“Hi, Brandt.” I grinned, and as attractive as he was, I’d heard the rumors about him. He was gay, too, but he was like me and preferred a more submissive role. And I’d been told by a few of the other professors, including Cass, that he also enjoyed bigger men, and considering he had wider shoulders than I did, I had no chance. Due to both of our... preferences, I didn’t see it working, so I hadn’t tried to get closer than friendly with him.
“Hey.” Brandt chuckled and cocked his head as though he was surprised to see me, which was weird considering he’d come to my office. “So, um, I just ran into Dr. Handler, and he was beside himself. Apparently, you have a class to teach and you’re not there?”
“I have.... Oh my gods!” I spun on my heel and checked the clock on the wall.
1:05 p.m.
I was late for my class. I rushed to my desk, gathering the books I would need for Mythology 101. The intro level courses were so easy to teach I totally forgot about them.
Brandt’s laughter grew louder, and I threw an embarrassed look over my shoulder. Once I had the books, I ran out of my office, and he was nice enough to close the door behind me. I called out a thank-you as I hurried down the corridor. I turned the corner, then another. Shoot, I was so late. I glanced down as I stepped on a pencil that went skittering away, then ran into someone hard enough that my books went flying across the floor. Both me and the man I’d collided with fell backward, landing on our asses.
I groaned, not paying attention to the other person as I shoved to my knees, collecting my possessions as quickly as I could. Handler was the head of the history department, and he was doing everything he could to help me get tenure. If I missed a class, he would never forgive me. And I would never absolve myself, either, because I’d worked too hard for this. Ineededit like I needed air.
“Here, let me help you.” The deep, soothing voice of a man made me pause for a second to take in his appearance.
“Thank you. I’m....” The beauty of the person in front of me surprised me so much my apologies died on my lips. He couldn’t be much older than Alex, probably around the same age, but he was breathtaking. Asian, he had black hair dyed with violet tips, a pouty mouth, and multiple piercings and tattoos. My gaze drifted to the beaded necklace around his throat, then to his hand, which he held out to me with a book. He was wearing rings, too, big chunky pieces of metal around slim fingers. My breath escaped my chest like I’d been punched.
I snatched the book from him.
He frowned.
“Thank you.”
“I’m Yukio.” He flashed a bright, pleasant smile and fluttered his lashes at me.
As naive as I was when it came to people, I wasn’t as stupid as Alex and others liked to believe. I knew when I was being flirted with. It wasn’t the first time a student had tried to charm me, and it wouldn’t be the last. I didn’t remember Yukio from my classes, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in one. He was probably trying to get a good grade.
“And I’m late.” I stood, leaning over to grab the last book—The Greeks and Their Gods—and stalked around him, running the final distance to the door of the only amphitheater-style lecture hall on campus. As much as I wanted to glance back at him and see if he was still watching me, I shouldn’t.
He wasprettyand young, and men like him probably wanted an older man to dominate and fuck them. Not that I had anything to say about it in the negative because the gods knew I wanted the same thing. He was probably too sweet for me, and I needed something different. The man in my fantasies was assertive. This mystery man would hold me down as he fucked into me, maybe even hurt me a little. Yukio wouldn’t do those things.
Yet, as I got to the door, I stopped and glanced his way. He was still there, staring, and when he saw me look, he smiled widely and waved.
I turned my head away and shoved into the lecture hall.
No, he wasn’t the man I craved.
3
YUKIO
Two red mapleleaves wafted down from the changing trees and got caught in my hair. I shook my head to dislodge the bright foliage as my feet thumped along on the dirt track that wound through the forest beside campus. My purple sweats got tangled unpleasantly, and I tugged on the waistband. The trail was about five miles long and made a big loop, which wasn’t too bad for a quick workout. We were being timed, but I wasn’t worried about it. There was no point in getting stressed because we weren’t officially able to start basketball practices yet, so this was more like Coach warming up to yelling at us to get in shape than an actual “requirement.”
He’d told us we were trainingout of the goodness of our hearts, but we all knew damned well if we didn’t show up, he would make our lives hell in a couple of weeks when official practices started in the middle of October.
“Slow down.” There was a whine in my friend Milo’s voice, but I ignored him and shook my head. Alexander was ahead of me, at the back of a pack of his buddies, and he kept glancing over his shoulder. If he would ignore me, I would leave him alone, but he seemed to be incapable, and I’d never met a fight I didn’t want to have, so we were stuck in this dance until one of us won.
Or died.
It was difficult not to notice that his gray running shorts were giving him a wedgie, and I hoped it was extra annoying. Smirking, I sped up, taunting him. He moved faster to keep the distance between us.
There was a low growl from behind me and Milo finally popped up on my right to run next to me while giving me some serious side eye. “What are you doing?” he asked, in between dragging in air.
“Nothing,” I singsonged and winked at him. His shirt was tucked in the back of his sweats, and the tattoos on his arms and chest gleamed with sweat, even though it was a cool autumn morning.
He rolled his brown eyes. “You’ve never donenothingin your whole life. You’re always into something.”
“You say this like you know me.”
