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Jamie would know what he meant by those words, of course, but there was no way Dr. Franklin could.
Or so Aled hoped.
“It’s settled, then,” Dr. Franklin said, slapping the arms of his chair, then standing. “I’ll just leave the two of you to get better acquainted. Dr. Croft can help you sort out your personal quandaries as well as your academic schedule,” he added, pointing between the two of them as if he were making some grand connection. “He’s quite good at listening as well.”
“Thank you, Robert,” Jamie said, nodding to Dr. Franklin as he headed for the door.
“All the resources of Royal University of London are at your disposal, Mr. Keal,” Dr. Franklin said, smiling paternally at Aled, then nodding and leaving the office, as if his work was done.
Aled watched the doorway for a few more seconds, then blew out a breath and turned to Jamie. “I feel like a tornado has just blown through here and left nothing but shock and awe in its wake.”
Jamie hummed, a little embarrassed. “He can be like that sometimes,” he said. “It all comes from a place of caring about the students and their mental health, so we all forgive him his…exuberance.”
Aled went back to smiling the way he had been before he and Jamie had been interrupted. What were the odds of the two of them finding each other again so soon, and in such a coincidental way?
Actually, no, it wasn’t just odd. It was extraordinary.
“Is this going to be okay?” he asked, shifting closer to the desk, like he could shut out the rest of the world and create a place where it was just the two of them again. “The two of us working together, I mean. Are we allowed to do this?”
Jamie smiled at him, then sat back and rubbed his face, knocking his glasses askew as he did. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he said, letting out a breath. He went on to whisper, “I’ve never had my dom as one of my advisees before.” He straightened his glasses and looked squarely at Aled with an almost apologetic look, his face flushing brightly.
Aled was touched that Jamie would state something like that out loud, even in a whisper, when anyone at all could walk into the office next and hear them. He had a hunch from the way Jamie’s eyes darted toward the open door and from the tightening of his posture that Jamie’s kinky side was a secret from his colleagues. Unis were pretty liberal places, but Aled didn’t know enough about faculty politics to know if kink was a problem.
Jamie scooted forward in his chair and glanced out into the hallway, as if checking to see who was listening, before folding his hands on the desk and staring hard at Aled.
“This could be a problem,” he said.
For some reason, those words rippled through Aled like a low-level charge of electricity. They brought him back to the moment, and at the moment, Jamie was looking like an absolute dream in all his professorly glory. He was every bit as handsome as Aled remembered him to be from Shropshire. The slacks and button-down shirt made perfect sense now, in the setting of a university professor’s office. Surrounded by books and with a series of framed diplomas on the wall, Jamie looked perfectly suited for his surroundings.
At the same time, Aled could definitely feel the pulsing, aching energy of a man who enjoyed having another man strip everything away and leave him bare to desire. Not just any man, him. The energy that was once again charging the air between them was definitely specific to them and not just any old dom with a whip who might happen to wander past.
“This is going to be a challenge,” Jamie said.
“Would you like to go out sometime?” Aled asked at the same moment.
Again, they froze in surprise at speaking over top of each other, then both burst into laughter.
“This really is going to be a challenge,” Aled laughed, sitting back in his seat. He pushed a hand through his hair and winced for a moment, as all the ways his life had just taken on another layer of complexity came over him.
“I will completely understand if you want to put anything personal on hold until you fulfill the responsibilities of your degree,” Jamie said, standing and walking around the desk.
Aled loved the hint that Jamie wanted to be closer to him. He stood, turning to face Jamie when he leaned against the front of his desk. “You did just hear me ask you out, didn’t you?” he asked in a quiet voice, deeply aware that they could be interrupted again at any moment.
Jamie smiled and lowered his head. He peeked up at Aled, and for a moment, just a tiny sliver of a moment, they were back in their places where they’d spent that glorious weekend again.
But he knew as well as Jamie apparently did, that they couldn’t stay there. Not under the current circumstances. Jamie straightened and cleared his throat, and Aled hunched his shoulders just a bit as he thrust his hands awkwardly into the pockets of his jeans.
“Alright,” Jamie said, nodding. “We can figure this out. Yes, there are a wealth of ethical dilemmas between us at the moment, and I have to do a little research to find out what is and isn’t appropriate or allowed by the university.”
Aled grinned despite himself. “Now you really sound like a professor.”
Jamie laughed self-deprecatingly, and holy fuck, it was gorgeous. Aled wanted him more than ever.
“We wouldn’t be the first people in the history of the world to see each other outside of school hours, despite shades of impropriety,” he said quietly. “But I would rather not risk my career or yours if we don’t have to.”
Aled sent him a sly look and leaned against the chair he’d been sitting in. “So that’s a yes for having dinner with me sometime?” He was so tempted to slip into his dom voice as he asked the question, but was far too aware of students in the hall mere feet away to go there.
Jamie’s answering smile told him that the message had still been received. “Dinner?” Jamie asked, standing straighter. “Is that what you want?”
