Addy And The Smart Guy (Big Girl Panties #3) (19 page)

He merely gaped at her.

"I understand," Gloria said. "If your relationship has progressed between now and then, we'll get together. Maybe I could meet your mother, as well."

Addy laughed. She turned to Grey. "Grey, would you pour me a cup of coffee?" She turned back to Gloria. "My mother won't be having any lunches or breakfasts or brunches with us. Apparently she's decided to disinherit me."

Gloria looked about to respond, but Grey beat her to it. "What? When the hell did this happen?"

The concern in his voice was endearing, but Addy intended to make as light of it as possible. Her mom was fickle and flighty. Perhaps she would never speak to Addy again. Or just as likely, she might fall on her face, next week, with tears and apologies. Granted, Addy had never heard her use such harsh language before, so perhaps she truly did mean to disown her. "Yesterday," Addy answered.
 

"Jesus Christ, why? Is it because of the…I mean, is it…did you tell her…?"

Addy arched a brow at him, watching him flounder, knowing he wouldn't use the word "pregnancy" in front of his mother and truly doubting he'd use the word anyway. At last, she rescued him. "She saw the Gwen thing and insisted I play the victim so she could tell her country club friends that her poor, naïve daughter was viciously manipulated by her wicked, worldly professor."

"That's exactly what you need to do," he said. "It'll get you the sympathy you need with the review committee and it'll appease your mom."

Addy let out a sharp laugh. "Please. I'd rather start over from scratch on a thesis than to lie about my relationship with you."

"I prefer not to be the cause of any more of your problems than necessary," Grey replied.

"I feel the same towards you."
 

He stared at her, his expression not angry, exactly, but definitely intense. His jaw was tight, and there was a hint of furrow in his brow.

"It's very honorable of her, Greyson," Gloria said. She turned to Addy. "You must care for him a great deal to make such sacrifice."

"I do. I have for a long time."

Gloria's smile was subtle, but Addy concluded that she was pleased. Gloria stood and extended her hand, once more, to Addy. "It's been a pleasure talking to you again, Addison. I'll be in touch as the semester ends." She turned to Grey. "If I were you, I'd make a deep examination of my priorities, Son. Love or not, these things are rarely more than once in a lifetime. And sometimes not even that."

She left. Grey continued to stare into the distance. Addy took her plate to the sink and washed it before setting it in the drain rack. She went back to the table, retrieved Grey's plate, and handed it to him. Then she headed toward the shower, peeling the t-shirt off on the way, and letting it drop on the hallway floor.

The flash of naked flesh as Addy rounded the corner into the bathroom wasn't enough to bring him out of his trance. Grey stood there holding his breakfast plate and listening to the shower water running on the other side of the wall. What was he doing?
 

That was the question he contemplated the entire time the most beautiful woman in the world was naked in his shower. Addy came out with her hair hanging straight and wet, her body wrapped in a towel. She cocked her head and gave him a long-suffering look. Then she came toward him, removed the plate from his hands, and sat it on the counter. "I think I should go," she said.

He finally focused on her. "I'm ruining your life."

She barked a laugh. "Please. Don't be so dramatic, Grey."

"You sound like my mom."

She stepped back, her jaw dropped, and she laughed. "You did not just say that to me."

He just looked at her. So beautiful, smart, audacious…so strong, independent, sexy. What was he supposed to do? He thought the gallant thing must be to send her away, to say goodbye and never contact her again, to put her reputation above his own desires. But he wasn't sure he was that gallant. He wasn't sure she would want him to be.

Addy's lips twisted in a smirk. She unwrapped her towel, let it drop to the floor, and stepped toward him. "Tell me again how I sound like your mom," she said as she trailed her fingertip down his chest and abs, and hooked it in the top of his pants.
 

"Addison, I—"

"Go back to calling me Addy. I liked that."

He smiled a hint. "Addy." He blew out a breath as he struggled not to touch her. "I'm sorry about your mom. I intend to take full responsibility—"

She grabbed his balls. "Do you mind being with a more aggressive woman? Because I think I like taking the lead sometimes."

