Page 30 of The Sunday Brothers Novellas

“You are grumpy,” I went on. “Sometimes. Though, I’ll note, that didn’t stop me from having a major crush on you.

But now…” I ran a hand through his messy hair.

“This is a very different side of you. And I like it. I already knew you were gorgeous and smart as hell, but you care . You care about your students. You care about teaching. You care about improving lives. And you’re not afraid to work hard to get shit done, even if it means breaking a sweat. ”

His eyes reclaimed some of their teasing sparkle, and his thumbs caressed my jaw. “You trying to get me to break a sweat right now?”

“Definitely. But that’s not all.” I tried to put my thoughts and feelings into words. My stomach swirled with nerves, but if he was being serious… I didn’t want to lose a chance with him because I couldn’t make my case. Make it personal , right? Speak from the heart? Okay, I could do that.

“The thing is, Theo, everything I’ve learned about you just makes me want to learn more.

You’re funny and kind. Generous and protective.

Sexy as fuck. But also… I think you’re looking for something, just like I am.

You might have more figured out than I do,” I admitted.

“You know where you want to be, and you’ve figured out how to make a living doing what you’re passionate about.

But I think you know there’s more out there, too.

More than just a cabin with a single reading chair.

There’s connection. And community. And all kinds of things that will broaden your horizons.

I don’t think you’ve found that yet… and I want to be with you when you do. ”

Truthfully, I wanted to be the something he was looking for, but I wasn’t about to say anything quite that cheesy when he’d already promised this was only a one-night stand.

Theo’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. I could tell he was teetering between breaking the tension with a joke and responding with complete candor.

Instead, he bit out a curse and kissed me hard on the mouth again, holding my face to his with renewed vigor. I was so hot for him in that moment, it was enough. I would take what I could get from him and be grateful, even if it left me wanting more in the future.

After a while of rolling around on the bed again, he yanked me up and nudged me into a hot shower, where we shared a long, soapy grind until he finally took us both in hand to finish us off.

We kissed until the water ran cold and quickly dried off before slipping under the covers in bed and curling up together for warmth.

“Tell me what you’d do with the Hub if you had all the money in the world,” he said in a soft, midnight voice.

I knew time was ticking away on my Theo clock despite my willing it to slow the hell down. I stayed awake as long as I could, unfurling my dreams to him one kid, one concept, one financial need at a time, until both of our voices slurred with sleep.

Hours later, in the darkest part of the night, Theo’s beard stubble scratched me awake as he nuzzled my balls and stroked my cock into full hardness. “Want you again,” he admitted in a sleepy grumble.

“Have me,” I whispered back.

His mouth moved behind my sac until his hot tongue landed on my hole. I grabbed for his head and held him there gently. I might have thought it was a dream, but no dream of mine could have compared to this.

After thoroughly debauching me, he urged me to roll onto my stomach, proving that Doctor Hot-Cock was actually thrillingly, delightfully vers.

He fumbled in the bedside table until finding what he needed and moving slick fingers to my hole to begin stretching me open.

Theo’s hot body leaned over me and whispered words into my ear.

I couldn’t even make them out over the pounding of blood in my head and my own desperate sounds filling the room.

When he finally ripped open a condom, lubed himself up, kneed my legs further apart, and began pushing inside of me, I reached back to grip his hip to keep him from pulling away.

His thrusts started off slow and deliberate until my body welcomed him. I let out a deep, drawn-out groan of pleasure, which he took as permission to move faster.

Having Theo inside of me was so fucking perfect, so right, I wanted to beg him to stay with me forever.

I was selfishly grateful he was fucking me from behind and in the dark so there was no chance he’d see the way I had to clench my jaw to keep from blurting out something awkwardly sentimental— be with me, let me have this forever, never stop— that would linger in the air long after our magical interlude was over.

My feelings were too much too soon—or maybe just too much, period .

I was still a student; he was still a professor.

And when I graduated… I’d be leaving town for good unless some grant-writing miracle occurred between now and then.

This night might be all we ever got, and I didn’t want to taint the memory of it by speaking aloud all of the things I wanted but couldn’t have.

“Porter,” Theo groaned into my hair as he slowed his movements down to a languid roll. “Baby, you feel…” He ducked his head down to press his lips to the nape of my neck while he reached around to take me in hand. The leftover slick on his fingers was enough to feel amazing as he jacked me off.

He increased the pace of his thrusts and strokes until both of us came with a combination of grunts and shouts, locked together tightly.

Theo withdrew from me, and I collapsed onto the bed, not caring one bit about the mess that made. Theo didn’t seem to care either. He took care of the condom and collapsed directly on top of me with a breathless, disbelieving little laugh, like he might be thinking the same thing I was:

This wasn’t one-night-stand sex. This was life-changing. This was incomparable. This was the kind of sex that demanded a future between us.

Eventually, Theo got up and got us cleaned off before climbing back into bed and taking me in his arms. As our bodies cooled, he stroked his hands down my back and my shoulders, pressed tiny kisses to my temple, sifted his fingers through my hair like he was memorizing the shape and feel of me.

But I was too busy thinking to give in to the sadness that threatened to swamp me. Regardless of what Dr. Theodore Hancock said about this being one night only, I fell asleep swearing silently I would make sure this wasn’t our only night together.

Yes, I’d give him the rest of the semester. I’d treat him like he was the distant, stodgy professor nemesis he’d always been to me. I’d temporarily “forget” this one night the way I’d promised.

But when I was no longer a Hannabury student, I would do my best to make him remember in a way he’d never, ever forget again…

I had a bone to pick with fate… and I was going to win.