Professor Astor (Off-Limits)

“You’re all better now, Colt. You have to go to school,” I tell him, but he shakes his head, desperate for another sick day, when he’s perfectly fine now. He was sick for three days, but he’s definitely healthy now, despite what he’s trying to convince me of.

“Ley, I’m still sick! I can’t go to school!”

I glance at Thor who’s standing in the doorway of his bedroom, his arms crossed. “Colton Astor,” he says. “You’d better be ready for school in ten minutes.”

Colton groans and gets out of bed angrily, glaring at his father as he walks to the bathroom. I bite back a smile and shake my head. He’s cute when he’s angry like that.

“Come with me,” Thor says, holding his hand out. I hesitate before taking it, and Thor entwines our fingers, holding onto me tightly as he leads me down the stairs.

“Where are we going?” I ask when he pulls me through the front door, where a black car is waiting for us. “I need to take the kids to school!”

He shakes his head and grins. “No, you don’t. Alice is here to take care of them, isn’t she? Let her. She’ll pick the kids up and take them to school herself, and Lenora just got here to ensure they’re ready to go. You and I have somewhere to be.”

He holds the car door open for me, and I get in hesitantly. What is he doing? Where are we going so randomly?

Thor walks around the car and gets in next to me, his hand on my knee. “Drive us to the Astor private airstrip,” he tells the driver, and my eyes widen.

“Seriously, where are we going?”

He glances at me, taking in the blue summer dress I’m wearing. His hand slips underneath my dress, and he caresses my thigh, drawing circles on it as he smiles at me. “The Bahamas. Looks like you’re nicely dressed as it is, but I brought you plenty of clothes too. Amara helped me buy them for you.”

“We… we’re going where?”

He grins at me and leans in, his lips brushing over mine, once, twice, before he kisses me fully. His hand moves to my cheek, and he holds my face as he kisses me, taking his time with me.

By the time he pulls away, my heart is racing. “We’re going to the Bahamas, baby. You’ve been so stressed out ever since Alice got here, and I hate seeing you that way. I promised you that her presence wouldn’t affect us, but it did. I wish I could promise you that you’ll never cry because of her again, but I can’t control what she does or says. Because she’s the kids’ mother, I can’t cut her out of our lives. What I can do is promise you that I’ll always try my hardest to soothe the pain she brings you. I can promise you that I’ll show you how much I love you each time your conviction wavers.”

I look at him, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. “You don’t need to do that,” I whisper. “I’m not with you because of this type of thing.”

“I know,” he murmurs. He threads his fingers through my hair and looks into my eyes. “I know it’s never been about the money for you, Leia. We live a simple life, most of the time. I do it knowingly, because I don’t want the kids to grow up spoiled and entitled… but you? I’m going to spoil you rotten. I promised myself that I’d do everything in my power to make sure me having children wouldn’t mean that you have to miss out on things. Ever since I found you crying on the kitchen floor, what I’ve been wanting to do most of all is take you away, someplace where it’s just the two of us. If I thought you could bear to leave Colton, I’d have gotten you onto a flight that very day, but there’s no way you’d leave him, is there?”

I shake my head. “No,” I admit. I’d be uncomfortable leaving him in his mother’s care when he begged me to stay with him. “I never would have done that.”

He nods. “I know. So I waited till he was better, but no second longer. I’m taking you away for one night. Your family already thinks you’re staying over to take care of Colton, so what’s one more night?”

I smile and drop my head to his shoulder. It can’t be easy for him to cope with my crazy family, but he does his best to understand. “I love you, Adrian.”

He presses a kiss to my cheek and grins. “We’re here,” he says, and I look out the window, my eyes widening in shock.

Thor walks around the car and holds my door open for me, but all I’m focused on is the metallic grey plane in the hangar we’re in. “This… what is this?”

He chuckles and pulls me along while the driver grabs our luggage. “This, my love, is the Astor family’s private plane. Let’s go.”

He tightens his grip on my hand, and I can’t get my racing heart to calm as he leads me up the stairs. This is insane. What is he thinking? “Thor, this is too much.”

He wraps his arm around me and leads me to my seat. “Sit,” he orders, and I obey. Thor falls to his knees in front of me and buckles me in. “Nothing is ever too much for you, baby. I should’ve done this months ago. I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that I wasn’t putting you first the way I should have. I’m sorry that it took you getting hurt for me to realize that I didn’t protect you well enough. I’ll do better, okay? I promise you, Leia. I’ll do better.”

I shake my head, shocked. “No, Thor. None of this is your fault. I knew what I was getting into when I started dating you.”

He leans into me and kisses me, his touch tender. “Even so,” he whispers. “I need you to myself for a night. I need some time away with you.”

I nod, and he grins at me as he takes the seat next to me. He grabs my hand as we take off, and I can barely contain my excitement. One night with Thor, just the two of us. It’s exactly what we need right now.