He huffed a laugh at the unexpected question. “That’swhat you want to know? All the ground we’ve covered today, the deep dark secrets we’ve revealed, the new depths we’ve explored, and you want to know how many eighteen-year-olds hang around after my lectures to ask if I have a girlfriend?”
“Yes. Obviously.”
He rolled so they were face-to-face. “I’m a twenty-six-year-old authority figure to them. You wouldn’t think very highly of me if I kept track.Iwouldn’t think very highly of me if I kept track.”
She smirked. “I’m taking that to mean ‘All of them. All my students are in love with me.’”
He shrugged, uneasy with the whole topic. “Who knew economics was so sexy? I always politely ignore them and keep grading their papers.”
She heaved a sigh. “Those poor kids. I don’t know what I would’ve done if my TAs had been half as hot as you.”
Finn thought he was hot. Finn. Thought he. Was hot. The realization sped from his brain to points south, and he shifted fractionally to keep those southern points away from the woman lying next to him.
“What do you want to do after you finish your dissertation?” she asked.
Yeah, that killed the vibe. With a groan, he rolled onto his back and stared holes into the ceiling. Looked like uncertainty about the future could keep him awake in places other than his tiny grad-student apartment.
“Mostly I want to finish. I’m in the final stages, but it still feels like I have to scale a whole mountain range with a bag of rocks on my back. After that, I dunno… become a professor? Work for a think tank or a hedge fund? Revolutionize the field with my new theories on the hidden benefits of ethical investing?”
Ridiculous to feel paralyzed by options, yet here he was. Then Finn chased away his apprehensions by saying, “New plan: You save the world as a masked superhero economics guy.”
He ran with it, happy for now to choose levity over concerns about his future. “Captain Capitalism. Less swole than Captain America, but with a better stock portfolio.”
She rewarded his dad joke with a giggle. A shame though, for her to laugh in the dark. It meant he wasn’t able to enjoy the shape of her lips as they curved upward and begged to be kissed.
“How about you? Is marketing your forever calling?”
She burrowed closer to him. She actuallyburrowed.The room was frigid, but Tom was starting to sweat.
“Yes, actually. I love it. Someday I’d like to open my own agency, be the boss, choose my own clients.”
“I think that makesyouCaptain Capitalism.”
“I bet my costume’s cuter than yours.”
“I bet it is.”
Their words drifted away, and Tom breathed in the scent of her on the pillowcase and enjoyed the silence that enveloped them. Finn must have had a similar thought because she said sleepily, “The street’s usually so much noisier. This is nice.”
Another wriggle moved her even closer until her head rested against his shoulder. He slid an arm under her, prepared to yank it back if she objected.
She didn’t, so he tightened his hold. “Are you warmer now?”
He took her contented little noise to mean yes, so he closed his eyes and willed his body to relax and his brain to shut off while her cold nose pressed against his jaw.
“Tom?”
She sounded so adorably drowsy that he couldn’t help pressing his lips to the top of her head, even though she likely couldn’t feel it through her hat. “Yes, Huck?”
“I’m glad you passed out after walking Josie home.”
His heart squeezed.
“Even though my being here likely cursed the power lines?”
Her breath tickled his neck as she sighed. “I’m glad about that too.”
Eleven
