Flora Wainwright guards her family's reputation above all else, yet the debt to the college program binds her to Miles Villiers in ways that test every boundary. His authoritative commands mask a deeper hunger, and in the tight quarters of the sports facility, that hunger threatens to expose them both if the door ever opens at the wrong moment.
In the narrow equipment room the door shuts and stays shut. He bends her over the bench and makes her count each mark aloud, and he will not let her rush it or stop early. Every number carries further than she wants it to. Her family's name rides on nobody outside pausing to listen.
