by Lacey Legend
She shook her head. “No. Originally we had our own rooms, like I said, but then we wound up having to share his room, and since it was just going to be him in there in the first place, there was just one bed,” she answered nervously.
He grew irate, but she could see that he was holding it in. “You shared a bed with your college professor? Do you have any idea how many rules and laws you are breaking? I can’t believe that you did that!” he snapped angrily, and she felt herself flare up defensively.
“Well, Reggie, we had no choice! The hotel made us take one room and that was the only option. Trust me, Connor called the front desk the moment that he saw that we were going to be there with one bed and he argued with them and asked them to change it, but they just couldn’t, so we made do with what we had!
“Don’t you get all high and mighty with me like we had a choice and just decided to have it like that. Besides, we were just fine. You’ll hear all about it, now just listen, please! There’s so much to tell you!” Her voice softened and she tilted her head, her blue gray eyes pleading with him for his patience as she told him everything.
He sighed and looked down at his feet and then nodded. “Alright. I’m sorry. Go ahead.”
She gave him a smile and moved to pull her hand from his, but he held on to it tighter, and she left her hand there. “So then it was the last day and we went to the event and there was more security than I have ever seen anywhere, but we finally had a day when nothing happened, just the debates, and it was good.
“It was easier getting photos that day because I could move around without worrying about people going nuts, but my best photos came from the first two days, showing people who were all up in arms about everything. I got some great shots of the chaos around that place.”
She shook her head, thinking of it. “Well, the last day they let everyone go early and we all left in the afternoon. It was snowing badly when we left; I couldn’t believe we had gotten hit with a second storm. The first one wasn’t anything compared to the second one. We went back to the hotel and we got ready for the banquet that we were invited to, so we got dressed in our formal wear…. Reggie, he was in a tux. I swear he looked like James Bond; he was so handsome!”
Catalina grinned thinking about it and Reggie turned his face away from her, narrowing his eyes and looking downward. He said nothing and she sighed with a blissful smile thinking about it, and then went on.
“So we ate the most incredible meal I’ve ever had in my life. It was so good! We drank champagne, and then we danced; there was a live orchestra there. The politicians all spoke, but they didn’t take up too much time and we were kind of wrapped up in the fun side of the banquet, so I didn’t pay too much attention to what they said.
“Anyway, while we were on the dance floor, he kissed my cheek; it was sort of dark in there, and it was romantic, and I kissed him back, and then we stopped kissing and went back to the room. He was trying to hold to the professor and student relationship that we have, but the chemistry was just too hot between us and we wound up kissing again, and then we made love; Reggie, it was the single greatest night of my life. I never knew it could be like that with anyone. I was so amazed by him!” She was grinning happily, thinking back on it and she didn’t see Reggie turn sharply and gape at her, horror flooding his face.
“We made love all night, and the next day we got lucky and we were snowed in, so we made love all day long, and then all night again… we were like newlyweds who never came up for air! It was the best time of my life!” She sighed in bliss with a faraway look on her face. She heard a strangled noise beside her and it suddenly brought her back to the present and she turned to see Reggie vault up off the bench and glare down at her angrily.
“You slept with him? You had sex with your professor?!” he was almost shouting at her and she glanced around them, startled, hoping that no one had heard him. Heat flooded to her cheeks and adrenaline pounded through her heart as she looked up at her best friend and saw a furious man standing there.
“Reggie, what on earth are you so angry about? God! We’re both single adults! I’m graduating this year. I can sleep with anyone I want to, and if I want to sleep with him then I will! There’s nothing wrong with that! I can’t believe you’re so angry about this!” She lowered her brow and stood up to face him defensively.
He shook his head and pointed his finger in her face, gritting his teeth as he spoke to her in a deep tone. “You had no business doing that! None! He’s in a position of authority over you! It’s morally wrong! You are wrecking your life! I can’t believe you did something so cheap! He’s a college professor, Catalina, he probably screws his students all of the time; especially that one! I know who he is; I’ve seen him around campus.
“There are women chasing him all the time because of how he looks, and you were stupid enough to sleep with him?! You’re worth more than that, Cat! So much more than that! What the hell did you do that for? Damn it!” He turned his head away from her in disgust and fury and she felt the fires of outrage ignite and grow strong inside of her.
“How dare you tell me what I can and can’t do, and how dare you insinuate that he sleeps around! I’ve known that man for four years now, and I’ll tell you this, he hasn’t ever slept with a student before! I’m not wrecking my life! I made a decision to make love with a man that I have feelings for! That doesn’t make me cheap, and it doesn’t make me wrong! I know what I’m worth! Now I’m wondering if you do!” she snapped back at him in indignation.
Reggie turned his head back toward her and reached for her shoulders, grasping them firmly and pulling her so close to him that she was almost up against him. He looked down at her with a sea of emotion in his eyes as he struggled to find the words to say to her.
