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I meet his gaze again, lowering my sandwich. “Well, it looked like you just…adjusted yourself.”

“I did,” he states, unapologetically. “A sexy woman just moaned right in front of me. Of course I had a reaction to that.”

My mouth falls open. “Sexy?”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, then leans across the table until every fleck of gold in his eyes is close enough to count. “Why do you sound surprised by that?”

“I—I…”

He grips my chair and pulls me closer, my pulse jumping as his tongue darts out to wet his lips. His gaze drags over my face. “Lennon, you’re stunning. And don’t take this the wrong way, but your body is changing and it’s…” His Adam’s apple bobs. “It’s fucking hot.”

Dear lord. Is it warm in here, or is it just me?

You shouldn’t be getting hot from Easton saying those words to you, Lennon.

As if my body gives a damn about what I should want right now.

My gaze drops to his mouth before I look up at him again. “Oh.”

He reaches out and toys with my bottom lip. “Yeah. Oh.”

I feel like I’m outside of my own body, watching this sexual tension sizzle between the two of us, waiting with bated breath for what’s going to happen next.

Does Easton feel it too?

Or is he just trying to tell me what he thinks I need to hear in this moment?

A buzzer in the hockey game sounds from the TV, breaking our moment. Easton slides my chair back into place before running a hand through his wet hair. He stands and moves toward the living room, leaving me alone at the table once more.

Before I can contemplate this bizarre interaction further, I return to scarfing down my grilled cheese and then burying my head in my books while cautiously keeping up with the score of the game on TV.

“Are you gonna come over here and watch the game with me at some point tonight?” His voice breaks through my concentration.

“Not tonight. I have work to do.”

“You’ve been at it for over an hour, Lennon.”

“I can’t waste time, Easton.” Setting my pen down on my paper, I continue. “I talked with my professors last week, and if I can get ahead, they’re going to let me take my final exam before the baby comes.”

He spins in his seat, resting his arm along the back of the couch. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

“What about keeping your stress levels down like Dr. Monogan said?”

“Right now, my stress is coming from delivering this baby during the most intense part of the nursing program. If I can avoid that, all my stress will be gone.”

His brows furrow as he keeps staring at me from the couch. “But you need to rest too.”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

He turns back to the television, and for a moment, I think the conversation is over. But then he surprises me when he says, “You’re prioritizing the wrong thing, Lennon.”

“Excuse me?”

Our eyes meet again. “Your health and the baby matter more. You can always ask for an extension. Did you think about that?”

“You know how important finishing the nursing program is to me, Easton. Where is this coming from?”