.