Page 69 of The Professor's Wife

I was twenty-one, but I hadn’t lived much of a life beyond raising my boy and trying to survive one day at a time. Others my age were close to finishing their degrees. I hadn’t even started mine.

Suddenly, all my insecurities and fears boiled to the surface.

Had I just ruined things with Oliver?

I really liked him. I thought about him all the time, and him kissing me was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me, outside of having Rowe, of course.

“How long did it take before you got pregnant with your son?” Oliver suddenly asked.

I braved a glance in his direction. He looked thoughtful, his eyes pinned on the road before us.

“Not long.”

“Once? Twice? How many times?”

“Three times,” I admitted, feeling my cheeks burn.

“Did you enjoy it?”

I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable with the question, but at the same time, I didn’t want to drive Oliver away.

“It hurt every time.”

“Did he act like he knew what he was doing?”

I blinked. “I don’t like thinking about it.”

“Try.” He glanced at me briefly. “For me.”

I didn’t want to think about being sixteen and being intimate with Colt. It made my stomach turn. None of it had been good. I couldn’t remember what the hell I had been thinking.

It felt like another reality.

So I lied in that moment and replied, “He was clumsy.”

“What were you?”

I swallowed. “Stupid.”

His hand, still wrapped around mine, squeezed gently. “Not anymore. Not with me, okay?”

I nodded, my heart skipping a beat. “Okay.”

He looked at me, and his lips curved. “I’m going to look after you, Daisy. I promise.”

I blinked back tears and smiled, entranced by him.

Where did this man come from?

There was no way a girl like me could be so lucky…

And yet here I was, holding Oliver Black’s hand.

Please don’t mess this up, Daisy.

I would do everything in my power not to.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN