Chapter 30
CECE
I stayed in the park a good twenty minutes after Grady headed back.
We didn’t want to walk back together and risk being seen together.
It was strange to be a grown-ass adult and being told who I could and couldn’t date.
I had everyone trying to boss me around.
What was the point of being twenty-something with a kid and people were still trying to run my life?
Was this how life was always going to be? Were people going to boss me around the rest of my days? I had Grady trying to tell me I wasn’t allowed to dive because I had a kid. What the hell was that about?
I checked the weather and there was a chance of a storm. It wasn’t a guarantee. And he was still going to dive. He was going to take Lina diving and it was pretty damn clear that chick wasn’t a strong diver.
Then Grady went behind my back to get me kicked out of my spot.
What the hell? Although for that last one, I would go easy on him.
I did understand his reasons. And if he knew why I got that TA position in the first place, he would really be pissed.
And I wouldn’t blame him at all. Spying on him was shady.
God, why did everyone think they had the right to make decisions for me?
First it was my mom, telling me I was throwing my life away when I got pregnant with Sophie.
Then it was every well-meaning relative and friend who thought they knew what was “best” for a young single mother.
Go back to school, don’t go back to school.
Date, don’t date. Focus on Sophie, focus on yourself.
Everyone had an opinion about how I should live my life.
And now it was Grady deciding I was too fragile or too distracted to handle a simple dive because I had a daughter.
Like having a kid suddenly made me incompetent.
Like I hadn’t been diving since I was walking, like I hadn’t logged more underwater hours than half the graduate students in the program.
The worst part was how his protective streak made my stomach flutter even as it pissed me off.
The way his jaw had tightened when he talked about keeping me safe, the flash of concern in those green eyes when he mentioned the storm.
It reminded me of how he’d looked at me that night in his house, right before he’d stuck his tongue halfway down my throat.
Fuck. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that.
But my body had other ideas. The memory hit me like a rogue wave—his hands gripping my hips, lifting me effortlessly as my legs wrapped around him.
The way he’d growled my name against my throat, his stubble scraping my skin as he worked his way down my neck.
God, the man knew exactly how to light up my whole body.
I shifted on the park bench, my thighs clenching involuntarily.
This was exactly why working together was going to be impossible.
How was I supposed to maintain professional distance when I could still feel the phantom touch of his fingers trailing down my spine?
When I knew exactly what he looked like with his head thrown back in pleasure, muscles straining as he moved inside me?
The memory of his weight pressing me into his couch made heat pool low in my belly. The way he’d whispered filthy promises in my ear, telling me exactly what he wanted to do to me, how good I felt wrapped around him. Shit, even his voice had been enough to make me come undone.
I took a shaky breath, forcing myself to focus on the present. On the students laughing nearby, the distant sound of traffic, anything but the ache between my legs that Grady Stone seemed to trigger just by existing.
This was exactly what everyone was trying to protect me from, wasn’t it? Making messy, complicated choices that could blow up in my face. But damn it, I was tired of being protected. Tired of being managed and handled like I couldn’t make my own decisions.
I was going on that dive once I determined whether conditions were safe enough.
I was going to prove to everyone I could take care of myself.
The dean could find another spy to take down her arch nemesis.
My goal was to finish my education and then I was going to get far away from this little soap opera these people had going.
Fuck this. I didn’t need the drama.
I got to my feet and started my walk back toward campus. I didn’t have a class. I was supposed to be studying in the library but that was the last thing I wanted to do. My thoughts drifted as I tossed my cup in the trash.
I sensed movement behind me. A figure in little running shorts, a neon tank top, and sneakers that looked almost cartoonishly small came power-walking up. It was Professor Winters, drenched in sweat, breathing hard but smiling like he had made the world’s greatest discovery.
He smiled when he saw me. Or maybe it was a grimace.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He slowed, doubled over, hands on knees, chest heaving. “Just finishing my steps for the day. Trying to hit ten thousand before noon.”
“Before noon?”
“I’ve got a lecture at two and then a meeting followed by another meeting.” Every word was gasped. I truly wondered if he might fall over.
“Do you need water or something? Or a doctor?”
He straightened, wiped his forehead with the hem of his tank, and grinned. “I’m good. Just catching my breath.”
He looked red. Hot. Maybe on the verge of heatstroke.
“Why don’t we sit down?” I suggested, genuinely concerned for him.
We moved to sit on a nearby bench under a tree. He was still struggling a bit.
“Professor—”
“Please, call me Felix,” he said. “We’re not in class. And it makes me feel old.”
I smiled. “Felix, I’m going to get you some water. You’re a little red.”
Before he could tell me he was fine, I walked over to a cart advertising cold drinks. I imagined the guy made a killing out here. I quickly bought two bottles of water that were overpriced, but they were icy cold and dripping water from the ice they’d been in.
“Here you go,” I said and handed a bottle to Felix.
“Thank you. You’re Grady’s TA.”
Since he used Grady’s first name and wanted me to use his first name, I assumed it was safe to be casual. “I am. For now.”
