Flirting With Danger (Rebels 0f Forbidden Lake Book 1)

by Elana Johnson

  “Sure, let me see them.”

  So Jon got out his work device and logged in, creating another record of the business between them. “I put the shelves on today for the twins’ game machine, as well as the Blu-ray player. See?” He turned the tablet toward her, and she studied the pictures.

  “Beautiful work,” she said, smiling at the pictures.

  He tapped on the screen and then pinched to rotate it. “Ignore the messy shop.”

  “I still want to see the messy shop,” she said, bumping him with her hip.

  “Yeah, well, I’d like the twins to know about us, but sometimes we don’t get what we want.”

  Cassie pulled in a breath, and Jon wished he could yank the words back into his mouth as easily.

  “I mean—”

  “We’ve talked about this,” she said.

  “No,” Jon said slowly, not wanting to ruin Valentine’s Day with this beautiful woman. “We’ve never talked about it. You told me I wasn’t allowed to be your boyfriend in public.”

  “Jon.”

  “But the twins wouldn’t tell anyone,” he said. “Your house isn’t really public, Cass.”

  “They might slip up,” she said.

  “And tell who? A friend at school who doesn’t know me? Or you? I think you put too much stock in teenagers caring about what their parents do.” Jon shook his head and got down two plates. “It doesn’t matter. I’m starving, and I never see you at night, and I don’t want to argue.”

  The resulting silence in the cottage berated Jon for saying anything, and when he handed a plate to Cassie, she simply glared at him. “You signed on to be a secret,” she said. “I’m your little secret too. You think I don’t want to parade you all over town?”

  “I don’t know, Cassie. I don’t know what you want.” He scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

  “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’ve told you everything about me. Everything I’ve been working for. Everything I dream about.”

  Jon’s chest felt hollow, and he wasn’t sure why. Cassie had told him all of that, and he wasn’t sure why he’d said she didn’t. “You’re right,” he said, his emotions still warring inside him. “I guess I just…what happens if you get the full-time professorship?”

  “Then what I’ve been working for is achieved,” she said. “A stable life for Kyle and Lars. No more early-morning bakery hours.”

  He glanced at her, wondering if she heard all she was saying. “So you’d stay in town permanently,” he said slowly, focusing back on his plate of food. “So no need for this cottage in the woods, which you’ve filled with clothes, supplies, and food. No running from Larry if he shows up.” He put a few meatballs on top of his potatoes. His voice hardly sounded like his own, and he hated it. Hated he’d brought this up at all. And yet, he couldn’t stop himself from continuing.

  “And with the new job, you won’t be getting up so early. Class would be over.” He finally lifted his eyes and looked straight at her. “And where does that leave us, Cassie?”

  Could she hear all that he hadn’t said? Had he revealed too much about how he felt about her, too soon?

  So many questions plagued him, and the loudest one crowded out the others. Was he really in love with her already?

  Chapter Eleven

  Cassie didn’t know how to answer Jon’s question. She stared at him as he put garlic green beans and bacon on his plate, avoided the sweet potato hash, and moved over to the table where they’d shared breakfast so many times.

  She blinked, trying to get her mind working again.

  “You think I won’t need you if I get the full-time job,” she said.

  He laughed, but it wasn’t very happy. “Not at all,” he said. “I already know you don’t need me.” His words hit her like nails shooting into her lungs.

  “What?” she gasped.

  “Cassie, you’re a strong, independent woman. You don’t need me.”

  She almost slammed the mashed potatoes onto her plate, adding the rest of her food before joining Jon at the table. Her fury felt as hot today as it had the day he’d sauntered into her kitchen and refused to leave.

  “I’m risking everything to be with you,” she said.

  “I am too,” he said, confusing her even more. He sighed and leaned away from his plate. “Look, I have four classes left before I earn my degree in business management. Yours, the other one I’m in right now, and two business math classes.”

  Cassie held her fork in her hand, but she wasn’t remotely interested in eating. “And you think you’ll get kicked out of the university if our relationship is exposed.”

  “Possibly,” he said. “I don’t know. Just like you don’t know what will happen to you if we’re caught.”

  Cassie shook her head, hot tears pricking behind her eyes. “What are we doing here, Jon?” She’d refused to let herself classify their relationship as a mistake. Everything about being with him felt right, especially when they were together.

  “I’m not sure, Cassie. You tell me one thing, but then hope for another. That’s why I’m not sure what you really want.” He forked up another bite of food and put it in his mouth. “And this is fantastic. You’re a great chef. I hope you do get the job.” He smiled at her, a quick movement of his mouth that she knew meant he was sorry he’d brought anything up at all.

  She cut a meatball in half and scooped some potatoes onto it. “I do want to make a stable life for the twins here. The job would accomplish that. I just happen to have some…extenuating circumstances that require an escape plan.”

  “And I guess I just need to know if I’m part of the escape plan,” Jon said.

  Cassie couldn’t believe he had to ask. She got up and rounded the table, dropping into a crouch in front of him. “Jon.” She reached up and cradled his face in her hand, wishing she could express to him all the things she felt for him. “You’ve been my lifeline these past six weeks. The only reason I’m still sane since finding out Larry got out on parole. I do need you.”

