Page 81 of Psycho
“Whose home?” Lucas asked.
August frowned. “Our home. Like you said, I like to keep my most treasured things close to me.”
Lucas sucked in a surprised breath but recovered quickly. “Has it occurred to you that we’ve only known each other a week? A week, August. Seven days.”
“Ugh, yeah. I don’t like when you say my name either. It sounds like I’m in trouble.”
“See?” Lucas asked.
“We’re getting distracted. What does time have to do with how you feel about me?”
“I shouldn’t love you after seven days,” Lucas said.
“Shouldn’t or don’t?” August asked, holding his breath as Lucas seemed to struggle with the answer.
“Shouldn’t. I shouldn’t love you, but I think I do. I know I do. I love you but I shouldn’t,” Lucas said, miserable.
August shook his head. “You’re so hung up on time. It took me seven seconds to figure out you’re it for me. If the passage of time is so important to you, I’ll wait. Even if it takes you seven weeks or seven months or seven years, but don’t let time be the only reason to keep us from doing what we both want. We don’t have to explain ourselves to anybody.”
He could see Lucas’s resistance crumbling. “You know the rumor mill at work is already churning overtime.”
“Then let’s give them something to talk about,” August countered. “Move in with me. I want to wake up next to you every morning and go to bed with you every night.”
Lucas smirked. “You say that now. But you haven’t seen me watchingStar Trekin my underwear with Cheetos dust on my fingers.”
A slow smile spread across August’s face. “You paint a vivid picture,umnishka. But I’m willing to risk it.”
Lucas pressed a long chaste kiss to August’s lips. “Then take me home. I want a shower. Oh, and that cheesecake you bought. It really was one of the best things I ever put in my mouth. Can we get that cheesecake on the way home? Please?”
“We should probably grab dinner, too.”
“No. I demand a shower, sex, and cheesecake, the order of which is to be determined when we get home.”
“Say it again.”
“Shower. Sex. Cheesecake?” Lucas asked.
“No, home,” August prompted.
Lucas smiled softly. “You are the world’s most sentimental psychopath. Now, take me home.”
August sat reclined in his office chair, Vivaldi playing in his ears. He’d canceled lunch with Lucas for a mentor meeting with a new student in the department. He normally wouldn’t do that, but Bianca had asked for a favor since it was apparently her student.
There was a tentative knock on the door. August removed his earbuds. “Come in.”
August’s brows went up when Lucas stuck his head in and said, “Professor Mulvaney?” as if he had no idea who August was. Was Lucas having some kind of dissociative episode? And when did he start wearing glasses? Not that August objected to the thick black frames. They were sexy as hell on him.
August frowned but decided to play along. “Yes?”
Lucas raked his gaze over August in a way that made his cock take notice. “Hi, I’m Luke. Bianca sent me to talk to you?”
August glanced down at his calendar and realized the name of the student was, in fact, abbreviated as Luke B. A hint of a smile formed before he schooled his features into one of casual disinterest. “What can I do for you, Luke?”
Lucas slipped in, closing the door and leaning against it, his fingers slipping behind him to twist the lock into place. He was certainly not dressed like himself. Lucas favored dark wash denim and cardigans for work. Luke, it seemed, preferred well worn jeans and a form fitting t-shirt the same shade of green as his eyes.
Lucas pushed his fingers through his blond hair and bit his bottom lip as he moved into August’s space. “I don’t know if Bianca told you anything about me, but I’m in a bit of a…predicament.”
A slow smirk crept across August’s face. “Do tell.”
