My jaw nearly hit the floor when the words tumbled out of his mouth. “You did what?”
“The department seemed confused that you would up and leave out of nowhere. As was I, Emery,” Mitch said. “I don’t know what you think happened or what you think you were doing by leaving, but it’s over now. You don’t have to be so irrational about it all. I’ve fixed it for you.”
“What I think happened?” I sneered.
“Gaslighting,” Jensen said under his breath. “Priceless.”
“I don’t even have time to listen to this,” I said with fury in my voice. “I know what happened. I know what you did to me. And I am leaving the program. I cannot believe you went behind my back to toss out the paperwork I’d filed.”
“Emery,” he said, stepping toward me again.
“Stop.”
“You heard her,” Jensen said. He moved in between us. “The last thing you want to do right now is make a scene. The last thing you want is for me to take this up with the president or the provost. I happen to be on a first-name basis with both.”
“Are you threatening me?” Mitch asked.
“Depends on whether or not you walk out of here right now.”
“Who is this guy, Emery?”
“He’s my…” I began and then trailed off.
What was Jensen?
“Boyfriend,” Jensen filled in.
My eyebrows rose dramatically. Boyfriend? Whoa! Whoa! Where had that come from? My mouth was open slightly, and I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what to say. Not that I didn’t like the phrase rolling off his tongue, but I hadn’t even known what we were doing. I hadn’t known where this was going.
Now, he was claiming me.
Jensen Wright was claiming me.
“Boyfriend,” Mitch said. He seemed to weigh his options. He faced me, but I narrowed my eyes in warning. “Well, that was fast.”
“Not fast enough,” I muttered.
“Why am I not surprised?” Mitch said, reaching for his trendy leather messenger bag. “You always did like to be a kept woman.”
I winced at his assessment as he brushed past Jensen and out the door. Shots had been fired. And I’d let him have the last word. Ass.
“Emery…”
“Let’s just get some coffee,” I whispered. My head was spinning. Between the confrontation with Mitch and Jensen claiming he was my boyfriend, I needed a second to think.
“I didn’t mean to spring that on you,” he said. He sounded sheepish.
I glanced up at him and saw that he actually did look sheepish.
“I meant for the whole thing to be romantic. To take you out to dinner and ask you over candlelight if you’d be my girlfriend. Then, it just kind of slipped out.”
“Oh,” I said softly. “Wow.”
“I know it’s fast and that I have a lot to tell you, but I want you to be mine.” He reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face. “I can’t get you out of my head, and I don’t want you out. So, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
I laughed abruptly, and then it suddenly poured out of me. This was so formal. So controlled. So purposeful.
“What?” Jensen asked. His body became guarded, as if preparing for the fallout.
“You really aren’t like any other guy, are you?”
He arched an eyebrow in question.
“Most guys are too busy trying to keep girls dangling on the line, but you just come right out and say you want a relationship.”
“I’m a businessman. I say what I want, I negotiate for it, and then I take it. I don’t want to lead you on.”
“I like that.”
He beamed.
“And I like that you said you were my boyfriend.”
“Good,” he said, drawing me in for a kiss. “Does that make you my girlfriend?”
“I guess it does.”
Chapter 20
Jensen
I left Emery at the university to handle the remainder of her school issues. I hadn’t wanted to abandon her when that prick was nearby, but she’d promised she would be fine. She’d claimed that Mitch was more bark than he was bite. After getting a good look at him, I had to agree. Though it didn’t make me feel any better.
Time and time again, I had claimed that I wasn’t a violent man. I’d been tested on that twice before.
One time, I’d failed.
One time, I’d succeeded.
This time, I had come so close to losing it and beating the ever-loving shit out of the skeezy, conniving bastard. My hands had fisted, aching to blacken his eyes and rearrange his face.
But I knew that wasn’t what Emery wanted. Also, I had a company to think about, and assault charges never looked good in the media. In the end though, threatening him with administration interference had been enough to send him packing. Couldn’t even stand up to me like a man. Even without knowing who I was, he had known, if I put some weight behind it, I could get him fired for what he had done to Emery and the handful of other girls he’d seduced in his time as a professor. With my blood boiling as it was, I had half a mind to make the call.