Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
He reached up to run his fingers through his hair and yank on the ends. I could tell the information was taking time to process. “So… what does this mean for the department? Is Dr. Raintree leaving? And what about the students in the middle of research?”
“I don’t know. That’ll be up to the dean.”
My fingers itched to touch him. Now that I was here, now that I knew he wanted—no, needed—touch, I couldn’t stop imagining my hands on him.
“Come here,” I said.
Jack’s eyes widened. “W-why?”
“I want to hold you.”
My heart thundered even though I tried my best to project a calm, controlled demeanor.
“Why?” he asked in a slightly higher-pitched voice.
Instead of answering him, I pinned him with a look—one I hoped held all the longing and frustration I’d been repressing for an entire semester.
Jack’s chest rose and fell before he whispered, “You can’t mean it.”
“I do. I wanted to hold someone tonight. It’s been a hell of a week. A hell of a semester. My colleagues turned their backs on me when they learned what I’d done. I had to find another job. I felt so isolated and alone, I was willing to take comfort with a stranger. But now that I know you were the one who wrote that post… I want it even more.”
Emotion flashed through his eyes. Surprise, and if I wasn’t mistaken, heat. My chest tightened.
“Please,” I added softly.
FIVE
JACK
This was too good to be true.
I moved toward him slowly, waiting for him to laugh and admit it was all a setup of some kind. But then I saw the sincerity in his eyes. His chest heaved up and down, revealing maybe he wasn’t quite as calm and collected as he appeared to be about this.
“Isn’t this fraternization?” I asked weakly.
“I already turned in your grade. I’m no longer your professor.”
It was true. I’d checked my grades before heading to the hotel and hadn’t really been surprised at the strong showing in my evolutionary biology class. In being a total hard-ass to me all semester, it turned out Dr. Henry had managed to thoroughly prepare me for the final.
I’d aced it.
And now my hard-ass professor was summoning me to… his lap? For hugs? What was happening right now?
“I thought you hated me,” I blurted.
His eyes darkened, which made my skin prickle. “That’s the opposite of how I feel about you, Jack.”
When he said my name, my stomach swooped and left me light-headed. It was amazing how much longing and want he could pack into that single syllable.
“W-why?” I hated how unsure and vulnerable I sounded right then, but I felt unsure and vulnerable. I’d never been good at hiding my true feelings.
Professor Henry sighed and looked down at the hands he held clasped in his lap. “Because you’re beautiful and smart. You’re funny and warm.” He looked up at me. “You’re exactly the kind of man I’ve always dreamed about being with.”
My breathing sped up again, enough to make me wonder if another panic attack would come on. “You’re messing with me,” I said, stopping in my tracks before getting too close.
“Does it look like I’m messing with you?” His eyes stayed on mine with an intensity that filled the room, and I had to shake my head.
“I don’t want to pressure you or do anything you don’t want. So tell me… do you want me to leave?”
No. Definitely not. No. No, please.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, lying through my teeth.
His body language stayed relaxed, but his expression didn’t. It was almost like he wanted me to listen, to understand.
“I saw you before the semester started,” he said, surprising me. “You were at the gym, laughing at something on your phone. I couldn’t stop staring at you.”
My heart ticked wildly in my neck. I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed quiet.
“You were sexy as fuck. Sweating from your run and wearing these little running shorts that revealed your long, muscled legs and your tight ass. I almost got hard right there in the student fitness center.”
I hoped to god my breathing didn’t sound as erratic as it felt.
He continued. “But it was your laugh that really got me. You couldn’t stop. And your joy lit up the space around you. Everyone who heard you got a smile on their face. That night when I went home, I decided that if I saw you again, I was going to ask you to spend the afternoon with me… or the evening… or, fuck, forever, if you’d have let me. But you never came back to the gym—”
“I tripped over one of those electric scooters people leave all over campus,” I whispered. “Tweaked my ankle.”
“When I saw you walk into my classroom a few days later, my heart leapt out of my chest. There you were, finally, only…”