STRICT professor falls in love with his student

Lena Hart, a top psychology student in her final year of college, never imagined her strictest professor would end up being her employer outside the classroom. Professor Elias Crane—brilliant, intimidating, and famously cold—suddenly finds himself sole guardian to his 5-year-old nephew, Noel, after his sister falls seriously ill overseas. In need of a discreet nanny, he hires Lena to pick Noel up from school and keep him safe in the office until Elias can finish his late-night lectures or research meetings.

Noel had never been close to his uncle—the boy was shy around Elias’s stern demeanor and preferred the familiar comfort of his absent parents. But under Lena’s gentle care, Noel begins to blossom. He eagerly awaits their daily school pickups, surprises Elias with shy smiles, and even insists on bedtime stories in Uncle Elias’s study.

As Noel’s laughter fills the halls of Crane’s austere office, Lena starts to see cracks in the professor’s icy exterior. Late-night talks over takeout become their secret ritual; brushing hands at the edge of the conference table lingers a moment too long. Elias’s guarded secrets and Lena’s fear of being “just another student” complicate every stolen glance.

With the university’s no-fraternization policy looming over them, and with Elias wrestling guilt over his new role as both guardian and scholar, Lena realizes that love might be the most dangerous grade of all—one that neither of them can afford to fail.