Have We Met Before?

JUNO HAYES

10:00 a.m. – Hudson University

“Good morning, Professor Hayes,” one of my students called as they passed.

I nodded with a smile, clutching my tablet as I left the lecture hall. Class was over, but my day wasn’t.

I was due at the Hudson Peak Wellness Center. Rhett Voss’s first official rehab session was at eleven.

Technically, he was just a client.

But after yesterday? It didn’t feel that simple anymore.

My steps slowed as the memory crept back in—his voice, his eyes, the way his hand brushed my cheek like he already knew me.

No. That was yesterday. Today, he was just another injured athlete with a bruised ego and a bad shoulder.

I reached my office door, thirty minutes early. Just enough time to calm down—or pretend to.

Before I could unlock it, the office next door opened.

“Juno, back from class already?” came Daniel’s voice.

I sighed without turning. “Yes, Daniel.”

“That offer still stands, you know. Smoothies, coffee, back rub—purely professional,” he added with a grin I could hear.

I opened my door. “Flirt with someone who might actually say yes today.”

“Rude,” he called cheerfully as I shut the door behind me.

The air conditioning washed over me. I tossed my bag on the couch and checked the clock. Twenty-eight minutes to go.

I grabbed Rhett’s file. I didn’t need to read it again—I already had it memorized.

Former student. Pro hockey star. Dislocated shoulder. Shouldn’t be back, but here he was.

So was I.

We were both supposed to be professionals.

Yesterday didn’t count.

I sat down at my desk. Waited.

Thirty minutes passed.

No sign of him.

I moved to the couch, grumbling under my breath, “Of course he’s late.”

Maybe I closed my eyes for just a second.

The hum of the AC, the stillness… it was too easy to drift off.

I didn’t know what woke me.

A sound. A shift. A shadow.

I blinked.

Standing over me was Rhett Voss.

I shot upright, almost colliding with him.

“God,” I muttered, pushing my hair back. “What time is it?”

“Eleven forty-two,” he said calmly.

I blinked again. “You’re late.”

He tilted his head. “And you were unconscious.”

“I was resting my eyes,” I snapped, still shaking off the sleep.

“Sure you were.”

Fantastic. A late, cocky, arrogant client. Just what I needed.

“Take a seat,” I said tightly, gesturing to the couch. “We’ll start now—though you’ve already wasted most of our hour.”

I turned back toward my desk.

But he didn’t move.

Instead, his voice cut through the air like a whip.

“Who did that to you?”

I froze.

He stepped closer. “Was it that bastard from yesterday?”

My heart jumped. “W-what?”

Then, suddenly, his hand reached out—too fast to stop.

He yanked my collar down, revealing the faint bruise still lingering on my neck.

I slapped his hand away, fury surging. “You don’t get to touch me.”

But he didn’t back off. Didn’t apologize.

He just stared. Something sharp and unreadable in his eyes.

Recognition. Rage. Confusion.

I fixed my collar, heat rushing to my face. I should’ve worn something with a higher neck, but it was summer.

Then he said it.

Low. Rough. Familiar.

“Have we met before?”

I blinked.

“What?”

He stepped closer.

His presence swallowed the room.

My legs hit the couch.

He leaned in, brushing his knuckles against my chin.

“There’s something about you,” he said slowly, eyes locked on mine. “Something I should remember... but it’s buried.”

My breath caught.

His voice.

It wasn’t just familiar.

It was the one that haunted me when the lights were out.

The one that made my knees tremble when I wasn’t even touched.

And hearing it now, this close?

Terrifying.

Because if Rhett Voss was who I thought he might be…

I was in more trouble than I ever imagined.