They sat in silence as people walked in and out of the hotel. The party continued only feet away. Every so often, a drunken couple stumbled their way towards the elevator, giggling and tripping over each other. Katie sighed, wondering what that felt like, to just completely give up control, to let oneself feel nothing but that moment. She was by no means a shy wallflower, but she could never seem to just let go. There was always something holding her back. Or maybe, it was because she had yet to meet anyone that she wanted to give everything up for.
There had been Dylan, she supposed. They had dated off and on for a year. She never loved him. She had known their relationship was going nowhere because he was graduating and she wasn’t. He’d had plans to leave Alberta, to head east to Toronto. That’s what he’d done. Their clumsy, painful night together had left her with no delusions about sex. He’d been gone the next morning without so much as a note. It had hurt, waking up sore and alone in a strange motel room. He never called either, not even to make sure she’d gotten home all right. She heard from a friend almost a week later that he’d left the morning after graduation, the morning after she’d given herself to him in some stupid attempt to … what? She didn’t even know. She never told anyone, not even Ashlee. That was a year ago. She hadn’t dated since either. The whole process had been so horrible, she’d nearly sworn off sex forever. But she knew that wasn’t realistic.
“What’s wrong?”
Katie started and turned her head in the direction of the interruption. “Sorry?”
Kaleb adjusted Ashlee’s weight on his thighs; the blonde never so much as batted an eyelash. “You look like someone killed your dog.”
Swallowing down the taste of bitter paste in her throat, she forced a smile. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. “No need to be sorry. You just seemed incredibly sad there for a moment.”
Flustered, she fixed her attention on a nearby Christmas tree. She examined the lights and the twinkling ornaments. It was all so tastefully displayed.
“Katie—?”
“Katie?” The second voice wasn’t Kaleb’s soft, soothing one.
“Katie, wait—” But Katie was already on her feet and turning towards Leon.
The other man moved quickly towards her, holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. He motioned for Katie to follow him to a more private corner, away from the bustle of the oncoming guests, and Kaleb.
“I’m glad I caught you before you left.” He unclipped something from the board and passed it to her.
Katie took the slim, white keycard and turned it over in her hand. She looked up at Leon, bemused.
“For winning,” he explained. “It’s a key to the penthouse here at the hotel. We would like for you to be our guest for the night.”
“Oh, uh…” Uneasy, Katie shook her head. “Thank you, but I—”
“It’s done,” Leon said, looking almost crestfallen by her rejection. “The drawing has been closed and you already said you accepted.”
Scratching the back of her head, Katie forced a smile. “Well, thank you.”
Leon beamed. He thrust out the clipboard and pen. “Just sign at the bottom. This is to ensure you did receive your winnings and are satisfied and—”
Aunt Hannah burst through the lobby doors, shaking snowflakes from her hair and stomping clumps of it from her boots. She looked up, surveyed the expanse of the room and found Katie. Her face lit up as she hurried over.
“It’s a mess out there,” she huffed loudly. “I’m glad you phoned when you did. The radio says the storm’s going to get much worse before … oh, hello.”
Leon inclined his head. “Ma’am.” He offered her his dazzling smile. “I won’t keep you waiting. If Katie could just sign here—”
“Sign?” Aunt Hannah looked from the clipboard to Katie. “What are you signing, Katie?”
“I won the draw,” she said, trying to sound cheerful, but she was sure it sounded tight and obligatory. She held up the keycard. “A free night in the penthouse.”
Aunt Hannah gasped. “That is wonderful! Well, don’t keep the man waiting. I want to hit the road before it becomes a death trap.”
Resigned, Katie took the pen and scribbled her name across the bottom. Leon snatched it and the pen back from her.
“Fantastic! So, you have your keycard. Just take the elevator to the very top floor. Yours is the only room up there.” He smiled again. “Congratulations, again.” With a smile to Aunt Hannah, he twirled on his shiny heels and dashed away.
