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Orion gives me a garbled moan, part shock and more pleasure. His mouth hangs partially open as I fondle and tease his length.

When I unzip him, he drops one hand from the steering wheel to give me space. Such a smart move. It gives me better access to pull him out and properly stroke him.

His hand tangles in my hair as we come to a stop sign, and he pulls me into a short but intimate kiss. I grin when he pulls back to keep driving, a wild look blooming in his features.

I want to push him even farther. Decision made, I lean down, braced over the small armrest between us, and spread my tongue across the head of his cock.

Orion’s hand tightens in my hair. “Oh, fuck.”

Mmm. He sounds reverent as I suck him fully into my mouth. I lose myself to the taste of him, the pressure of his hand in my hair, the string of swear words falling from Orion.

The car jerks to a stop, and his hips start to lift under my suction, seeking his pleasure.

We must be at his apartment, but I don’t stop, too drunk on the noises he makes—most of them quiet and stifled—until he holds me still, pulling himself free and lifting me for a devastatingly hot kiss.

Orion’s on the brink, but he’s careful as he pulls my bottom lip into his mouth.

“Come with me inside.”

22

SOFIA

Ihave never had such a busy social life before. I’ve always had blinders on, focusing on my son and my degree and my passion. I’ve always had a big project going on.

Pretty sure I get that from Mom.

But Dad seems to have an ever-revolving cache of research to complete.

In any case, it’s been a lot of fun to have more people, but I’m losing sleep. The exhaustion is catching up with me during the day.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve kept things as discreet as possible. Still, there’s this feeling of being watched, which I can’t ignore the irony of. It’s getting to me. A few times since the club returned from the city, I’ve had Dr. Squires hovering around, her attention like a cold touch.

She was one of my freshman professors, and we got along most of the time, but I always got the impression that she thought I was competing with her for some reason.

Not one of my favorite classes. Squires and I just didn’t agree on what made a good film. That sucked. Also, the babysitting incident.

Whatever. It steered me away from her in my future classes, and we’ve never had any extra interaction, but now…

She follows me around the lab like I’m suspicious.

Which might be why I’m not so surprised when she hails me in the hallway by Cedric’s door with a wave of the hand and a snooty, “Sofia.”

“Good morning, Dr. Squires.”

“Yes, yes. Good morning. You know, it’s funny, Sofia, I’ve been hearing whispers about you.” What I’m sure is mock concern lifts her henna-dyed brows high on her forehead. She delicately uses a dark-painted nail to pull her honey-orange hair from her forehead.

“I wouldn’t put much stock in gossip,” I say because really, how else am I supposed to respond to this?

“Yes, well, at first, I dismissed them, but then some… very compelling evidence came my way.” She taps her pointy chin with that fingernail. “I wonder what the dean would think if this got out?”

Is she purposely being vague? I blink at her. If she’s waiting for me to confess, she’s going to be waiting for a long time.

“What your father might think.” Her dark green eyes narrow at me, taking stock of my person, my admittedly creative outfit—I like color, sue me—and coming to some kind of judgment.

My weight shifts my stance. “I’m sorry, are you accusing me of something? I’d love for you to clarify that—on record.”

Her lips purse as she finally looks me in the eyes. She has no idea what I’m talking about, but she won’t say as much.