Page 21 of The Professor's Wife

“Then let me have you.”

His hand finally landed on my arm, light as a feather.

I shivered at the contact.

It wasn’t sexual. Not yet. But I knew what it would lead to.

I looked up at him, and something inside me cracked open.

“I’m a little scared right now,” I admitted.

“I know.”

I searched for the right words. Anything to make him understand. “I don’t know how to be this version of me.”

“What version?”

“Carefree.”

He leaned in, his forehead almost touching mine. “She’ll come out, Daze. Just breathe. Be here with me.”

Emotion rose inside me, that swell that could have undone me, but I held it back. I wasn’t uncertain or sad, but I wanted to feel it all clearly.

I wantedhim.

I’d felt it the moment he slid into the seat beside me. In the wake of everything I’d abandoned, I’d stepped into a different world—and I wanted to sink into it.

I could sense her there, too. The carefree girl I once was, glowing for one tender heartbeat in the sun before life demanded that she grow up.

His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I saw his intention written all over him. In the way his jaw flexed. In the way his hands, once clenched at his sides, slowly rose.

I braced myself.

My heart leapt because what he was about to do felt inevitable now.

His body met mine, and I waited for the rush. For the wild passion. For things to become physically intense.

But that didn’t happen.

His touch wasn’t rough or rushed.

It was firm.

His large hand slid around my lower back, pulling me into a tight embrace. I gasped softly as he brought me flush against him, our bodies aligned perfectly, like we fit just right. His other hand clasped mine and raised our joined hands between us, as though we were about to dance.

This was different from what I expected.

Nothing like the fantasy I had constructed in my mind.

It was better.

I felt splayed open, like his slow touch left me more undone than the fast intensity I had expected.

“How’s this?” he asked, his voice low.

He was warm and gentle. His touch ignited my skin. My head swam.

I nodded once and answered shakily, “It’s good.”