Treasured by Lexi Blake

Chapter Eight

David studied the poem he knew so well. It was the one that all the treasure hunters claimed Montez had written as a siren call to them.

Life begins in the forest where water rushes toward the sea

The green ceiling gives us cover and it was here I buried our treasure

Our greatest gift to the world

But my life began where music plays, where I met with the lamb and the people spoke clearly

Four by four by two

He went back to his notes. The poem was several pages long, but most of it didn’t matter. The key was in the first stanza and the last. Montez liked to play around, to bury the important clues inside the noise.

Not noise, exactly, but most of the poem was a restating of his life principles.

The numbers were interesting, though. What he’d discovered in the notebooks was lots of playing around with numbers.

Playing. He glanced at the clock. The sun had gone down a while ago. Could he get them out of dinner and back into their bedroom, where he intended to play with her for the rest of the night?

He needed to focus. This was supposed to be the easy part—the studying.

“Can you grab the blue one?” David asked. Luis was sitting closer to the big stack of notebooks Eddie had discovered.

“Sure.” Luis hopped up and had the correct book in his hand. “You got something?”

“I don’t know.” He took the notebook and flipped through it. “How much do you know about the treasure hunters who come here?”

He forced himself to not look back to where Tessa was sitting, reading a murder mystery and probably thinking about how she would take down the killer.

“A little. I’ve been following a couple of blogs. Most of them think the actual hunt begins in Buenos Aires, since that’s where Montez was born.” Luis took the seat in front of him. “They make some pretty farfetched connections. The hospital he was born in is a couple of blocks over from a bar where many of Argentina’s great singers played. He lived for the first several years of his life close to it, and his mother worked there as a server for a few years. There’s a classic juke box in the club, and if you play the song numbered thirty-two, it’s an old Madonna song. ‘La Isla Bonita.’”

He rolled his eyes. “I suppose that’s what sends them to the island. That’s bullshit. First, Montez hated all pop music, especially American pop, and second, it wouldn’t be so easy. Four by four by two might equal thirty-two, but it’s not a math problem. At least not that easy of one.”

Great treasure waits for the one who sees the possibilities, who finds the door and opens it

The truth of my life revealed to the one who searches for it

It wasn’t great poetry, but then Montez hadn’t been known for creative writing. His political discourse had changed the landscape in some places.

The truth of my life…

The truth of his life hadn’t been back in Buenos Aires. He hadn’t truly become the man he’d wanted to be until he’d come to this island. This was where he’d lived.

“So you don’t think this thing starts on the mainland,” Luis prompted.

The annoyance in his assistant’s tone made him wonder how long he’d been silent. He’d probably been pretty quiet since he’d gotten back from town. He’d danced with Tessa and then they’d sat on the roof and talked a while. He’d told her it was about giving her some cover for walking away without a word, but he’d wanted that time with her. He’d wanted to pretend they were just another couple enjoying a vacation together.

He glanced over to the window seat where Tessa sat, her e-reader in her hands. She hadn’t wanted to go back to their room. She’d walked right in here with him as though she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight.

The light from the lamp made her skin a tawny gold, her ebony hair caressing her shoulders. She was the real treasure.

He had so little time with her, and she’d proven that she could walk away.

Something was playing around in her head, but she wasn’t ready to talk to him about it yet.

“I think this island was everything to Ricardo Montez,” he mused, forcing himself back to the problem at hand. “He had a home in Buenos Aires, but not once did he set up a hunt for Eddie there. It was only here. This was where he lived, where he was happiest.”

“What kind of treasure are we talking about?” Tessa had put her tablet down and swung her legs over so she was facing him. “You’ve mentioned it a couple of times, but I still don’t completely understand it. Is there an X marks the spot? Are you looking for a map?”

“The poem is the map. It’s not exactly literal the way a pirate map would be. There’s definitely no X marks the spot. I don’t think a lot of people understand it.” The treasure urban legend was the least interesting thing about Montez and the only thing most people had heard of. If they’d heard of him at all.

“Oh, I think they understand that an eccentric genius left a bunch of treasure somewhere on this island,” Luis added.

“What kind of treasure are they looking for?” Tessa moved to the table, sinking down on the seat beside his. “Cash could possibly decay or be destroyed if it wasn’t properly protected. It rains a lot here. Did he bury it?”

He’d thought a bit about this. There was tons of speculation. “Montez liked to collect lots of things. Art, items of historical relevance. We know he bought items from a shipwreck off the coast of this island. Gold, silver.”

“Doesn’t he talk about gold in the poem?” Luis asked.

“Yes.” He looked down and found the line. “But not in the way one would think. He talks about gold flowing. Gold flows from the sun and stars but also from my heart.”

“He seems pretty sentimental.” Tessa glanced down at the poem.

“He could be.” From what he could tell Montez had gotten more sentimental in his later years. He’d certainly wanted to spend more time with his son at the very moment when Eddie had been pulling away.

“How did the whole thing start? The legend of the treasure, that is?” Tessa asked. “Did Montez release the poem to the press?”

“Absolutely not. Montez didn’t have a great relationship with the press. He thought they focused too much on selling papers and not enough on truth. The poem was found with the rest of his papers after his death. It was on his desk, so some people believe it was the last thing he worked on,” David explained.

“You’re back. I thought you were taking the rest of the day off.” Eddie walked into the room. He’d changed, and it looked like he’d had some kind of accident. There was a cut on his face, a butterfly bandage on his left cheek.

“Tess and I wanted to see the village.” He wasn’t letting go of that excuse. He’d damn near panicked when Mateo had walked in and announced that Tessa was missing. Then the groundskeeper had told them he’d seen her walking down the road to town with one of the maids. He’d had to think fast on his feet.

“And I needed tampons,” Tessa said with a shrug. “You know Aunt Flo can strike at any time.”

She knew what she was doing since Eddie’s eyes widened, and he obviously decided to avoid that subject. “Well, I hope you had a good time.”

“What happened?” David gestured to Eddie’s cheek. “You have an accident?”

Eddie brushed his fingers over the spot as though remembering it was there. “Oh, this? I was walking in the garden and got too close to some thorns. It’s one of the dangers of having a slightly wild garden. The jungle is always encroaching. Have you been in them?”

“We’ll have to take a walk through there,” Tessa murmured. “David was just telling me about this treasure of your father’s. Do you believe it’s real?”

