Chapter8
Catalina might have cried herself to sleep the night before, but by the next morning she was full of fire and ready for a fight. She arrived at the campus early and hunted for Reggie in his regular haunts. She found him walking across the campus on his mid-morning break between classes and she went straight for him, giving him a hard shove in the arm and he stumbled to the side a few steps and then turned and looked at her.
“What in the world was that for?” he asked in surprise, rubbing his hand over the spot on her arm where she had plowed into him with both of her fists held together.
She gave him a hard look. “I can’t believe you’re asking me that. More than that, I can’t believe you went to my father and told him about Connor and me! How could you do that? How could you betray me and betray our friendship like that?” she demanded furiously.
He turned to look at her, his own anger stirring deep in him and rising up as he defended himself to her. “I had to do something! You’re out here screwing your life up royally and nothing I can say or do is going to change your mind! I can’t let you wreck yourself like you are! You won’t admit to yourself that what you’re doing is wrong! You just want to keep on screwing up and making bigger and bigger mistakes!
“Well, I’m not going to let you. I love you, Cat, and I’m not going to let you destroy yourself and your life, and our friendship over some useless old man!” He lifted his chin defensively and looked down at her. “I knew that the only thing that could stop you would be your dad. I knew that if I went to him and told him what you were doing, he’d put a stop to it, and from the look of it, he’s already done that.” He nodded his head at her in satisfied approval.
“Good. I’m glad he chewed your ass out and made you stop. Look at you. You’re miserable. You never would have been miserable if you had just left that man alone. You’d be just fine right now, and as happy as you’ve ever been. I’m glad I did it. That’s what true friends and true love does.”
She glared at him hatefully. “You stuck your nose in business that isn’t yours and you hurt my father and you hurt me, and you made a much bigger mess out of things that were already fine! Connor and I weren’t going to keep up the affair because we both feel like we need to have just a student and teacher relationship on campus!” she snapped at him.
“Oh yeah…” Reggie said smartly, rolling his eyes. “That’s exactly what I saw when he was feeling you up in the doorway to his office. Teacher and student relationship. Yup. I make out with all of my teachers like that, too,” he threw at her snidely.
She launched her fist at him but he dodged it easily and stepped back closer to her. “Why are you so angry about it? Can’t you see that your dad and I are trying to do what’s best for you because we care about you and what you’re doing with your life? He and I, we’re in it for the long haul with you. We both love you, Cat. We both want what’s best for you. I’m best for you, Catalina, and I want you to open your eyes and see that!” He stepped closer to her and though she wanted to back away, she stood her ground, looking up at him defiantly.
“I’m what’s best for you. You should be my girl! You think that professor cares at all about you? He doesn’t. You think he loves you? He doesn’t!” he raised his voice a little as emotion strained his voice and his face.
“He does care about me! He cares a great deal about me!” Catalina retorted to him angrily.
“Yeah?” Reggie asked her, stepping even closer and looking down into her face. “He cares about you, huh? Has he said it? Has he said he loves you? I love you. I say it. I want you. Has he said that he loves you, Cat, or does he just try to get you into his bed?” Reggie shot back at her.
She bit her tongue and looked at him in outrage. She couldn’t argue the point. Connor had never said that he loved her. He had made love with her, he had made her feel better than she ever had in her life, and he said that he cared about her, but he had never told her that he loved her. There was nothing that she could say to Reggie about that.
He caught it. “Ha! See? I was right! He hasn’t ever said it to you because he doesn’t care about you enough to say it! He doesn’t love you, Cat, and you need to see that! You need to pay attention and open your eyes! You need to realize that you and I should be together! You should be my girl. I love you, Cat, and you know you love me, too. You know it,” he said, shaking his head as he stared at her eyes.
He reached for her suddenly and pulled her to him, lowering his mouth to hers and kissing her firmly, just as he had the first time, and for a moment she was too shocked to react, but as his mouth moved over hers, that same feeling of ownership and possessiveness that she had felt the first time he kissed her came flooding back over her. It didn’t feel like passion. It didn’t feel like love. It didn’t feel anything like Connor’s kisses, and that showed her all that she needed to know.
