But…
“I had a good teacher,” she said, her voice soft and barely above a whisper. Shy, restrained in her own right. “You said that you owed much of your success to good mentors. I think I’ll be able to say the same thing about you.”
“You’ll get there on your own merit,” I said, my own voice sounding strangled. “You’re brilliant.”
And beautiful. And enticing. And tempting in a way that was breaking more boundaries than I could lay down. Somehow we’d moved closer, to the point that I could feel her breath on my face.
Whatever perfume she was wearing mixed with her own natural scent to produce something clean-smelling, warm with a hint of incense and leather. My head began to spin.
“June,” I said quietly. A warning both to her and to myself. A reminder of who she was and who I was and why this shouldn’t be happening. But the scent of her, her warmth, those eyes…each one of them a knock to my already fragile control.
I leaned closer, just an inch. A question, an invitation. And God, she met me there.
Our lips had nearly touched by the time my senses finally overrode my impulse and at the very last possible second, I turned my head, my nose brushing against her cheek. I pulled back with a gasp, putting a hand to my mouth.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning away from her. “This was my mistake. That should never have happened.”
“Lucas,” she began, and the way she said my name only kept me from facing her again.
“Please leave,” I said. “This will never happen again, I promise.”
There was a beat of stunned silence. Then I could hear the shuffling of papers and the hurried scrape of chair legs against wooden floors as she pushed back and stalked out of my office.
It took a few minutes before I could finally turn around. I placed my palms on my desk and leaned forward.
What had I just done?
I had never, not once until now ever crossed this line with a student. I’d noticed beautiful women around campus but the boundaries had always been clear and I had never before been tempted to break them.
That code was part of the bedrock of who I was. I followed the rules, did what needed to be done. Just like June. It was a reflected quality that I think only drew me even closer to her, tied us together like string.
But now, that same string was going to strangle the both of us if I wasn’t careful. And I couldn’t afford to not be careful, not when both of us had so much to lose.
5
~
June
I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened in Lucas’s office.
It was unlike me to have my thoughts so easily disrupted every time I tried to focus on something else. I hated how distracted I became during study time. I hated how even during rowing practice, my thoughts would drift back to the way his hair tickled my neck when we’d almost kissed.
I felt branded by what happened, despite the fact that in all technical regard, nothing hadactuallyhappened. And it was starting to show in my performance.
“I think you’re clear for the day, Price,” Coach Hayes said, after I’d pulled too early for what must’ve been the fifth time in one session. She pinched the bridge of her nose as though I was a headache she was trying to smooth out. “Go get cleaned up and meet me back here when you’re done. We need to talk.”
I winced, but nodded and climbed out of the sweep boat, dropped into the lake and swam to the shore. I barely caught Madison’s eye as I left, too humiliated to even look at her. Practice was almost over anyway, and I knew I wouldn’t have much time to enjoy the peace of my inner turmoil before she’d corner me again.
By the time I reached the boathouse, I was moving on autopilot, making my way to the showers. I gingerly peeled offthe wet top and unisuit, goosebumps immediately pocking my skin under the cool breeze that drifted in from the open doors.
Just as I’d tossed the wet pile of clothing to the side, I heard a scuffle, as though someone had stumbled into the equipment lining the wall. I turned around immediately, grabbing my clothes from the floor to cover up.
Lucas stood in the doorway, his face blanched with shock. His eyes darted to the side immediately.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to creep up on you. I knew you had practice today and wanted to catch you before our next class,” he said by way of explanation. But his voice was so different to the usual calm, suave cadence he used when lecturing.
He sounded caught off his guard, uncertain.
