Beating Hearts [Knight's Rest #1]

36

"Thank you, Darcy. That was great."

Darcy smiled and closed her laptop, slipping it into her bag. "Do you know when I'll get my final mark?" She asked, referring to her year-long dissertation.

"I'm afraid you'll receive it with the rest of your exam results, so around mid-July." Her project supervisor smiled apologetically.

"That's fine. Thank you." She smiled and slipped out of the room with a final goodbye.

Just as promised, he was waiting outside for her, looking as handsome as ever. When he spotted her, he got out of his car and met her halfway, pulling her into his arms and pressing a hot kiss against her awaiting lips, his tongue entwining itself with hers; dominating and claiming what's his.

He asked as he pulled away, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ears. "How did it go in there?"

"Good. I think she liked it."

"That's great. You ready to head back to the hotel?"

Darcy nodded and turned around in his arms to stare up at the huge, beautiful building which had been almost like a second home to her for the past 4 years. "I'm really going to miss this place."

"Me too." He agreed and rested his chin on top of her head.

"Why would you miss this place?" She asked with a teasing smile on her face. Surely he didn't miss being a janitor.

"It's the reason I met you."

Her breath faltered at his admission.

Darcy couldn't help but grin when she thought back to the memory of how they had met. Her as a busy student and him as a stand-in janitor for his friend, their worlds literally colliding.

He was right. If it wasn't for university, they probably would never have met.

"It is, isn't it?" She hummed aloud, a sudden newfound appreciation dawning on her.

The drive from her university to the hotel took about 20 minutes – it would have been 10 if it weren't for the busy London traffic.

"How many exams do you have?"

"3." She groaned and closed her eyes, propelling herself back on the bed, covering her face with her hands. Revising always started out fine but she always got very bored of it towards the end, but there was still a week left before her first exam so stopping now would just be plain masochism.

"Anything I can help with?" He asked thoughtfully even though he knew very little about computers other than using them for general tasks, and even less about the science behind them.

She created a gap by spreading her fingers and peaked through it, unable to control the smile on her face. "You know anything about computer forensics or distributed ledgers?"

"No, but I can quiz you." He picked up her flashcards from the top of her pile of notes, eying them warily. "Geez, I thought computer science would involve more computers, you know?" He mumbled to himself as he sifted through her notes, the pages swimming with words and long sentences; notes she had taken during her lectures as well as some independent study.

Darcy chuckled and sat up on the bed. "I'm going to hold you to that."

Walking over to the other side of the bed to get closer to her, Thelonious dropped the flashcards on the bed – they were bound together with a rubber band otherwise they would have dispersed and made a huge mess – and cupped her face in his hands, tilting her face up.

"You need to revise." He tried to reason, whispering as he leaned down and placed a soft peck to her eager, awaiting mouth.

"And you need to get back to work." Her arms trailed up his muscular chest and looped around his neck, pulling him closer to her in hopes to break through his resolve. "I've domineered too much of your attention today already."