Chapter 1
Stella Morrison's POV:
The door to Lecture Hall B swung open fifteen minutes into my carefully structured introduction to attachment theory, and I didn't need to look up from the whiteboard to know that whoever had just walked in was about to become a problem.
The murmured apology that followed—casual, unhurried, tinged with what sounded like deliberate nonchalance—made my hand freeze mid-sentence, the dry-erase marker hovering over the word "secure" like it had suddenly forgotten its purpose.
"Sorry, I'm late, Professor."
That voice.
I forced myself to turn slowly, keeping my expression neutral despite the sudden tightness in my chest.
The late September sun slanted through the tall windows, catching the newcomer in profile first—athletic build in a faded hoodie and basketball shorts, dark hair that looked artfully disheveled in that way college freshmen somehow achieved without effort, the kind of easy confidence that radiated from every movement as he made his way down the aisle steps.
Something about him made my breath catch.
The angle of his jaw. The particular shade of his eyes caught the light. And then the memory slammed into me with enough force to make my grip tighten on the dry-erase marker.
The rooftop terrace of some upscale hotel. Zoe had rented out the entire space for her pre-wedding party.
Champagne tower, DJ, girlfriends, urging me to loosen up. "Come on, Stella, you need to have some fun—you're always so serious!"
I downed my third glass of champagne, trying to drown out my mother's voice from earlier that week: "Twenty-eight and still single? All your cousins are married now."
The music was too loud, my head spinning, and I stumbled.
Someone caught me—masculine hands, unfamiliar but steady. "You okay? Let me get you some water." The voice sounded young.
I looked up at a blurred face, only remembering dimples when he smiled. "Let me take you home." I nodded because Zoe was busy entertaining other guests, because I couldn't find my apartment keys, because his suggestion—"There are rooms just downstairs, you can rest for a bit"—sounded so reasonable.
The elevator mirror reflected my disheveled state. Then everything went blank.
The next thing I remembered was waking up in a hotel room.
With him.
No. Absolutely not.
I blinked hard, forcing the hotel room out of my mind as reality snapped back.
He scanned the lecture hall with unhurried assessment, his gaze sweeping past the scattered students in the back rows, past the eager note-takers in the middle section, and landing with what seemed like deliberate calculation on the front row. On the three empty seats directly in my line of sight.
"Find a seat." My voice came out steady, perhaps even slightly bored, as if late-arriving freshmen were merely a minor inconvenience rather than a threat to my carefully maintained equilibrium.
"We're discussing Bowlby's attachment theory framework, which you've now missed the introduction to, so I suggest you get the notes from someone who actually respects other people's time."
A few scattered laughs rippled through the classroom.
I felt a small, vicious satisfaction at the way his easy smile faltered for just a fraction of a second before recovering.
Good. I returned my focus to the class, keeping my expression neutral. Whatever had happened that night at Zoe's pre-wedding party—whatever mortifying lapse in judgment had led to me waking up disheveled in that hotel room—it couldn't matter here.
In this room, I held all the power.
"As I was saying," I continued, forcing my voice into its usual crisp authority, "Bowlby identified secure attachment as the foundation for healthy adult relationships."
I turned to face the class, letting my gaze sweep the lecture hall in what I hoped looked like routine eye contact—left side, back rows, right side...
"Our early relationships with caregivers shape how we connect with others throughout our lives," I said. "Secure attachment comes from consistent responsiveness—safety that allows for independence."
He settled into the front row seat with an economy of movement that somehow still managed to draw attention, slinging his backpack onto the floor with a soft thud. I didn't wait to see what he pulled out—laptop, notebook, whatever. I returned to the whiteboard, forcing my hand to complete the outline I'd been writing, desperate to look anywhere but at him.
The details I'd been trying to suppress all morning kept flooding back.
That hotel room. Sunlight filtering through half-drawn curtains. My dress from the night before draped over a chair, one heel missing somewhere.
And on the other side of the bed—him. Shirtless, his muscled torso clearly defined in the morning light, the sheets only covering him from the waist down. Already awake, propped up on one elbow and scrolling through his phone like this was perfectly normal.
My heart had nearly stopped.
He'd noticed me stirring and looked over with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"Morning," he'd said, his voice still rough with sleep.
I'd frozen, my mind racing. The sheets. The fact that we were both—
He'd sat up, running a hand through his hair. "Look, about last night—"
But then he'd stopped mid-sentence, his gaze flicking over my face. Whatever he'd seen there—panic, mortification, the dawning horror of what I thought had happened—had made something shift in his expression.
That slow, infuriating smile had started to spread.
"You were pretty wasted," he'd said instead, his tone deliberately casual. "You couldn't tell me your address, and since we were already at the hotel, I just... got us a room."
The way he'd left it hanging there. Not confirming. Not denying.
"Did we—" I'd started, hating how small my voice sounded.
He'd tilted his head, that smile still playing at the corners of his mouth. "Do you remember?"
"No."
"Hmm." He'd picked up his phone again, like this was just a mildly interesting conversation. "Probably for the best."
The implication had hit me like ice water. I'd scrambled out of bed, grabbed my things with shaking hands, and pulled out every bill in my wallet.
Six hundred dollars, dropped on the nightstand.
He'd glanced at the cash, then back at me, eyebrows raised. "Generous."
"For your trouble," I'd managed, my voice tight.
"My trouble." He'd repeated it slowly, like he was tasting the words. That infuriating smile had widened. "You know, if you're interested in a monthly rate—"
I'd walked out before he could finish.
And now he was here.
Focus.
I clicked to the next slide, grateful for the excuse to look away from the sea of faces. The projected image showed Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment—a mother, a child, a structured observation setup.
"On the other hand," I said, my hand tightening slightly on the remote, "anxious attachment often stems from inconsistent caregiving. The child learns that love and attention are unpredictable, leading to a constant need for reassurance in adult relationships."
The irony nearly choked me. Here I was, lecturing about the psychology of intimacy while desperately pretending the man from that hotel room didn't exist. Someone who was now sitting in my classroom.
In the front row, his hand shot up.