Chapter 13
“You’re going where?”
“You heard me. I’m going to Houston to visit your aunt Phyllis. Kennedi is treating us to a spa day and dinner.”
Daniela frowned into her phone. “Sounds lovely, Mom, but do you really think that’s a good idea? You’re recovering from the flu. Less than a week ago you were sick as a dog and bed-ridden, and now you’re talking about traveling to Houston?”
“First of all,” came the indignant response, “stop referring to Houston as if it’s on the other side of the country.
It’s two and a half hours away. Second of all, you don’t have to keep reminding me how sick I was.
I’m all better now, as you’ve seen with your own two eyes.
Third, I am not a child, and I would appreciate not being treated like one. ”
“Sorry,” Daniela mumbled, suitably chastened. She threw a surreptitious glance around the scenic courtyard bustling with students, then lowered her voice. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Mom. I’m just a little worried about you, that’s all. What if you get sick again?”
“Then Phyllis will take care of me,” Pamela said blithely. “Considering she used to look after me when we were growing up, I think she’s got a bit more experience than you do.”
“Be that as it may,” Daniela said, striving for patience, “I still don’t understand the sudden urgency to visit your sister. You didn’t say a thing about this last night over dinner.” She paused, her frown deepening. “Is Aunt Phyllis sick?”
“No, darling, she’s not sick. But when you get to be our age, you don’t take anything for granted, least of all time. I haven’t seen your aunt since Christmas. I miss her, and I’d like to see her again. Is something wrong with that?”
“Of course not. But if you’ll just wait until tomorrow, I can drive you myself.”
“It’s not necessary. Besides, you need to use your weekends to study and get your coursework done. Deacon Hubbard offered to let me catch a ride with him to Houston since he has to be there for a conference. He’ll bring me back with him next Saturday.”
A slow, knowing grin spread across Daniela’s face. “Deacon Hubbard, huh?”
“Don’t you go taking that sly tone with me, young lady.
I’m not one of your little chit-chat girlfriends.
Deacon Hubbard is taking me to Houston, and that’s all I’m going to say about the matter.
We’re leaving in an hour, so I won’t be here when you get back from class.
I just wanted to call and let you know.” Her tone softened.
“Take care of yourself, you hear? You didn’t seem like yourself last night.
I know you’ve got a lot on your mind with law school, but everything’s going to work out just fine, you’ll see. ”
Daniela smiled into the phone. “Call me when you arrive in Houston, and give Aunt Phyllis my love.”
“Will do, baby.”
Daniela ended the call and shot off a text to Kennedi.
Take good care of Mom. Don’t let her overexert herself next week.
She assumed she wouldn’t hear back from her cousin until she’d gotten off work. So she was surprised when her phone buzzed with an incoming FaceTime call from Kennedi.
She swiped on the screen to answer. “Hey, girl.”
“Hey.” Kennedi looked flawless as usual. She’d inherited their mothers’ light skin and hazel eyes. Her honey-highlighted hair was perfectly styled, her eyebrows were perfectly sculpted and her makeup was perfectly applied.
“Are you at work?” Daniela asked her.
“No. I’m at the Mercedes dealership trading in my S-Class for a new one.”
“Seriously?” Daniela exclaimed. “You literally just bought that car last year.”
“I know,” Kennedi said with a shrug. “I was ready for an upgrade.”
Daniela shook her head in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”
“Don’t hate just because you can’t make power moves like me.”
Daniela laughed. “No hate here. You got it, big baller. Anyway, I just wanted to tell—” Something in her cousin’s eyes stopped her midsentence, and she frowned. “Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” Kennedi said irritably. “I’m just waiting for them to finish the paperwork so I can go. I have meetings to attend and calls to make.”
Daniela studied her cousin in silence. Her lips were tight and she was fidgeting with the bow at the neck of her white ruffled blouse. Kennedi never fidgeted. Unless…
“Kenn,” Daniela said quietly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Kennedi broke eye contact—another dead giveaway.
“Tell me what happened.”
“It’s just…I just…” Kennedi swallowed visibly and shook her head at the ceiling. “I had breakfast with Dad.”
Oh, no. “He’s in town?”
Kennedi nodded tightly, still looking at the ceiling. “He flew in from New York last night. He had to visit one of his properties and insisted on spending time with me. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Daniela eyed her sympathetically. “Did he come alone?”
