Bliss.

That word sums up the weekend I had with Jace. The euphoria is still wrapped around me when he drops me off at my campus dorm on Sunday night. I wake up feeling like I dreamed up the whole thing, but the text he sends me that reads, ‘Morning beautiful,’ confirms that it wasn’t a dream.

Still, I have a degree to finish and an internship to score. Which means I’m starting my day with a somewhat depressing mission. After a long shower, I get myself ready, have a quick breakfast consisting of coffee and twelve-grain toast, and drag my ass to my college campus. Instead of strutting to the internship assignment that was rightly mine, I’m working a plan.

A trip to meet my academic program director.

To grovel.

I’ll take anything that will make up for the assignment that fell through. Anything that will count toward my degree requirements. Parking at the lot closest to the academic programs office, I hurry inside to look for Professor Davis. It appears that my luck is about to change, because her office door is open, and she’s alone. Her tiny metal office desk is against the wall to my left, and she’s seated in an ergonomic swivel chair with her eyes glued to her large monitor that gobbles up half of the desk space. I knock on the door to get her attention.

“Good morning, Professor Davis,” I greet her, slathering on all the charm I can muster without coming off as inauthentic.

She turns only her head and tucks some of her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear. “Cherry. Nice to see you.”

“You too,” I say nervously.

“How can I help you?”

“It’s about my internship placement that was canceled. I was wondering if there are any other last-minute assignments that might have popped up?”

“Right. I do remember. I’m just about to head to a meeting. Can you email me about setting up an appointment?”

I take a small step into her office. “I can…but I was hoping…it’s my last semester, Professor.”

She turns her swivel chair in my direction, straightens up her posture, and buttons her black suit jacket. I can tell she’s losing her patience before she says a word. “Which is what we can discuss after you send me an email so we can schedule a time to meet.”

I retreat to the doorway again, but persist. “I need an assignment to graduate…so I was hoping we could speak today and get started on whatever might be available…today.”

The professor’s eyebrows shoot up high on her forehead. “And we’ll do that, today if possible, starting with your email.” She returns her gaze to her monitor. “I don’t see an email from you yet…probably because you’re still lurking at my office door. What I’ll say, just so you’re not in this frenetic state for our meeting, is that from what I recall, you are very close to meeting the minimum hours already.”

“I appreciate you for mentioning that, but I need another thirty hours, all of which I was supposed to accrue in a full-day assignment.”

“Well, thank you so much for reciting the hard and fast requirements, young lady. Let’s pick it up soon. In the meantime, you may want to check the Academic Support Unit. They often have new placements…and just so you’re aware, I have the discretion to accept and swap out internship placements based on your overall academic performance. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

I know I should have had more coffee this morning.

Or maybe a bit less.

I’m wired and distracted, and frankly, pushing my program director well past her limits. It takes a bit of a mental stretch for me to pause and digest what she just told me. And it’s all good.

“I believe I do. Just to be clear that I understand, you can waive the requirement for these last thirty hours if my grades are high enough. Is that what you meant?”

She nods, but gets out of her chair and steps toward me. Gripping the door handle, she stands firm, full of authority. “You have good hearing and solid reasoning skills…when you want to use them. How about you use them for the part where I asked you to send me an email so we can set up an appointment?”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you! Will do,” I stammer out excitedly and back the hell away. “Have a great day, Professor Davis!”

I make my way a few offices down the hall and fish my phone from my pocket to send her that email. Next on the agenda is a visit to the Academic Support Unit. I check the time. It’s not even nine-thirty yet, and they open at ten. Returning to my car, I drive to my dorm. I’ll put on a more business-appropriate outfit and hope a new assignment is waiting for me. Failing that, I’ll tout my near perfect GPA when Professor Davis eventually replies to my email.

As I don’t have classes today, I send a text message to Vanessa to find out what she’s up to. This is when is hits me that we haven’t spoken since the turtle incident on Friday night. Which is strange. Jace kept me busy all weekend, so now I’m starting to wonder what filled up her schedule.

Or who.

She replies that she’s at her parents’ place, and that I should come by. She has something big to tell me. Wait until I fill her in on what went down with Jace. I start typing in my reply that I’ll head on over to her when Professor Davis’ instruction replays in the back of my head.

Send her an email.

She’ll check her schedule and meet me, possibly today.

I have a shot to potentially resolve this internship fiasco today. The uncertainty of my academic fate has been a pain in the ass. I need a solution fast. Deleting my reply to Vanessa’s text, I hit the call phone option and wait for her to answer. We can update each other quickly now, and take our times to catch up in person later.

“Hi,” she answers.

