“Arrogance and pride,” Olivia explains. “I mean, I would have an overdose of arrogance and pride if I were you with your talents and brain and skills. But you can see why that might be a tad imposing for someone just trying to get to know you, right?”
I take a long pause before I answer.
She’s right. Of course. As she always is.
“Yep.”
Olivia takes in a long breath. “I’m glad to say that. I feel like it needed to be said.”
“And I was wrong to make you sign that NDA,” I continue honestly. “You’re right. This is not a mere casual relationship. I’ve been lying to myself about that. You see, I’ve got...experiencedoing this kind of thing, but they all pale in comparison to you. Olivia Weldon, there is nothing casual about you. I really can’t explain it, but you do things to me that I’ve never felt in my heart before.”
“Idothings to you?” she asks.
“Impossiblethings.”
“And this isn’t something casual?”
I shake my head. “I think things have moved far beyond that definition,” I say.
Olivia smiles. “I think so too.”
“Well, fuck that NDA.”
“Yep,” Olivia replies with a smile. “Fuck it.”
“Good.”
Olivia sighs again for a long time before she turns to me. “You know in Wuthering Heights how there is Heathcliff and Cathy, and they have this deep, passionate, intense and obsessive love?”
“Yes.”
“And you know how it’s my favorite book?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Well, I had a realization the other day about Heathcliff and Cathy,” Olivia continues. “It’s a pretty obvious realization, but it has taken me all my life of reading Wuthering Heights to realize it.”
“And?”
“They are not nice people,” she says softly. “Heathcliff is not a nice man. You are not Heathcliff, Spencer.Youare a nice man.”
I lean back against my car seat. “Oh.”
She looks me dead in the eye. “So,yes. I would like to keep seeing you, Spencer.”
And it’s like the heaviest weight has been lifted from my chest.
“You do?”
“Yep. But we should keep this a secret,” she says. “Like what we were doing before. We don’t want others snooping around, especially the university. I prefer it like this as well.”
“I agree,” I say. “Despite all that has happened and my feelings for you, you are still my student, and I am still your professor.”
“Until at least I’ve finished college,” she says.
“Yep.”
Olivia draws in close. “Is it wrong I find it kinda thrilling that this is our little secret? That I find it kinda...hot?”