“I do,” Eddie said, taking a seat at the table. “He told me he was hiding something big. In his last days he told me he wanted to leave something behind, a truth. He was always talking like that though. He was big on truth. He talked about it to more than me. He talked to his doctors and nurses, and I’m fairly certain that one of them is the one who leaked the story to the press. In the last year of his life, we had doctors and nurses here all the time. There were two nurses on rotating shifts and a slew of doctors in and out. I was only here on the weekends, so it would have been easy to get into his office. The poem showed up on the Internet shortly after he died, and that was how the legend began.”

“So there might not be anything at all,” Tessa offered. “It could all be a crazy misunderstanding.”

“I don’t think so.” Eddie glanced down at the notebooks. “My father wouldn’t have told me he’d done it unless he actually followed through. I believe he started the project when he got his first diagnosis. He’d waited a long time to get screened. I think because he knew it was coming. He smoked two packs a day for decades. It wasn’t a surprise, though finding out he only had a few months left… Well, that’s always a surprise. I know it was for me.”

It was never not a surprise, he supposed. Even when one was prepared. “So you don’t think he was planning something like this before he found out about the cancer?”

Eddie shrugged. “He might have been thinking about it. Why else would he have done all those treasure hunts with me? It was his final mystery. A way to keep his island relevant.”

“I don’t think he cared about this island being relevant.” He wasn’t sure what Eddie was thinking. “I think he wanted to leave something for you.”

“Then he could have left me cash.” There was a bitterness that dripped from Eddie’s lips. He seemed to shake it off. “That would be so much easier than a treasure hunt, but then my father was a complex man.”

“You can’t sell the island?” Tessa asked. “I mean, I assume if you needed cash, the island would bring some in.”

“No. It’s in a trust and the board members wouldn’t dream of selling it,” Eddie said. “My father made sure the trust is full of conservationists and scientists.”

“You want to sell the island?” David had wondered, but they hadn’t talked about it before beyond the legalities.

“I don’t know. I didn’t in the beginning. You know I spent time out here when I was growing up. I became a part of this community, but circumstances have changed,” Eddie said with a long sigh. “My business keeps me in the city most of the time, and then there are the treasure hunters.”

“I thought you controlled a lot of that.” Because the island was private, he controlled who could and couldn’t come out. It was one of the reasons the tourist situation could be so lucrative. They could charge to even get on the island and provide private experiences.

“There’s a management group based here on the island that controls tourism,” Luis explained. “I interviewed the head of the board as background for the book. They control the flow of tourism to ensure it doesn’t harm the ecosystem, but I think they had a couple of instances of treasure hunters sneaking onto the island or coming in to stay at the beach and then sneaking into the interior without permission.”

“Maybe what you need are some park rangers.” Tessa sat back, studying Eddie with that look in her eyes that let him know she was thinking. Probably about something he wouldn’t like. His lady was on the paranoid side, and she wasn’t the glass-is-half-full type. She seemed to believe the glass was actually a bomb and it would kill them all.

“I’ll have to consider that, but you can see there are unique problems that come with the island,” Eddie replied. “Problems I don’t need. Life seems far more complex now.”

Because they were adults. It would get even more complex as they found partners and started families. It had been easy when they were kids at university, studying and partying and debating the world’s problems without having to solve them.

He could see himself starting a family with Tessa. It was way too early, and she wasn’t even ready for a date with him much less letting him put a ring on her finger.

But it had felt so right to dance with her. He didn’t dance. He was awkward and weird, and it had been okay to dance with her. No one in the world could pull him out of his work like she could. He’d dreamed of this trip, thought he would do nothing but sit in the library and then go tour the places where the “treasure” was rumored to be found.

He’d hauled ass out of here the minute he’d realized she might be in trouble, and when he’d decided she wasn’t, he’d convinced her to spend the afternoon with him. They’d sat on that rooftop bar and had a couple of glasses of Malbec and some empanadas, and they’d talked. She’d talked about her years in the military while he’d given her stories about trying to teach undergrads history.

“Well, a lot of your problems could go away if the professor here can solve the mystery.” Luis gestured David’s way. “He’s got some theories I think are interesting. He definitely thinks it’s on the island. If he can find the treasure, everyone wins.”

“And if there is no real treasure?” He hadn’t thought the treasure would be his primary focus this week. He viewed it as an amusing diversion. “The question is what Ricardo was able to do before he died. From what I’ve been able to discern, he wasn’t capable of hauling some box of treasure into the jungle in the last year of his life.”

“He could have done it sooner,” Luis said with a nod. “He was a complicated man, and sometimes he could be paranoid. Perhaps he thought his treasure could be stolen.”

“That would be exactly like my father,” Eddie agreed. “I never saw the gold he bought from the shipwreck. I know he purchased the items. There’s a log of what was brought here, but I can’t find the actual items in the house, and I’ve certainly looked. Everything from that shipwreck is somewhere on this island.”

The question was where. He’d mapped out the possibilities based on the poem, what he knew about Montez, and what he’d read about the treasure-hunting theories out there. Luis also had a whole list of possibilities. “I only have a couple more days here. I’ve been thinking we should probably skip the camping so I can spend more time here in the library. It’s a small island, but there is still a lot of ground to cover, and the probability of me finding it is pretty low.”

“But that’s why you came here.” Eddie leaned forward. “You came here to find the treasure.”

“I came here to research a book.” He wasn’t sure why this was going sideways. “To honor your father and his life.”

Eddie pushed back from the table and stood up. “It would be nice if you honored our friendship and did what I asked you to do. I can’t have these bloody idiots sneaking onto the island and getting hurt. They disrupt everything. I thought you would help.”

He turned and walked out.

Shit. What had that been about? Eddie had never exploded on him like that before. He didn’t have a big temper. Eddie was a laid-back guy. He looked to Luis. “What’s wrong with him? What do I not know?”

“He’s been stressed about something,” Luis replied. “I don’t know. He doesn’t talk to me. I’m nothing more than your assistant to him. He orders me around like the rest of his staff. But I do know he’s been having trouble with people sneaking onto the island. He believes you’re the one who can crack the code. He’s certain there’s some kind of code because no one’s found it yet. He doesn’t think taking the poem literally works, and no one has decoded the metaphors.”