Katie turned to her aunt. “I guess that’s that.”
With her aunt in tow, she walked back to where Kaleb sat with Ashlee. His head was tilted away from them so all she could see were the sharp curve of his jaw and the muscle moving in his cheek. For a split second, she could have sworn she saw his lips move as though he were muttering to himself. He turned his head when they approached him. His face was tight with something that resembled barely controlled rage.
“Everything okay?” Katie asked.
He blinked and, just like that, it was gone. He gave her a small smile.
“Fine.”
Kaleb shifted and scooped Ashlee back into his arms, preparing to rise. Aunt Hannah, having noticed him for the first time, blinked, and her eyes grew wide. She didn’t say anything as they left the hotel with an unconscious Ashlee.
The blizzard hit them immediately like a punch in the face with a fist studded with glass. Katie cursed herself for not thinking to bring a jacket. Snow packed into her sandals dampening her frozen toes as they hiked the single block to the parked car. Aunt Hannah hurried on ahead, flipping keys. She yanked open the backseat door and moved aside to let Kaleb drape Ashlee’s prone body across the seat.
“Who…?”
“Kaleb O’Reilly,” Katie replied to her aunt’s unspoken question. “He’s a friend from school.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it was easier to explain than he was her teacher.
“Oh!”
“It’s not like that,” she muttered at the interest that lit up behind the other woman’s eyes. “We ran into him here at the party.”
Aunt Hannah shook her head. “I wasn’t saying anything.” She pinched her lips together as they watched Kaleb’s well-formed backside sticking out of the car door. “He’s very handsome.”
“His face is better,” she teased and got an embarrassed elbow in the side.
Aunt Hannah bit her lip. “So I suppose you’re not coming home tonight.”
Katie turned her head. “Why wouldn’t I—”
“The penthouse.” Aunt Hannah pointed to the card clutched in Katie’s hand. “It would be a shame to waste such a treat. Who knows when you’ll be able to do it again.”
Katie looked down at the card and the promises it held. “Maybe after you drop Ashlee off, you could come back—”
“Oh, goodness no!” She looked genuinely revolted. “I am not coming back in this weather. No. Sorry, sweetheart. It’s just not safe.”
Kaleb hopped out of the car, dusted his hands, and slammed the door shut. “I strapped her in the best I could.”
“Thank you!” Aunt Hannah rushed forward, hand extended. “I’m Hannah Baldwin. Katie’s aunt. It’s nice to meet you.”
Smiling, Kaleb accepted the handshake. “Kaleb O’Reilly. It’s a pleasure.”
Aunt Hannah let go first and took a step back. “Well, I have to get going. But before I do…” She reached into her pocket and passed over her ancient flip phone. “Call me if anything happens. Storm or no storm, I will come right down.”
Katie smiled. “Thanks, Auntie.”
They embraced quickly before Aunt Hannah pulled back, waved, and darted into the car.
“Why aren’t you leaving with her?” Kaleb asked as they watched the SUV pull away.
Katie held up the keycard as she hurried back towards the promised warmth inside the hotel. “Apparently it’s the opportunity of a lifetime and it would be a waste to, well, waste it.”
“What is that?”
Kaleb fell into step alongside her.
“My winnings,” she answered, once they were comfortably inside. “I won a night in the penthouse.” She hesitated, then added, “Yay!”
Kaleb didn’t look like he was ready to celebrate. He was staring at the card as though it were a deadly viper.
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
Katie frowned. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
The tension returned to the sharp lines of his jaw. “So you’re staying?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never been in a penthouse before. Have you?”
He hesitated a split second before shaking his head.
“I want to see it,” she said, turning towards the elevators.
She stabbed the button and waited for the doors to open. She glanced back when Kaleb didn’t join her.
“I should go,” he said, making her turn completely to face him.
Her shoulders drooped. “Oh, okay.”
