It was over. I was free. I would graduate from CU.

The chair caught my weight as I collapsed, braced my elbows on the table, and let my head fall into my hands while I sucked in deep, gulping breaths. Then I folded my hands and sent up a heartfelt prayer of thanks for my second chance.

By the time I pulled myself together, the room had emptied completely. I slipped my arms into my coat, grabbed my purse, and closed the door on my way out. The sound was crisp, like the sound a book made as you shut it after the last page.

The sunshine welcomed me as I stepped out onto the walkway. The air tasted cleaner, my soul felt lighter. I started down the path and pulled out my cell phone.

Sam: I’m in. I have to tutor, but they let me back in!

Grayson: I knew they would. No one’s stupid enough to let you go.

With the burden of the hearing behind me, and my future open, the full weight of missing Grayson hit me. It was two fifteen p.m. on a Friday. If I went straight to the airport, I could make it to him by tonight and spend almost a week with him before classes started.

Yes. That’s what I’d do. Screw packing new clothes, I’d just wear his all week. I opened my internet browser to search for flights. It would eat up a chunk of my savings, but it was worth it. This month had been entirely too long.

Grayson: You seem pensive. What are you thinking?

Sam: That I miss you, and I’d do anything to sleep curled in your arms tonight.

A giddy smile took hold at the thought of surprising him. I walked a little faster.

Grayson: Funny. I was thinking the same thing.

Sam: Oh yeah? Just sleeping?

Grayson: Well, I’d love to slide my hands up that red skirt, but someone said no sex.

Sam: Maybe I could rethink the no sex thing…

I hit send, and then paused mid-step. Red skirt? Slowly, and so scared to be wrong, I lifted my eyes from the fabric of my skirt, skimming along the path until it converged with the one that led to the parking lot.

My eyes landed on a pair of black Doc Martins, then ran up a set of muscular legs encased in a pair of jeans that made my mouth water. He slid his cell phone into the front pocket of his black ski coat, and I made my way to his face, to the slow smile that lit up the darkest corners of my heart and chased the shadows into oblivion.

Grayson.

The thirty feet that separated us was all at once exquisitely painful, and I broke into a dead run, ice and all. I slipped the last couple of feet, but he lifted me into his arms before my balance could even register the danger.

My arms looped around his neck as he held me eye level. “You’re here?”

“I’m here.”

My eyes skimmed over his features, needing to memorize every single detail of this moment and file it away for the nights we were apart. This was why I loved him, this overwhelming feeling that defied all logic. There was just no way this much emotion could live within me.

“Why?”

His eyes looked almost silver in the sunlight, lighter than I’d ever seen them. “On the off chance you sent a text that you needed me. I knew today would be tough.”

“I love you,” I said before I kissed him. His lips were cold, but his tongue warm as he swept it into my mouth. He tasted like home, and as my pulse skipped, he banded one arm under my ass and used his other hand to wind his fingers through my hair until he held me to him.

“Can I take you somewhere?” he asked against my mouth.

“Anywhere,” I answered.

He set me back on my feet and held my hand as we walked toward the parking lot. “Will your car be okay?”

“Yeah, we can leave it here,” I said, gesturing to where it sat parked a few spaces down from his truck. “You drove? All the way from North Carolina?”

He squeezed my hand. “I did.”

“Let me grab my charger out of my car?” I asked.

“No problem. I’ll start the truck.”

I yanked the charger from the port, anxious to be alone with Grayson and yet more relaxed than I had been since Alabama.

“Sam.”

The back of my head met my doorframe. “Shit!” I grabbed the offended area and turned. “You’re not supposed to be speaking to me, Professor Proctor.”

“Since when did that ever keep us apart?” he asked, devil-may-care grin in place as he swatted an errant brown curl like I hadn’t been through hell to get back into this school.

I looked over my shoulder, but Grayson couldn’t see us from here, and Harrison was blocking my exit. “I’m not kidding, Professor Proctor, this is inappropriate.”

He took ahold of my arm. Even through the layers of down that separated us, his touch felt tainted. I shook him off. “Don’t touch me.”

His grin fell away. “Sam, I’m not a professor anymore. You left without a word, without letting me explain. You at least owe me that much.”

“I owe you nothing.”

“Please, give me a chance.”

“Just…stop. What could you possibly hope to get out of talking to me?”

He did his dramatic sigh that I used to think was incredibly romantic. Yeah, that had nothing on the quiet intensity of Grayson simply looking at me, which basically melted my panties right off.

“I miss you.”

“I don’t miss you.” I shrugged, uncaring that another student gawked as she passed. I had nothing to hide this time.

“There was a time you loved me, and I know you could again. I’m thinking of leaving Michelle.”