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society.
    One semester. Only one little semester and they’d both be free. They could have a relationship out in the open. Bliss.
    The hallway thinned to the occasional straggler. Finally the office door opened, and two girls tumbled out, a flurry of tiny tank tops and scrunchies, the kind of adorable, I-just-threw-this-on look that Erin always envied. They barely spared her a glance, but some sense of propriety held her back from rushing inside before the door swung shut. No need to draw attention to her double-fisted coffee routine. Acting casual, she hitched her backpack on her shoulder and reached for the latch on the door. With her back turned, she heard them speak.
    “Did you see his face?” one of them said, giggling.
    “I couldn’t stop looking, and not in a good way,” the other replied.
    Erin froze. She held the door handle, but she was stunned by their awful words. They weren’t making any effort to be quiet, despite the fact that they’d only made it two feet away. She wasn’t sure if Blake could hear them from inside, but if she opened the door, he certainly would.
    The first girl sighed. “Yeah, but when he turned around…damn, I didn’t mind looking then.”
    “Mm-hmm,” the other agreed. “That was a fine piece of ass, no doubt. As long as he faces the other direction, I could stare at him all day.”
    They continued down the hallway as anger bubbled up inside her. She’d always considered herself a passable feminist; certainly outright objectification or meanness bothered her. But here it was directed at not only a man, but the man she cared about. The man she loved.
    Swallowing hard, she pushed inside.
    “Hey, Professor. You have a minute?”
    Blake looked up from his desk and smiled. “For you, always.”
    Maybe for the first time, she studied him critically. One half of his face was handsome, beautiful even. The other was matted with heavy burn scars from the top of his lip to his temple. His eye was still functional, but the shape didn’t match the other side, giving him a mismatched appearance.
    She liked everything about the way he looked. The bravery of his military service, the bravery he showed going out into the world despite how people judged him. How precious it was that he’d lived, that he was with her.
    Suffused with sudden emotion, she shoved the coffees onto a cluttered file cabinet and launched her arms around his neck. He caught her with an oomph but soon after tightened his embrace into a hug.
    “What’s gotten into you?” he asked, laughing slightly.
    I’m so proud of you. But she didn’t want to bring it up if he hadn’t heard those girls. He seemed in good spirits. Instead she said, “Missed you.”
    “You saw me last night,” he reminded her.
    She pulled back, smiling slyly. “And again this morning.”
    His eyes darkened, and she felt him thickening against her belly. He was so quick to arousal, always ready for more.
    Holding his gaze, she slid her hand down. His stomach was taut beneath the button-down and undershirt she’d watched him don this morning. Her fingers crossed the ridge of his belt like it was the damned Rubicon, the point of no return. They were in his office, but they were alone…and damn it, she felt the need to please him. To pleasure him after those ridiculous girls had sullied him, whether he knew it or not. She found his erection, thick and pulsing.
    He bucked into her hand, groaning. “Erin. Erin.”
    She loved her name on his lips.
    “Yes?” she asked innocently. “Is something wrong?”
    He gasped out something she couldn’t understand. It didn’t matter. His body told her what she needed to know: the heat beneath her palm, the shudder of his thighs beneath the smooth slacks. The arousal that fine wool and linen did little to conceal. He needed this as much as she did. God, he looked good in a suit. She wouldn’t have blamed those girls for their gawking if they hadn’t been so cruel about his scars.
    She sank to her