The only good thing I could say about the tiny office given to me at Stanford University when I received my adjunct professorship was that the small window had a great view of the quad. And I didn’t have to share it, so I guess there were two things. Although as small as it was, I don’t think the decision had been more functional than charitable. Another person in here and we’d be on top of each other.

Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Stanford has been my home since thirteen weeks before my twelfth birthday. I know that sounds strange to most people—they always feel it necessary to tell me so—but it was all I knew. By the time I turned ten I could do advance level physics and trigonometry. I knew more than all of the teachers in the small school I attended in my even smaller Texas town, which made me a freak. An outcast. An outsider. All the different ways to remind me I was outside the norm. So when the people from Stanford came along, I knew it was my chance to belong, at least to my intellectual equals.

Mom and Dad had turned Harvard, Yale and Princeton away because they couldn’t leave their jobs, and they were reluctant to move my older siblings away from home. So I left with Ryan Austin, President of the university fourteen years ago and I never looked back. Rarely, anyway.

Friends would be nice. But I learned a long time ago not to wish for things that were out of my reach. So I turned back to my lesson plans. Dr. Austin had insisted I teach a few classes to get me over my public speaking difficulties. I’m not so convinced.

“Knock, knock.”

I turned from the view of the quad to see Dr. Austin smiling at me. “What a surprise, Dr. Austin. How are you?”

His smile brightened and he took a step inside, casting a short glance over his shoulder that told me he wasn’t alone. “I come bearing good news.” At my wary glance, he raked a hand through blonde hair shot through with silver. “I have a Teaching Assistant for you.”

I blinked. “A Teaching Assistant? I teach three classes and they’re all intro courses, do I need a TA?”

He gave me that indulgent smile he always produced when I behave in a way he doesn’t expect. In this instance, grateful. “We all want you to spend as much time as possible focusing on your research. You, Delaney, are going to change the world.”

Now it was my turn for the indulgent smile. The University as a whole, but particularly Dr. Austin, were all very supportive of my research, which very soon would provide a more efficient means of harnessing wind, water and sun energy.

“So I get an assistant.”

“Yes you do. Come on in Mr. Atlas. He has a degree in engineering and I thought he would be a good fit.”

Mr. Atlas entered the room, and I swear the temperature went up at least twenty degrees. There was no way the man was an engineer. Maybe a model, with his sharply defined cheekbones and jaw, his deep set almond shaped blue eyes. And good lord he was as big as a mountain with wide shoulders, big arms and long strong legs.

“Dr. Watson, it’s nice to meet you.”

I stifled a laugh at his words and stood, feeling like a tiny speck of dust compared to this giant of a man.

“Something funny Dr. Watson?”

Oh crap. “Sorry I wasn’t laughing at you Mr. Atlas, it’s just Dr. Watson? You know, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson?” His lips twitched but I felt like an idiot. “Never mind. Call me Delaney since we’ll be colleagues.”

“And call me Bennett. I hope this isn’t a problem?”

“Not at all. As long as you’re prepared to grade quizzes and help with labs we’ll get along.”

That wasn’t exactly true. I’d been told by many, mostly my mentor Dr. Howard, that I wasn’t the easiest to get along with. But I’ve been trying to speak normally, as in less technically and more colloquially.

“I’ve been through worse in the Navy.”

“That explains it.” I sounded proud of myself, but he and Mr. Austin frowned.

“What’s that mean?”

My face flushed furiously at my blunder. “Oh I just meant how big you are, the hair cut, how capable you look. I wondered when you walked in how an engineer could look like you do. Now I know.” Mr. Austin smiled, but Bennett’s face turned an odd shade of pink. Was he blushing?

“Glad we cleared that up.”

“Right well, I’ll leave you two to get settled. Did you find a place to stay yet Mr. Atlas?”

“No sir, that’s next on my list.”

“I’ll have my secretary send you an email of available listings.” With a quick wave and a smile, he left us alone.

So my new TA needed a place to stay. I didn’t read people all that well, but I could read Ryan Austin. I’ve known him almost all my life and the man had dropped that little piece of information because he knew what I would do.

“I have plenty of space in my house.”

“Your house? You look a little young to have a house.”

I got that a lot. “Well I’ve been on the University payroll for a long time. I have a four bedroom and I only use one of them. The basement is my lab so it’s off limits, but otherwise you can roam about freely.”

“How much?”

“How much?”

He grinned. “For rent, how much are you asking?”

