Page 24 of His to Teach

“Let’s go.” He takes my elbow, urging me down the path.

I stumble along next to him. “Go?”

“You need to eat, Harper.”

“Nate—”

“You don’t have a class now?”

“No, but?—”

“Then let’s go.”

I could tell him that my shakiness has nothing at all to do with lack of food and everything to do with his presence on this campus. But I can’t ignore the edge of authority in his tone. Something in his voice that warns me not to argue.

So I close my mouth and allow him to lead me down the path.

Nate issilent the entire walk to his office, the quiet grating on my already taut nerves. I don’t know how to read him, don’t know what to think of his insistence that I eat. Is it a sign that he cares for me? That he worries? Or does he just consider it his duty as Mason’s friend to keep an eye on me? I have no idea and by the time we reach his office, the shaking in my hands and knees has spread to the rest of me.

In his office, Nate pulls a sandwich and two waters from a small fridge in the corner. “Sit,” he says, pointing at the chair across from his desk.

“So, you’re always this bossy?” I ask, taking my seat.

He offers me a small smile. “Force of habit.”

I think of all the ways he might regularly practice his bossiness and color comes to my cheeks. I take the offered sandwich half and one of the waters eagerly, happy to have something to do with my hands. We both begin to eat, silence settling over us again.

Why in the hell did he insist on bringing me here if he doesn’t have a thing to say to me?

“Nate,” I finally blurt out. “Are you going to ask me to not apply for the position?”

He looks up from his sandwich and his eyes are hard. I swallow, recognizing his expression.

Nate is pissed.

“You think I would do that?” His voice is cold and hard and I find I can’t think of a single response. He continues. “You think I would in any way compromise your education or your chances at success at this university just because of a few pleasant hours spent in your company?”

There’s something in his tone at those words, almost like condescension. Like he’s minimizing that time we spent at Wyld. And maybe he’s right. It was only a few hours. Certainly not anything to upend my life over.

So why is he looking at me with so much fire in his eyes?

“It wouldn’t bother you? If I got the position?”

He scowls. “I didn’t say it wouldn’t bother me. I said I wouldn’t do anything to prevent it.”

“So itwouldbother you?” I whisper.

That same muscle clenches in his jaw. “Working with you without touching you sounds like a special kind of torture, Harper.”

Holy shit.Those words send desire shooting straight to my center. How does he do this to me? Affect me so much without even touching me? He leans across the desk toward me, the nearness of him making my stomach flip.

He clears his throat, waiting for me to meet his eyes. “But I could handle it, Harper.Wecould handle it. We’re both adults. These are the boundaries we have to set in our lives.”

I swallow, not sure how to feel. The way he goes from fire to perfectly controlled so quickly has me reeling.

“Harper,” he says, and though his voice is kind, it still makes me feel like shit. Like he’s a grownup, gently letting a child down. “Even if you didn’t get the position, you know we can’t do this. I’m a professor?—”

“In a different department,” I begin, but he cuts me off.