Until Autumn - Sheridan Anne Page 0,49
on my kitchen counter.”
I suck in a gasp. “No way. Are you serious?”
He grins as though it’s so far in the past that it’s now comical. “Yep,” he says. “Though, you’d think if you were going to fuck around that you’d at least lock the door.”
“Totally,” I laugh. “Common sense should always prevail in these types of situations. I mean, how is a woman supposed to cheat on her man and get away with it when she’s as dumb as a doorknob?”
“Exactly,” he says. “What about you? What’s your stance on cheating?”
I shake my head, his question bringing up memories that make my hands ball into fists. “I was cheated on three times during high school. One of the guys even made it some kind of competition and screwed three different girls on the same night only to break up with me in a text the next morning,” I explain. “The next guy was a little more serious, and after a year together, I caught him with his mom’s friend. And the last guy hurt the most. Each one of them killed me just a little bit more. Given they weren’t exactly my soul mates or anything like that, but it still stung enough to teach me what kind of person I wanted to be. The thought of cheating on someone … I could never.”
His brow arches, and for just a moment, he stares at me with such pain. “What are their names?”
I grin, rolling my eyes. “You’re not going to go and pay a visit to my high school boyfriends.”
“Please,” he says, his eyes sparkling and making it nearly impossible to resist. “I just want to go and say hi, maybe let them know that they’re nothing and that I could fuck their wives if I wanted.”
“Just like that, huh?”
He nods. “Just like that.”
I watch him for a moment, and as he meets my eyes, curiosity comes over him. “What’s up?” he asks, somehow already knowing me well enough to know that something is on my mind.
I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just wondering how this is supposed to work.”
His brows raise in question. “This?”
“You and me,” I say, feeling a little awkward while not wanting him to think that I’m being too serious far too soon. “You know, the whole dating thing while also working together. I mean, I am your student after all and I’m pretty sure that’s frowned upon.”
“It’s definitely frowned upon,” he confirms with a smirk, clearly not giving a shit about the rules. “But to be completely honest with you, I’ve already been thinking about this. If you’re comfortable with it, I don’t intend to hide our relationship, because to me, that’s exactly what it is. You’re not some dirty little secret to me, but having said that, I’m not about to flaunt it all over the hospital and shit all over the board’s rules and guidelines about workplace romance.”
“So, what happens from here?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “I really don’t know. I can’t say that I’ve ever been involved with a student before, but I’m assuming that I will remove myself from that role and all assessments will be handed to Dr. Harding.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “You're not going to teach me?”
“I don’t know if that would be wise.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I want to be the best damn midwife this country has ever seen and that means being taught by the best. We need to think of another way because not being taught by you isn’t an option for me.”
His eyes shimmer with happiness and he nods his head. “Alright,” he promises. “I’ll figure it out.”
I nod. “Thank you,” I say before biting down on my lip as a nervousness begins to pulse through me. “So before I go and embarrass myself by overthinking this; you’re serious about this? We’re in a relationship?”
“Yeah,” he tells me, reaching across the table and taking my hand. “I don’t want to take things slow with you. I’m not here to fuck around. I want you and I’m not about to let you slip through my fingers. So, you need to be prepared for that.”
A smile stretches across my face and I watch him looking back at me. “Okay,” I tell him. “But just so you know, I’m not exactly the easiest person to be involved with. I’m already married to my job.”
“Good,” he says. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
New confidence settles through me and just