Office Hours Are Over

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Seven years ago, Professor Gideon Parish taught me three things: how to cut a useless sentence, how to recognize a lie on the page, and how badly I could want a man who would never touch me.

Noel Arce is twenty-nine, a bestselling queer romance novelist, and trapped at a coastal writing retreat with the one man he has never managed to forget. Dr. Gideon Parish was his professor. His mentor. The severe, brilliant man who praised almost nothing and noticed everything.

Gideon did everything right. He kept his distance. He treated Noel like every other student. He let him graduate without ever confirming that the attraction between them was real.

Now Gideon is the retreat’s guest mentor. He is no longer employed by Noel’s former university. There is no professional barrier left between them. Only history.

Their first night together should settle the question. Instead, it creates a much more dangerous one: what happens when the fantasy becomes a man you could actually love?

Then someone leaks Gideon’s old seminar notes and makes their relationship look like something it never was. He wants to protect Noel by disappearing. Noel wants him to stop deciding what his life can survive.

He taught Noel to tell the truth. Now Noel is going to make him live with it.

You’ll love this book if you enjoy:

✅ Former professor/student with NO current power dynamic
✅ 19-year age gap (29/48) with mutual competence
✅ Praise kink that works both ways
✅ Writing retreat forced proximity + storm-bound cottage
✅ Intellectual sparring as foreplay
✅ A controlled older man who comes apart beautifully
✅ A confident younger man who refuses to be protected
✅ Public scandal and the courage to tell the truth
✅ Scorching heat (🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ — graphic, explicit, emotional)
✅ Guaranteed HEA