Audra's steps slowed, and a sigh slowly slipped past her lips. Dr. Stanhope's "message" also included a specific time and place, and she only had minutes to spare if she still wanted to make it in time.
What to do, what to do, what to do...
LUCIAN STANHOPE LEANED back against the leather cushion of his chair. It was five minutes to eight already, and with his secretary long gone, he was all alone in his private office. Logic told him he was waiting for nothing, but here he still fucking was...
And all because of a slip of a girl had him obsessed.
A humorless smile twisted over his lips as he recalled walking into the classroom and setting his eyes on eighteen-year-old Audra for the first time in his life. It was just that one time, and as crazy as it might sound, he had known she was meant for him.
But because being obsessed didn't mean he had lost all common sense, Lucian had also known that while he would be more than ready to settle down, give her his name and have her pregnant with his child right that very moment - it was not the same for her.
She was still too young and innocent, and so Lucian had forced himself to keep his distance. It was the only way he could keep his hands off her, the only way he could keep him from taking over her life.
But just as importantly...it was also the only way he could test himself. With the passage of time, he would know if she was still what he wanted...
And she was.
Lucian still wanted her, but Audra...clearly did not want him back.
THERE WAS A SMALL CAFE a few blocks away from the hospital that Audra liked to go to when reviewing for a test, but when she went there the following day, thoughts of a vastly different nature were foremost in her mind.
I chickened out.
Audra couldn't help cringing just thinking about it, and she had this rather uncanny feeling that Dr. Stanhope would find her decision not to show up quite unforgivable. After all, he had gone to extraordinary lengths to let her know about his offer, and what had she done in return?
Ignore it!
Audra had an urge to cry this time.
Of all the foolish things for her to do, she just had to do that.
She had ignored Dr. Stanhope's message, like he was just nobody, and she was somebody, when in truth—-
Oops!
Audra was so lost in her thoughts that when she turned away from the cashier, she promptly walked straight into the man next in line, and there went her milk tea, spilling down one side of what appeared to be an extremely expensive blazer.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Audra quickly used the napkin in her hand to mop the fast-drying stain. "I'm so, so sorry—-"
"It's fine," the man said with a chuckle.
She glanced up...then found herself blinking in surprise. "Mr. Masterton?"
The handsome man smiled. "A fan of English football in New York..." Amusement underscored his tone. "What are the odds?"
"Probably as unlikely as...me being a former student of Dr. Lucas Stanhope?"
It was Christopher Masterton's turn to be surprised. "Seriously?"
From here, Audra soon found herself sharing a small table with Christopher, who had a surprising number of questions to ask about her time as Dr. Stanhope's student. Why, if it didn't sound so ridiculous, it almost seemed as if the man knew who she was, and how weird she felt whenever Dr. Stanhope was around, but...
Unlikely, Audra told herself.
It was like what Christopher himself said earlier.
What were the odds of this very famous athlete possibly knowing something about her? Were it the same odds as, say, Audra not feeling tongue-tied, feverish, and weird around...
Oh!
Audra reacted instinctively, her hands cupping over her mouth in her shock.
"Audra?" Christopher's tone was puzzled.
"I kept thinking I felt weird around Dr. Stanhope because he was the first real famous person I know," she blurted out.
"You truly thought that?"
Audra nodded.
"But since I'm pretty famous myself," Christopher drawled, "and you're anything but tongue-tied around me..."
Audra had a hard time breathing.
Oh my gosh.
It was all so very clear now.
So, so very clear...
Audra started blushing, Christopher started smirking, and while both were entirely innocuous, it appeared otherwise when the woman seated at the table opposite theirs managed to capture the moment in a photo that would later on be tweeted several thousand times in a matter of minutes.
It was also a photo that Lucian himself would see, and from which the strikingly handsome surgeon would form his own unfortunate opinion.
LUCIAN WAS DRUNK. HE couldn't remember the last time he had ever allowed himself to be intoxicated to this level. Probably over a decade ago. But he did remember enough to know the signs, and so he knew.
He might not be type to slur his words or lose the ability to walk a straight line, but even so, he knew.
He was drunk, just enough to have his judgment impaired, and it was why, when his secretary told him that a Ms. Audra Perkins was asking to see him without an appointment, Lucian promptly instructed Maud to let her in and cancel the rest of his appointments.
The older woman appeared scandalized. "You're absolutely sure, Dr. Stanhope?"
He knew what Maud was worried about, of course. One of his appointments later on was with Mrs. Harriet Thatcher, an overly enthusiastic recreational golfer who was also the wife of one of the hospital's board members...as well as being rather infamous for her gossipy ways.
If he canceled her consultation, Harriet would want to know why, and it would only be a matter of time before Audra's name came up, only a matter of time before Harriet realized that Audra was also the same girl who had been photographed with Christopher, and after that...
Audra would soon know for herself, Lucian thought savagely, that he was not the kind of man she could play with.
He turned to his secretary. "You heard what I said. I trust I don't need to repeat myself."
"But—-"
He stared at her coldly, and Maud pursed her lips in disapproval. "Very well, Dr. Stanhope."
The door closed behind her, and he found himself reaching for his wallet. On his first day of meeting her, Lucian had made up some bullshit story about needing all of his students to submit a personal essay of sorts along with their ID photos.
It had been his way of getting to know her more as well as this...
Lucian snapped his wallet open, and tucked safely in one corner was a 2 x 2 photo of Audra.
Bitterness welled up inside of him as he gazed at her photo. He had thought, all these fucking years, that the only reason she seemed to avoid him was because she was young and shy...
But obviously he was wrong.
All these years, she had simply been waiting for someone better to come along. Someone who was truly famous, like his own good friend Christopher Masterton.
AUDRA COULD BARELY hear her thoughts over the ruckus her heart was making, and it only thudded faster and far more noisily when she was finally inside Lucian Stanhope's office.
The surgeon was standing back by the windows, his back to her, and as she waited for him to acknowledge her presence, she found herself thinking back to the first day they met.
Lucian had strode inside the classroom, and everyone had fallen silent, dazzled by the sheer gorgeousness of him, and when he started to speak, well...they were dazzled all the more, by the fact that he was giving them a pop quiz on their very first day of class.