I didn’t even think of that. “How much would you be willing to pay?”

“Really?” He shook his head but there was no judgment, more like a bemused bewilderment. “Delaney, how much for rent and utilities? We can swap groceries each week.”

“Oh. Okay. Seven hundred, will that work?”

He grinned and nodded, holding out his hand which engulfed mine. “Looks like we have a deal.”

My heart stuttered to a stop at the feel of his big hand wrapped around mine. How I would share a home with someone so masculine, I had no idea. Luckily guys like Bennett, well guys in general, didn’t look at me like a sexual object so other than a little blushing and stammering it shouldn’t be a problem

Either way it was a done deal so I’d have to deal with it.

For now.

***

“What are you doing?”

Bennett turned around a grinned. “What does it look like? I’m cooking.”

He was doing a lot more than cooking. The man was smoking hot with a wooden spoon in hand, low slung jeans six—no eight—pack abs and no shirt. “And it smells delicious, but why are you doing it without a shirt?”

And why on earth would I want to talk the most beautiful man I’d ever seen up close out of keeping his shirt off? I must be crazy.

“Sauce splattered on it so I rubbed some pre-treatment on it. Would you like me to put one on?”

Absolutely not. “Do what you want. I just didn’t know if this was a thing Navy guys did for fun.”

Caramel brown brows rose in question but those blue eyes sparkled with bemusement. “You think guys in the navy cook shirtless? For fun?”

I shrugged and dropped in the chair farthest from those abs. “How should I know? Everything I know about the military I told you the first day we met.”

“Right. My hair, my body and my posture,” he stood taller so his shoulders were wider and his deep breathing drew my gaze to those rippling muscles. “Eyes up soldier.”

Squeezing my eyes shut I smacked a hand over my face. “Gosh I’m so sorry Bennett. I promise this won’t be a problem it’s just you’re…quite a physical specimen and I’ve never seen a guy like you up close before.” I stood. “Maybe you should put a shirt on and I’ll…I will be right back.” His deep chuckles echoed behind me, intensifying my humiliation until I closed myself up in the master bedroom.

Could I have been a bigger doofus? Ogling my new roommate like some sex starved lunatic who’d never seen a half naked man before. Well all of that was true, but it didn’t give me the right to look at him like that. I needed to apologize. Just because Bennett looked like a Greek god didn’t mean I would worship him like one. He and I would be working together next week when the new semester started. I had to apologize.

Shoulders squared, I pulled open the door and ran right into the hardest, hottest brick wall I’d ever had the pleasure to be pressed against. “Oh! I apologize Bennett. I wasn’t…I mean, excuse me.” I rushed down the stairs to the kitchen, pulling plates and flatware from the cabinets to set the table.

“Delaney.” His voice came deep and firm. Insistent.

Too bad my stubbornness was well documented.

“Laney look at me dammit.”

I whirled around. “Don’t you dare-,”

“Much better,” he interrupted with a smile that could only be described as enticing. “Stop freaking out because you like looking at me okay. I like looking at you too, but I think we can both agree that due to circumstances it would best if we didn’t do anything about it other than look, right?”

I let out a laugh. “Oh please, Bennett. I don’t need you to make me feel better, but I suppose it’s nice you thought to do it.”

The one time in my entire life had a guy even pretended like he wanted to look at me, and he’d only done it to get a peek at my notes. And that guy was not even fifteen percent of the man standing before me.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He damn near barked at me.

I sighed. “I mean Bennett that you don’t have to pretend we’re on equal footing here, and like I’ve already said you don’t have to worry about me making a move. I am not the move-making type.”

He laughed and walked around me to get to the stove, stirring the pot. “I truly doubt that. How about we just eat and get to know each other a little better?”

I grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

“Good. So tell me about you.”

My eyes were drawn to his arms, the way they flexed as he drained the pasta and poured the sauce on top. “I’m a physicist and I’m working on my second Ph.D., in engineering this time. I’ve lived here in this house since I was twelve.”

“Great. But what about you? What do you like to do in your free time?”

“I work on my research. I run. I don’t like it, but it’s excellent cardiovascular exercise and sending oxygen rich blood to the brain. It helps me think.” It all sounded dreadfully boring but it’s all I know.

“Okay, tomorrow morning we’ll go running together. I’ll find out more about you then.”

He smiled, and immediately the word dreamy came to mind. “All right then you can tell me about you. Where you’re from, what you do for fun, how you liked the Navy. All that.”