Page 17 of Bachelor

“I find that hard to believe!” She skipped ahead of me, bending farther than she needed to look through a window of a closed storefront. “But I understand why you don’t go after of them.”

“Because it’s against the rules.”

“Because you’re aman. And you need awoman.” The flirtatious smile she gave me made her feelings known, but she continued, “I’m sure teaching droves of college-aged women is exhausting. They must just drool over you day in and day out.”

“I haven’t gotten that impression.”

“Then you’re blind!” She fell back in step with me, but I kept a safe distance between us.

I had no intentions of letting her walk us arm in arm up and down the street. “It’s getting cold. Ready to go back?”

“Oh, what’s this place?” She peered into another window, and my stomach immediately dropped. “An art gallery! How cute. Should we go inside? I bet you know loads about art.”

“I—”

“Oh, look! It’s Whitney Dahl, the campus It Girl.” Her tone suddenly had an edge to it I hadn’t been expecting to hear. “With that Jessica girl.”

“Jessica Lowry is pursuing her master’s. I believe she wants to go into research and development if she doesn’t get the wild idea to jump ship and leave the humanities altogether to go to medical school.”

“Sounds like you know her well,” Cassandra said dryly, turning to face me.

I stood just out of view from the windows of the gallery. The last thing I wanted to have happen was for Whitney to see me here, with Cassandra, who seemed to be trying to bait me into something.

“She’s dating one of my friends in town.”

“Mm-hmm... So you must know Whitney well, then.”

“She was one of my graduate students last semester—”

“I mean intimately, Rhys. Come on, Whitney Dahl? I’m sure half the professors on campus would love to know what’s in that brain of hers. I sure would.”

“Why?”

“Because she has your attention, doesn’t she?”

I gritted my teeth as Cassandra turned back to the window and sighed wistfully. “She’s so beautiful. She and Christian Brockford really made a perfect couple, you know. My uncle is her father’s attorney, so I know of the family. So much money. A marriage between them would have created a dynasty.”

I had to bite my tongue to refrain from lashing out, from telling her just what I thought of Christian Brockford and the situation her family had put her in. When I didn’t reply, Cassandra turned to me, shrugging.

“I heard she had an affair with someone on campus last semester.”

“That’s not any of our business.”

“Oh.” She grinned, enjoying my reaction. “Got a little crush on your student, Professor?”

“No—”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, smart, and dripping with money. Securing a girl like her might cost you your job, but you’d be set for life. But you and I are different than these people, Rhys. Gatlington is just a playground for heirs and heiresses. Some of them, like Whitney, lean into that freedom for a while, but they all go crawling back to their gilded mansions and elite parties eventually. People like us have to stick together. You’re better off hanging out with someone like me—”

“Sure,” I said tightly, turning from her. “I’m heading back. Are you coming with?”

“I’d much rather get a drink with you.”

“Maybe some other time.”

“Then I’m going to stay and go into the gallery. I’ll see you later, Rhys.”

I watched her walk away, disappearing into the gallery. I lingered on the sidewalk, stuffing my hands into my pockets. Cassandra was right. What she said rang true. I was in a totally different league than Whitney, and the reality of that crushed me. If we took Gatlington out of the equation, would we actually be free to be together?

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