“Hi, babes. How was your weekend?”

“I spent it at home. Did some stuff with Mom.”

“That’s nice.”

“Franko was here too,” she adds. “Oh. By the way, Snappy’s a little banged up, but he’ll be fine.”

“Snappy?”

“Yeah. Franko named your turtle,” she informs me between curious chuckles which tell me there’s either more to the Snappy story, or to Franko.

“That’s cute. And you two are…” I start, and wait for her to confess.

“Uh, no,” she says way too quickly. “We aren’t a ‘we’ at all. “He’s Dylan’s friend. I’m Dylan’s sister. That’s where the similarities end.”

Yeah. Right. “So, you slept with him, I’m guessing.” She doesn’t answer. “You did!”

“Okay. Yes, I did. Trust me, it’s not happening again.”

“Really? That bad, huh?”

“No,” she giggles. “It was pretty damn good. I’m just saying it’s…it’s way too close for comfort.”

I can relate. “Okay, I think I got it.”

“How did things end up?” she asks, turning the tables.

“Good.”

“Just good? How was your weekend? What did you end up doing?”

I smile at her question and answer, “Jace.”

“You mean you—”

“Yes. I think we had a breakthrough.”

“I bet he broke it through, all right,” she says playfully. It’s no secret what Jace is packing between his legs.

“So what’s the big news?” I ask her, getting back to her text message.

“Oh! Right! Dylan has a lead on a job for you,” she says, voice brimming over with excitement.

“Really? So fast?” There’s another pause, which can only mean one thing. She’s suggesting that I take a position with Knights Capital. Where Dylan works. And Jace. And their whole crew. “Please don’t tell me you mean where he works.”

“So what if it is?”

“No. That just can’t happen. That’s too close for comfort, especially now with Jace, and whatever we’re working through right now.”

“You won’t be working with Jace, silly. Dylan would never do that.”

“With who?”

Another pause. “Joseph Knight,” she says, referring to Jace’s father. “And he understands where you want to go, career-wise. He’s willing to mentor you too.”

“What?”

“Oh, and you start tomorrow.”

This news is a double-edged sword. Working for Mr. Knight would be a dream assignment. He’s well respected, powerful, and a decent man by all accounts. Nothing like my father.

But he’s still Jace’s dad.

“I can’t believe that you did that…that Dylan did.”

“Yep. You better believe it. You’re going to say yes too, because Dylan stuck his neck out for you.”

“And what about Jace?”

“Dylan will talk to him. He probably already has.”

“I need to see if he’s okay with this. The last thing I want is for this to get awkward. God, the timing sucks, Vanessa. After what went down this weekend…I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

A text message buzzes while I’m speaking to Vanessa. It’s Jace. The message reads, ‘I hear congratulations are in order.’

“I’ll call you back, Vanessa,” I say. “Jace just texted me. I need to call him.”

“His ears must be burning. Okay, let me know what happens. And congrats!”

“Thanks. And thank Dylan for me too.”

I end the call with Vanessa and phone Jace, who answers after the second ring.

“Hi sexy,” he rasps into the phone, making my core clench from the memory of how we spent the weekend.

“Hi, Jace. So you know about this internship. Are you okay with my working there?”

“Sure. Why not? You need the placement, and Dad’s executive assistant can use some help on a small project she’s working on. Sounds like a win-win.”

“Are you sure it won’t get awkward for you?”

“It won’t.”

“I guess we can have some distance at the office.”

He laughs. “Fuck no. I know I won’t. I plan to do some very bad things to you in my office, kitten.”

This is exactly what I mean. “I’d really prefer to try to keep things professional. Think about it. We’ve only really spent one weekend together. I don’t want to mess up this chance…after our history.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he says confidently. “That’s all in the past.”

“It matters to me. Please try to understand. This assignment means a lot to me. I plan to give it my all. It may not seem that way to you, but working with your father is the opportunity of a lifetime. He’s pretty much the most respected trust fund executive in North America. And you know how things are with my father. If I say yes, I’d want to walk in there, work hard, and learn everything I can. I also want to earn my way, you know?”

“That’s fine with me. I get it. All right, if you want to keep things quiet for now, I’ll roll with it. As long as it’s not forever. You can’t expect a man to hide the fact that he’s with the sexiest woman alive.”

“Okay,” I tell him, but I’m on cloud nine right now, hearing the pride in his voice that he sees us as a couple already. “I’m willing to try.”

“Great. That’s what I want to hear.”

“Thanks for being open to trying this out.”

“There are a whole lot of things we’ll be trying together, Cherry,” he says suggestively.

I smile. I can’t fucking wait.