Rhett pov

The city lights outside my apartment window blurred into streaks of silver and gold, the glass fogged faintly from my breath as I leaned against it. My reflection stared back at me,

hollow-eyed, a man caught between desire and fear. The acceptance letter still sat on the coffee table behind me, its words echoing in my skull: We are pleased to offer you admission to the doctoral program…

I’d been staring at that single sheet of paper for hours, running through scenarios in my ...