She pushed herself away from him and he stared at her in surprise, his mouth parted slightly and his eyes glazed with the heat of just having kissed the girl he loved. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, reaching her hand up to slap him in the face, hard. He blinked and shock registered in his eyes as she backed away from him.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Reginald Brown. You keep your hands off of me and you stay away from me and from my dad. Go to hell, Reggie.” She spat at him and then she turned on her heel and stomped away from him.
He watched her go and the expression on his face shifted from one of utter shock to one of complete dismay.
***
Harold sat in the austere and richly appointed front office of the dean of the college, his hands folded together between his knees. He’d dressed in the only suit he owned; it was old, but it was clean and pressed. His hair was combed back and he had a tie on.
He glanced over at the secretary for a moment as she typed away on her computer. She had told him that the dean would be with him shortly. He looked around him at the walls of dark wood, the bookcases that stood with books lining their every shelf, the fat leafed green plants that mocked the slowly dying trees of autumn outside. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to relax himself and keep his nerves still.
The office was silent except for her typing. He sighed again and looked up at the big grandfather clock standing against one wall. He’d been waiting twenty minutes and each one felt like an eternity.
Finally, the door behind the receptionist opened and the dean walked out and smiled at him in greeting. Harold rose to his feet and walked toward the Dean with his hand outstretched.
“Good morning, sir, I’m Harold Marshall,” he said politely, feeling that he had never been more out of place at any point in his life.
The dean nodded and shook his hand. “Good morning, Mr. Marshall. I’m Dean Hargrove. Please come in. May I have Jeanie get you some coffee or water?”
Harold shook his head. “No, sir. Thank you. I’m just fine.”
The dean nodded and closed the door behind them. They walked to his desk together and Harold waited quietly to be invited to sit down. The Dean looked at him and nodded, indicating the chair beside which Harold was standing silently.
“Please have a seat, Mr. Marshall.” Harold sat stiffly and kept his eyes on the dean.
“What is it that I can do for you today?” Dean Hargrove asked as he sat opposite Harold.
Harold cleared his throat and felt like he was embarking on an impossible quest. “I’m here about my daughter, sir.”
The dean nodded patiently. “Yes?”
“Well, sir, it seems that one of your instructors has seduced her and has coerced her into having an affair with him, and I’m paying a fair amount of tuition for her to attend here for an education that she can use to make a good life for herself, not for her to get hauled into her professor’s office for an indiscretion. Something has to be done about this,” he stated firmly.
He might feel intimidated by the old school, the wealth of the head of the school, the vast education around him that he knew nothing about, and the total unfamiliarity of the environment around him, but he wasn’t about to let any of that stop him from taking care of the mess his little girl had gotten herself into.
The dean’s mouth fell open slightly and he stared at Harold, livid. “One of our professors here is involved romantically with your daughter?” he asked as if he might have misheard Harold.
“Yes, sir,” Harold replied simply.
Dean Hargrove sighed heavily and shook his head. “I’m gravely disappointed to hear it. We have a zero tolerance policy for things like this at this educational facility. Do you know the name of the professor by chance?”
Harold nodded. “I do. His name is Connor James.” It had been tempting to him to go see Professor James on his own, but he wasn’t a rule breaker and he understood that there was a procedure for dealing with everything, including situations like the one his daughter was in.
Dean Hargrove rubbed his forefinger over his lower lip as he shook his head. “Ah yes… our handsome young media professor.”
Harold blinked in surprise. “Young, Sir? I was under the impression that he was quite a bit older than my daughter.”
The dean looked up at him. “No, not really. I believe James is twenty seven or so. He’s not that much older than most of the students here, but he is quite a handsome fellow, and there are many in the student body, and if I was being honest, on staff, who tend to go after him. I’m not surprised that he is being reported for an affair, I guess it was bound to happen, but I am surprised that it took him being here this long before it did happen.”
Harold furrowed his brow, looking at him in confusion. “This hasn’t happened before with him?” he asked curiously.
The dean shook his head. “No, no this is James’ first offense of any kind with the college. He’s been a model professor up until now. I actually rather like him, and I’ll be sorry to have to discipline him in regards to this, but we must stand by our rules and regulations, Mr. Marshall.”
He looked at Harold and pursed his lips, speaking delicately. “Have you spoken with your daughter about this situation at all?”
Harold nodded. “I did indeed, sir. It was the first thing I did. She understands how serious it is. I’ve told her she is to have nothing whatsoever to do with him again.”
