Page 58 of Legacy Elite

He goes still.

"How long are you going to wait before you do something about this? Until I'm out of your class? Until I graduate? Until I'm thirty?" I shake my head. "Or are you planning on never acting on it?"

"Jessica."

"No. I actually want an answer." I stand up. "Are you waiting, or are you trying to ignore this until it goes away?"

"It isn't going away."

The answer is immediate.

"Okay."

He looks at me, and for once there's absolutely nothing professor about it.

"I ache for you."

Every thought in my head disappears. Jon closes his eyes for half a second.

"When you walk into a room, I know it before I see you. When you leave, I know exactly how far away you've gone." His voice is quiet. "I have spent a year wanting things from you I had no right to ask for."

"You have the right now."

"No." His eyes open. "I don't."

"Because you're my professor."

"Because I have power over you."

"That I don't give a shit about."

"I do."

That shuts me up.

He comes around the desk again, but this time he stops on the other side of it. Close enough that I could cross the space between us in two steps.

He knows it too.

"I'm not waiting for the bond to disappear," he says. "I'm waiting until wanting you doesn't come with the ability to affect your grades, your placement, your housing, or your future at this academy."

"And then?"

His eyes drop to my mouth.

Just once. But I see it.

"Then," he says, "you can ask me that again."

My entire body goes hot.

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I'm giving you tonight."

I stare at him.

"You're incredibly annoying."