“You mean, did he bring that Botox bitch of a trophy wife?” Kennedi’s lips twisted. “He knew better.”
Kennedi’s parents got divorced when she was eleven.
Her father had been unfaithful for years, but Aunt Phyllis always forgave him and took him back.
Until one day he didn’t crawl home seeking forgiveness or reconciliation.
He’d fallen in love with a much younger woman and wanted to start a new life with her, and that was exactly what he did.
“I don’t know why he even bothered calling me,” Kennedi ranted bitterly.
“He doesn’t give a shit about me or what’s going on in my life.
I can count on one hand the number of questions he asked me about myself.
All he wanted to talk about were his precious sons, how brilliant and amazing they are, how rich and successful they’re going to be after graduating college.
The way he talks, you would never know he already has a highly accomplished daughter.
I’m an afterthought to him. Always have been.
” She shook her head, pain hardening her features.
“I made it halfway through breakfast before I decided I’d had enough.
I told him I had better things to do with my time, got up and left his ass sitting there. ”
“Then drove straight to the Mercedes dealership to buy yourself a new car,” Daniela murmured, smiling a little. No one did retail therapy better than Kennedi.
“I’m such an idiot for thinking he could ever change,” she mumbled.
The rare glimpse of vulnerability plucked at Daniela’s heartstrings. “I’m so sorry, Kenn. It’s his loss, not yours.”
“Big facts.” She sniffed and wiped the corner of her eye, then gestured airily at Daniela. “So how’s law school going? Kicking your ass yet?”
“Pretty much,” Daniela admitted. “But you know what? I’m actually enjoying it.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve always been smart and disciplined, and you’ve never backed down from a challenge. If anyone can excel in law school, it’s definitely you.”
Daniela gasped in exaggerated shock. “Did you just pay me a compliment?”
Kennedi snickered. “Don’t get used to it. Oh, hey, before I forget. When I told my friend Adele about you going to Northbridge Law, the first thing she asked me is if Caleb Thorne is one of your professors.”
“Really?” Daniela hedged. “She’s heard of him?”
Kennedi snorted. “What kind of question is that? Of course she’s heard of Caleb Thorne. Don’t forget she’s a lawyer, and at one time, he was a rising star in the legal world. Plus one of his closest friends was a partner at the law firm she works for.”
“Oh? Who’s his friend?”
“Senator Chambers.”
Daniela gasped. “Brandon Chambers? The governor’s son?”
“I know, right? They went to UT together. Adele says they bonded over having rich daddies and being fine as fuck.” Kennedi grinned. “So did you get into one of Professor Thorne’s classes or not?”
“Um, well, actually—” Daniela was interrupted by a man’s voice in the background.
Kennedi responded to him before reappearing on the screen. “Gotta run, El. I need to sign a few more papers, then I’m off to a client meeting.” Her face softened. “Thanks for your listening ear.”
“Anytime, doll.” Daniela smiled. “Enjoy your new ride.”
“You know I will. And don’t worry about Aunt Pam—she’ll be in good hands.” Kennedi winked and blew her a kiss before disconnecting the call.
Smiling, Daniela tucked her phone into her backpack, then rose from the stone bench and headed toward the library to meet her study group.
Before making her way to the rooftop terrace where they awaited her, she stopped first in one of the reading rooms to search for a book she needed for her torts class. She wandered down rows of mahogany-paneled bookcases filled with leather-bound tomes before finally locating the right aisle.
Unfortunately, it was already occupied. By none other than Caleb Thorne.
She felt a fresh spurt of anger, though she’d just spent the past hour in his class trying her best to pretend what he did with his students wasn’t any of her concern.
But she couldn’t lie to herself. She felt some type of way over what she’d learned about him from Shara Adler, but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
Resolutely squaring her shoulders, she started down the aisle, scanning thick leather spines as she went, praying she would find what she needed before she reached him.
No such luck.
“Professor Thorne,” she greeted him, as if she’d just noticed him standing there.
He barely glanced up from the book he’d been thumbing through. “Miss Moreau,” he murmured.
Was it just her imagination, or was there an edge to his deep voice?
“Excuse me,” she said, hitching her chin toward a segment of books at his midsection.
He stepped aside, but not by much.
