Page 56 of Academically Yours

“Oh.” I sighed in relief. “So you’ve never…?”

She raised an eyebrow, and I gave her a sheepish grin. “Are you asking me if I was ever interested in Daniel, Matthew?”

“No,” I said quickly, and yeah, that was a little more defensive than I meant for it to sound. “I know you’ve probably dated other people, Noelle—”

“Sure…” She raised one eyebrow at me. Shit. What was I implying here? That I was jealous of a potential man in her life? That anyone who she had ever harbored affections for was somehow now my competition? I wasn’t sure if she even harbored any affections for me or if she was feeling the same way I was any time my knee brushed hers or the back of my hand bumped into hers.

I just shook my head. “Sorry. I don’t want to be a crazy guy. It’s just that, thinking about you with another man…” I winced, looking at her guiltily.

“And what about you?” Noelle asked. “Have you had anyone you’ve been interested in here?”

“On-campus?”

She nodded, popping another forkful of the red velvet cheesecake in her mouth as I bit my lip.

“Just one,” I said as our gazes connected. She licked the icing off the fork. “You might know her,” I said. That got her attention, and her eyes narrowed. “She’s about… uh, this tall, and has gorgeous fiery red hair, and the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know.”

Her eyes lit up, widening. “Really? There hasn’t been anyone else?”

I shook my head. “Remember when I told you about needing to escape my crazy coworkers who were always trying to set me up with their daughters or relatives?”

“Right. Well… I’m glad you didn’t let them set you up,” Noelle said with a singular bob of her head before turning back to the skyline and the dark river below.

“I know we haven’t…” she sighed. “I know we haven’t put a label on this, and I don’t want to rush into things here—” I nodded, even though the one thing I wanted was her tongue back in my mouth. “But I just need you to know that there’s no one else. Okay?” she bit her lip. “And there hasn’t been… in a while.”

Did she look nervous? Hell, I didn’t want to know what ‘a while’ was for her, because it had been forever for me.

I placed a kiss on her forehead. “There’s no one else for me either, sweetheart.”

“Guess that means you’ve earned the cookies, then,” she said with a grin.

And I know she meant the literal cookies—the ones she gave me yesterday, but I couldn’t help but think of the metaphorical cookies. I leaned over and ran my thumb over her jaw. “I’ll remember that, Noelle.”

She paused for a moment before turning to whisper in my ear, “I hope it’s worth the wait.” And then—she winked.

Fuck me. Was I red, again? How did her words always manage to affect me like this?

“Let’s go,” I said, holding out a hand to her after I collected our things.

She frowned. “Already?”

I couldn’t tell her the truth—that if we were out here for one moment more, I was going to find a way to make that wait increasingly shorter. Because I needed to take my time. Tread lightly.

Because I wasn’t going to accept anything less than forever, and I wasn’t sure yet what Noelle was willing to give me.

I tucked her underneath my arm as we walked back to her dorm, and she kept the blanket we had been cozying up underneath all night as she turned to go inside.

Before she could go, I caught her wrist, spinning her back towards me. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Noelle.”

And then—I kissed her. Long, hard, and passionately, and probably with more longing than I should have because when she pulled away, I was breathing deeply and it was all I could do to let her go.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Matthew.” She wrapped the blanket around herself. “Thank you—for tonight. It was perfect.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. I kissed her once more, on the tip of her nose.

“Goodnight.”

“Night.” I grinned, and watched her retreat inside, warm and bundled up in our shared energy.

My life had never felt as full as it did at this moment.

I just needed to figure out how to keep it that way.