Page 24 of Wish You Were Mine (Kings of Eden Falls #3)
She was packing up her station with Brody, chatting easily as they wiped down their workspace.
I’d only had to step in once—when their thermometer wasn’t fully submerged in the calorimeter during the enthalpy change experiment.
Brody had caught it halfway through my explanation, fixed the issue without fuss, and double-checked the measurements like he’d been born holding a pipette.
Which…made him a really solid lab partner for Lucy.
Almost too solid, though…
Sure, Lucy deserved someone competent. But did it have to be a star athlete who made her laugh like that?
A six-foot-four golden boy who leaned in close enough to look like he’d be happy to help with more than her chemistry homework.
Okay, so maybe that was exactly the kind of academic partnership I should be encouraging.
If only it didn’t cause a hollow thud in my chest every time I watched them work together.
They finished packing up along with the rest of the class. Lucy shrugged on her coat. And when they walked to the door, Brody held it open for her.
“Thanks,” I heard her tell him, her voice cheerful.
And then, they were gone, headed to whatever plans they had next.
I stared after them a beat longer than I should have.
That was the last class I’d have with her until Monday. Where I would just teach her from the front of the class and make a few stupid jokes with the hope that I might hear her cute laugh from the back of the room.
I sighed as I slid various class data sheets into my satchel. I really needed to stop letting Lucy take up so much of my brain space.
“See you next week, Professor Park,” one of my students called on his way out the door.
“Have a great night,” I said.
The rest of the students filed out shortly after that, and then it was just me.
Time to head to my office and see if any students will drop by for office hours. It wasn’t super likely since we were only two weeks into the semester, but I needed to be there just in case.
I was just walking toward the door, hand lifting to flip off the lights when suddenly, a flash of blonde hair appeared in front of me.
“Oh! Hey, Lucy—” I startled, taking a quick step backward.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d conjured her out of pure wishful thinking.
But then she said, “Oh good, you’re still here.” Her breath came quick. “I-I think I left my phone in here somewhere.”
“Uh…okay.” I stepped back to let her inside. “Yeah. Come in.”
She headed straight for the station she and Brody had been at earlier, eyes scanning the countertop. But when she didn’t see anything, she crouched down and picked something up from beneath her stool. “Got it,” she said, holding her phone up. “Must’ve fallen out of my coat or something. Thanks.”
“No problem.” I cleared my throat as we started toward the door again. “You have any more classes today?” I decided to ask, forcing a casual tone.
“Nope,” she said, falling into step beside me like it was the most natural thing in the world. “This is my last class today. What about you?”
“I just have office hours.”
“Oh, cool.” She looked ahead like she was making a mental note. “Have you had many students come in for help yet?”
“Not yet. But we’re only two weeks in. I’m sure the panic will set in soon enough.”
“Oh, I bet,” she said, smiling. “Pretty sure I’ll be one of those panicked students.”
I glanced sideways at her. “It looked like you and Brody had a pretty good handle on today’s lab.”
“It went okay.” She shrugged. “Mostly thanks to Brody.”
“You two seem to work well together.” I hesitated before adding, “Do you know each other outside of class?”
“A little,” she said. “He’s on the hockey team with my ex.” She looked up at me as if remembering something. “Actually…he’s the guy Josh punched at The Garden that first night we met.”
“Oh.” My brows lifted. “That’s…interesting.”
I’d never really gotten much of an explanation about where things were with the guy she’d driven home. But she was calling him her ex, so maybe her spending time with him that night was just an oddity.
Especially if she was friendly with the guy he’d been in a fight with—having dinner in restaurants with him, too.
Which made me curious. And even though I knew it was none of my business and that I probably shouldn’t ask, I found myself saying, “That dinner at the restaurant with Brody, was that a date?”
“Oh, that.” She slowed half a step, then gave me a sideways glance. “I don’t really know what it was. Just dinner…?”
“Nice,” I said, hoping it wasn’t completely obvious how relieved I was by that answer. Because I really shouldn’t care whether they’d been on a date or not.