The dean nodded. “It’s likely that she will be facing some sort of discipline as well. I hope that you understand that, Mr. Marshall. Affairs are two way streets, and both parties will be under investigation on this, and pending the final report, both of them will receive disciplinary action.”
Harold nodded. “I understand, sir.” He was sorry to hear it, but not surprised. She had made a mistake and there were consequences to face for having done it.
Dean Hargrove frowned slightly. “What year is your daughter in?”
Harold lifted his chin proudly. Whatever mistakes she might have made along the way, she was very close to completing her time there, and that was an accomplishment that he felt deserved some recognition.
“She will be graduating in the spring, sir,” he answered, and then he added, “Actually, she’s on the Dean’s List.”
Dean Hargrove looked slightly horrified for a moment and then recovered, coughing subtly and rubbing his hand over his mouth and chin again. “Well, we will have to see what comes out at the end after we’ve talked to them both. Separately, of course.”
Harold nodded. The dean looked at him intently. “I’ll speak to them and then let you know what course of action we will be taking. Will that work for you, Mr. Marshall?” he asked solemnly.
Harold nodded and the dean stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you for coming in and letting us know about this. I’m sorry we couldn’t meet under better terms,” he said apologetically.
Harold stood up and shook his hand. “Thank you for taking the time to see me, sir, and for taking care of this. I want the best for my little girl.”
Dean Hargrove nodded and sighed. “We all want that, Mr. Marshall. You have a good day.”
Harold nodded and left and then thanked the secretary on the way out of the building. He felt a little better after having spoken to the dean, and he was intrigued to have discovered that Connor had never been reported for an affair in all the time he had been there, which at such a young age, couldn’t have been very long, but it still made him wonder and think about what his daughter had told him.
***
Connor was sitting in his office when his desk phone rang. He picked it up and heard Jeanie’s voice from the Dean’s office on the other end of the line. He told her that he would be in right away and he wondered what in the world he was being called to the dean’s office for.
When Connor was shown into Dean Hargrove’s office, he found the old man with an utterly humorless expression on his old and wizened face.
“Sit down, please, Mr. James.”
Connor sat across the desk from him.
“Connor,” the dean began more informally, “I had a visitor this morning who came to report a rather sensitive complaint against you. I want to know what you have to say for yourself.”
Connor’s stomach tightened. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew very well what the reason was that he had been called into the dean’s office, and it sent a wave of panic through him, though he was careful not to register the panic on his face or in his eyes. Years of playing poker with the wiliest poker players in his college had made him adept at hiding his emotion when he wanted to.
“What complaint is that, sir?” he asked simply.
The dean leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk in front of him. “The complaint is that you are having an affair with a young woman by the name of Catalina Marshall. Is that true?”
The dean’s eyes were locked on him. Connor never hesitated.
“Yes, Sir, it is true. We did spend a brief time together, but since that time we have mutually and amicably ended the affair.” Connor held his head up, though he felt like crawling beneath the dean’s desk.
Dean Hargrove sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together and looking over the top of them at Connor. “Thank you for your honesty. That saves me a good deal of time and work.”
Connor remained silent as he watched the dean and listened to him.
Dean Hargrove sat forward again and placed his hands on the desk in front of him. “Connor, I like you, you’re a great educator and a good man, but you really screwed up this time. Our college cannot develop a bad reputation in this town, and your actions are inexcusable. If this was not your first offense, you’d have been relieved of your position. However, in consideration of the fact that this is your first offense during your time at this institution, rather than losing your job, you will instead be placed on suspension pending a hearing.
“Your classes will be taught by a stand in until we determine what the final action is to be taken in regards to this complaint. Your suspension is immediate. We have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of behavior, Connor, and I am disappointed to have to see you involved in this in any way. I thought very highly of you until today.”
Connor felt his stomach turn to lead and begin to sink through the floor beneath him.
“Do you have anything further to add to this?” Dean Hargrove asked sternly.
Connor shook his head. “I do not, sir.”
The Dean stood up and extended his hand to Connor. “Thank you for coming in, Connor. I hope I don’t ever see you back in here for any disciplinary action. The office will be in contact with you about the outcome of the investigation into this.”
Connor nodded and stood up. He shook the dean’s hand, and then he turned and left the office, going straight back to his office. He had not felt so nauseated since his final exams in his last year of college. He felt like a complete failure.