“That’s because I think they’re not understanding that the metaphors have to do with Montez’s private life. I’m not entirely certain this wasn’t meant as one last great quest for his son. I think the poem is full of references to their life together as well as Montez’s own. I certainly don’t think that poem was meant for public consumption, and that means neither was the treasure.” He’d been over that poem a couple thousand times, but it was only through being here that he’d started to make the connections.

“Then why wouldn’t the poem say ‘This is for you, son’?” Luis challenged. “He says the treasure is for the one who finds it.”

“Have you looked at how he wrote the clues for the hunts he gave Eddie as a kid? They were written the same way, but there’s no question those were only meant for Eddie, and therefore their personal history has to be taken into account,” David countered. He sat back with a sigh. This was something between father and son, and while he could help Eddie, he rather thought Eddie should be the one to find it. “It’s a four-page document. It could take me weeks to decipher it. I would rather spend the time I have on the background. Looking through those notebooks has been a revelation. I think they really give me insight into what Montez was thinking. This is exactly what I need to get started on the book.”

Luis’s brows rose. “But the hook for the book is finding the treasure.”

“What makes you think that?” Tessa asked. “He’s not writing some thriller. He doesn’t need a hook. This is a scholarly work, not pop culture.”

He loved that part of her that tried to protect him, that was comfortable defending him. “She’s right. I’m not trying to make millions. I want to write a good biography. I want to write about the man I admire. The treasure is a minor blip in his personal history. This was a man who brought the Dalai Lama and the leader of the communist party together for a secret meeting. It didn’t fix anything, but they had a conversation. You know almost no one knows that happened right here on this island. I only know about it because Eddie was there. Montez never spoke about it publicly. That is a little gem of history. I have the notes Montez took from the meeting. I wish there were photographs, but I’ve got plenty of eyewitnesses. I was thinking of that meeting as the centerpiece of the biography. I frame everything around that small miracle.”

“I think that sounds interesting.” Tessa gave him an encouraging smile.

Mostly he wanted to take Tessa to the beach. He could get copies of those notebooks and go over them later when he wasn’t so distracted. She was a distraction in the best meaning of the word. She’d made him realize he needed to relax, to focus on something that wasn’t work or helping the kids in his family get through Spanish. Tessa was just for him, and she was young and healthy. She was careful. Tessa was starting to show him that everything he’d been worried about before didn’t matter.

He sat back, the truth hitting him squarely in the chest. His father’s death had haunted him his whole adult life, and he hadn’t truly understood the cost.

Oh, shit. Had he honestly held back in other relationships because he’d watched his mother mourn? Because his father had died and his family had felt incomplete? Because he’d been a boy who didn’t want to feel that pain again?

It was a revelation that was so simple it made him feel dumb. He’d held back from this new family of his because there was still a kid inside him who lost his dad and was afraid he wouldn’t fit in with his mom’s new family.

But they’d welcomed him. Not a one of them cared that he hadn’t gone into the military the way most Taggarts did. They accepted his talents.

And used them heinously. Why the hell shouldn’t he ask Sean to teach him some cooking skills? Or to help him move out of that rattrap he was in and into a better neighborhood? Why didn’t he tell Uncle Ian if he wanted him to spend so much time helping his kids, he could have his company install a security system at a reduced rate…or for free.

They were his family, after all.

“But he could make so much more money if he played up the popular angle,” Luis argued. “I know the real history is in the leaders and artists who came to this island and Montez’s political theories, but no one is making a documentary about political theories.”

He’d thought Luis was a practical scholar. He hoped the kid wasn’t getting stars in his eyes. Or dollar signs. Since documentaries had become big business through streaming services, some historians had started playing up the more salacious parts of their work in order to garner looks from Hollywood. But he’d seen more than one of those meetings go bad. “You know most of the time they don’t actually option the book. They simply read it and count it as research and do their own thing. The author doesn’t even get paid.”

“Only if you don’t have a good agent, which you do,” Luis pointed out. “Your family has connections. You can get something out of this, too.” He pushed back from the table. “Just think about it. You always think too small. It’s a big world and…I’m sorry. I’m overstepping and disappointed in how this trip turned out. I guess I expected more work since we’ve only got a week here. Are we still going into the jungle to look for the treasure?”

Tessa had sat back, watching Luis. She was perfectly still, reminding him of how a predator watched prey right before she pounced. She didn’t like the way Luis was talking to him, and she might have something to say about it.

It was perverted that he was getting aroused at the thought of his pretty predator attacking. He didn’t mind at all that some people would consider her the stronger of them, that she could take a man down without breaking a sweat. He was cool with that as long as he got to take her down in a much sweeter way.

She was the beauty and the brawn, and he was the professor who got to study her.

He was perfectly comfortable with his masculinity, and more than comfortable with her femininity. She was his gorgeous, dangerous woman, and she was perfect for him.

It was good that she would defend him physically, but Luis wasn’t a threat. He had stars in his eyes and unrealistic expectations. If he gave Luis partial credit in a book that became a huge hit documentary series, Luis’s career in academia would be made. Unfortunately, very few people had it that easy. “I think I’m going to spend the rest of my time here in the library. And I’m going to cut the research short. It’s been forever since I’ve had a real vacation, and the bartender in the village was telling us about a beach house we can rent for a few days.”

“Are you serious, Hawthorne?” Her lips had curled up like the cat who’d gotten a particularly sweet cup of cream. “You want to sit on a beach with me?”

He wanted to do way more than sit on a beach with her. He wanted to spend every moment convincing her that this was real, that what they had between them was worth fighting for. He reached over and covered her hand with his. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do. I’ve got some notes to take and copies to make where I can. Luis, you should feel free to do the tour of the possible treasure sites. I’ve already paid for the gear. You can write it up, and we’ll see if it works in the book or if we can get it published for you somewhere else.”

Getting work published as a grad student would help him enormously.

“It’s not the same and you know it.” Luis’s head shook and his hands were fists at his sides. “I thought you were different. I thought you were real.”

He strode out, slamming the door behind him.

“How am I not real?” He was surprised at his assistant’s outburst. The world seemed to have turned upside down today, and he wondered if he was missing some social cues. He could do that.

She stared at the door as though she was worried Luis might come back. “I think he viewed you as some sort of professor god. You know, the kind who would never let a woman fuck up his focus.”

“Those guys are sad, and they usually are like that because they’re dicks who can’t get a woman.” He had known the type. They weren’t pleasant to be around. He tended to avoid them at faculty mixers.

