Then it was just her and Alejandro, and the sound of Toni and Mike bickering behind them. “You want to spend the night tonight?” Alejandro bent down to whisper to her.

Deja was already smiling. “I spent the night last night,” she whispered back.

“That a problem?”

“No, just making an observation,” she replied coyly, leaning into his side as they walked.

He leaned further down, and his lips just kissed her ear. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m ready, too.”

She didn’t know it until he said them, but those were the exact words she’d needed to hear.

“I don’t deserve you,” she mumbled.

He looked down at her. “Let’s discuss that—”

“Over dinner?” she asked.

“In bed,” he corrected.

Deja sighed and unlocked her car door before climbing inside with a smile on her face.

Twenty-Eight

May

Wednesday

“Last Faculty Senate meeting of the semester,” Deja mumbled to herself in line at Go Brews! “Last. Faculty. Meeting.”

“Next,” the cashier called.

Deja rushed forward to order her cup of coffee and one for Alejandro as well. The coffee shop was packed as usual, and she had to squeeze through the crowd of students waiting for their drinks. She pulled out her phone to check her university inbox while she waited, but for the first time in the longest time, she didn’t have any actually urgent messages. She had a few new messages from students asking her to read the introductory paragraphs to their final papers. She starred them, planning to get through them while she pretended to pay attention in the Senate meeting, but besides that, there wasn’t anything that required an immediate response.

It was freeing.

“Last Faculty Senate meeting of the year,” Alejandro whispered into her ear.

Deja bit her lips to stop from groaning as his lips brushed the shell of her ear. She turned to him with a smile. “I was just telling myself that.”

“Almost free.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure, just Faculty Senate, last departmental meeting, finals week, and then all that grading. But yeah—” Deja’s words cut off as Alejandro snaked his hand under the thin sweater she was wearing. His fingertips scraped along the skin above the waistband of her skirt. She sucked in a harsh breath and then let it whoosh out of her mouth.

“Almost free,” Alejandro repeated.

Deja nodded.

“And once grades are submitted, I’m not letting you—”

Deja’s face was hot, and she pushed his hand from her body. “Absolutely not here,” she said with a laugh and a warning glare at him.

He shrugged. “Alright, I’ll tell you tonight over dinner.”