Alejandro backed into the hallway to make room for her student to leave, but he kept his eyes on Deja. She, in turn, watched Sheldon’s back, stalling for time. She took deep breaths through her nose, trying to slow her rapidly beating heart. It wasn’t working. He was clear across the room, and yet, Deja could feel his body heat or the heat from the intensity of his gaze, something.

When Sheldon was gone, Alejandro stepped into her office with deliberately slow steps.

Deja sucked a deep breath in through her mouth this time and swallowed nervously. It was a mistake. She tasted the bitter smell of coffee mixed with his cologne as he stepped closer, and now, her mouth was really watering, and her pulse wasn’t the only thing pounding.

“Are you going to invite me in?” he asked in a low and intimate whisper that reminded her of the last time they’d been in this office together. She felt hot, and it wasn’t from her malfunctioning heater.

“Maybe you shouldn’t come in,” she said in halting words.

Alejandro stopped and lifted both eyebrows, a small, playful smile on his face. “No?”

Deja swallowed again. “The last time you were here, things went…haywire,” she whispered.

“Haywire?” he asked thoughtfully. “That’s not a word I would have used to describe that...” His voice trailed off, and somehow, that silence made Deja’s nipples hard. “I thought things went really well until we were interrupted.”

He took a few more steps into her office and whispered across the space between them. “Invite me in, Deja. I promise to keep my hands to myself.”

Deja took a deep breath and clutched one hand in the other. Nervous excitement wracked her body. It felt like static ghosting over her skin. She nodded slowly.

Alejandro kicked the door closed with his right foot as he walked inside.

Deja jumped at the sound of the door closing, and her mind conjured the memory of his lips on her. She tried to keep her breathing even as he neared, anxious and a little bit terrified to see what he would do. She was worried that this was a mistake and even more worried that she wanted to make it.

Alejandro kept his distance — to Deja’s disappointment — and leaned his back against the door. She watched him watching her like they had so many times across the Faculty Senate and student organization meetings, but now that she knew how his fingers and mouth felt on her body, his eyes on her felt like the feeling of his fingers digging into her soft hips.

“I brought you coffee,” he said in a husky voice. “Latte, extra shot, two sugars.”

Her eyebrows rose. “How do you know my coffee order?”

Alejandro’s cheeks turned a bright red, and he ducked his head to smile. “I might have asked Toni,” he admitted.