Chapter 9 #2
“Archibald. Do you have a moment?”
“I—”
“Walk with me.”
He was already moving.
I hesitated just long enough to feel every instinct in my body pulling in his direction.
Rhys nudged me with his elbow. “Go before I say something that gets you expelled.”
I fell into step beside Henry. The noise of the quad dulled as we cut toward the quieter path along the edge of Hargrove.
His hands were tucked into his pockets, shoulders set, jaw tight in a way that made it clear something was working under the surface.
“Check your email.”
My pulse kicked. “I saw it.”
“And?”
“And… it’s fixed,” I said, because what else was I supposed to say? “Like—completely fixed.”
“That was the expectation.”
“You… didn’t have to do that.”
“Archibald.”
Henry stopped. I nearly tripped over my own feet.
“Look at me.”
I swept my chin up, coming eye to eye with him.
“You’re framing this like I did you a favor.”
I frowned. “Didn’t you?”
“No, Rabbit. I enforced the terms of a position I negotiated. A position you earned.”
I adjusted my glasses, and then adjusted them again, even though they never moved.
“You still didn’t have to do that.”
Henry moved closer, and my breath stalled as his scent hit.
Ohmygod.
I wanted to shove my nose into his collarbone.
“Yes, I did.”
I nodded. “Because you would’ve done that for anyone in the position.”
“If the terms are altered without cause, I correct it. That is part of my responsibility.”
Right.
“So that’s all this is. You doing your job.”
“For anyone else that would have been the end of it.”
“And for me?” I asked, because apparently I had zero self-preservation when he looked at me like that.
Henry closed the remaining distance between us. His fingers settled along my jaw as if they always belonged there, his thumb brushing once beneath my eye.
“No,” he said quietly. “For you, I shouldn’t have let it get that far.”
I had to fight the instinct to lean into his chest like that was where I was meant to be.
“You don’t walk out of a room thinking you’re on your own to fix something that was never yours to carry. You don’t line up a second job because someone decided to see what they could take from you.”
His thumb shifted, brushing just barely along the edge of my bottom lip before settling against my jaw.
“You don’t get handled like that. Not in my space.”
“That sounds a lot like you deciding I’m yours to manage.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
“Not to manage,” he whispered. “To take care of.”
My hands shook at my sides, fingers flexing like they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
“Go ahead, sweetheart. You can touch me.”
Everything in me stalled.
My brain. My lungs. My ability to pretend this was normal.
“I—I think if I do that, I’m not going to stop.”
His eyes darkened. “That’s not a deterrent.”
Christ.
I let out a shaky breath, my hands hovering uselessly for a second before I dragged them back, hooking my thumbs into my pockets like that would fix anything. “You’re my professor. My boss.”
“I am,” he agreed, but it did absolutely nothing to stop him from sliding his hand to the back of my neck.
“You’re not even a little concerned?”
“I’m aware of the implications.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He rubbed circles against the nape of my neck like he was keeping me right where he wanted me.
“I’m concerned with whether you’re overwhelmed. Whether you’re eating enough, sleeping enough, and not running yourself into the ground trying to compensate for something that wasn’t your fault.”
Oh.
I caught his free hand, closing my fingers around his.
A low sound left him. “Good boy.”
My brain short-circuited so fast, I couldn’t even pretend to recover.
“You realize this ends badly?”
His mouth curved slightly. “Is that what you think this is?”
I glanced down at where our hands were linked, his fingers threaded through mine like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Do you make all your TAs want to kiss you, or is this a me problem?”
“I’ve never had a TA before.”
“Well then,” I cleared my throat. “Technically, this could be anybody.”
“Archie, baby.” He drew me half an inch closer. “I’ve crossed paths with thousands of people. I’ve had hundreds of brilliant minds sit across from me, speak to me, challenge me—”
He pressed his forehead to mine.
“—and not a single one of them has made me feel this way.”
Something in me gave.
It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic.
Just… gone.
The quad still existed somewhere behind us, but we’d cut far enough along the side of Hargrove that the path curved inward, half-hidden by the building and a line of trees that blocked the main flow of foot traffic.
No one was looking this way. No one had a reason to.
It was just us.
His forehead stayed pressed to mine. “You’re thinking too hard.”
“I’m trying not to ruin your life.”
“You’re not ruining anything.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, but there wasn’t much conviction behind it. “That’s… a lot of confidence for someone who’s known me for, what, a week?”
“Archibald.”
I dragged in a breath and lifted my head.
“Henry, you yelled at a student for me. One whose uncle is the fucking dean.”
He tugged at my hand. “You’re too far away.”
“You walked into that same dean’s office and pushed until my funding was fixed. Okay, fine, it was justified, but that problem doesn’t exist for students who aren’t living off scrambled eggs and whatever’s in the freezer section.”
“Archi—”
“And now we’re—what?” I shook our joined hands. “Standing out here doing this when it is very clearly not allowed for a professor to be entangled with his TA. Do you want to get fired?”
“I don’t particularly care.”
I blinked. “That is not a normal answer.”
“You think I’m choosing this?”
“I’m… sorry?”
“It’s been a week, and I sit in my office wondering if you’ve had water today. If you’ve eaten enough. If you’re going to push yourself until you drop because no one told you to stop. Jackson is lucky all I did was speak.”
“Henry—”
“Rabbit.” Henry’s hand moved to the back of my neck, squeezing like he knew exactly how much pressure to use without tipping me over.
“You’re overwhelmed.”
I swallowed. “I’m fine.”
“No. You’re holding it together. That’s not the same thing.”
…okay.
Rude.
I huffed a breath, looking anywhere but directly at him. “You’re making this worse.”
“I’m trying not to.”
That pulled my attention back.
“I’m very aware of what I want to do right now,” he said. “But I’m also aware that you’re not in a place to handle me doing it.”
“You don’t seem like the kind of person who holds back.”
“I don’t,” he said. “For you, I will.”
My stomach flipped so hard I had to look away again.
His hand slid from my neck to my jaw, slower this time, like he was giving me time to stop him.
I didn’t.
Of course I didn’t.
“When you decide you’re ready for me to kiss you,” he murmured, “you tell me.”
His thumb brushed once along my cheek.
“Until then, I’ll be your professor.”
I snorted.
It slipped out before I could stop it.
His brow twitched. “Something amusing?”
“A professor,” I repeated. “You mean the same professor who just went toe-to-toe with the dean and told me to report my water intake like I’m a dehydrated houseplant?”
His mouth actually curved this time. “Hydration is important.”
“Oh my god.” I laughed under my breath, shaking my head. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Yes.”
I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling. “We’re just supposed to go back to work and pretend we’re normal?”
“You can pretend.”
Completely inappropriate.
…and somehow still working for me.
“Come on, Professor,” I muttered, stepping past him toward the building. “Try to act like you didn’t just threaten my entire life.”
“I didn’t threaten it.” He fell into step beside me. “I improved it.”
Maybe I should’ve been more concerned with where this was going… but all I really wanted was to get there faster.