She interrupted Toni mid-word, and Alejandro turned toward her with bunched eyebrows. Deja couldn’t see Toni’s face, but she could just imagine the look her friend was giving Layla, and she shuddered on Layla’s behalf. The other woman either didn’t see it or didn’t care because Layla only had eyes for Alejandro. Deja frowned at the look on Layla’s face. She was looking at Alejandro as if they were the only two people in the room.

It wasn’t that Deja didn’t know that other women were attracted to him. Oh, she knew. She hadn’t been lying to him about that on their first date, but this was the first time that she’d ever seen anyone blatantly hit on him since they’d started dating, and she didn’t like that at all, but she had no idea what to do about that feeling and in such a public space. So, she watched, frozen, as Layla waited all too patiently for Alejandro’s answer.

But then Alejandro’s eyes darted away from Layla’s face and landed on Deja. Once they locked eyes, Alejandro’s frown lifted into a smile, and his eyes squinted, soft wrinkles appearing at the corners. “Sorry, Layla, Deja and Marie are sitting here.”

Marie pressed at Deja’s back and pushed her forward. Layla turned toward her with bewilderment written on her face.

“Hey, Layla,” Deja said in a bright tone.

Alejandro stepped back to pull the chair next to him back from the table, which made Layla stumble back a few steps. It was the first time they’d seen each other today, and she watched as his already warm eyes heated. She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry, knowing what it meant for him to look at her like that; what he might have done to her if they were alone. But they weren’t.

“Let’s keep it PG, people,” Mike mumbled.

Deja dropped her bag onto the table and fell into her seat, the sound of Layla’s huffing breath and sharp heel clicks fading as she flounced away.

“Faculty gossip listserv gonna be popping today,” Mike said.

“Oh, definitely,” Marie added.

“No,” Deja said.

“Yes,” Toni corrected with a raised and skeptical eyebrow.

“It’s okay,” Alejandro said, his hand resting on the back of her chair and his thumb lightly massaging her back. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“You don’t get to be the judge of that, friend,” Mike said. “You registered this thing with HR?”

“N-no,” Deja muttered.

Alejandro flattened his hand fully against her back. “Don’t freak her out. We have to register a relationship of more than six months. We’re not there yet. Chill.”

“It’s easy to think that,” Mike said.

“That’s what the HR guidelines say. I read them.”

“You did?” Deja gasped.