  I will always need you.

  She didn’t say those words, but Jon was exceptionally intelligent, and he leaned down and touched his mouth to hers for only a breath—so different from the way he kissed her as they laid together on the couch after breakfast.

  In that simple, single touch, she felt loved, and she hoped she could accurately convey back to Jon that she loved him too.

  She cleared her throat, confused again at what her life had become. She didn’t want to give up her relationship with Jon. But she didn’t want anyone to know about it. She wasn’t sure if she loved Jon, as the thought of having her life so intertwined with his scared her endlessly. At the same time, she supposed it already was. She wanted the full-time job at the university, but the thought of making Forbidden Lake her permanent home added another layer of fear she didn’t know how to deal with.

  “My life is complicated,” she said, straightening and moving around the table again. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Hey, life would be boring without complications.” Jon didn’t look away from her. “Right?”

  “I crave the boring life,” she said, settling into her spot again. “Maybe one day, we’ll have that. The cute, two-story house. The white picket fence. The house full of kids.”

  “Kids?” Jon asked, his eyebrows launching upward.

  “Yeah,” Cassie said. “You don’t want kids?”

  “Yeah, of course I do,” he said. “I just didn’t realize you did.”

  “I mean.” Cassie tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at her secret boyfriend. “Yeah.”

  “Yeah,” he echoed back, and thankfully, the tension between them evaporated, leaving the rest of the evening open for the romance she’d hoped for.

  * * *

  Friday morning, she left Jon at the cottage the same way she always did. But this time, she’d gotten her good luck kiss and a boost of confidence before driving over to the college. She hoped her luck would hold out, becaus
e her confidence had fizzled before she’d even left the orchards.

  She wore her best skirt suit, a cute little number in black, with a pale pink blouse beneath. She wore her hair down, curled nicely over her shoulders, and more makeup than she’d put on since her teen years.

  Or maybe last year’s interview. She carried a simple manila folder with her, the two letters of recommendation inside, along with her single-sheet résumé.

  She sat in the lobby outside of Dr. Langstrom’s office, a full fifteen minutes early. She did not pull out her phone. She didn’t want to be on it when they came to get her. A good move, as only five minutes passed before the door opened and a man poked his head out. “Cassandra? We’re ready for you.”

  Cassie put a smile on her face and stood, mentally commanding herself not to smooth down her clothes or appear nervous at all. “Hello, Doctor Zimmerman,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Retirement is keeping me busy,” he said with a laugh.

  “Are you sitting in on the interviews today?” She shook his hand and went inside the office when he waved for her to do so.

  “Yes. Apparently, they need three people, and I got nominated.”

  Cassie moved forward into the office and found Dr. Langstrom sitting behind her desk, with the Dean of the Family and Consumer Sciences waiting in a chair beside her.

  “Hello, Doctor Bean,” she said, shaking the other man’s hand as he partially stood. He wore thick, black-rimmed glasses and looked like an aged wombat. “Doctor Langstrom.”

  “Cassie, please sit down,” she said instead of shaking Cassie’s hand.

  Cassie took the seat in front of the desk as Dr. Zimmerman took the other empty chair next to Dr. Langstrom. She adjusted her skirt to make sure it covered her knees, and then she balanced her folder on her lap.

  “This is Cassandra Caldwell,” Dr. Langstrom said. “She currently teaches our introductory culinary arts classes, including one to a group of twelve special needs students.”

  “Really?” Dr. Zimmerman asked. “That must have come after I left.”

  “Just last winter,” Cassie said. “I do one class each term, so I’m in my fifth class.”

  “I’d like to come see it,” he said, and panic paraded through Cassie with the strength of an elephant stampede. If anyone came to her special needs class, they’d see Jon—clearly not special needs.

  “Anytime,” she pushed out of her throat.

  “Tell us why you want the full-time position,” Dr. Langstrom said, her tone as crisp and no-nonsense as Cassie had ever heard it.

  “Well.” She took a deep breath, prepared to get personal. She mentioned how she took care of her twin half-brothers, as well as worked long hours in the very early morning at the bakery. “And with a full-time position here, I could focus on my teaching, provide good experiences for the students here, as well as have the resources I need to take care of my family.”

  She stopped talking, hoping she hadn’t made everything about her, her, her.

  “Do you feel like you have a good rapport with students?” Dr. Langstrom asked.

  Cassie squirmed, but she managed to turn it into the motion of flipping open the folder. “I believe so, yes. I didn’t have a lot of choices for my letters of recommendation, so I asked a student in my current course. She wrote me this.”

  She handed the letter across the desk to Dr. Langstrom. The department head glanced at it, but it wasn’t nearly long enough to actually read what Molly had written. She handed the letter to the Dean, and he seemed to read it.

  Dr. Langstrom launched into her next question. “You know we’ve had some trouble with professors getting romantically involved with their students. Have you ever been attracted to a student, Miss Caldwell?”

  Her throat turned sticky, and Cassie had no idea what to say.