“Catalina Marshall, damn it… I know exactly what you’re worth! I’m your best friend! No one knows you better than I do! I want more for you than that piece of crap teacher who is willing to go after his own students like that!” His anger was powerful, but it did not reach his hands that were holding her tightly to him.
She shook her head at him fiercely. “He didn’t come after me, Reg. In fact every time we got close he tried to stop it! I was the one who kept going after him! I was the one who wanted him, and that’s not wrong!” she insisted as she glared hotly up at him.
Reggie shook his head. “No! It’s wrong! You deserve better! You shouldn’t be with him!” he cried out in exasperation.
She narrowed her eyes at him and planted her hands on her hips. “Oh no? Who should I be with then, mister high and mighty, just who do you think I should be with, if not him?”
Reggie hesitated a moment and shook his head, and then gushed honesty forth. “Me! Damn it, you should be with me! I want you! I’ve always wanted you. I care about you so much; Cat, I love you! Much more than just as a friend, but every time I try to show you, you just don’t see it!”
She stared at him, wide eyed as everything in her slammed to a halt. Reggie liked her. Reggie loved her. She heard his words echo in her head… he had always wanted her…. and she could not process them. All she could think was how, and why, and she could not get past either of those questions, all she could do was stare at him and blink, trying to make some kind of sense of what he had just confessed to her.
She didn’t have time to make too much sense of it. Reggie, in desperation to show her his affections, moved his hands up to her cheeks from her shoulders, and holding her face in his large palms, he tilted it up toward him and bent his head to kiss her mouth. His kiss was firm and possessive, demanding and insistent.
Catalina was in no way prepared for the experience of being held fast in her best friend’s arms as he kissed her with all of the emotion that he felt for her. She was too shocked to move at first, but as his kiss grew more ardent, everything in her began to move again and with each second that passed, fury began to burn through her whole body, igniting in her heart and burning along every vein in her.
She planted
both of her hands on his chest and shoved him away from her in absolute aggravation, her breath coming fast and her eyes ablaze with outrage. “Reggie Brown, how dare you kiss me! How dare you think you can do anything like that to me at all! Ever! We’re friends! We’re best friends! You can’t just do something like that to me!”
He gasped, his eyes glazed with the heat of his first kiss with her, as he wavered unsteadily from the unexpected push she gave him. He panted and stood there, looking unsure what to do for a long moment.
She shook her head. “How could you do that to me? How could you do that to us? Reggie, damn it, I don’t want you like that! I’ve never wanted you like that!” Her words were like a slap in the face for him and they seemed to wake him from his stunned trance.
“You just haven’t given us a chance!” he insisted. “I’m so much better for you than he is! You and me, we’re best friends! We’re perfect for each other! How can you not see that? How can you be so blind?” he pleaded with her, reaching his hand out to her, his desperate eyes locked on her.
She shook her head and backed away from him a few steps. “No, Reggie, we are not perfect for each other because I don’t want you like that! I have never wanted you like that and now you’re ruining our friendship! You’re betraying me, and you’re betraying us! How could you be so selfish? How could you do that to me and to us?!” She shook her head angrily at him as tears stung her eyes. She felt as though she had just lost her best friend.
Reggie took a couple of steps toward her, reaching for her, and she backed away from him. “Cat, I love you!” he declared boldly. “Can’t you see that? Can’t you understand how we should be together? I’ve always been there for you and I always will be! It’s you and me!
“It should be you and me! That useless professor of yours doesn’t love you, and he isn’t going to be there for you like I will be! He’s just using you for sex! You don’t mean anything to him, and you mean everything in the world to me! Why can’t you see that!” he demanded.
She shook her head, her eyes of fire locked on him. “You know nothing at all about him, and you don’t know half as much about me as you like to think that you do, or you never would have said or done any of this! I can’t believe you betrayed us like this!” she cried out as the realization of the betrayal of her best friend set in and she felt her heart beginning to break.
He pursed his lips and gave his head a shake. “You’re choosing him over me. I can’t believe that,” he told her as he backed away a few steps at a time. “You’re choosing that creep over me.”
He turned around then and took off at a jog over the campus grounds, leaving her standing beside their bench under the great oak tree, as unbidden tears spilled over her eyelashes and streamed down her cheeks. She knew he was not gone completely from her, but their bond had suffered a hard blow, and it was tearing her up.
Chapter6
Catalina spent the rest of that day working on photographs from the trip; doing minor editing work and getting a good look at everything she had shot. It was good work and she was proud of what she had done.
She did her best to remain focused on her work and to not let her mind go to either Reggie or Connor, as each of them was a considerable distraction for her for so many reasons. She didn’t hear from either of them, and while that made her wish that at least one of them would reach out to her, it was also a bit of a relief because it gave her the time and peace she needed to get her work done.
