Professor Astor (Off-Limits)

I take in the handsome stranger seated beside me and let my gaze wander over his sharp cheekbones and those bright blue eyes. There are a few grays peeking through his thick dark hair, and somehow it just adds to his appeal. He’s wearing a watch that’s worth an entire year’s salary, yet his clothes seem simple. Expensive, but simple. This man oozes intrigue and desire… but it isn’t his utter sexiness that’s got me interested, nor is it the fact that he looks like a dark-haired version of the actor that plays Thor. It’s the sorrow I see in his eyes. It matches mine perfectly.

“You seem to have had quite the day yourself,” I tell him after he orders us both drinks. Much to my surprise, he orders himself a soda. I expected him to be a beer type of guy. Thor turns to me, and I smile to myself at the nickname. It clearly isn’t his real name, but somehow it suits him perfectly.

“Try a bad few months, Ley. You have no idea.”

I look into his eyes, noting the pain and exhaustion. “Aren’t all those burdens you’re carrying heavy? How do you feel about putting that weight down for a moment or two?”

He looks startled, his eyes finding mine. For a moment, we sit there together, looking into each other’s eyes. I wonder if he’s anything like me, constantly pretending, playing the role everyone expects us to play. Does he long for a moment of truthfulness, a single moment in which we can rid ourselves of the masks and revel in the pain we keep hidden?

“They weigh down on me heavier with every breath I take, Ley.”

I nod and tear my gaze away, focusing my attention on my glass. Something about this man has my heart racing. The walls I keep up are shaking around him, and I can’t tell if it’s simply the night I’ve had, or if it’s got something to do with him. Perhaps it’s a combination of both; a matter of one broken soul recognizing another.

I take a sip of my drink, gulping more down than I’d intended in an effort to dismiss the way his gaze feels on my skin. He isn’t even touching me, yet it feels like he’s caressing me.

“Will you tell me about your shitty day?” he asks.

I shake my head. “I’d really rather not. You wanna tell me about yours?”

Thor chuckles and shakes his head. “Nah. I’m with you. Let’s just blame Mercury being in retrograde. That’s what all you Millennials do these days, isn’t it?”

I burst out laughing and glance at him in surprise. “Okay, Boomer,” I tell him. “You clearly know Mercury is in retrograde right now, though, so what does that say about you, you Millennial-wannabe?”

He gasps in mock shock, making me laugh again. It’s surprising that he managed to turn a somber night around so quickly. I was certain I’d end up calling Amara in tears, yet here I am, sharing a smile with a stranger.

“Do you even know what actually happens when Mercury goes intro retrograde?” he asks, an alluring smile on his face. My gaze drops to his lips, and for a moment I wonder what it’d be like to kiss him. I want to know how his stubble would feel against my skin, how my lips fit against his.

“Electronics go to shit, and things you buried in the past come back to haunt you.”

He laughs. “Oh, God,” he murmurs. “You’re the superstitious sort, aren’t you? You know what actually happens, Ley… nothing.”

I frown at him, and he smiles.

“Mercury going into retrograde is an optical illusion. It doesn’t actually happen. Mercury is closer to the sun than Earth is, so its orbital speed is faster. That’s why it looks like it’s going into retrograde a few times a year, but nothing actually happens.”

I narrow my eyes and shake my heads. “Oh, no… you’re the rational kind. We can’t be friends, Thor.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Hmm, I don’t know. We both love astronomy, it seems, but just in different ways. Besides… you’re right. We can’t be friends. We’re definitely going to become a whole lot more than that.”

I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since we started talking, and a burst of giddiness rushes through me as a giggle escapes my lips. “That’s a nice way to put it, but you’re definitely not convincing me that Mercury isn’t messing up my life. I’ve had email issues four times this week, Thor. Four. That’s four times my usual average,” I say, ignoring the rest of his words because he’s making me feel a lot more flustered than I want to let on.

He laughs and leans his elbow on the bar, his attention fully on me. It’s busy in the bar we’re in, yet it feels like it’s just the two of us. “I’ll show you,” he says, his gaze lingering. “I have a telescope in my truck. Let’s go and take a look at your supernatural Mercury.”

I hesitate, startled by his proposition. I’m hardly a prude, but I’m definitely cautious. Leaving a bar no one knows I’m in with a man I’ve never met before seems irresponsible.

“I promise that I’m not a murderer or a weirdo.”

I bite down on my lip, hesitating. “I have pepper spray and my best friend has access to my location data. I’m going to ask her to check in with me every hour, and if I go missing, she will come for you. She’s terrifying. Definitely not someone you want to mess with.”

Thor nods and holds his hands up. “Consider me warned, Ley. I promise I won’t kidnap you. I won’t touch you unless you ask me to.”

I pause in the middle of texting Amara, my cheeks heating. I can definitely see myself asking him to do things to me I’ve been missing out on for longer than I care to admit. Hell, I can barely remember the last time I slept with someone. It certainly wasn’t memorable.

I turn back to my phone and finish texting my bestie my location and details of my impromptu date. I’m not surprised when she texts me back instantly, offering encouragement instead of warnings. She’s been pushing me to ‘put myself out there’ for as long as I can remember. I have no doubt she’ll have a thousand questions for me when I see her tomorrow.

“Okay,” I murmur nervously. “Let’s go see Mercury.”

Thor nods and smiles as he looks away.

“What?” I ask, suspicious.

He shakes his head. “I really want to make a terrible joke about Uranus, but I worry I’ll lose my chance with you.”

I burst out laughing again as I hop off the bar stool. “Uranus, really?”

He shrugs. “Too late, huh?”

“Yup,” I tell him, knowing full well that I’m lying. With the way he’s making me smile, it’s going to be hard for him to lose his shot with me — for tonight, at least. The look in his eyes tells me he knows it, too.