He closed up his office and went home for the day. The next morning when he returned to his office to try to prepare for his stand-in replacement and the work that he wanted his students to do, he had gone from nauseated to miserable.
He wasn’t seeing Catalina any longer for the sole purpose of protecting his job, which had not been protected, and from which he had been suspended because he was seeing Catalina. The timing was all off and it had caused him so much heartache. He still missed her terribly, and seeing her in his classes had proven to be far more difficult than he had anticipated.
She would watch him, and he could feel her eyes on him, her beautiful blue gray eyes, and he longed to go to her and touch her, to hold her to him, but there was no way that he could do that. All he could do was glance occasionally at her from afar and hope that no one noticed the look of longing for her in his eyes.
He had no idea how the dean had found out, and he didn’t want to ask him. All he wanted to do was fix what he had done wrong so that there could be some semblance to his life again, because it felt to him like everything in it was falling apart faster than he could piece it together.
There was a knock at his office door and he looked up to see Deborah Hargrove strutting through the doorway. He sighed heavily. Of all of the people that could have walked through his doorway, she was undoubtedly the last one that he wanted to see.
She gave him an irritated look and pointed at the sofa. “Come talk with me. Get over here.” She turned her back to him and swayed her hips dramatically as she walked toward the sofa, sitting on it and patting the space immediately next to her on it.
“You really screwed up this time, Connor. I can’t believe you had an affair with a student. That’s so trashy and blasé. How could a man of your morality and character do something like that?” she asked him in irritation.
He remained seated at his desk. She frowned darkly at him. “Connor, I said get over here so I can talk with you, and I meant now. I don’t have a lot of time to try to help you.” She gave him a meaningful eye and he sighed heavily again and pushed himself up out of his chair, going toward her and sitting almost at the other end of the sofa from her.
She slid across it until she was beside him. “There, now… that’s better,” she said, laying her hand on his knee and giving it a squeeze.
He glanced down at her hand and then back up at her dark eyes. “How do you know about anything that’s going on?” he asked in amazement.
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Darling, my uncle is the dean. Do you think there’s anything going on in this school that I don’t know about?”
He pursed his lips in chagrin and remained silent. She leaned toward him and he glanced down at her blouse, wondering if she ever buttoned her blouses up further than the base of her cleavage.
She saw him glance at her breasts and she moaned and laughed a little, giving his knee another squeeze. “Now, there’s my sweet boy. You can have me here and now if you want me,” she said in a low and sultry voice, her eyes steady on his.
“I’m not in the market,” he said dryly, looking away from her and pushing her hand off of his knee.
She sat back a little and gave an exasperated noise as she gazed at him. Then she lifted her arm and slid it over the back of the sofa behind him, effectively pulling her already wide open blouse further open.
“That’s precisely what I’ve come to talk with you about, baby.” She purred as she moved her leg next to his and began to rub it against his leg. He looked over his shoulder at her and she gave him a flirtatious air kiss.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, certain that he could be doing anything more important at that point, like ironing his carpet.
She sighed and sat up, leaning close to him and sliding her hand through the crook of his arm as he rested his elbow on his thigh.
“Well, darling, I talked to Uncle Hargrove, and I told him how close you and I are, and how much you mean to me, and I suggested that if you were engaged or married that he wouldn’t need to suspend you at all because you would no longer be a threat to the young women who attend this institution for an education.
“You’d be committed to one woman, and you would be a model husband who was closely integrated into the founding families of this college and you would become an asset instead of a liability.” She leaned closer and let her lips brush his ear as she spoke into it.
“So, my precious Uncle Hargrove thought that I had such a good idea, that he told me if we were engaged immediately and married within the next few weeks, why, then he didn’t see any reason at all to hold those charges over your head and your suspension would be lifted, and you could start working again right away.
“I told him that I would come… talk you into it…” she whispered seductively into his ear as she slid her hand along his inner thigh toward his groin with a sexy giggle.
He clamped his hand over hers and stopped the motion of it. Then he turned and looked at
her, pushing her hand away from him.
“Are you telling me that you’re here to blackmail me into getting engaged to you and marrying you in three weeks?” he asked incredulously as he stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.
She shrugged and nodded. “Essentially, yes. I’m here to save your job, darling,” she cooed at him. She reached her hand up behind him and ran her fingers through his neatly combed hair, ruffling it a bit.