After a few long hours of editing, she was finished, and she pulled the thumb drive from her computer and slipped it into her purse. She turned to leave her room and stole a quick glance in the mirror. Her hair was curled around her face, her makeup looked good and there was no sign of the torrent of tears that she had cried over her fight with Reggie.
Her blue gray eyes slid over the reflection of her lines and curves. She was wearing a burgundy colored sweater dress that buttoned up the front and hugged her body closely. It was flattering on her and showed off her shape while keeping her skin covered.
Catalina left her house and headed to the campus. She was going to see Connor to give him the final edit of the photographs that she had taken, and she was doubly nervous and excited to see him. Her heart picked up pace when she reached the campus parking lot. She hadn’t seen or communicated with him at all since they had returned from their trip, and everything in her was yearning for him.
Everything in her felt like it was pulling her with an increasing force toward him, and anxious though she was to see him, she was also nervous about what it would be like with him as they tried to reconnect in a platonic way.
She wondered if he would like the photographs she had taken, and whether or not they would do well in the media that was to be printed about the event in several publications that were waiting for her photographs.
She reached his office and knocked delicately on the frosted glass in the old oak frame on the door. She heard him call out for her to come in and her heart began to pound as she reached for the doorknob and turned it. She pushed the door open and stepped inside and as he looked up at her, the lines on his face formed from deep concentration, the tired somber look in his jade green eyes, and the line of his mouth all transformed at once.
His eyes lit up when he saw her, a smile grew wide over his face, and it looked as if just the sight of her had refreshed him completely. He gasped and laughed a little, standing up from his chair behind his desk and dropping his pen on the desktop. He reached her in just a few strides, closing the door behind her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a warm embrace.
Catalina’s whole heart and body were flooded with joy and happiness at seeing him, and she grinned blissfully as she felt the familiar heat and strength of his body against hers. She nuzzled his neck with her nose and lips, kissing him there softly in a greeting as she slid her arms around his chest and held him close to her.
“God, it’s so good to see you,” he whispered in her ear as he held her close. The sight of her had lifted him completely out of the slump he had felt that he was in since he returned to the school. He’d done his best to focus on his classes, his students, his backlog of work that was waiting for him upon his return, and all of it seemed to suffocate him as he tried to keep her off his mind, and failed miserably at it.
He breathed in the scent of her hair and skin and for a moment, for one long sweet moment, he lost himself in her, wishing that he could kiss her and taste her, wishing even more than that, he wished he could feel her body up against his, but the rules of engagement between them had changed, and he had to remind himself that he was her professor and she was his student. There could be nothing between them but scholastic interactions of academia. He took a deep breath and sighed, partly in relief at having had a chance to hold her in his arms, and partly because he didn’t want to let her go at all.
She didn’t pull away from him first, she let him hold her until he sighed and stepped back from her, looking down into her eyes with a smile.
“What brings you here today?” he asked, looking downward for a moment and then smiling back up at her. “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you…”
She laughed a little and opened her purse to pull out the flash drive she’d brought for him. She held it up in her hand and tipped it toward him. “Work. I’d love to say that I came to see you because I miss you like crazy, and I do miss you, but I’m here because of work,” she told him with a smile.
He nodded and reached up, his fingers sliding over hers as he took the flash drive from her. He let his hand move slowly, enjoying the feel of his skin against hers, even in such a slight way.
She drew her breath in a little at his tender touch and then dropped her hand away from his, and looked away from him. He knew that they had to relegate themselves to the change in their bond; the change of letting go of the powerful intimacy they had shared. He took a deep breath and as he was turning away from her, he let his eyes drift over her body, taking in the delic
ately covered curves and lines, and every part of her that his eyes touched made him long for her with a burning ache that he was forced to deny.
Connor took a deep breath and walked over to the laptop that he had been working on earlier that day. It was sitting on the coffee table in front of the wide old leather sofa at the other side of his office. Sitting before it, he slid the flash drive into the portal on the laptop and he tried not to notice as Catalina walked slowly toward him. He tried not to see the way her legs moved beneath the soft material of her sweater dress with each step she took on her way to the sofa. His groin tightened and his blood warmed as it began to course through him faster.
She sat beside him and a slight wave of air passed by him, carrying the scent of her perfume on it, right into his nose, and the scent rendered him breathless for a moment as he tried to maintain his focus on the images that were loading on his monitor.
Catalina knew that she should not have sat so close to him, but she could not resist the draw that she felt for him; the magnetic pull, as though he was the air that she needed to breathe and perhaps the touch of his skin against hers might be the only thing that was really keeping her alive. She longed for him with every fiber of her being, and though she knew they could not be together, it was some form of comfort and pleasure to her to be able to sit so close to him.