How would Tessa handle a faculty party? She would likely grab a beer and be herself and tell anyone who didn’t like it to fuck off.

He was okay with that, too. Some professors played the game, picked a spouse who fit into the academic world, but he was picking one he loved.

Because he was rapidly falling in love with this woman, and he didn’t even want to try to stop.

She stared down at where their hands met. “You aren’t any of those things, but apparently you haven’t had a girlfriend in a long time.”

He’d just realized why. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been a coward. I watched my mom lose my dad. I lost him, too, and it felt like such a fragile thing.”

“But your mom found love again. She’s happy. At least she seems to be.”

“Yes, she is.” His mom had found a great life, and she’d tried to make him a part of it. It was his fault he’d been distant. “She’s happy, and part of me decided she’s happier with Sean than she ever would have been with my dad. And then I wondered if I wasn’t the guy a woman had to get through to find a man like Sean. A starter guy.”

She gasped, and suddenly she was up and setting herself on his lap. She put her hands on either side of his cheeks, a fierce look on her face. “You are not a starter guy. You are amazing and surprising, and you’re kind. Any woman would be lucky to end up with you.”

Any woman but you… He didn’t say the words, but they sat there between them because she hadn’t made that statement personal.

The moment held, and for the briefest time he thought she would admit what she felt because it was all there in her eyes. But then she seemed to make a decision, and she sighed, her hands coming down.

“I need to go upstairs and take a shower. I’m going to think about some things,” she said, sliding off his lap. “I don’t like how they talked to you.”

“They’re angry I’m not doing what they thought I would.” He wasn’t actually sure why Eddie was so upset. His friend had seemed more on edge than he normally was. “To them, I probably look like I’m slacking off or something, though Eddie’s always told me I should chill.”

“I don’t know. I think there’s something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like I think he lied to me about a picture I saw earlier today,” she admitted quietly. “I was looking at a picture of a woman holding a baby and I thought it was probably him with his mother, and he said it was. But there was a cell phone on the table that only recently came out. I know that model. It’s maybe three years old if that. There’s no way it was around thirty plus years ago.”

“This is about a picture of a baby?”

“It’s about a lie.” She stopped. “Though maybe it is, because why would he lie about a baby picture? I don’t know. I need to think about it. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe this is the part where I follow my instincts and get you out of here.”

“You want to go to the beach tomorrow?” It was late, and he wasn’t sure how he would get hold of the property manager after business hours. And without a phone. He’d been planning on going back to the village tomorrow to talk to the bartender who could hook them up with the beach house.

Her jaw tightened, chin tilting up. “No. I think we should leave for home. Tonight.”

“What?” It was his day to have things turn around on him. He stood. “Why would we go home?”

“Because I don’t like this whole situation.”

Because she didn’t like how he made her feel? Because she didn’t like how close they were becoming? They’d had a blissful afternoon, and now she was upending everything over a single photo she couldn’t have seen for more than a few minutes. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“Something bad. I can feel it, and you promised you would leave this part up to me.”

He had. He’d told her flat out that he would do what she wanted when it came to his physical protection. He’d promised her. He didn’t want to go home because he knew exactly what that meant. It meant no more time with her. No more time to convince her. No more time to woo her.

She stared at him as though waiting for the inevitable argument. He could see it stamped on her face. She was waiting for him to deny her.

“All right.” His heart felt heavy in his chest. It was an actual ache. “Can I have a few minutes to make a couple of notes?”

She’d gone still again, but there was nothing predatory about her expression. “You’re coming with me?”

He stood up but didn’t close the space between them. “You think it’s dangerous, then I believe you. I don’t feel it, baby, but I don’t have the training you have. I agree something’s going on, but I don’t know what it is. If it were up to me, I would stay.”

“David,” she began.

He stopped her because there was no argument here. “It’s not up to me. We made a deal.”

“And you’re going to honor it.”

“It’s more than that. I trust you, Tessa.” He shoved aside his worry that she was protecting herself. He did trust her, and she wouldn’t lie to him. She wouldn’t force him home if she didn’t think it was necessary.

“Why?” She breathed the question like she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.

She didn’t, and he wasn’t going to push her. “Let’s leave it at that. I trust you. So I’ll make a couple of notes and ask Eddie if we can get a boat out of here before the one that comes in the morning.”

“There’s not a boat?”

“The one that goes to the mainland left before dark. It won’t be back until noon tomorrow,” he explained. “I heard there’s a storm coming in. Nothing catastrophic, but the seas can be rough. We need a big boat to handle the waves. I’m sure we can pay someone in Mar del Plata to come get us.”

“But then we would have to tip off Eddie that we’re leaving,” she said. “There’s no working landline. They said they have a radio, but I wouldn’t know what frequency to use without asking. I’m not a comms guy.”

“Tip Eddie off?” He had no idea what she thought he would do.

She bit her bottom lip, obviously thinking the problem through. “He’s hiding something. Why would Mateo come running after me? Don’t tell me it’s because the village is dangerous. It’s only dangerous if you don’t want to learn about sea turtles or hate barbecue. But he came after me the minute he realized I was gone.”

“The village isn’t dangerous at all. Mateo did seem upset you’d left.” David had been upset someone had noticed she’d gone when she’d been trying to keep a low profile, but now that he thought about it, it had been an odd reaction from the butler. She’d tried to get another signal before they’d left the village so she could download some information she’d told him McKay-Taggart was sending. They hadn’t been able to get a clear signal. “Does this have something to do with the info you were waiting on?”

“The information I didn’t get.” She was back to looking at the door and then at him again. “You promise you’ll go with me in the morning?”

He sighed. “Tessa, I’ve done everything you’ve asked. I’m not going to stop even though it’s killing me.”

“I know you want to do your research…”

“It’s killing me because I want the time with you,” he admitted.

She blinked, and he could have sworn he saw a sheen of tears in her eyes. “I can’t risk you for some time on the beach. But we can have tonight. It would be dangerous to leave, so we’ll stay the night and head out in the morning. But you have to go to dinner and convince them you’ve changed your mind.”

“Changed my mind?”

“About the treasure hunt. They want you working on finding that treasure,” she pointed out. “They got upset when you said you wouldn’t. So you tell them we talked about it, and I’m enthused at the thought so you’ll do it.”

