Chapter 289: One "Sunshine" and I’m Finished

"You’ve got two seconds to start talking, what the fuck are you doing here?! Where do think this is a public convention?"

My voice cracked at the last word, which was just my luck, considering I’d spent the entire morning convincing myself I was a grown-up who could handle seeing Damien Lockwood without losing my grip on reason.

Clearly, my sense of reason had taken a day off.

I found myself behind my desk, lecture notes in one hand and my laptop half closed in front of me, while Damien stood at the bottom of the lecture hall, looking like he belonged there.

The classroom that had felt so normal just moments ago now felt way too big and empty, with rows of empty student seats stretched between us and the whiteboard behind me still filled with notes on attachment theory...almost too fitting, given that the very man here was the one I had spent four years trying not to get attached to anymore.

Damien’s lips curved into that familiar, infuriating smile. "You look surprised to see me."

"I’m not surprised," I shot back, even though it was obvious I was. "I’m fucking horrified, asshole."

"That wasn’t what your face said."

"My face is trying to figure out why the CEO of Lockwood Group is sitting in an undergrad psychology lecture at nine in the morning."

"I told you," he replied calmly. "I was attending your class."

"You attended my class."

"Yes."

"The...whole class?"

"The whole class."

I stared at him for a beat, grappling with the absurdity of his claim. "You actually sat through an hour of me talking about attachment theory?"

"You’re a good lecturer."

"That’s not the point."

"I took notes."

My eyes narrowed. "You took notes?"

He shrugged, and when I glanced back at the last row, I saw a notebook lying open on the desk where he’d been sitting.

There were actual notes on the page, which meant he’d been paying attention instead of plotting my demise or fielding business emails.

I pointed my pen at him. "This is bizarre."

He smiled down at me as if this very conversation took him down memory lane. "You’re flustered...all red and confused."

"I am not flustered."

"You’ve been holding that pen in the same position for almost a minute."

I looked down, and sure enough, the pen was still poised where it had been since he first spoke, gripped like a tiny, useless weapon. He was right.

I immediately dropped my hand. "I’ve been thinking."

He chuckled and stepped closer to me, his hands casually in his pockets. "About me?"

I glared at him. For crying out loud, he was a motherfucking CEO! Why did he even have time for this?!

"No," I said. "I was thinking about how fast I can have campus security throw you out."

His smile grew wider. "There he is."

"Who?"

"My sweet, hot tempered Sunshine."

Heat rushed to the back of my neck, and I hated myself for it.

This...fucking idiot!

Four years had passed, and my body still couldn’t figure out how to behave around him. It was embarrassing.

I had survived grad school, taught hundreds of students, dealt with difficult colleagues, helped my dad through some more tough times, and learned to stretch a grocery budget until math itself would fucking weep.

But one simple Sunshine from Damien was enough to send my nerves into total chaos!

It’s like all my efforts at moving on, being a fully functional adult and growth just went down the drain like "see ya, Ollie!"

It was almost like he and I were in Preston Hall again.

Where he’d flirt and tease my ass so hard, I almost fell over.

I turned away from him and started gathering my things, shuffling papers that didn’t need shuffling.

"You need to leave." I said.

"I will."

"Now."

"Eventually."

I glanced over my shoulder. He was still smiling. "Damien."

"Yes?"

"Why are you still here? Like why are you still in this town?"

The teasing vanished from his face, but something soft lingered in his eyes.

He stepped a little closer, stopping a few feet away from me, maintaining some distance, and for the first time since he’d entered my classroom, he looked completely serious.

"I told you that night." He said.

"I remember what you said."

"Then you know."

"No, I don’t," I replied, setting my papers down again. "That’s the issue. You keep saying things without really explaining anything. You told me you never forgot me, but you never said why you vanished. You mentioned you couldn’t reach out, but you didn’t explain why. You said you came back as soon as you could, but somehow four years went by before you managed to fucking do that."

His jaw tightened and I crossed my arms. "So forgive me if I’m not exactly eager to celebrate your grand return."

"I don’t expect you to."

"Good."

He studied me quietly, and I hated how easily he could see through all my defenses.

Then he said, "I’m not leaving until I get what I came to this town for."

I blinked. "What, the wedding?"

"No."

I waited. He said nothing.

"Then what the hell are you here for, Damien?"

Damien’s gaze remained fixed on mine. I suddenly didn’t like where this was headed.

"You," he said.

The word was so simple that for a moment I didn’t grasp its meaning. Then I did.

My grip tightened on the desk’s edge. "M...me?"

"You."

He moved closer but stopped before reaching me, leaving enough space that I could still breathe normally...even though my heart seemed to think breathing was optional.

"I came for you, Oliver," he said. "I know it took too long. I hate that it did, but I came back for you."

I just stared at him. For four years, I’d spun a thousand different theories about why Damien actually showed up at the wedding.

He and Joey were never even that close back at school for him to pause everything and fly into this town to attend a wedding.

Maybe someone had invited him for business, or someone from Lockwood Group was connected to the venue.

Perhaps Damien just accepted the invitation out of boredom. I had convinced myself his presence had nothing to do with me because believing otherwise would mean admitting that I still hoped he thought of me during those years.

Now he was here in my classroom, saying the exact opposite.

I swallowed hard. "Well...you’re too late."

"I know."

"No, I don’t think you do."

"I do."

"You can’t just come back after four years and say you came for me as if that erases everything that happened."

"It doesn’t erase anything."

"So what are you expecting?"

"Nothing."

I shot him a skeptical look.

He sighed softly. "I want the chance to explain."