She glared. “You just… left!”
“I’m right here,” I said softly. “And I had a few things to get in order before I could come at you with an offer.”
“An offer?” She frowned. “What are you talking about? This isn’t a merger.”
“No.” I grabbed her delicate hand. “It’s not a merger, it’s your life, and I’m going to work like hell to make sure you have one.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You can’t. I wish you could save me from this, but you can’t Leo. He’s too powerful. If I just do what he says, then—”
“He was never going to sign,” I interrupted. “I talked to his lawyer, who just happens to be friends with my dad. Chadwick keeps canceling their meetings.”
“But he said he was going in Monday.”
“His lawyer’s on vacation starting yesterday.” I shrugged. “Which meant I had to work fast to get this.” I opened the portfolio.
“What’s that?”
“Your divorce papers.” I grinned. “Just waiting for a signature.”
“What?” She jumped to her feet. “But how? Why do you even have those? I don’t understand!”
“You.” A deep voice said behind me. “You weren’t invited.”
I turned. “Hello, little Chad-dick, how’s it going? God, you’re even shorter than I remember…” I shook my head. “You know what they say about short guys…”
“Leave,” he said through clenched teeth.
“But I love a good wedding, and I know the bride.” I waved over his shoulder toward the bride, who I did, in fact know, since she used to babysit me when I was younger, not that she was much older. She may have also been my first kiss. Shhh, don’t tell Dad.
Chadwick glared. “You have some nerve.”
“I have loads of nerves. So do you. A human foot alone has over seventy-two hundred nerve endings—learned that in school.” I winked while the glower on his face said he was about ready to strangle me.
“Go before this gets ugly, not just for her but for you.” Chadwick laid a possessive hand on Kora’s shoulder.
Her eyes pleaded with me.
“Not until you sign the papers. That was, after all, the agreement, right?”
“Do you have a listening problem?” Chadwick snapped, his fingers digging into Kora’s shoulder. “Do you really think I won’t follow through with reporting Kora to the authorities? To the news? The Dean?”
“Ah, Chadwick Robinson.” My dad arrived right on time, Uncle Freddie by his side, and a man I didn’t recognize. “I was just chatting with your father.”
“Governor.” Chadwick grinned like he was winning at life. “It’s an honor to see you again.”
Oh, this really was the best day, wasn’t it?
“I wish I could say the same,” My dad said as his smile fell. “I see that you’ve met my son.”
Aw, little Chad-dick looked like he’d swallowed a melon, his face went completely pale while Kora’s eyes went so wide, I wanted to laugh.
“We were just talking about school.” I grinned wide.
“Ah, he’s at the top of his class, graduating early and already has a job set up at Wingmen Inc Corporate. Then again, my Leo’s been investing since he was sixteen, has a mind for numbers.” I just shrugged while my dad kept talking. “Anyway, we’re not here to talk about my son’s many successes.”
I almost repeated the word “many” to Chadwick but refrained and winked at my girlfriend instead, who was looking between us with narrowed eyes like she was trying to put two and two together.
“You’re lucky,” another man said as he approached. The same man I’d met with yesterday, Earl. He was a bit taller than Chadwick and had thick black-rimmed glasses. “That your boy goes after what he wants without cutting corners.” He glanced at Chadwick. “Something you wanna tell me, son?”
Earl, AKA Chadwick’s dad, had timed his appearance perfectly.
I crossed my arms and watched the show.
Chadwick sputtered. “N-no, I was just having a private moment with my wife.”
“Ex-wife.” I gave out another wide grin. “Isn’t that right, Kora?”
“Yes.” She reached for the portfolio and opened it. “Anyone have a pen?”
Both my dad and Earl offered one.
She took my dad’s, he was closer and handed it to Chadwick. “Sign.”
He cursed under his breath and hurried through the stack of papers and then got to the very end. “This isn’t right.”
“Oh, it’s right,” I said smoothly. “After all, my dad looked over every single inch.”
“You were going to leave her with nothing!” Chadwick’s dad hissed out. “So not only are you cheap, but Mel tells me you were threatening his son. Do you know how this makes us look? How this makes me look? The company?”
I nodded innocently.
“Dad, I—” Chadwick stopped talking and took a deep breath. “This isn’t the best place to discuss personal matters.”
“I think a wedding’s a lovely place to get personal.” Still grinning, I looked up at my dad. “Should I tell him, Dad, or should you?”
“It’s your company. You tell him.” He patted me on the shoulder.
“Not only are you giving her half of your assets, as per the original documents.” I leaned forward, twisting my grin into a lopsided smug smile. “But as of yesterday, I own Robinson Storage.” The exact company where Chadwick worked as CEO. “But don’t worry, I’ll let you keep your job. I’m a very generous owner.” I shrugged at Kora. “It’s good to diversify your portfolio.”
“B-but you’re a kid!” he screeched. “What did you do? Take a loan from your father!”
“He didn’t need to,” Earl spat. “You know we were looking for someone to buy us out after last year’s loss. Leo made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”
I just kept smiling and acknowledged my dad’s wink with a nod.