  Time slowed to a crawl, and then it seemed to stop. In that moment, she knew she couldn’t keep living a secret life with Jon, even if it was exciting. Even if she got a little thrill every time she parked in front of that cottage, knowing he’d be behind the door, waiting and ready to kiss her.

  “I’m not much older than some of the students that go here,” she said. “Some of them are older than I am. Have I ever been attracted to someone in one of my classes? Probably.” That sounded true, because it was true.

  Dr. Langstrom opened her mouth to say something else when Dr. Zimmerman said, “Do you have a sample course syllabus for any of the three extra courses you’d be teaching if you got the full-time professorship?”

  Cassie swallowed and fumbled to pick her purse up from the floor at her feet. “Not in paper form, but I have a digital example I can show you.” She looked at him expectantly, her eyebrows raised.

  “Sure,” he said, his voice kind and grandfatherly. Cassie hoped she could get this job, retire when she was older, and be as kind as him. She stood and leaned over the desk to show him the advanced appetizers course she’d put together. It helped that the current professor kept his syllabus and course description online.

  Several minutes later, the interview ended, and Cassie left the office on shaking legs. No one waited in the lobby, which meant they had timed the interviews so they applicants wouldn’t see each other, or she was last for the day. The last one was unlikely, and as she waited for the elevator, her stomach roared with the want for food.

  Her first class didn’t start until noon on Fridays, so she had time for breakfast. Her first thought was to call Jon and ask him to meet her.

  She scoffed at the very idea. She knew that deep down, she needed to get out of her relationship with him before things go too out of hand.

  But what if they already are? she asked herself as the elevator doors slid open.

  Josie Swartz stood there, wearing a deep navy pantsuit. She stepped out of the elevator and swept her eyes up and down Cassie’s body. “You had an interview for the professorship too, didn’t you.” She wasn’t asking. Cassie hadn’t interacted with the food sciences teacher all that much, but neither one of them normally wore skirt suits or pantsuits to work.

  “I did,” Cassie said, switching positions with Josie. “Good luck.” The car doors slid shut, and with them, her hopes deflated completely. Josie had much more experience than she did, and she’d been at Northwestern Michigan College for six years.

  She’d deleted all her texts with Jon last night, as she usually did. She didn’t want to bring up his name while still in the building, so she rode down to the bottom floor and walked out of the building.

  Her phone buzzed as she turned onto Main Street, almost like Jon knew she’d just left campus. But it was Kyle. Made it to school safely.

  Relief sighed through her, and she sent a couple of heart emojis back to her brother, and then she pointed her car in the direction of Egg’lectic, the best breakfast joint in town. The parking lot was always full, and the waitresses quick with smiles and coffee.

  Cassie got a spot at a table-for-two in the corner where she could see the whole restaurant as well as the street in front of the eatery. She ordered coffee and juice, as well as a bagel breakfast sandwich, with bacon, eggs, and kale.

  She wished she were a normal woman, just hoping to get a better job to make a better life for her family. She could sip coffee after a stressful interview, and watch the Friday morning foot traffic saunter by, and send up a prayer or two.

  Instead, Jon consumed her mind, and she knew she had to stop living inside a secret. Even if she didn’t think their relationship was wrong. Even if they were both consenting adults and enjoyed each other’s company. Even if he was the best man she’d ever called her boyfriend.

  Even if she was falling in love with him.

  So she pulled out her phone and sent him a text, hoping he could spare a few minutes that morning before he went into his shop.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jon had just pulled a T-shirt over his head when someone rang his doorbell. Goliath barked, a deep booming noise that made Jo
n want to cover his ears.

  “Quietly,” he said to the dog, whose whole body wagged as he ran to the door and back to Jon. He ran his hand through his still-damp hair and padded to the front door of his cabin-in-the-woods in his bare feet.

  No one but mailmen came to his house and rang the doorbell. But it was after six-thirty at night, and he’d never gotten a package so late. Maybe Phoenix had made the trip in from his cabin, but he wouldn’t have rang the doorbell. So Jon wasn’t sure what to expect when he opened the door.

  He found Cassie standing there in a sexy little skirt and blazer that rounded in all the right places. “Well, hello there.” He leaned against the doorway. She glanced left and right, her nerves a scent on the air.

  “Can I come in?” she asked. “Did you get any of my texts?”

  “I sure didn’t,” he said. “And of course you can come in.” He opened the screen door for her and stepped back. “I’ve been really busy today, finishing up a project I’m a week behind on. Once that was delivered, I grabbed dinner and came home. And now, I’ve just gotten out of the shower.” He patted his jeans pockets and didn’t find his phone. “I’m not entirely sure where my phone is right now. Maybe I left it at the shop.”

  Cassie came inside and Jon pushed the door closed behind her. She’d been to his house once before, and he’d practically made out with her right there in his kitchen, though his lips had never touched hers.

  “How did the interview go?” he asked.

  “Good,” she said, walking away from him and into the kitchen. “Great. I got the job.”

  “You got the job?” He touched her elbow and gently turned her toward him, a smile pulling across his mouth. “That’s so great.”