My head shifted against his hand without thinking, pressing deeper into his palm, chasing the warmth there. I needed to prove he was still real and not something I’d made up to survive the last ten minutes.
My fingers twitched, sliding down the front of his shirt until they caught on the line of buttons. I traced them slowly, not undoing them so much astestingthem—feeling the way the fabric gave under the slightest pressure. One slipped just enough to open the smallest space. It wasn’t intentional. Or maybe it was.
I didn’t know anymore.
My knuckles brushed the skin beneath before I could talk myself out of it.
The shift in him was undeniable. His chest expanded a fraction deeper. The air between us grew dense.
I probably should’ve pulled back, butfuck, I didn’t want to.
“What are you doing, sweetheart?”
“I’m exploring, Professor. For research.”
“Jesus Christ, Rabbit…”
The words dragged out of him, low and strained. Something in my stomach rolled at the sound of it. Not fear or regret—just the sharp, undeniable awareness that I was affecting him in a way I didn’t fully understand yet.
“What the hell are you doing to me?”
The grip he had on my hair tightened, holding me prisoner as the space between us reduced to mere inches. His choked breath coasted across my cheekbones, and if I wasn’t so attuned to him, I might not have felt the subtle vibrations coursing through his muscles.
Maybe it was because he’d been holding himself in place for too long, or maybe it was me.
Thatdidsomething to me.
For once, I wasn’t the only one trying to keep it together.
“Professor…” The word barely made it out, my mouth brushing his as I said it. “You can kiss me now.”
“Rabbit.” A growl built low in his chest. “I need you to be sure.”
“Please.”
Ineededhim to kiss me.
Not soft.
Not careful.
I wanted him to take my mouth like he’d already decided I was his.
“Henry, please.”
That was it.
Teeth grazed first—just enough to steal the breath I’d barely managed to hold—before his lips pressed in fully, claiming space instead of asking for it. A sound tore loose from somewhere low in my throat, swallowed instantly as he deepened the kiss. Impatient fingers wrapped around the strands of my hair, tugging just enough to tilt my head exactly where he wanted it.
Heat flooded through me so fast, every nerve woke at once, every thought dissolved into the way his mouth moved against mine—slow at first, like he was learning the shape of me.
Then deeper.
Hungrier.
“Goddamn it, Rabbit.”
The words broke against my mouth, half-lost as I pushed closer, hands catching at his shirt, fingers slipping between buttons.