Chapter 29
GRADY
I closed the door behind us. Cece was beside me but the distance between us was enormous.
I could feel her anger. She was pissed. I had thought I was doing the right thing by going to the dean and suggesting Cece would be better off with another professor.
I told her Lina was more than enough and I didn’t have enough work for both of them.
I assumed Cece would be happy to be away from me.
Of course the fucking dean had to blow up my plan.
Now, I had a really pissed off Cece. She was quiet, but the anger was rolling off her. It felt radioactive.
I pushed open the heavy double doors and allowed her to walk through first. We stepped into the quad, the afternoon sun blazing down on us.
Cece and I walked side by side in silence, the vast lawn stretched ahead dotted with shade trees.
Students lounged and chatted while eating lunch and hanging out.
A few couples were scattered around the outskirts like they were attempting privacy, but not really.
Kissing, touching, and one especially enthusiastic couple was about two beats from sex.
Just when I was about to take a left and head toward the staff parking lot, I felt it. It was the kind of feeling you got just before lightning sizzled through the air. The ground itself vibrated with her energy.
A smart man would run. But I didn’t get that chance.
She stopped, spun on me, and for a heartbeat I thought she might punch me.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Her voice cracked like a whip across the calm.
I stumbled a couple steps backward. “Problem?”
She glared at me and I swore there was actual fucking smoke billowing from her ears. And damn if I wasn’t turned on.
“You could’ve warned me about that meeting!” Her words were full of accusation. It was like getting slapped.
“Warn you?”
“Yes!” She crossed her arms, foot tapping against the pavement. “You rolled me in there like I was some lamb to slaughter.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to keep working with me.”
“You could have fucking asked!”
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to hear from me.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.”
“You were pissed. And I’m not changing my mind.”
“Too bad, the dean already said I’m on that dive,” she snapped back. “I’m good enough to fuck. Good enough for you to have your tongue in my?—”
“Stop.” My voice was low. I could see we were starting to attract some attention. “Keep it down.” I placed a hand on her arm, but she shook it off.
She looked around and that was when she realized we weren’t alone and too much had already been said.
Her eyes softened for a split second—like she had deflated a bit—but only for a moment.
“This isn’t over,” she hissed.
I sighed because she was right. “Can we please go somewhere with some privacy?”
“Your office?”
“Probably not a good idea,” I said. “Let’s go get coffee from the cart. The park is a better place.”
“Yeah, caffeine is a great idea when I’m already amped up,” she muttered.
“Decaf for you.”
“Fuck you. I can drink coffee if I want to.”
I shook my head. There was no point in arguing. Without another word, we started walking. I ordered us two iced coffees. I didn’t bother asking her what she wanted. And she didn’t argue.
We walked in silence, the tension between us so thick it felt like a third person tagging along.
The park was mostly empty, just a couple of students lounging under a sprawling oak tree, their laughter carrying faintly on the breeze.
I handed Cece her iced coffee, and she took it without a word, her fingers brushing mine for the briefest moment.
Even that small contact sent a jolt through me, a reminder of everything we’d shared—and everything we needed to avoid.
I led her to a bench tucked away from the main path, shaded by a cluster of trees.
The ocean was just visible in the distance.
I loved sitting on the bench and staring out at the water.
I imagined the many treasures that were out there just sitting on the ocean floor.
They’d be buried and hidden, waiting for the right person to come along and find it. I wanted to be the one.
Cece sat down stiffly, her back straight, her jaw clenched.
She took a sip of her coffee and then set it down on the bench beside her, her fingers drumming against the edge.
I sat next to her, leaving enough space between us to be respectful but close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off her.
“So,” she said finally, her voice sharp. “You thought you’d just go behind my back and get me transferred? Without even talking to me first?”
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I thought it was for the best.”
“For who? You?” She turned to face me, her blue eyes blazing. “Because it sure as hell wasn’t for me.”
“For both of us,” I said carefully. “Cece, this… thing between us is dangerous. You know that. I’m your advisor. If anyone finds out, it could ruin both of our careers. I thought if you were working with someone else, it would be easier to put some distance between us.”
She scoffed, her lips curling into a bitter smile. “Easier for you, you mean. You don’t get to make decisions for me, Grady. You don’t get to decide what’s best for me without even asking.”
“I was trying to protect you,” I said, my voice low but firm. “And myself.”
“Protect me?” she shot back, her voice rising. “By going behind my back? By making me look like an idiot in front of the dean? That’s not protection, Grady. That’s cowardice.”