The elevator dinged behind her. She heard the doors slide open. Then close without her. He didn’t move either. He seemed to be waiting for something.
“Will you be all right going up?” he asked at last.
Katie bit her lip and shrugged, while simultaneously nodding. “I think so. I just…” she broke off, feeling heat swim up her throat to fill her face.
“What?” he prompted.
She sucked in a deep breath. “I just thought you would want to see it, too. Since you said you’ve never been in a penthouse before.”
As though her words had the power to sucker punch him, his face contorted. His jaw tightened and misery flashed in his eyes.
“That’s not a good idea,” he said tightly.
Moistening her lips, Katie nodded. “Right. Of course. I’m sorry.”
She hurriedly faced the elevators and poked the button again, hoping no one had called it up in the last two seconds. The doors peeled open almost immediately. She hurried inside. Kaleb was still standing where she’d left him, watching her with that same look of pain on his face.
She willed herself to smile. “Thank you for tonight,” she said. “I had a wonderful time. I’ll see you after the winter break.”
But no sooner had the doors begun to slip shut between them and she had turned to the panel of buttons when a hand shot between the metal plates and stopped the doors from shutting with a jarring bong.
Katie jumped at the unexpected interruption. The doors rolled apart and a figure lurched into the elevator with her.
“Mr. O’Reilly?”
“Kaleb,” he corrected, reaching past her and stabbing the button with one finger. “I’m about to break every rule in the blasted book. The least you can do is call me by my name.”
Chapter Seven
Kaleb looked so furious that Katie wasn’t sure what to say, so they rode up in silence. When they arrived, he ushered her past him to the only set of doors on the floor. Her hand shook as she fitted the card into the slot and waited for the green light. It flicked on with a click. She jerked down the handle and the doors swung open to a garden of cream and gold. Everything gleamed and the entire place smelled of lilacs.
Katie gasped as she moved over the threshold. Her heels cracked against polished marble, echoing off the vaulted ceilings. Across the room, spanning from corner to corner was a wall of glass. The world beyond it was dark, except for the lights glowing on the stone terrace. It was the most luxurious place Katie had ever set foot into. It was incredible.
“Kaleb, look.” Taking his hand without a moment’s thought, she dragged him to the doors leading onto the terrace. “Isn’t it beautiful? You can probably see the entire city from up here.”
Releasing him, she hurried away to explore the five other rooms in the place, each one harboring their own bathrooms. There was a Jacuzzi inside two of the bedrooms, right in the center of the room the way most people had furniture. Mini fridges were brimming with all sorts of drinks and snacks. A marble kitchen was tucked away in a corner that was completely out of the way, like no one expected it to be used, but it was there … just in case. It was beautiful, but not a place Katie would feel comfortable living in forever. It was just too impersonal.
Kaleb was still standing by the terrace doors when she returned, breathing hard and grinning.
“What do you think it costs to stay here a night?” she wondered. “Aunt Hannah would love this.”
He chuckled dryly. “Probably a couple thousand.”
“A night?” she exclaimed. “Oh, my God!”
He turned slowly and their eyes met across the room. “So what do you plan to do for the rest of the night?”
Laughing, she shook her head. “I have no idea. Go to bed?”
Both his eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re in a room that costs more than most people pay rent in two months and you want to go to bed?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know what else to do. I mean, I’m going to be here completely by myself. It’s not like I can throw a party.” She looked over the place, looked at the glittering diamonds dripping from the ceiling and the gold trimming nearly everything and sighed. “It’s kind of a waste, huh?”
Kaleb made as though he was about to go to her, only to have his trajectory alter course when a soft knock had them turning to the open doorway. A small, hunched man smiled at them from the other side of a silver cart.
“Pardon me,” he said. “Room service.”
Katie shook her head. “We didn’t order—”
“Complimentary,” the man said, pushing the cart deeper into the room. “Where would you like it?”