“Your date was cute, by the way,” she said, something in her tone I couldn’t interpret. “You two serious? Boyfriend-girlfriend perhaps?”
“Not quite.” I chuckled awkwardly. “It was a first date.”
“Oh…” Her voice trailed, her expression unreadable. “Well, it looked like you were having a good time together.”
She’d been paying attention?
Not that I should care.
“Yeah, it was fine.” I cleared my throat. “Uh, I mean, we had a good dinner.”
At least the first part had gone well…right up until the point when I’d seen Lucy and suddenly became distracted.
Silence settled between us for a moment as we took the turn to where my office was.
“Well, this is my office.” I cleared my throat again and nodded toward the door ahead. I pulled out my keycard and swiped it, hearing the lock click open.
“Ooh.” She leaned forward for a peek as I pushed the door open. “Looks nice. Very...chemistry professor-like.”
She must have been referring to the periodic table art on the wall, which was a parting gift from the faculty at Eden Falls Academy when I left my position there to come here.
“I guess.” I dropped my bag beside the desk, glancing over my shoulder. “All it’s missing is a leather armchair.”
She lingered just inside the doorway as I sat on the edge of my desk. After taking in more of my office, she smiled, saying, “So this is where the chemistry happens.”
I was not proud of where my brain went next. A scene from some steamy student-teacher film came to mind—her walking in, clicking the door shut. Me pulling her into a kiss that had nothing to do with lab reports or energy equations.
I flinched and pushed the thought away. I definitely didn’t need to be picturing something like that.
Especially not when the girl I’d very much like to do that with was standing just a couple feet away.
I cleared my throat, hoping the sound would scrub the images from my head. “Uh, yeah. I pretty much just log students’ grades in here and answer questions.”
“Of course,” she said, but the flush in her cheeks made me wonder if her brain had gone somewhere similar to mine. Her walking in, shutting the door behind her, me pinning her against it, kissing her until?—
Nope. Not going there.
I opened my mouth to say something—anything to steer the conversation into safer territory—when I heard footsteps in the hallway. And then a voice.
Dean Harris.
He was chatting with someone just outside. I stiffened, pulse spiking. Maybe he’d just keep walking.
Please keep walking.
“Have a good evening, Professor Marks,” the Dean said, and I winced.
Great.
I shot a quick look at Lucy, who was still standing near my desk, utterly unaware of the panic crashing through my chest.
I needed this to look aboveboard.
Like an actual office-hours interaction.
“So basically,” I said suddenly, loud enough to carry, “you’re measuring the enthalpy change, which is just a fancy way of saying how much heat is released or absorbed during the reaction.”
Lucy blinked at me, obviously confused why I was suddenly talking science nerd. So I gave her a barely-there nod toward the door, hoping she’d understand we were on display.
Her eyes widened slightly in understanding .
“Yes,” she said, recovering smoothly. “Thank you. I think I’ll be able to complete the assignment now.”
“Perfect,” I said, just as Dean Harris appeared in the doorway. “And of course, if you have any questions over the weekend, feel free to email me.”
Dean Harris stepped up beside her. “Miss Archibald?”
Lucy turned, smiling politely. “Hi.”
“I didn’t recognize you for a second,” the Dean said. “Are you taking a class from Professor Park?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Intro to Chemistry. He was just helping me with an assignment.”
“Perfect.” Dean Harris beamed. “Professor Park is an excellent teacher. You’re lucky to have him.”
“He’s been very helpful so far.” Lucy shot me a quick glance, her lips twitching like she was trying not to smile too hard. “Thanks again, Professor Park. I’ll see you in class next week.”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat, trying to keep my voice neutral. “Have a good weekend. Good luck on your meet in Michigan.”
She paused, giving me a slightly puzzled look.
Right. Because she’d never told me where she was competing this weekend.
Because I’d done that little bit of research on my own.
Which meant I’d just outed myself for looking up her schedule.
Fantastic.