"Ahh, Addy, we should talk—"

She dropped to her knees, pulled his sweatpants down, and took his erection into her mouth.

"Jesus," he gasped, as she sucked and stroked. "You're the best girl ever."

He felt her laugh. She stood, turned, and pressed her back against him. She took his hands and put one over her breasts and the other between her legs. Her head dropped back on his shoulder. "Make me come, Grey."

He slid his fingers between her folds, more than happy to comply. "Just two weeks ago," he said, his voice airy and weak, his head spinning with lust, "you were this prim and proper little thing. Now look at yourself, grinding your ass against me and moaning like a porn star."

A husky laugh escaped her lips. "Which version of me do you like best?"

"This one. The real one. I always knew you'd be like this. I could tell by the heat between us." He spun her in his arms, grabbed the backs of her thighs, and lifted her onto his hips. He adjusted her and slid into her.

She gasped in shock and then smiled. "You're so strong, Grey," she said softly.

"Are you trying to flatter me, honey?" He thrust into her and buried his lips in her neck.

"I just want you to know—" Suddenly she came hard, her whole body shivering, wrapped around him, clawing and clinging.

He turned and sat her on the edge of the counter. "Lean back," he said. Addy obeyed, propping herself up with her hands on the counter behind her. She kept her ankles locked behind his back. Grey held her hips and watched himself slide in and out of her. "Wanted me to know what?"
 

"How much I admire you. How much you're my hero."

His eyes shot up to hers. Her hero?
 

She smiled at him, reached out, and touched his cheek.
 

"How are you looking at me like this?" he asked. "How are you so sure?"

She dropped her head back and laughed. "How are you not?"

He pulled out, hiked his pants back up, and lifted her into his arms, carrying her back to his bed. He undressed and climbed under the blankets with her. The rest of the afternoon was spent making love—slow, deep, hot love. No thinking about right or wrong. No trying to define everything. Just moving inside of her, filling his hands with her, making her moan and cry and come.

That evening they lay together in the darkening room as the sun lowered behind the tall buildings in the city all around them. He held her hand, so small in his, and felt it—felt that thing that she was so sure about. She'd called him her hero, but what had he done to deserve it? Maybe that didn't matter. Maybe all that mattered right now was how much he wanted to deserve it. What could he do for her to make her look at him like that all the time…like she was proud of him, excited by him? He could grow so addicted to that look.

"Mmm," she hummed, "I can hear the gears turning in there." She touched his furrowed brow.

He turned on his side to face her and traced a fingertip along her smiling bottom lip. "Pretty girl," he said. "I wanna make you happy."

Her smile brightened. She took a breath and let it out slowly. "I'll be clear, then, so that you can make the decisions you need to make. I'm going to go home tonight. I need that, if for no other reason than to get some sleep for school in the morning."

He lifted her knuckles to his lips and started kissing them one-by-one.
 

"Another thing. I don't want to make any decisions or do anything rash based on this pregnancy test," she said.

He lifted his eyes to hers.

She smiled. "I feel like you're about ready to burn everything to the ground and do something drastic like, dare I say, marry me? We don't know everything yet, so let's just set that aside for now—not factor that into our decisions, okay?"

"You're so level-headed," he said, his hand involuntarily drifting low on her abdomen. "I find that very attractive."

She giggled. "We need to have this conversation."

"I don't want to," he said. He sat up on his elbow and cupped her jaw. "Fuck it all, Addy, let's be together. Worst case scenario, I lose my job, and you have to go to another school, but so what?"

She dropped her head back and laughed. He was grinning, too, because he knew how unreasonable it was, and that after she left, he would be changing his tune altogether. He said, "We'll go tell your mother we plan to live in sin. What can she do? She's already disowned you. Then we'll tell my father, and he'll say, 'That's fine, Grey,' since he never hears anything I say anyway."

Addy's hands threaded through his hair. He watched her expression gradually sober. "I would do that, Grey," she said.