“For now?”
I shook it off. I had said too much. “It’s nothing.”
“Grady is my best friend,” he said. “Do I need to kick his ass?”
It was laughable. Felix was probably half the size of Grady. While Felix was trying to get in ten-thousand steps and practically keeling over, Grady could manhandle three frat boys without breaking a sweat. I knew because I had seen him do it the night we met.
“It’s settled,” I said with a small laugh. “But thank you.”
“What’s settled?”
I let out a long sigh. “Grady wanted to transfer me to someone else in the department. He doesn’t want me as his TA.”
He looked at me. “Yeah?”
“He also didn’t want me on the upcoming dive, even though I’m more than qualified. Sent me an email saying I couldn’t go because there might be a storm.”
He nodded as he gulped down water. “I heard about a storm.”
“We’re on the coast,” I said with a shrug. “There are always storms.”
He smiled. “True. You all seemed to be getting along well at The Library.”
Did Felix know? He said he was best friends with Grady. Did he tell him about the sex? Shit .
Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Felix knew there was a lot more than what I was saying. Maybe he could give me a little insight into what Grady was thinking.
I nodded. “We got along great, but, well, it got weird once he learned I had a kid. Then he sent me a stupid email kicking me off the dive. I got a feeling it was personal .”
I didn’t know if he knew we had sex but I wasn’t going to just blurt it out. I could bluff. If he knew, fine. If he didn’t, I wasn’t saying anything revealing.
“So, let me make sure I understand the situation,” he said.
I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.
His scientific mind was studying and deducing the facts he had.
“You two were… friendly. Then you told him you had a child and he removed you from the dive. And then he requested to have you removed as his TA.”
“Bingo,” I said.
His tone when he said the word friendly told me he probably did know about the sex. “How well do you know Grady?”
I felt my cheeks burn.
“I meant, do you know his background?” Felix quickly clarified.
“I know he’s been on a lot of dives and digs,” I said.
He offered a soft smile. “No. Not that.”
I waited, feeling like I was about to hear something big. Had he been married? Was he still married? Did his wife die in a diving accident? Was I triggering some horrible memory?
He exhaled slowly. “His parents died in a crash.” He watched my face without blinking.
I frowned, brows knitting. I didn’t want to stumble into an emotional rabbit hole about Stone’s family but my curiosity was piqued. “I didn’t know.”
Felix nodded. “He was a kid. Big crash. That’s why he’s touchy about—you know, responsibility.”
“He never told me.”
He shrugged. “Trauma. Doesn’t always come out in interviews. It might not even be my place to say it now, but it seemed like something you ought to know about, all things considered.”
“But still, he might’ve been gentle if he just told me that.”
Felix sighed. “I don’t think it was about protecting you.”
I frowned. “Not me?”
“Your daughter.”
“My daughter?”
Felix nodded. “He didn’t have a family to take him in.
He was put in the system and it wasn’t great.
He was old enough that people weren’t jumping at the chance to adopt him.
He spent time in an orphanage and it wasn’t the Daddy Warbucks kind of story.
He bounced around to foster homes. His life was hard.
I assume he doesn’t want to be responsible for putting another child into that situation. ”
My chest clenched and my mind spun. “I think I understand, but cutting me out of the dive without talking? That’s not right.
I’ve shown him I’m good in the water. And it’s not like I would ever do anything to endanger myself.
I don’t have a death wish. I don’t want to leave my daughter without a parent, either. I wouldn’t do that.”
He smiled gently. “He means well. That’s often worse.”
I nodded slowly, considering his words.
“You want me to talk to him?” Felix offered, finishing the last of his water. “I could explain that you’re not some reckless kid looking for thrills. That you understand the risks better than most.”
I shook my head immediately. “No. Thanks, but no.”
“Are you sure? He listens to me. Sometimes. We’ve been friends for years, and I know how to get through to him when he’s being stubborn, which is often. Like being friends with a mule.”
“I appreciate it, Felix. I really do.” I twisted the cap back onto my water bottle, the plastic crinkling under my grip. “But if you fight my battles for me, he’ll never respect me as an equal. He’ll always see me as someone who needs protection, someone who can’t handle herself.”
Felix nodded slowly, understanding flickering in his eyes. “You want to prove you can stand on your own.”
“Exactly.” I stood up, brushing off my jeans. “I need him to see me as a competent professional, not some fragile single mom who needs a man to shelter her. If I let you intervene, I’ll just be proving his point that I need someone else to take care of things.”
“You are a wise young woman,” he said, nodding. “So what’s your plan?”
I paused, realizing I didn’t actually have one yet. I knew one thing for certain—whatever I did, it had to come from me.
“I’ll figure something out,” I said finally. “Maybe I’ll show him exactly how capable I am on this dive. Let my actions speak louder than words.”
“I may be joining you all out there. I look forward to seeing your skills.” Felix smiled, but there was concern in his expression. “Just be careful, Cece. Grady’s protective instincts run deep. Push too hard and he might dig in even deeper.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to be smarter than him,” I said with more confidence than I felt.