Page 76 of Hot for Teacher
Killian’s fierce expression shifted into a rueful smile. “He told you about my … visit?”
“Of course.” Honestly, if Killian had thought Spencer could keep that a secret, he hadn’t been listening closely enough about Chase’s friends. Or maybe he’d been giving in to wishful thinking. “But he also helped me process.”
Killian let out a sigh, though the smile stayed on his lips. “Then I suppose I owe him a beer.”
Chase owed Spencer way more than a beer. A six-pack at the very least. Or possibly a full weekend with all three roommates at the house, which they hadn’t had nearly enough of lately. At least not without Chase nearly catatonic from despair.
Killian would hate that, Chase leaving his side for so long after they’d just been reunited. But he wouldn’t stop him, not if it was something Chase really wanted..
Although, maybe Chase would get spanked again.
Speaking of …
“Am I going to be punished?” Chase asked.
Killian’s fingers paused the patterns they’d been tracing on Chase’s hip. He grasped him in a gentle grip instead. “No, sweet boy. Not for that. Not for needing time and space.”
Chase hadn’t thought so. But maybe he’d just needed to hear it out loud, that Killian wasn’t angry with him.
The alpha certainly didn’tlookangry, and his pheromones weren’t heavy at all. They were light and cherry-stained, maybe from relief or lust or … affection.
The thing was, Chase had felt kind of ridiculous after his talkwith Spencer, that he’d had such a hard time making things official when he and Killian had basically been seriously dating already, according to everyone but him.
But itdidfeel different, here and now in this bed with Killian, the two of them so soft and content. So maybe it was everyone else who’d been silly.
Chase had always felt safe with Killian; that much hadn’t changed. He’d always known he could let his defenses down and trust his alpha to hold him up no matter what. But with them lying here in bed, unable to stop touching each other, unable to keep these goofy little grins off their faces, it all felt … open, in a way it hadn’t before. Like things were brighter and lighter and yet sturdier than before. Like Chase was giddy but also grounded. Floating and rooted in the dirt at the same time.
Maybe that was the fatigue talking. Or maybe not. And either way, Chase still didn’t want to close his eyes. “I’m going to unblock my parents in the morning. This morning,” he corrected, stealing a look at the time.
Killian frowned but nodded, his fingers tracing their patterns again. Maybe he wasn’t surprised that Chase didn’t have it in himself to keep them out of his life forever. He seemed to know Chase better than Chase knew himself sometimes.
“I was thinking I should maybe … refuse their money?” The words came out as a question. Chase hadn’t had the heart to really come to any decision about it while he’d been missing Killian like a lost limb, so really he was spitballing here.
“To make a point?” Killian asked, his voice carefully neutral.
Chase shrugged as best he could in his awkward position.
“It’s your decision. And I’m here for whatever you need, financial or otherwise. But I’m also a practical man. I would say take every opportunity you can while you can. Let them fund the rest of your schooling, at least—you have plenty of time for independence later.”
Chase mentally skipped over the part where Killian had basically just offered to bankroll him if needed. He couldn’t process being a sugar baby this late—or early. “I could get a part-time job. Noah and Spencer both have them.”
Killian’s fingers paused again. “I could make you my TA.”
“That’s a terrible idea.”
“Oh, I think it’s a great idea.” There was a dangerous gleam in Killian’s eyes now, and Chase could literally see the alpha’s cock stiffening as he spoke. “You’d work so hard to please me, wouldn’t you? And when you’d done a good job, I could just bend you right over the desk and—”
Someone had to be the voice of reason here, right? Chase interrupted the pervy vision Killian was painting. “It would make this thing between us a real issue to the university, in a way it’s not right now.”
Killian scoffed, pulling Chase closer on the bed, until his erection was brushing Chase’s stomach. “They won’t fire me,” he said, nuzzling Chase’s hairline. “And if they do, I’ll supplement with lecture appearances until I figure out my next steps.”
It was weird, the way it hit Chase just then. He’d known Killian had been upset when Chase had suggested denying their relationship; that much had been obvious. And he’d had an inkling that Killian parking outside his house like a creep had maybe meant the alpha wasn’t handling the separation all that well. That he’d missed Chase possibly even more than Chase had missed him.
But it wasthismoment—Killian daydreaming in all seriousness about jeopardizing his career for a chance to have Chase on his knees for him at work—that really drove it home.
“You’re kind of obsessed with me, aren’t you?”
The dreamy look left Killian’s eyes, and for a moment, they widened with shock. And then he was vibrating, the bed shaking with the force of it, and it took Chase a minute to realize it wasn’t with anger.
