Didn’t have to.
Henry made it very clear he wasn’t someone you pushed. Realizing he’d unlocked that energy onmybehalf was?—
—super fucking hot, actually. Which felt like a personal problem future Archie would have to unpack.
I shook my head. “No. He’s been good.”
“Good,” Mom said, satisfied, but only because she’d text Rhys later.
7
HENRY
Archibald had chosen a seat in the front row.
I noticed him the second I stepped behind the podium, and once I did, the rest of the room lost its shape.
Students shifted in their seats and dug through bags, but all of it faded beneath the quiet fact of him sitting so close. His notebook lay open against the desk, pen resting against his bottom lip. A piece of dark hair had fallen forward near his temple, catching the edge of his glasses every time he moved.
Having Archibald in the room altered the geometry of my attention.
No.
It was worse than that.
Itnarrowedit.
Between slides and case examples, my focus kept drifting back to him—to the slight lean of his body when something caught hold of him and the infuriating little scrunch of his nose when he concentrated too hard.
My little rabbit.
He didn’t need to be there. His assistantship didn’t require it, and God knew a graduate student with his workload had better uses for an hour of free time.
He’d chosen me anyway.
He’dchoseto sit five fucking feet away from me with that intent, open look on his face, like whatever came out of my mouth was worth his full attention.
Goddamnit.
I had never been a man who craved attention.
The public version of me might have, the one built out of interviews and book tours, but that man had always been fiction. Archie’s attention, though… it was something else. I wanted it in a way that made no fucking sense.
I memorized every small movement he made—every shift, every blink that pulled his attention away from me. The awareness had settled so deep beneath my skin it refused to leave.
Good.
Ilikedknowing exactly where he was.
By the time the lecture wound down, I was aware of the rest of the room again… though only in the most technical sense. Slides advanced, and words came out of my mouth, but fuck if I knew what I was even saying.
Clearing my throat, I closed the file on the podium monitor and let my gaze drift across the room without really seeing anyone.
“Read the case notes before Thursday,” I said. “We’ll start there.”
A few students straightened as if they expected more. I didn’t bother asking for questions. If anyone had one badly enough, they could send a fucking email.
Chairs scraped back as the room dissolved into movement. Laptops clicked shut. Bags zipped.