“What do you say, baby, do you want to drop down on your knees and offer me the rest of your life?” she asked with a wide red-lipped grin.
He stood got up off the sofa so fast that he was unsteady for a moment.
“Hell, no. Get out of my office. I can’t even believe that you came here thinking that I would ever go for an idea like that,” he said in disgust as he walked toward his desk and shoved his hands down in his pant pockets.
She was quiet a moment and then she stood up and sauntered toward him as he turned to face her, leaning against the front of his desk.
“Oh….tsk, tsk, darling. That’s too bad, because you see, I’m the head of the investigative board here, and I’ll be the one overseeing your… case,” she said with a pouty smile as she reached him.
His heart fell through him to the floor. She couldn’t be, he thought. She just couldn’t be.
She leaned up against the front of his body, straddling her legs around his and placing her hands on either side of his hips as she drew her face near to his. “Listen, baby, I know marriage seems like a big commitment, but it’s not. All I’m going to really want you for is a good time in my bed. All the time. Now, I know you like the younger women, and who could blame you, but what I might lack in younger years, I certainly make up for with… experience,” she told him in a silky voice.
He suddenly felt nauseated again, but he didn’t move, he held his ground in his office, leaning against the front of his desk.
“So, you can either get engaged to me, and we can have a really…” she said softly, pressing her lips up against his seductively, “…really…” she kissed him again and he did not move, “…really good time…” she told him, sliding one hand from his hip down to his crotch where she began to rub her fingers firmly over the bulge there.
“God, we could have such a good time--” she said with a grin, “Or,” she said, squeezing her fingers tightly around the bulge she was handling, “I can decide that you are a menace to all of the young women here and in every college, and you can kiss your career goodbye.” She began rubbing him again and then she leaned in and kissed him long and hard.
He pushed her away from him and wiped his hand over his mouth. “Don’t ever touch me again,” he told her in absolute disgust.
She sighed and pouted. “Well, well. It looks like you need a little time to think it over, baby. I’ll be back in touch with you,” she chuckled, “really soon. So if you want to save your career at all, you’ll go ring shopping for me. I like big diamonds, just so you know.”
She let her gaze wander over him seductively and he nodded to the door. “You can leave now.” She shrugged and turned to walk out of the door, blowing him a kiss over her shoulder.
Connor groaned and dropped his head into his hands. He had no idea what he was going to do about her or his job or his aching need for Catalina. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control.
He felt totally alone and completely confused about what to do, and the only thing he felt sure of was Catalina. He knew that he shouldn’t do it, but he texted her and asked her to come to his office right away, and he asked her to delete the text when she got it.
Half an hour later, there was a knock at his office door and he called out that it was open. He was more relieved than he had ever been to see anyone in his life when he saw her. He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him for a long moment before letting her go and locking the door behind her.
She looked at him in surprise as he turned the lock and she arced an eyebrow. “So this is a private meeting?”
He shook his head and reached for her again, pulling her up against him and burying his face in her neck, loving the feel of her warm skin and the sweet scent of her perfume. “God, it’s so good to see you. I missed you so much.” He told her breathlessly. “I need you here with me right now. Everything is such a mess!”
She slipped her arms around him and held him tightly, resting her chin on his shoulder as she comforted him. “I’m here, Connor. I’m here. What’s going on?” she asked gently.
He didn’t answer her immediately, but instead stood and held her for a long while. Finally, he loosed his arms around her and leaned back, looking down at her, losing himself in her blue gray eyes.
“It feels like everything that can go wrong is going wrong.” He sighed heavily.
She frowned and took him by the hand, leading him over to the sofa where she sat down with him. “Tell me.”
He sighed and rubbed his hand over his forehead before looking up at her sadly. “I’ve worked so hard to get where I am and I’m about to lose everything.”
Catalina gasped and her eyes grew wide with worry. “What happened?” she asked him in concern.
He took her hands in his. “I was reported for having an affair with you. Your father went and talked to the dean and told him everything, so now I’m on suspension. They’re going to call you into the office to talk with you, and they’ve already called me in. I’m being disciplined.”
She shook her head in disbelief, with sorrow in her gray blue eyes. “Oh no! I’m so sorry, Connor!”