Eddie had gotten upset at the thought of him not working on the treasure hunt. Which seemed so odd unless he was missing the obvious. “Do you think he needs the money? He mentioned something about his father should have left him cash.”

She nodded. “Something like that. We’ll have to figure that out later. The key tonight is to play things cool. Don’t even give them a hint that we’re leaving tomorrow. I’ll talk about the fact that I’ve never been on a treasure hunt before and I’m excited about it. You say something about how Luis made you think about how it can help you sell the book. Smooth things over. We spend the rest of the night like we’d been planning to before this afternoon. We have dinner and drinks and talk and then we go to bed. We get up tomorrow, have breakfast, and before you settle in for a long day of research, we go for a walk and don’t come back.”

He wanted to make sure he understood. “We do everything we were planning on doing?”

She looked back to him and seemed to understand what he meant. “Yes, Professor. Everything.”

She was giving him one more night, and he intended to make the most of it.

* * * *

Tessa stepped inside their suite, letting the door close behind her and prayed she was doing the right thing. She’d gone over and over this for hours, and he was correct. It would be dangerous to try to make the passage during a storm without the right boat, and she didn’t want to make them spend a miserable night in the jungle if they didn’t have to.

“Dinner seemed to go well,” David said, moving to the desk.

“I think we said all the right things.” She took off the shawl she was wearing and settled it over the chair to her left. She couldn’t help but notice they’d left the bedroom door open.

How long would it take before she couldn’t feel his hands on her? Was she really going to walk away at the end of this?

She shook off the thoughts because she wanted this night with him. One more night with her professor.

Tessa watched him empty his pockets, putting things onto the desk he’d been using when he wasn’t in the library. The domesticity of it all was starting to get to her. Earlier they’d gotten ready for dinner together, talking easily and sharing the space. She’d straightened his collar, and he’d zipped her dress up. She could imagine him walking into their little apartment or house and putting his briefcase to the side. He would give her a kiss and they would decide what they wanted for dinner and spend the rest of the night cuddled up together.

“Should I head into the bedroom?” The minute they’d left the dining room, her heart had thudded because she’d known they wouldn’t go to sleep. They both knew this might be their last night, and they wouldn’t waste it.

“I think the bedroom will do nicely,” David said.

She entered the bedroom and put a hand on one of the big four posts, her body already humming because she remembered what it felt like for him to fuck her against it.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, and without looking he reached into his open briefcase on the desk. He pulled out a single sheet of paper. A familiar-looking sheet that was rumpled and creased because they’d landed on it when he had them on the bed after the post fucking.

Post post-fucking.

“You’re smiling,” David said.

She was sure he expected her to be all nervous and tight because of what had happened earlier in the day. “You’re right, I am, Professor. You’ll find when I get in this head space I can let go of a lot. We’ve decided on a course of action. I’m going to stop worrying about it until I have to.”

“So we’re playing?” He stared at her across the space that separated them. “I want to, but I also need you to know that if you think it’s a bad idea, we don’t have to. But I can’t think of any other way I would want to spend the rest of the evening.”

They’d done everything they could to ensure their safety. She would rather be on a plane…

No, she wouldn’t. She wanted to be right here with him. “I think I’d like to give up control for a while.”

“Are you looking forward to the next part of my study?” His voice had gone deep and deliciously dark.

“Oh yes, Professor.” The word felt silky and dangerous, like the tails of a soft flogger. Tessa turned and offered him her back. She wore a dress that skimmed her curves, and she shivered when he eased the zipper down. Her nipples peaked inside the cups of her bra.

He moved back and picked up her dress when she stepped out of it. He set that piece of paper aside and then draped her dress over the vanity chair.

He turned on the nightstand lamp, and soft light illuminated the room as he started to take off the button-down he wore. His hands were slow, methodical.

How was he in such control? Maybe she didn’t want to play. Maybe she just wanted him inside her for the rest of the night. She wanted him as hot and needy as she was. She kicked her sandals off and realized she was already slick with arousal. The mere thought of having him got her hot. This man made her feel things she never felt before, and not just sexual things. She wanted intimacy with him, to wind herself around him and not let go.

How the hell was she going to let him go?

“How about I handle those pants for you, Professor?” She took a step toward him, but he retreated, frowning and making her stop.

“I’m disappointed, Tessa.” He looked absolutely scrumptious without his shirt on, and she got the feeling he was taking control. If she was sliding into her sub role, he was waking up his inner Dom. He was going to make this hard on her.

“I just wanted to help.” She wanted him to want her, and for a moment she wondered if he did.

“Patience is a virtue. And as I informed you, I am in charge of the study. You are the subject of my study.” His voice deepened. “And you are also my submissive, aren’t you?”

Any embarrassment she felt burned off with a fresh flame of desire. He was setting the ground rules, putting her in her place. It wasn’t something she would let any man do in the real world, but this was a space where they made their own rules, followed their desires because it was safe to do so.

She was safe with him.

The fantasy she had earlier about him coming home from work, taking things out of his pockets, setting his briefcase aside, now had a new ending. After he was done shedding the trappings of college professor, he would become her Professor. When he walked into the living room, she’d be waiting. On her knees. Naked. Maybe with a plug in her ass. A plug she’d have to insert herself when he called her from the campus and ordered her to prepare herself for him.

Tessa blinked and shook her head. This was insane. She was a badass security agent.

Who apparently had a previously undiscovered kink, focused around some sort of submissive housewife fetish.

“Tessa.”

She jumped, blinking as she looked at him.

David raised a brow. “Did I bore you?”

“No. I was—” She almost confessed what she’d just imagined. She trusted David, enough that she was willing to tell him these things. At least she thought she did. But the words stuck in her throat. She’d never wanted to play at home. She’d always kept it to the club, but she wanted more with him.

“Remove your bra,” he ordered.

She did, tossing it aside to land on top of her dress. David nodded in satisfaction.

“It seems that you need help focusing. We’re not ready to be in the bedroom yet.” David turned to her and pointed at the door that joined the rooms of the suite. “Bend over my desk for your punishment.”

Frustration welled inside her. Damn it. She didn’t want a spanking. She wanted him to fuck her. The last time she’d wanted a spanking, she’d ended up with the best sex of her life. This time she wanted that sex and was getting a spanking.

“We do not have all day.” David sounded disappointed, but his eyes were bright with desire. There was a spark in his eyes she only saw when they were playing. It was for her, for the time they got together.

