She scoffed.

“Of course not. That would be… primitive.”

“Ava…” He leaned in until his face was just inches from hers. “Was it because of the student?”

“It’s not… not exactly that…”

“You were jealous. You were. I bet you imagined things, didn’t you?”

“Gabriel…”

“Say it. Go on. Admit it. You were jealous of her looking at me, weren’t you? Imagining her calling me professor… in a very indecent way…”

Ava crossed her arms, irritated, but her eyes betrayed her.

“Perhaps a minor emotional discomfort was generated,” she murmured, almost to herself.

“Oh, Ava… just say you were jealous. It’ll be liberating.”

Completely defeated, she covered her face with her hands.

“Fine!” she muttered. “I was jealous. Of that student of yours. That… blonde with a perfume-commercial voice. How humiliating.”

Gabriel smiled—slow, satisfied, delicious.

“Ohhh, the doctor got jealous of Barbie. Now we’ve got ourselves a real case. God, how good it is to hear that from the ice-cold doctor.”

She narrowed her eyes at h