“I suppose I should trust you’ve not got any diseases? We didn’t really talk about it back there…”

The corners of his lips lift into an almost-smile, the first sign of real life since we’d headed out into the neighborhood. A woman pushing a stroller approaches, and he waits until she’s passed before answering.

“I’m clean. I always use a condom.” He exhales and tilts his head my way. “I did really enjoy that.”

“I really enjoyed that, too,” I say, entertained by his formal choice of words.

“So, college life. What’s that like?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you hang with other professors? Students? Are the students hot for teacher?” He grins. I rather like how his face softens when he relaxes.

“It would be scandalous if a professor dated a student. I mean, I think decades ago no one batted much of an eye as long as, you know, the professor wasn’t attached. But, nowadays, no, the university is quite serious about sexual misconduct. When they hired me, I had to sit through a training.”

“Well, that’s about your behavior. I’m asking about the students. I think about what it would be like to have you as a professor.”

Gods, that smile. I want to reach up and plant a kiss smack dab on those lips. Or grab his hand and link our fingers.

“Did you have the hots for one of your professors?”

“At the Naval Academy? Absolutely not.”

A girlish giggle erupts, not at his words, but his exaggerated expression. “What was the Naval Academy like?”

“I think different from the typical college experience. But good. Not many women around, at least in my class. That might be changing. Like I said, it did not inspire me to continue my academic career.”

“No. They inspired you to go save the world.”

“Something like that.”

“What made you leave the military?”

“Things happened right about the time my term was up.” His jaw muscles flex and he looks straight ahead. He visibly stiffens. Whatever happened wasn’t good, and he doesn’t want to talk about it. “I considered reenlisting, but… You remember Erik, from the office?”

“Erik Lai.” The man introduced himself as Erik, but his full name is on a plaque beside his office door.

“Met him at a bar. Trevor and I. We’d been on the same team. We were both weighing reenlistment. On leave. Traveling through Asia without much of an agenda. And this sauced American is sitting at the bar. He picked up pretty quickly we too were American. Bought us drinks. By morning, we’d agreed to work for Erik as his private security.”

“Security?”

“He was in a bad place. He needed it.” We round another corner. “One thing led to another.”

“It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it?” I feel like that’s how I ended up with my doctorate. One thing led to another. Of course, that wasn’t exactly how it happened. Each step took a lot of work. It’s the rearview illusion. During the course of it, it seemed the drudgery would never end. In the rearview, it’s like it flew by in a nanosecond.