There was nothing to do but obey because the last thing she was going to do was stop the scene. Every time they were together David surprised her. She’d been shocked to find out the bookish professor was kinky, and even more shocked by the way his touch affected her. She responded to his brand of dominance in a way she never had before. Even after she’d accepted that he played, he’d surprised her. If someone had asked her, she would have said that he probably wasn’t much of a sadist. That he wouldn’t spank that hard or use heavy impact toys.

But as she walked over to the desk, Tessa had a feeling that her ass was about to hurt.

And she wanted it. Wanted it so bad that when she bent over the desk and her nipples made contact with the bare, slick wood, she couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure.

How big was his office back in Dallas? She bet it was small and full of books, and they would have to be creative to make full use of it. It would be worth it. She could visit him for lunch and when she left that little room would smell like sex and for the rest of the day it would remind him that his sub adored him.

“Hold on to the edge,” David ordered, one hand on her back, pressing her down firmly.

She grabbed the far edge of the desk, her cheek resting on the cold wood, her breasts compressed. A drugged feeling started to slide over her, the rest of the world slipping away. All that mattered was being here with him.

“Ankles together, please,” he said in that stern teacher voice that she shouldn’t find hot but absolutely did. “I’m not going to spank your pussy today.”

Today.

“Today,” which implied that he would spank her other days. That there would be more scenes after this. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a terrible thing. He had his club. She could see him there and maybe then it wouldn’t affect her work.

Before she could get too lost in finding a way to keep him, he brought her back to the moment by tugging on her simple cotton panties. She hadn’t brought any sexy lingerie with her. She wished she at least had a thong. Actually, she wished she had proper fet wear, wished she could kneel at his feet in a corset and tiny skirt. Maybe a tiny little pleated plaid skirt. She would feel sexy and powerful despite the fact that she was on her knees.

David pulled the edges of her panties toward the middle, tucking them between her cheeks so her ass was bare. She felt pressure on her rear entrance and was reminded of his list. She bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning at the thought.

There were a lot of things he wanted to check off that list, and one of the questions he’d written out was about how many fingers she could comfortably take in her ass. His fingers. His callused, talented fingers.

“Comfortable?” he asked.

“Yes, Professor.”

“Good.” His palm glided from her hip, down her butt cheek and the back of her thigh before jumping to the other leg and repeating the course in reverse.

Everywhere his hand touched her skin felt sensitized.

“I had planned to begin tonight’s session with an in-depth study of your breasts.” His hand stopped roaming, instead resting on her cheek. “Your nipples in particular.”

“That still sounds like a very good idea to me, Professor.” The thought of anal play had her on edge. It was so intimate. She’d had anal sex before, but the thought of David touching her there made her breath catch.

“I’m sure it does, and while I value your input, you have no say,” he replied simply.

Damn it, that was hot. Tessa arched her back, pushing her ass up into his hand. Why wouldn’t he start? Did he know how much this slow study drove her crazy? She needed him to stop talking and spank her. Touch her. Do anything.

She would let this man do anything to her.

“Who is in charge of this study?” David asked.

“You are, Professor.” Every word came out breathy and hushed.

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that I do what you say.” She licked her dry lips. “I obey you.”

It was an easy admission to make since they had a bargain. She was in charge in the field, and he was in charge here. He’d meant it when he’d promised her she was in control of the mission. He hadn’t protested or tried to get out of it. When she’d told him they needed to move, he’d given up this precious time he’d longed for.

What he’d been upset about was losing time with her.

He squeezed her ass, hard, an indication her words had affected him the same way they’d affected her.

His hand raised off her butt. “It means that you’re mine.” Smack.

The first spank landed on her right cheek, and it hurt. He had a big, heavy hand, and he wasn’t fucking around with that smack.

She sucked in air and couldn’t stop the groan that came.

The sound was lost in the resounding crack of the second smack, landing on her left cheek. This time she yelped and clenched her backside, an involuntary response.

“Generally when performing a punishment scene, I prefer to spank subs when they have a plug in their ass.” He sounded so academic. “Usually with a small amount of ginger oil coating the neck of the plug.”

Tessa’s eyes went wide, and she lifted her head, neck straining to look back at him. “You know, Prof, you’re a dirty pervert.”

“Dirty, sadistic pervert, thank you.” He spanked her again, just as hard, and then two more swats in quick succession.

“My mentor at The Club was a man named Ben,” David explained. “He’s a highly intelligent man, a private investigator and former Navy SEAL. He taught me that I should always travel with a full box of condoms, lube, butt plugs, and nylon rope. He thinks they’re essentials in everyone’s go-bag. I told him that I’m a professor and I don’t have a go-bag, but now I think he might have a point.”

He stopped talking to spank her some more. Her ass heated, each smack not only stinging the surface of her skin, but making her ache, the heat penetrating deep. This was the kind of spanking that she’d feel tomorrow, the same way she would feel after a heavy squat session at the gym.

The next two swats landed lower, where her butt curved into her thigh.

“Ouch,” she hissed.

“Hmm, does that hurt?” He sounded only mildly curious.

“Yes, Professor, the spanking hurts.”

He was silent, and she winced. That had sounded more than a little bratty.

She heard the rustle of fabric, and a slick sound, almost like a zipper, but… Wait. She knew that sound. Tessa jerked her head up and looked back over her shoulder.

David had moved to the side so she could see him easier. That sound had been him whipping his belt free of his pant loops. As she watched, he folded it in half, buckle and tip held in one hand.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered.

David grinned, hooked a finger in the belt, and snapped it.

Her pussy clenched in reaction to the sound, and she was now so wet that she knew the crotch of her panties was soaked.

“Professor…you know how to use that?” Tessa wasn’t used to feeling unsure. That wasn’t who she was. She was capable and confident and focused.

His expression softened. “I do, but if you’re scared, I won’t.”

She liked the fact that he could move fluidly between roles, that he didn’t get thrown off when she needed to talk. “I’m not scared. I trust you. But you could get this moving.”

“I’ll move how slow or fast I choose, and you will mind how you speak to me.” This mild-mannered stern thing he had going, punctuated by the occasional hard, undeniably Dom-esque commands, were making her crazy. She needed him to rip her panties off and fuck her. She wanted his cock in her, his hips hitting her red, aching ass.

A whole body shiver wracked her, and her nipples, smashed against the desk, tightened painfully. She dropped her head back onto the desk, her breath fanning back against her face.