Biting back a sigh of irritation, Daniela moved in beside him and knelt in front of the bookcase. She ran her fingers over the spines until she found the volume she was looking for, pulling it off the shelf and cracking it open.
“Is everything all right?” Caleb asked without looking up from his book. “You left rather abruptly after class.”
She felt a surge of feminine satisfaction to know he’d been watching her. “Everything’s fine,” she told him. “I just had to take a personal call.”
Let him think it had been her boyfriend, she mused. Let him care.
His next query, deceptively nonchalant, brought a triumphant smile to her lips. “Nothing dire, I hope?”
“Mmm, I guess that depends on your perspective,” she purred, letting her gaze deliberately wander up his thick denim-clad legs, over the impressive bulge at his crotch, past the broadness of his chest and the strong column of his throat, to his unsmiling, sexy mouth.
She allowed her gaze to linger there before finally lifting her eyes to meet his, shivering at the piercing intensity in those dark, magnificent pools. “You know how it is,” she said silkily.
She could practically see the muscles of his jaw tightening beneath his beard.
“You might want to make your boyfriend aware of the hours you’re in class,” he said in a voice edged with steel.
Daniela swallowed another smile. “Yes, sir,” she promised sweetly. She thumbed through the contents of her book a minute longer, then decided she’d better go find her study mates before they came looking for her.
As she began to straighten from her kneeling position, Caleb moved at the exact same time, reaching around her to return his book to the shelf. The sudden shift was uncalculated.
And devastatingly explosive.
Without warning Daniela found her back flush against the masculine warmth of his big body.
She looked over her shoulder at him, and their eyes locked. She felt him go tense, felt the tremor of response in her own traitorous body. Her pulse spiked crazily, her nipples pebbled and her thighs clenched.
As she slowly rose to her full height, the resulting friction between their bodies was so supercharged, so mind-blowingly intense, that she nearly moaned out loud.
She stayed right there, unwilling or unable to move, trapped in a cocoon of Caleb’s body heat. She could feel him breathing, could feel his chest expanding and contracting against her back. He had her caged in against the bookcase, his arms like steel bars on either side of her.
As they stared at each other, one of his hands lowered from the shelf and ghosted her hip. She shivered as if he’d actually touched her, goose bumps erupting all over her skin. She saw his pupils dilate before his eyes dipped to her mouth, watching her lips slowly part.
And then his hand came up and passed over her hip again, this time settling on the flared curve.
The rush of wetness between her legs shocked her, and she audibly gasped.
As if the sound broke the spell between them, Caleb dropped his arms and stepped back from her, his gorgeous face an impenetrable mask.
Suddenly the aisle seemed way too narrow, the space much too confining.
They held each other in a locked gaze for a long, electrifying moment. Then, without a word, Daniela turned on legs that shook and got the hell out of there.
Caleb stood watching as Daniela walked away from him as quickly as if the devil was on her heels. And maybe he was.
God knows there was nothing saintly about the thoughts racing through Caleb’s mind, or the raw hunger rampaging through his blood and hardening his dick. How could something as simple and fleeting as the accidental brush of their bodies wreak such havoc on his senses?
When he’d unexpectedly found himself pressed against Daniela’s lush curves, a double onslaught of temptation and lust had hit him like a tsunami.
Her bewitching dark eyes, at once innocent and boldly seductive, had thrown him completely off-kilter.
All of a sudden he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move.
Staring at her slightly parted lips, he’d been struck with a feral urge to kiss the hell out of her, to plunge his tongue into the sweet depths of her mouth and devour her whole.
As she’d slowly risen to her feet, the unhurried pace had intensified his awareness of her jasmine-scented skin and every dangerous curve of her body.
He’d wanted nothing more than to grab her by the hips and crush himself against the plump swell of her ass.
He’d wanted to strip her naked, bend her over and fuck her until she screamed his name.
Shaken to the core, Caleb took a deep, ragged breath that burned in his lungs.
As he blinked, his surroundings slowly came back into focus.
He was in the library, for God’s sake. He’d been on the verge of seducing one of his students in the fucking library, where at any moment another student or one of his colleagues could’ve stumbled upon them.
Caleb swore under his breath, filled with shame and self-loathing.
Somehow, some way, he had to resist this forbidden craving he had for Daniela Moreau, before his slick grasp on control completely slipped away.
If it hadn’t already.