LIANA

The air outside Professor Reynold’s office was crisp with the approaching Christmas break. The hallway smelled of pine and cinnamon, credit of the festive garlands strung across the office doors.

It was the last day before the Christmas holidays and most of the professors had already clocked out early, eager to celebrate the break with their family.

I’d spent weeks plotting this, weeks fantasizing about the man whose name alone made my core clench—Elijah Reynold.

He was forty-two, devastatingly handsome, and had the kind of muscular buildup that looked strictly forbidden beneath his fitted academic tweed jackets. And me? At twenty-three, I was ready to admit to myself that...