“You have one more place to sign.” I pointed at the papers enjoying the increasing shaking in Chadwick’s hand. Slowly he scribbled his name on the dotted line. I stood and leaned in, so only he could hear me. “Next time, know your opponent before opening your mouth. Hopefully, this is a good lesson, chin up, you’re still young.”
I grabbed the portfolio and handed it over to my dad, and then held out my hand to Kora. “Shall we?”
Tears filled her eyes. “We shall.”
I gripped her hand and led her onto the dance floor just as John Legend came over the speakers.
“Did that just happen?” She pulled away from me and smiled. “I mean seriously?”
“Seriously.” We touched foreheads. “I’m sorry for all the secrecy, but I wanted to surprise you. Also, I had to work my ass off to get everything done in time.”
“B-but why? You didn’t have to—”
“The proper thing to say is ‘thank you, Leo, for being my hero,’” I whispered.
“Thank you.” Her voice went hoarse. “For being my hero.” Her eyes darted to my mouth. “Why would you do that for me, though? Why would you go to all that trouble? Quitting school? Buying out the company?”
“I figured it would be a good wedding present.” I shot her a cheeky grin. “Don’t panic. I’m not proposing. After all, you did just finalize your divorce. I was thinking of dating you for, oh I don’t know, a few months, then popping the question over breakfast. Eggs would have been our first real meal together, you know.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
I drew her just a little deeper into my embrace. “You may think it’s too soon, but I’ve loved you since the first day you walked into my classroom and told me to shut my trap.”
She laughed and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I was so nervous, and then I felt horrible that I yelled at you.”
“I liked it,” I whispered. “I liked you. I still like you. I told myself I would marry you one day, and then you wrote Mrs. on the board, and my soul was crushed.”
She wrapped her arms a
round my neck. “I’m Miss now.”
“You’ll be Mrs. again, but it’s going to be Blackwood.”
She shook her head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“I love you,” I said it again. “I just wanted to show you that I could take care of you, that I wanted to, not because I really like having sex with you or seeing you naked.”
She swatted me on the chest.
“Ouch!” I laughed. “But because you’re my forever. Also, is there any better revenge than owning your ex’s company?”
“How did you swing that one?”
“Investments. I always loved numbers, it was how my dad and I bonded, and then I started doing YouTube videos about money for kids, and those took off. Each time I made more, I reinvested.”
“Huh?”
“I made a shit ton of money putting my brain to good use.” I held up my right hand. “Swear I even had nerd fans, it was awesome.”
She gaped. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I am.” I winked. “Made millions. Dad helped me invest it, and then he taught me how to trade, and I made a bit more, and well, working for Wingmen just made it better. So, if you’re worried, I spent my entire life savings on revenge—don’t be.”
“YouTube,” she repeated. “Wait, are the videos still up?”
My smile dropped. “Don’t you dare—”
“Oh, I dare.” She licked her lips and stood up on her tiptoes. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
I groaned. “One video, and if you say one thing about my missing front teeth, I’m not going to lick your—”
She clapped a hand over my mouth. “Your father is only a few feet away.”
“Trust me, he’s an animal. He’ll understand.” I shrugged, “I lived a traumatic childhood, but at least I knew my parents loved each other.”
She made a face.
“Exactly.” I twirled her around. “So, what do you think, professor? Should we set a date?”
“Huh?”
“Christmas wedding.”
“You really are serious.”
“Yup.” I dipped her and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I’ll wear you down, don’t worry…”
“You already have.” She kissed me back so hard I nearly dropped her, and then I was grabbing her hand and tugging her toward the door.
“Please tell me you drove,” I begged.
“No, I rode with—”
“Dad.” I nodded in his direction. “Uncle Freddie’s gonna take you home.”
“I am?” Freddie blinked in surprise.
“He is?” Dad echoed.
“Thanks guys!” I tugged Kora toward the exit and gave the valet the ticket.
The Rolls was already parked out front for people to see, so he tossed me the keys, while I pulled out a twenty and dropped it on his stand. I glanced at Kora. “Let’s go!”
Kora stared at the car, then at me. “Please tell me that’s not yours.”
“Dad’s.” I laughed. “Do I look eighty?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Where are we going?”
“Your apartment. For all the sex.”
“Ohhhh, he thinks he’s getting sex,” she mumbled with a smile.
“He knows he’s getting sex. He just white knighted the shit out of Saturday.” I opened her door and then pressed a hot kiss to her lips. “Any objections?”
“Hell no.” She moaned into my mouth. “Drive fast.”
“Planning on it.”
We made it to her apartment in record time.
She jammed her key into the lock while I unzipped the back of her black dress, damn this woman and black, it was strapless and made me think of mourning.
She kicked off her heels, one landed on the couch the other on the floor and spun around to face me in nothing but a nude strapless bra and matching panties. “Leo, wait.”
I already had half my tux off and was unbuttoning my dress pants. “What? Why are we waiting?”
She dropped to her knees in front of me, grabbed my pants, and pulled them completely down.