“Please,” she moaned, not even sure if he could hear her.

“Please what?” David’s hand smoothed over her ass.

“Please use me. Punish me. Play with me. Study me.” The words were raw and way too real. She swallowed, frightened not by him, but by the way he made her feel. Like she was home, like he understood exactly how to handle her.

Kyle’s words from earlier crept back into her head. Had she called off her engagement because somewhere deep down she’d prayed this one man existed? Had she longed for him before she’d even known his name?

She’d wanted to say “Stop screwing around and fuck me already.” She didn’t because she knew better. Knew that submitting to her Dom meant finding a kind of emotional and physical peace that she could never achieve on her own, and she needed it now.

That didn’t stop her from being wildly frustrated, and perversely, even more aroused by that frustration. By her lack of control.

“I will, Tessa. I’ll do all that and more.”

There was a small woosh of air, and then the belt struck her ass. She yelped, head rising, but…it hadn’t hurt. It felt like he’d bounced it off her backside rather than actually spanking her with it. He slapped her other cheek, a bit harder, but still not enough to hurt. It was a mind fuck. He knew he’d put her on edge and then proven he could make sure she didn’t go over.

Bastard. Sexy bastard.

“The belt is more about the sound than the sensation. I like the way it sounds,” he admitted, skimming his fingers down her spine. “I like the way you tense up in anticipation, and then you practically sag because you wanted it harder.”

“Damn it, I do.” Tessa blew out a frustrated breath.

David stepped up behind her, grinding his pelvis against her backside. She tried to spread her legs so she could feel the hard ridge of his cock against her pussy rather than the seam of her ass. She couldn’t because his feet were planted on the outside of her own. It was the first time in her life her legs had been kept closed during a scene rather than her Dom demanding she stay accessible.

He leaned over, his weight grinding his hips into her well-spanked ass. “Not yet. We haven’t reached the point in this evening’s study where I put my mouth on your sweet pussy. Where I use my tongue to figure out exactly how you like your clit played with.”

“Professor…” Her pussy actually ached.

“Yes?”

“Exactly what point are we at in your study?”

“We’re at the point where I play with your pretty ass.” His weight vanished from her back, leaving her feeling cold. She wanted him close again.

His hands rubbed her ass, which had that good post-spank ache. When he squeezed, it caused just enough pain to have her sucking in air. His hands slid up to the waistband of her underwear. He grabbed hold of the gathered fabric which was tucked between her cheeks and lifted.

Tessa yelped as the silky cotton fabric of her panties stroked against her pussy and rubbed the rim of her ass. She danced up on her toes, but that only made him pull harder. It was like the mother of all wedgies, except it hurt in all the right ways.

He released her, and before she had dropped her heels to the ground, he was stripping her panties off her. She lifted her feet when he tapped each ankle in turn. She saw the underwear sail through the air out of the corner of her eye.

“Now I want your legs spread.” He was still kneeling behind her.

The urge to grind her pussy against his face was nearly overpowering. She tightened her fingers around the edge of the desk and locked her arms as she stepped wide, spreading her legs. Actual relief flooded her. She wanted to be open to him, needed him to have access to her secret parts.

“You have a lovely pussy,” he murmured. “And you’re very wet. You enjoyed your spanking. Enjoyed being bent over my desk, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Professor.” She liked him bending her over any surface he wanted.

She felt him lean in, and then he blew on her wet pussy. His hot breath felt cool against her flesh, and she didn’t bother to stifle her moan. The sound echoed against the wood under her cheek, maybe loudly enough that someone walking by would hear, but she didn’t give a damn. She didn’t care if Eddie had set the whole group right outside their door to make sure they didn’t leave. In that moment all that mattered was David. Her professor. Her lover. Her Dom.

Hers.

David rose to his feet, squeezing her hips. His breathing was labored, and she had a feeling he was nearing the end of his control.

She heard fabric rustle, and a moment later there was a rubbery snap. She looked back to see that he’d put on a pair of latex gloves. “What are you doing, Professor?”

He grinned, a look that made her sigh. “Got these from the kitchen. See, I didn’t do what my mentor told me to, but I’m going to prove that I can find the things I need in the field.”

He’d done what? She’d thought he’d spent all his time studying, but apparently he’d gone on a kink scavenger hunt. “You prepared?”

The grin became a sexy smirk. “Of course I did. The foundation of academia is prep work. Prepping lectures, writing proposals, finding supplies to use on your sub’s ass…”

“Oh, I can feel the students lining up for that class,” she snarked.

“You would be surprised. They didn’t have lube in the kitchen, but I got this.” He held up a small jar of a white substance. “Coconut oil. If you can eat it, it can be used as lube. I will fight anyone who says otherwise.”

And she would come out with a supple anus. “David…”

He took off the top then dipped one finger in, thrusting it in and out of the thick, gel-like substance, which she knew would turn slick and liquid with the heat of her body. Watching him finger-fuck the coconut oil was making her jealous…of a jar.

Tessa dropped her head back onto the desk before she completely lost her mind. She gave over to the experience because there was nothing else to do. This man could take her anywhere.

This was what life would be like with him. He would always be thinking of her, always considering how to be her man in the best, kinkiest way possible, and as much thought as he put into sex, he would put into their relationship.

A second later he was spreading her cheeks apart, his touch firm and sure, and she tried to concentrate on that sensation, not the emotion she felt welling inside her. Embarrassment bit at her. No matter how many times she had her ass played with she always felt a little embarrassed. It was ridiculous, and she knew there was no reason for it, but it was there all the same.

David must have sensed her change in mood because he leaned over and kissed her waist. “I want you to relax your ass for me. You know how to take something here, don’t you?”

His oil-coated finger swiped over her sensitive flesh, sending a gasp through her.

“Yes, Professor.” She held her breath because he was right there, pressing against her with the most delicious pressure.

“And when was the last time you had something up your ass?”

Naturally the bastard wanted to talk at the exact moment she was ready to go.

“It’s been a year, maybe a little longer,” she admitted.

“And what, specifically, did you have in here?” His finger swirled around her tight ring.

“A plug.” She would keep her answers simple and honest and maybe he would move on because she had the feeling this was going to be unlike anything she’d had before.

“Now you’re going to take my fingers in your ass, aren’t you?” The words were practically a growl.