Her words stung because they were true. I had been a coward. I hadn’t wanted to face her anger, her hurt, so I’d taken the easy way out.
“You’re right,” I admitted quietly. “I should have talked to you first. I should have been honest with you about what I was thinking. But, Cece, you have to understand—this isn’t just about us being attracted to each other. This is about the fact that we can’t act on it without risking everything.”
“It was an ambush,” she said.
“I didn’t think she would call you in,” I said. “I’ve moved TAs before and never had a problem. It happens all the time. It’s up to me who acts as my TA.”
Cece stared at me for a long moment, her anger seeming to shift into something else—curiosity, maybe.
She took a drink from her coffee, her eyes never leaving my face.
And yes, my cock jumped because I’m a guy and she had her lips wrapped around a straw.
While she never had my dick in my mouth, I had certainly imagined that scenario once or twice.
“What’s Carver’s deal anyway?” she asked finally. “I can’t get a read on her. One minute she’s all smiles and professional courtesy, the next she’s asking me loaded questions about your ‘conduct’ and ‘professional boundaries.’ It’s like she’s fishing for something specific.”
I let out a harsh laugh, the sound more bitter than I intended. “That’s because she is fishing. Carver’s a snake, Cece. She’s been trying to get me in trouble since the day she took over as department head.”
“Why?” Cece leaned forward slightly, genuinely interested now.
I rubbed my jaw, feeling the stubble rasp against my palm.
“At first, I thought it was personal. She made a pass at me about six months after she got promoted—invited me to her place for dinner, made it clear she was interested in more than departmental strategy. I turned her down as politely as I could, but she didn’t take it well. ”
Cece’s eyebrows shot up. “She hit on you?”
“Yeah. And when I rejected her, things got tense. But now I think it’s more than just wounded pride.
She’s been looking for any excuse to undermine me, to question my methods, my research, my interactions with students.
” I gestured vaguely in the direction of the administration building.
“That little interrogation in there? That wasn’t about your transfer request. That was her hoping you’d give her ammunition against me. She enjoyed pitting you against me.”
Cece muttered, shaking her head as if she didn’t understand. “I knew something felt off about that meeting. The way she was watching us both, waiting for one of us to slip up or something. I’ve never been interrogated, but I have a feeling it would have looked a little something like that.”
“She’s waiting for me to make a mistake, and then she’ll pounce.” I took a long drink of my coffee, the ice clinking against the plastic cup. “I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”
Cece was quiet for a moment, processing what I’d told her. I realized I might be trying to get Cece on my side. The little game the dean was playing was one-sided. I didn’t need to drag Cece into the bullshit, though. Whatever Carver’s beef with me was, I didn’t want Cece to get hurt.
My opinion of Carver wasn’t shared by everyone at the university, either. Plenty of the other professors and students liked her just fine. Did that mean I was the problem?
“You know, you’re welcome to your opinion of her,” I added.
I didn’t want to come out swinging with nothing to back it up.
I didn’t want to sounded jaded. “She was actually a decent professor before all this. I took her intro archeology class my first semester here. She knew her stuff, was engaging with the students. But something changed when she became department head. Like the power went to her head or something.”
“Did you used to get along?”
“I wouldn’t say we got along, but we weren’t enemies. I stayed in my lane and she stayed in hers.”
“Maybe she wanted a friendship,” Cece said.
I nodded slowly, my gaze on the distant waves.
My mind drifted back to the early days when I started picking up on Carver’s dislike for me.
“I thought maybe it was personal. Because I rejected her. But it’s bigger than that.
She’s hunting me. That meeting today wasn’t about teaching or finances. She’s setting traps.”
“Does she see you as competition?” Cece asked. “Are you trying to get her job?”
I snorted. “Hell no. I don’t want to be tied to this place any more than I already am.
I teach here because I need the funding for the field work.
I have to publish results to get grants and donations.
That means I have to be here. Plus I’m helping to shape the minds of the next generation of archeologists. ”
“She likes to be in control.”
I nodded. “Power suits her.”
We sat for a bit longer. I missed hanging out with Cece. Just being around her made my soul happy. And my dick twitchy, but that wasn’t the most important factor.
She tilted her head. “We need to keep this professional. No emotional stuff.”
“No bullshit.” I finished.
She cracked a small smile. “Shake on it.”
I held out my hand. She took it. Heat flooded my chest and the blood rushed from my brain straight to my dick.
I could have sworn I saw her take a sharp breath at the contact. We both felt it. How in the hell were we supposed to work together and not touch? Or think about fucking.
“Alright,” I said softly. “Let’s do this.”