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Sasha seemed happy with my work. I knew this, because he didn’t have much to say about it.
Sasha was like that.
No news was good news.
And when Vik began his online classes, I couldn’t help but move my workspace close to his, quietly watching the lectures with great interest. Closer and closer I moved, until one morning, I didn’t even hesitate. I set my laptop right down next to his, and when the too-hot-to-handle man narrowed his eyes at me, I smiled cheerily, uttering, “Hello, fellow student. Are you here for the unspecific class with the token boring professor?” I nodded lightly, lips thin. “Me too.”
His lip twitched, but his brow drew into a V. “What are you doing?”
“Oh.” I feigned boredom. “Didn’t I tell you? I go here.”
That frown deepened. “Go where?”
I motioned to our laptops. “To school. And you—” I looked him over like a piece of meat, biting my lip suggestively. “—hot stuff, are my classroom chum.”
“Baby.” Whatever he was going to say seemed to fade away as I pressed my arms together. He lost focus on my growing boobs but cleared his throat and reluctantly said, “I need to do this.” He squeezed my knee, letting me down gently. “We can play schoolyard sexy-time when I’m off the clock.”
I made of show of sighing. “Okay. Sorry.” Then I moped, “Is it okay if I do my work here? I promise I won’t bother you.”
Without looking at me, he logged on with one hand while blindly reaching out to me with the other. Once he found what he was after, he picked up my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “Of course.”
Vik was so invested in the lecture he was watching that he missed what I was doing. I logged in quickly enough, and when I started the next module, the very same lecture showed up on my laptop screen, with the very same professor. Vik slowly turned to focus on my screen, and when he did, those thick brows pulled down once more.
“What…?” He couldn’t even finish what he was saying. The question was left open-ended, and when he faced me, I could see the confusion lining his slack features.
“I told you.” I paused, my brows rising as I let out a matter-of-fact, “I go here.”
His stunned silence didn’t last long. “Since when?”
“Since a week before the semester began,” I returned.
The look on his face was priceless. Lord, he was so cute when he was puzzled.
I decided to put him out of his misery. “Look. You still want to run your own business?”
“Yes” was his immediate response, and he meant it. That kind of conviction could not be faked.
Okay. “Then it makes sense that we prepare, right?”
“Right.” He drew the word out, but it was clear he still wasn’t getting it.
I twisted to face him head-on, to silently ask for his full attention. He gave it easily.
“If you’re in, I’m in.” I shrugged. “We’re both going to need to know this stuff. I thought it was probably best that we start on the same level. I don’t want you to waste time having to teach me things I should already know. When the time comes and you need my help—because you will—then I’ll be right there, ready to go. A soldier at your command.”
Vik’s expression went from confused to thoughtful, and when that thick brow of his softened, he said, “You really think I can do this?”
No hesitation. “Yes,” I told him. “I have faith in you.”
“You do, don’t you?” He asked it gently, but there was an intensity to it, a raw emotion behind those icy-blue eyes.
My fingers came up to cup his cheek, and the stubble on his jaw tickled my palm when he nuzzled into it. My response was just as soft. “Forever and always.”
The way he peered at me then, with wonder and awe, admiration and respect… nothing could compare.
Nothing would ever compare.
“Besides,” I tried to lighten the mood, “do you remember what Mrs. Renshaw said about your senior English paper on Native American legacy?”
He closed his eyes a moment. When he opened them again, he mock-glared at me, cleared his throat, and uttered a reluctant, “She called it vaguely offensive.”
She sure did.
I grinned. “No harm helping each other out, right?”
His brow softened. “No.” He looked grateful, and the gentle tone in which he spoke said so much more than he offered. “No harm at all.”
The love radiated off of him in waves, and when they crashed over me, a lifetime of adoration and friendship soaked me to the bone, leaving me warm and fuzzy.
I settled next to him, leaned forward, and hit the button to start the lecture again from the beginning. And as the professor commenced his talking, I found it hard to focus when the man beside me kept his attention on my face.