She arched, lifting her ass, inviting him to use her, fuck her. She didn’t want a plug from him. She wanted him. “Yes, please. I want your fingers, your cock, in my ass.”

His finger zeroed in on her entrance, and he pressed in with a little shove. Her body gave, and despite knowing she shouldn’t, she clenched down around him. He pushed his finger in deeper, past the second ring of muscle, forcing her to open to him.

She cried out when he didn’t stop. She went up on her toes, and he kept going, commanding and merciless. His knuckle entered her, opening her more.

“My finger is almost all the way in. How do you feel?”

“Full,” she whimpered. “And…”

“And?” he prompted as though he already knew the answer.

Smug bastard. “And it’s not enough.”

David shoved his finger in, burying the last inch. She felt the knuckles of his other fingers against her pussy.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, twisting his finger inside. “Your ass is nice and tight.”

“Will you…will you fuck me in the ass?” Tessa loosened her fingers, which ached because she was gripping the desk so tight. She wanted this man every way she could have him.

“Is that a request or a question?”

“I…don’t know.” And she didn’t. She couldn’t think past the arousal that was nearly all-consuming.

“I will fuck your ass but not tonight. Tonight you’re going to take another finger. Maybe even three,” he promised.

His finger withdrew, and her body clenched closed.

Fabric rustled, and when she looked back, David was one-handed stripping out of his clothes.

“I want to feel your skin against mine,” he murmured, the words soft and romantic. “But don’t think I won’t protect you. I’m excellent at putting on a condom one-handed. It was a class at The Club. I passed with flying colors.”

Of course he had. Romance was wiped away by kink, when, a moment later, David was back, spreading her ass. The head of his cock rubbed against her thigh. The tip was wet, leaving a damp trail on her skin.

He worked one finger back into her ass, thrusting it in and out a few times before adding more oil and working that around. He withdrew his finger all the way. She felt the broad, blunt force of two fingertips against her. She took a steadying breath and forced herself to relax. David had big hands. She was going to feel this, and she didn’t want to miss a moment of the sensation.

The tip of one finger poked in, and a second later the other, shorter finger nudged her. He wiggled and pressed until the tip of the second finger was in. She breathed through it, then whimpered when he pressed them deeper.

“Relax so you can take my fingers in your ass.”

“Yes, Professor,” she whimpered. His cock jerked against her thigh in reaction, though whether it was to her words, her submission, or the sight of his fingers disappearing into her ass she didn’t know.

“I looked for things I could use,” he rumbled.

It was hard to concentrate. “Use?”

“In your ass. When I was in the kitchen, I very seriously considered grabbing a banana or a cucumber.”

“You were going to fuck me with a cucumber?” Damn that was kinky and weird and hot. And probably not happening.

“They were little cucumbers, so it was more about the banana.” He massaged her ass, and she was starting to feel the sweet, hot burn of being stretched.

How could he make her laugh in the middle of something so perverse and hot and intimate? “No bananas. Hard limit, David.”

He chuckled. “I decided it would be more fun to use my fingers. I wanted to feel you clench when I did this.” His other hand reached between them, and then his thumb brushed her clit. “Just you and me.”

Tessa shrieked as the touch sent a sudden bolt of pleasure through her. She’d had full orgasms that hadn’t felt as good or had the impact of that one small touch. She was so sensitive.

“I’m close,” she gasped. “Professor…David…”

“So am I.”

He pulled his fingers from her ass, leaving her aching and empty. She heard the foil of a condom wrapper, and then he was back. The pad of his thumb worked her asshole, which yielded easily to his touch. He pressed the tip in at the same time his other hand, now free of the glove, stroked her pussy, from clit to entrance and back. “I need to feel you around my cock.”

Relief flooded her. “Yes, please…I need you.”

His thumb sank deeper into her ass, and she rose up on her toes.

“Stay like that,” he commanded. “I want your ass up, your pussy right there, ready for my cock.”

“Please, please,” she gasped.

The head of his cock rubbed her clit, and then he was sliding between her labia to her entrance. She braced herself, ready, so ready to be full, to have him inside her, connected to her. This was what she’d wanted all along. Him. Everywhere.

David shoved his thumb deep at the same time his cock drove into her pussy. She screamed in pleasure, the filling of her sex a sensation so exquisite that it was practically an orgasm. She was still humming with pleasure when he withdrew, only to slam into her again. And again.

“Mine,” he murmured. “You’re mine.”

His other hand reached between them as he withdrew his cock, his thumb still buried in her ass. He pinched her clit, and the coiled tension, the tight desire, released. Pleasure exploded within her, so hot and intense that she couldn’t just lie there. She arched, her head rising, elbows planted on the desk.

David grabbed her by the hair as his cock surged in once more.

The orgasm stretched out, prolonged by his dominance, by the way he possessed her. Her scalp prickled with sweet pain, as did her ass, both from the spanking and his thumb buried in her.

When his thrusts became quick and hard, his breathing labored, she braced herself, welcomed the full power of his need as he slammed into her.

David roared in pleasure, releasing her hair to grab her shoulder, fingers digging in so hard she’d probably have bruises.

Small bruises that would mark her as his.

When David collapsed on top of her, Tessa slid her elbows to the side so she was once more lying on the desk. His breath was labored, his head sweaty where it lay on her shoulder.

“Holy shit.” Tessa tried to wiggle out from under him, but his cock and thumb were still inside her.

“No,” he said, the word distinct. “You stay here. I’ll get up when I’m ready.”

Tessa stilled.

“We’re…not done with the scene.” He sounded out of breath but like he knew what he wanted. “How many fingers you could take up your ass, as well as how you handled a spanking, were only two of my many questions.”

Her whole body hummed with pleasure. “Maybe I better see this list.”

“Maybe you better behave,” he murmured.

“And if I don’t want to?” she asked, but she was smiling. She liked to obey this man. Of course, she also like what happened when she misbehaved.

“Well, then I’ll have to spank you again,” he whispered. “But maybe next time it will be your pussy I spank.”

“Oh, god, no more dirty talk. I can’t take it.”

David finally lifted off of her. She groaned as he took his thumb from her ass and his cock slid out of her pussy.

He stripped off the glove then helped her stand, turning her to face him. He cupped her cheeks in his hands.

“Tessa?”

“Yes, Professor?”

“You’re going to take everything I give you.”

She would. She might take it forever.