Page 71 of Wish You Were Mine
Theo’s friend: I could say the same about you.
Touché.
I stared at the photo a second longer, his viewpoint still glowing.
Then, before I could talk myself out of it, I typed:
Me: Too bad you couldn’t make it to the away meet. Word on the street there’s a hot tub at my hotel.
Okay. That was probably a little too much. Definitely riding the edge.
But I couldn’t help it. He’d been flirty in our texts. So I was just matching his energy.
That was allowed, right?
Plus, he was seven hundred miles away. It wasn’t like we could even act on it.
I was just…painting a picture.
His reply came a moment later.
Theo’s friend: Wouldn’t mind a redo of the last time I was in a hot tub.
A warm flush rolled through me, curling low in my stomach.
Okay, sonowwe were officially playing with fire.
But when you had the kind of chemistry we did—no pun intended—was it really a surprise that we'd still be thinking about it?
Even if we couldn’t actuallyacton it?
Me: It was quite fun.
Theo’s friend: Especially the part where everyone else was gone.
My stomach dipped at the memory of that moment. The way the world had gone quiet. The heat of his hands, thesteady strength in his arms, the way he’d looked at me like he already knew and accepted everything about me.
Was there any chance of that happening again?
I stared at the screen for a long second, then typed:
Me: Too bad you’re my professor now.
Theo’s friend: Too bad your dad could fire me and get me blacklisted.
Yeah…my dad definitely had the power to do that. Which was not a fun reminder to have when I’d been having so much fun not thinking about it.
I blinked down at my screen, something hollow opening just under my ribs as I asked something I hadn’t realized I’d been wondering until now.
Me: Is your dad as strict as mine?
A minute passed.
Nothing.
Maybe he’d gotten distracted, pouring someone a drink. Maybe someone had flagged him down across the bar.
Or maybe he just didn’t want to answer that one.
