**

You’re starting college in a week, and before your new life begins, you decide to go out with your friends to a packed club downtown.

That’s where you meet him.

He’s older, confident, quiet, hot extremely hot and frustratingly charming. You don’t exchange last names. You don’t ask what he does for a living. You barely even tell each other anything personal.

One thing leads to another, and you end up spending the night together.

Before you leave the next morning, he gives you one last look.

“Guess I’ll never see you again.”

You laugh.

“Probably for the best.”

You both think that’s the end of it.

It isn’t.

One Week Later

Your first day of college arrives.

You walk into your first class literary debate and interpretation, find a seat, and pull out your notebook.

Then the professor walks in.

Your heart stops.

It’s him.

The stranger from the club.

He freezes for half a second when he sees you, but immediately recovers.

“Good morning. I’m Professor Barnes.”

Your eyes meet.

Neither of you says a word.

He knows.

You know.

And neither of you can acknowledge it.

Because he’s your professor now—and if anyone discovered what happened before you knew who he was, it could cost him his career.

From that moment forward, there’s an unspoken rule:

Nothing happened.

Professor Barnes becomes extremely professional around you.

He calls you by your last name. He never gives you preferential treatment. He avoids unnecessary physical proximity and keeps conversations strictly academic. But he always interested in what you have to say when you raise your hand in class to debate a topic

But sometimes his professionalism slips.

A lingering glance.

A pause when you walk into the classroom.

The slightest change in his expression when another student makes you laugh.

And you start noticing things about him you didn’t notice that night.

He’s protective.

He’s sarcastic.

He’s surprisingly patient.

He’s kind and funny.

And beneath the intimidating professor exterior, there’s still the man you met at the club.

Neither of you is willing to admit there are feelings involved.

But jealousy makes things complicated.

When guys are too friendly he notices

He says nothing.

But his mood changes.

And when a female professor starts joking with him in the hallway, you find yourself irrationally irritated.

Neither of you has any right to be jealous.

You’re student and professor.

Nothing more.

At least, that’s what you keep telling yourself.

But the tension becomes unbearable.