Marie turned toward them. She was a few steps below them on the staircase, in the crush of faculty trying to get the hell out of the building just in case someone came up with new business they just had to cover before next month. It had never happened before, but the possibility of extending that long ass meeting was like an urban legend; everyone knew it was probably fake, but it sounded just real enough to terrify.

“Can’t. I need to start working on my job talk,” Marie said.

“Oh, yeah. Do you need help?”

“Job talk?” Alejandro asked.

“Marie’s interviewing for the tenure track position in Ethnic Studies,” Deja said.

Alejandro raised his eyebrows at Marie. “They’re making you interview for your own job.” It wasn’t a question. He knew it happened, and he knew better than most that the chances of her getting the position she’d been doing more than satisfactorily for years were much lower than they should have been. “I’m happy to help, too,” he offered, brushing the back of his hand firmly against Deja’s.

Marie smiled shyly at them. “I’ll remember that,” she said. “Maybe when I have a draft. I’ll be in touch.”

“Sounds good. Let us know how we can help,” Deja said.

“Yeah, anything you need from us, we’re there,” Alejandro said, because he meant it, but also because he liked the way ‘us’ and ‘we’ sounded in Deja’s bright tone, and he wanted to taste the promise of it right along with her.

“Cool. I’ll email when I’m ready,” she called, sprinting through a break in the crowd and darting away.

Alejandro wasn’t sad to see her go, not in a mean way, at least.

“Well, bye to you, too,” Deja muttered at the top of Marie’s head as it bobbed away.

Outside, he and Deja turned toward each other, and she smiled before looking away. She was shy. It had been months since she’d been too nervous to meet his gaze. On the one hand, it was adorable, but on the other hand, he hated to think they could be so easily set back.

“Did you walk to campus today?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Want a ride home?”

She finally met his eyes. He watched as she licked her lips and then nodded again, but slowly this time. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, and it riveted him like it always did. He wanted to do the same thing with her lip, to run his tongue along the soft flesh and taste her. And even though they were surrounded by a bunch of their colleagues and Mike’s warning was still ringing in his ears, he didn’t hide the depths of his desire for her in his eyes. He’d done it for long enough as far as he was concerned.