Two strong arms wrapped around my stomach, and I was pulled tightly against a warm, hard, bare chest. Was he shirtless? Oh my Post Malone, he was shirtless.

“Hey, Solver?” he whispered in my ear while nuzzling my neck. I allowed myself to indulge in this for a few seconds, then pushed him away.

“Yeah?” I croaked.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you started working with me. At first I just wanted to be the mess they made her out to be. I wanted to make it hard on them. Now, I think I can prove them wrong.”

Emotion crawled up my throat, and my eyes watered. My heart swelled three times its normal size with affection for this man. I wanted to tell him so many things in that moment. That he had potential. That the university was a steaming pile of shit. That he didn’t have to prove anything to anyone.

But instead, I swatted his large hand and said, “Yeah, yeah. Get back to your side of the bed, Mr. Davis.”

* * *

I reluctantly woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in the window, hitting my face, instead of my usual alarm. Huh, that’s strange, I thought before I even opened my eyes. I must have forgotten to set it, which never happened. It wasn’t a big deal, though. My flight home wasn’t until noon, so I had plenty of time. I squinted my eyes open, and the first thing I did was look over at Oakley’s side of the bed, disappointment flooding my chest when I found it empty. I pushed the covers down and stretched my arms out, then slowly sat up.

There was a note on my nightstand, scrawled out in Oakley’s almost illegible handwriting. Seeing the note reminded me that the team had left stupid early that morning. I picked it up and read:

Amanda - you looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you. See you at home. I kind of promise to behave on the ride home, even without you babysitting.

P.S. Eat something before you get hangry

There was a protein bar sitting by the note. Ugh, did he really think I was going to eat that? If I were going to indulge in some calories, I sure as hell wasn’t going to eat one of his nasty protein bars. I picked it up and tossed it.

My flight home was uneventful aside from the man I had to sit next to. He spent most of the flight staring at my boobs and coughing. I could practically feel myself breathing in his nasty-ass germs.