His mouth curved.
I huffed out a breath, some of the tension bleeding out of me whether I wanted it to or not, but one thought stuck—louder than the rest and harder to ignore.
It slipped out before I could filter it.
“Are we… boyfriends?”
“Do you want to be?”
“Ew. No. Do not do that thing where you answer my question with a question. Do you want my brain to explode? Do you want me to never sleep again?”
A real smile touched his mouth this time. “Yes.”
Just like that.
“Boyfriends?” I repeated, because apparently I needed confirmation like this was a contract I hadn’t read properly.
His hand came up, palming my cheek. “Mine,” he said, quieter now. “Completely. That wasn’t situational, Archibald.”
Ohmygod.
My heart nearly melted. I wasnotequipped to deal with that in a normal, well-adjusted way.
I swallowed, then immediately latched onto the next problem because focusing on that felt safer.
“Okay, great, but how did you even find me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly in an attempt to look suspicious.
Honestly? I wasn’t sure I cared. I was just happy he did.
“I have access to the building systems,” he said. “Your keycard was used at the annex.”
I blinked at him. “You tracked me.”
“I missed you.”
Heart meet Henry’s hands… because that’s where you belong now.
“I missed you too, but don’t try to distract me, Professor.” I gestured vaguely toward the room around us. “You’re not even a little worried that someone could have walked in? Because this is—last I checked—a public space.”
“I’m not worried,” he said.
I stared at him. “That feels like something you should be worried about.”
“It isn’t.”
“Well, why not?”
His gaze didn’t shift. “Because I don’t give a fuck.”
I blinked again.
“You don’t give a—” I stopped, exhaling sharply.
“I don’t give a fuck about a lot of things,” he said, calm as ever. Then, after a beat, his thumb brushed once along my cheek. “I do give a fuck about you.”
“You could lose your job.”
And I wasn’t sure I was worth that.
