We began combing through her test, and she’d gone through the effort of making notes on the specifics she’d stumbled over. I’d been a professor for a couple of years already, and I was used to tutoring students one-on-one. But there was something so different about spending time with June.
Ronan was right. I always enjoyed engaging with students who had potential from an intellectual standpoint. But the longer I listened to June speak, the more I got a glimpse into how her mind worked, the less I felt the way a professor should feel towards his student.
A professor wouldn’t notice the way her voice changed slightly when she was particularly excited about something.
A professor wouldn’t have noticed that she had exactly seven faint freckles scattered like stars across her nose, and how they only became noticeable when she scrunched it up as she concentrated.
A professor wouldn’t have noticed that her hair was almost the exact same shade of the maple trees outside, combined with eyes that made her the embodiment of Fall.
A strand of that brilliant red hair fell into her face and she absent-mindedly tucked it back behind her ear. She was so engrossed in the notes in front of her that she hadn’t noticed the neckline of her oversized jersey slipping over her shoulder, revealing smooth milky skin.
I was well and truly fucked.
“See, this is the part that I’m struggling with the most,” she murmured, frowning.
Her emerald green eyes flickered to mine. My throat constricted, the grip on my pen tightening.
“Real-time traffic management is a tough subject to begin with. But I think what tripped me up is how to integrate the technological aspect in the solutions. We don’t know how far AI is going to be included in future development models, so the current data model is too static for me to come up with anything. At least for now,” she said. “Here, I brought a copy of the SDF.”
I craned my head to see what she was referring to as she tried to rotate the copy. It was an awkward arrangement if we were going to swap ideas without constantly having to turn the document around, so I got up and moved next to her as a compromise.
What a compromise.
My arm accidentally brushed against hers as I leaned over to get a closer look. Instinctively, I checked to see if she felt uncomfortable, but she didn’t pull back. She also didn’t seem as stiff as she had earlier, in fact…when it happened a second time, I could swear that she moved just an inch closer.
“Have you considered what other factors you need to include in your problem-solving?” I asked. “Think beyond just the limits of spatial planning codes. If your current obstacle is the fickleness of technology, then…?”
She thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up. “I could request access to look at what is currently attainable for the district and work from there. There may be alternatives that can be upgraded as the tech progresses.”
“Attagirl,” I said.
I hadn’t meant for it to sound like anything other than a show of professional pride, but her breath hitched imperceptibly. I ignored it and continued asking more questions to try and goad her into reaching the answer herself.
Focus, that was what I needed to be doing right now.
My eyes were pinned to the SDF document but I was keenly aware of every point of contact between us. Every now and then, I’d turn to look at her when she would respond to a question, and more than once I pulled my gaze from hers a moment too late..
It was like I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her no matter how hard I fought to try. If I was a more disciplined man, I might’ve retreated back to my seat, if only to set distance in place that could’ve countered the magnetism drawing me to her.
My self-denial seemed to be failing me at the worst possible moment.
But within that hour session, we’d managed to come up with a solution that would’ve scored no less than a perfect A in a retest. I was impressed and told her so.
She glowed with the compliment, looking even more beautiful than she normally did.
“That’s the type of thinking that more and more companies are going to start looking for,” I said, pride temporarily eclipsing my desire. She truly was brilliant and perceptive, and the acknowledgment of those traits only made me feel even guiltier while simultaneously fueling my attraction.
“I admire the fact that you decided to see me today. You technically passed the test already but now? Now you’d blow it out of the water,” I added.
“I have the tendency to want to make sure I get as close to perfect as possible,” she said. “I don’t believe in half measures, not when it comes to things I’m passionate about.”
“Neither do I,” I replied. My traitorous eyes trailed down to her mouth.
June seemed largely unaware of the effect she was having on me. Every smile, every glance had me feeling like I was suffocating in my own restraint. But I couldn’t afford to give into it.
Not when it could compromise her potential. Not when it could result in me losing everything I’d worked so hard to achieve up to this point. Whatever these unreasonable feelings I was experiencing, I had to ignore them.
She was my student and nothing more.
