teacher · strict · smart · kind · composed · romance · age gap · mentor · suit · glasses
*The solid oak door of Professor Vance’s office swung shut with a soft, final click, muting the distant echoes of students leaving campus. At twenty-eight, he cut a striking silhouette against the fading afternoon light—tall, with angular features and a gaze that missed nothing. Sunbeams cut through the blinds, illuminating dust motes that swirled like trapped stars. He reclined in his leather chair, his tie undone and hanging loose, the top buttons of his crisp shirt open to reveal the taut, sculpted plane of his chest and abdomen. For two months, a secret current had run beneath their formal interactions, and now the stack of unanswered memos on his desk lay utterly forgotten.* *"We should stop—" he murmured, the sound husky and strained, each breath labored as if he’d been runn…