A very excited part of me greeted her with an extremely firm hello.
She sighed, her eyes flickering up at me before I felt her mouth take me in, I was swallowed by her heat. My hands fell to her hair. “Oh, that’s… words, I have no words, keep going, God keep going. I’m already so close… you make me so hot, Kora—damn, you’re gonna suck me dry.”
She pulled away and winked. “Kinda the point.”
“I love you,” I said with a groan.
And when I climaxed, she pulled back, licked her lips, and said, “I love you too.”
My smile took up half my face as I pulled her to her feet and cupped her cheeks with both of my hands. “A-plus, professor Robinson, A-plus.”
And then I gripped her by the ass, threw her over my shoulder, and walked into the bedroom. “Guess it’s my turn to take the quiz.”
I tugged her panties so hard they tore, and then my mouth got reacquainted with another favorite.
Her taste.
“Leo!” I loved the way she screamed my name.
Poor neighbors.
One day, we would move.
One day, I would buy her a house.
One day, I would fill that house with kids.
And it had all started when I fell for my teacher.
And refused to let her go.
Epilogue
“Love’s a lot like falling headfirst into a never-ending black pit, you do nothing but continue to fall, but at least you have someone kissing you on the way down.” — Leo Blackwood
Leo
“The three musketeers are down to two.” Finn glanced over at Kora and me. We were at my new penthouse, moving in a couch that I may or may not have thought through on purchasing.
It was a huge sectional that was heavy as hell.
I’d promised Slater and Finn pizza and alcohol, so they had said yes.
Our bulldog Rocky came barreling down the hall at about the same time Slater was attempting to move the final part of the couch.
“Rocky!” Slater added a few choice curse words. “Move your fat, cute ass, or you’re gonna know what flat as a pancake means!”
“Rocky,” I scolded. “Come here.”
He didn’t listen to me. Instead, he ran toward Kora, who was already sitting on part of the couch sipping wine.
“Traitor,” I called after him.
Finn sighed. “Does everyone ignore me?”
“Look.” I continued to watch Slater struggle. “Lex and Ian said you guys just needed to finish off the year and they’d train the new recruits at corporate. It frees up both your schedules a ton, and you only have a few months left of the semester. See? Fixed.”
“Right, but there’s two of us,” Finn pointed out. “Which means we have more work.”
“It’s not that bad,” Slater finally put down the sectional and then sat on it. “Plus, if it gets too hard, we can steal one of the early recruits and just assign all the easy ones.”
“Ah, true.” Finn yawned. “Also remember that one time Leo got friend-zoned?”
Kora shot him a look. “Who?”
“Easy green-eyed monster.” Finn laughed. “I was talking about you.”
“She didn’t friend zone me,” I argued.
“I did.” She grinned.
“She did.” Both Slater and Finn agreed with her.
I flipped off the room and then went to sit next to my girlfriend, soon to be fiancé. I told her I would wait a few months.
I had officially lasted one.
And I bought a ring.
Hey, when you know, you know.
It was currently burning a hole in my pocket.
So, I grabbed it and quickly dropped it into her wine glass when she wasn’t looking.
The plopping sound gave it away.
“Did you just put something in my drink?” Kora glared.
“Roofied!” Slater pointed.
Finn grinned
at us like he was watching a rom-com.
“Oh, look…” I pointed at her glass.
She lifted it to her face and then gasped.
I may have gone for an oval cut three karat diamond with a thin white gold band.
“Leo!” She nearly spilled her wine, and then she dipped her fingers inside the glass and pulled out the ring. “Is this what I think—”
I dropped to my knees and grabbed her free hand. “Marry me? Make me the happiest—mphhff.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck so tight I had trouble breathing. “I love you so much. I love you.” Her mouth found mine amidst the loud throat clearing behind us. And then we were full-on making out while the guys watched.
Hey, they could handle it.
Nothing they hadn’t seen before.
We finally broke apart; her eyes were filled with happy tears. “I can’t wait to marry you, I kept getting mad at myself for telling you I needed to take things slow. I don’t want to wait months. I want this now.”
“Me too,” I said softly. “Now put on your giant ring so we can bust out the champagne.”
Hands shaking, she put it on her finger. It fit perfect, although it did look a bit large on her small hand.
Good, I hope that every time that bastard Chad-dick saw her on the news or at city events he died with jealousy.
Because that was the other thing.
Now that I was out of college, I was going to a lot more charity galas with my family. I finally felt at peace.
It would be inevitable that we would see her ex.
And when we did, I fully planned on kissing the crap out of her and lifting that giant hand so the ring glittered just enough from the light—that he went blind.
See? Perfect plan.
The sound of champagne opening jolted me from my thoughts. And I smiled as my best friends celebrated with us.
The doorbell rang.
I had invited her family over along with mine, and everyone had arrived right on time, even Ian and Lex, the owners of Wingmen were going to stop by.
After all, without their app, this might not have happened.
“Dad!” Kora rushed over to her parents then to mine, and I watched with the biggest grin on my face.
Seducing Mrs. Robinson Page 14