The humor drained out of him, and she suddenly looked very young and innocent. "I know you would, kiddo. It would be an adventure and a challenge. But what would it get you on the other side?"

"Not a husband. Not love."

His jaw tightened. "I'm sorry I can't give you those things."

"Won't."

"Can't."

Her eyes welled up. "Won't. Don't lie to yourself."

He gritted his teeth, fighting back the urge to argue. His own eyes stung with unshed tears.
 

Addy inhaled deeply, sat up, and tucked the sheet up under her arms, over her breasts. As much time as he'd spent with them that day, he still hated to see them get hidden. "Okay," she said, "so let's get practical. How do we deal with tomorrow?"

He fell to his back and stared at the ceiling. "I want you to let people think you were coerced—"

"I've already said that I won't do that. Not only is it unjust to you, it makes me look weak and pathetic. I'd rather lose two years of hard work than have people think I'm weak and pathetic."

He let out a frustrated laugh. "Of course you would. All right, well, all anyone knows about is the kiss of death—"

She smacked him on the arm.

"—So we confess to that. A one time indiscretion."

"We should have a reason for it. Like, one of us was distraught, and the other was trying to offer comfort."

"I agree," Grey said. "Maybe you were stressed out about your thesis, or something, and I was calming you down when you just leapt at me like a sex-crazed animal—"

She threw her pillow at his head. He shoved the pillow aside and pulled her into his arms. With her head nestled in the crook of his shoulder, she said, "You know, that's not a bad idea. It would look better for you if I was the aggressor."

"No fucking way, Addison. You won't let me protect you, there's no way in hell I'm letting you protect me. No, we'll just call it a mutual moment of weakness, the first and only of its kind."

The room was almost too dark to see, now. Grey reached to his nightstand to turn on his lamp. Unfortunately, Addy took the move as an opportunity to sit up, swing her legs out of bed, and start gathering her clothes. "I've gotta get home. And we can't do this anymore. Someone will see us and then there goes our little 'one time indiscretion' story."

"I'm having a hard time caring, right now."

"It'll come back to you," she said, with her back to him. He watched her pull up her panties and fasten her bra, her slender fingers deft and unfaltering. "You'll remember how much you like your life the way it is, and you'll care again, don't worry."

How was he supposed to feel about that? She thought his feelings so fleeting that she could casually dismiss them. What if she was right? What if he really did stop caring about her once he had his clothes on and was back in front of his students? No, it wasn't possible. As he watched her pull on her jeans and shirt, he knew she was wrong. Somehow she'd ruined whatever he was before, and now he was something different. He just didn't know what.

"When's the appointment?" he asked.

"Tuesday, nine in the morning. But I don't want you there."

"Yes, you do. I'm your hero. You need me by your side." He grinned a little at the memory of her words.
 

She turned and arched a brow at him. "It means something to me that you want to come. But if someone sees us, then—"

"Addison, I'll be there. I'll pick you up at eight-thirty."

She huffed. "We should meet there to at least reduce the risk—"

"I'll pick you up. That's that, okay?"

She studied him. Smiled a little. Then crawled across the bed and kissed him on the cheek. "You're exerting more authority than you've a right to," she said.

"I know," Grey said. "You're bringing out the caveman in me."

She kissed him again and backed off the bed. "Good. I like your caveman side. Now how am I going to get home?"

He grinned, before climbing out of bed and dressing. He'd forgotten about leaving her car in St. Claire. He drove her home and made out with her in his car for a good hour before she finally managed to escape. He watched her disappear into the door of her apartment building.
 

When he went to bed alone that night, he felt her absence like an amputated limb. He woke up several times through the night reaching for her, only to find empty space.
 

CHAPTER TWENTY

The next day at school, Addy stood in front of her 101 class with as much dignity as she could muster. It was impossible to tell if their looks and whispers had to do with her and Grey, or if she was only attributing this motivation to the usual behavior of the students. Either way, the whole thing made her feel dirty, and she longed to declare to them all that yes, she, Addison Hart, had repeatedly had the absolute best sex imaginable with one Dr. Greyson McDaniel.