“Different how?” I bend to kiss his neck, making him shiver.
“You’re relaxed.” He peeks open an eye, a soft smile on his face. “You even made a joke.”
Smiling as well, I say, “I make jokes all the time. I’m funny.”
“You are. Really funny.” Sarcasm drips from his tone and I tickle him, making him yelp a giggle.
“Iamfunny.” I take him into my arms, kissing him deeply. “I only joke with you. I’ve never been able to drop my guard around anyone since Seb. But with you,” I say, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. “I can be who I want to be… who I used to be. You make me… better.”
He places a gentle hand on my face, thumbing over my cheek. “You do the same for me. I don’t feel like some awkward kid when I’m with you.” He pauses, looking up in thought. “Well, I’m still awkward, but I don’t feel bad about it. I never thought I’d find someone like you. I definitely never thought someone like you could be interested in someone like… well… me. I’m just Luca, you know?”
“And I enjoy Just Luca.” He scowls adorably and I kiss his nose, making him giggle again. “That right there.” I rub across his cheek, trailing a finger to his lips where he’s still smiling. “That happiness, that innocence. I love it. You make me feel like I did something right in my life to earn you.”
Sounding choked up, Luca whispers, “Ditto, Professor.”
I kiss him then, slowly and languidly, until he’s liquid in my arms. Then I hold him close until he falls asleep.
I smile as his warm breaths drift over my chest, glad he enjoyed our date.
The first of many.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
LUCA
I’m prettysure if someone asked me what heaven looked like, I’d tell them it was sitting at the edge of the stage and watching Maddox Levine read lines from some Shakespeare play I haven’t thought about since high school. He’s trying to teach the students how to be emotional and emotive when they speak.
I’m caught up in the deep rumble of his voice, and the way his eyes burn with passion as he moves across the stage.
He really could have been an actor if he’d wanted. Then I would have been seeing him on the television and silently aching because of the crush I had on him.
Maybe it’s selfish, but I’m really glad he’s here instead… that he’s mine.
God, he’s actuallymine, and just that thought is enough to make my stomach tighten, my body ache. I can see the way some of the students watch him when they’re not too busy being terrified. He’s gorgeous—he’s commanding and powerful and of course they’d have crushes.
But he’smine.
It’s heady knowledge.
He throws a glance at me while I’m staring, and what I’m thinking must be showing on my face because I catch the minutechange to his posture, the way his shoulders straighten, his chest puffs out.
It makes me squirm in my seat, and I force my eyes down to my phone before I do something ridiculous, like try to get him to come behind the curtain with me.
It is one hundred percent Professor Levine’s fault that I am the way I am now—I neverwantedthis way before I was with him.
I manage to keep my eyes off him for the rest of class, but that doesn’t do a thing for the way his voice is rumbling in my ears, the way I feel like he’s talking just for me now. I know that’s not right. He’s teaching…
But…
I stand and start picking up the little scraps of paper the students left behind as he walks them to the door. I think he’s going to head back to his office, so it’s almost strange when I hear the lock click into place. I’m standing nervously in the middle of the stage when he disappears into the room at the back of the auditorium where the lights and sound are handled.
There’s a moment where everything goes dark, and before I have a chance to call out, a spotlight flickers to life.
It illuminates the space where I’m standing, leaving me bathed in a halo of light surrounded by a sea of darkness.
I’m not sure how I know where he is, but I can almost sense when Maddox starts approaching the stage.