Katie eyed the bottle of champagne cooling in a bucket of ice, the bowl of bright red strawberries and faltered.
“Well…” She looked to Kaleb for help.
“Anywhere is fine,” he said.
The man inclined his head and moved in the direction Katie knew to lead straight to the master bedroom. She started to stop him, to tell him not in there. But decided against it. It would save her the time of taking them in there herself.
Grinning, she turned to Kaleb. “I guess I know what I’ll be doing tonight.”
“What’s that?”
Her smile broadened. “Soak in the tub before getting drunk in bed while watching TV.”
Something in his eyes darkened. “Sounds like you have it all worked out.”
Pleased with her new plan, Katie nodded. “It would have been nice if Ashlee hadn’t gotten herself piss drunk. She would love this, but I guess I’ll have to drink enough for both of us.”
“That’s very noble of you,” he mused.
The little man wheeled back into the main part of the suite.
He smiled at them. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
Katie shook her head. “No. Thank you.”
“Actually, there is something.”
Katie watched in confusion as Kaleb crossed the room and spoke to the man in a low murmur. He reached into his pocket and removed something. He pressed it into the man’s hand.
“Yes sir. Right away,” the man said as he inclined his head and hurried away, pushing his cart ahead of him. He paused to pull the doors closed behind him.
“What did you tell him?” Katie asked when they were alone.
“That you are going to need more than strawberries and chocolates if you plan on downing that entire bottle of Bollinger by yourself,” he said.
“Well…” She rubbed her damp palms over her skirt. “Maybe you could stay, just to help make a dent in the bottle so I’m not puking my guts out in the morning.”
What the hell are you doing? The voice in her head demanded. It had been growing aggressively louder since she’d asked Kaleb to escort her up to the suite. It kept badgering that she stop, that she was going too far and he would get the wrong idea. The guy was her teacher. She would have to face him every day for the next six months. What would he think of her?
“I’m not coming on to you,” she blurted nervous now. “I know it must seem like I am. I
’m just…” She bit her lip and stared hard at the world outside the window, trying to think of a way to explain that being alone reminded her of being at the hospital all those years ago. “I don’t know. Never mind. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. Please just forget I said anything.”
His unwavering focus only heightened the swell of mortification working its way up her body. God how she wished he would just say something, or leave. The silence was somehow worse than a rejection.
“And what if I don’t want to forget?” His hands slipped seamlessly into his pockets and he seemed to straighten slightly. “It’s not fair what you’re asking. There are already so many rules I’ve broken in a single night. Being here at all is inappropriate in a way that could mean so much more than just my job. I have a lot riding on me keeping my position at the school and what you’re asking me…”
Horrified, Katie gave a rapid shake of her head. “No! I’m not. I would never … I’m sorry. You’re right. I should never have asked you to come up here.” She closed her fists into the folds of her skirt and started towards the door. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It was idiotic and…” She paused to bend down and unhook the thin straps cutting lengthwise across the tops of her feet. “I should know better…” She kicked off one sandal and hopped a little as she fought to undo the other. “Please. You need … you need to leave.”
Frustrated, mortified, and close to tears, she pressed one hand on the door while using the other to undo the tiny little buckle. But it was impossible when her hands were shaking and her vision was blurred. The little catch kept getting stuck, making her contemplate just taking a pair of scissors to them.
Long, slender hands pushed hers aside and took her foot in a gentle hold. Katie straightened and watched as Kaleb crouched on one knee and deftly undid the clasp. He slipped his hand up the back of her ankle to cup her calve, assisting her in lifting her foot as he slid the shoe off. He set it aside, but kept his hands on her, burning in all the places he touched.
The rough patches of skin along his fingertips scratched her skin, sending sparks of heat shooting up her legs as he slipped one hand to cradle the bottom of her foot. He used his thumb to trace a red welt. All the while, he kept his head down so she couldn’t see his face.
My Soul For You Page 7