He looked at her questioningly. “Did you tell your father about us? That just seems so strange to me. I can’t understand how anyone knew about us at all. We were out of town to begin with, and we’ve only been together since then in this office. How in the world could he have found out?” He had racked his brain so many times and no answer had made itself clear to him.
Catalina sighed and closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands. “It was my best friend, Reggie. He and I talked about the trip right after we got back, and I made a mistake and told him about you and me. He got really upset and tried to tell me that he liked me. He even tried to kiss me,” she explained, thinking back sadly on everything that had changed so much between them.
Connor looked at her in surprise. “He likes you? Do you like him that way?” he asked as fear crept into his heart. It had never occurred to him that there might be anyone else who wanted Catalina and might be close enough to her to get her.
She sighed and looked at him. “He does like me. Actually, he’s told me that he is in love with me, but I don’t like him that way. I never have, and I was so surprised to find out that he did like me romantically. We’ve been best friends since high school, and I thought that that was all we were, but I guess he’s been keeping his feelings a secret all of this time.
“When I told him about us, thinking that he would be happy for me because I found someone I care so much about, he got really jealous and angry, and we fought about you a couple of times. He told me to stop seeing you and leave you alone and I was rebellious and stubborn and wouldn’t give you up, so since he couldn’t make me do what he wanted me to do, he went to my father and told him everything he knew about us.”
Connor was floored. He had had no idea that Catalina was going through so much drama and heartache away from him. He had guessed that she was just busy focusing on her classes, rather than fighting to get through so much trouble with her best friend and her father.
“Oh my God, Catalina, I’m so sorry. I had no idea that you were going through any of that!” he shook his head and reached his hand up to her cheek to touch it and comfort her. She gazed at him sadly and he finally saw the pain in her eyes.
“My father and I had a big fight about you, and he demanded that I stop seeing you, both romantically, which we already decided to do, and in class. He wants me to give up all of your classes and finish the year with another professor. He told me that I can’t ever see you again!” She spoke in a pained whisper as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Connor felt like his heart was being pulled from his chest. As difficult as it was to be in class and see her so close and yet still so far away, he could not bear to think of going the rest of the year without seeing her at all. “Oh my God… Catalina, he can’t do that! I… I can’t go the rest of the year without seeing you, unless you feel like that’s the best thing to do.”
He looked at her worriedly as a cold ball of steel formed in his stomach. “Do you think it’s the best thing to do?” he asked, feeling as though the rest of his entire life was somehow suddenly hanging in the balance.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what to do! I don’t want to give you up completely, Connor. I’ve already given up intimacy with you, and that’s been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever given up,” he nodded in sincere agreement with her, “but to give up seeing you at all from now on… I just don’t know if I can do it, but I’ve never disobeyed my father when he has made such a strong rule about something.
“I’d be going completely against him if I was to keep seeing you, even in class! I’ve been so broken up about it. I just don’t know what to do!” She wept and he wiped the tears from her cheeks gently.
“I don’t know if you are even going to have to worry about it. It looks like I will most likely lose my job here at the school. I’m already on suspension, so there is a stand-in teacher taking over my classes until the investigative board decides what to do with me.”
His thoughts went to the demands that Deborah Hargrove had made of him, either to marry her or be fired, and though he had not given her any kind of answer, he felt sure that he would rather let his job go than save it and have to be married to her.
“I’m so sorry about your job, Connor. This is your life, here at this school. You’re one of the best teachers here! I can’t believe they’d even consider letting you go! I feel like I caused all of this. You never would have come after me. It was me that started this when I kissed you in the hot tub at the hotel. You never wanted it to begin with!” she told him sorrowfully.
His mind went back to the night in the hot tub and visions of her in her red bikini filled his mind, and his body responded in kind; his stomach and thighs grew tight and warm, and he felt himself beginning to get hard.
“Oh, you weren’t the only one who wanted it, Catalina, I was so attracted to you, so drawn to you. I wanted you just as much as you wanted me, and I was definitely a willing participant in the hot tub, and in our bed in the hotel room,” he told her softly as he leaned near to her.
She had been aching for him so much, that to feel him near her again like he was, was too much for her to resist. “Do you still… want me?” she asked quietly, her eyes locked on his jade green eyes.
“More than anything,” he whispered, closing the space between them and kissing her softly. His mouth moved hungrily over hers as yearning for her saturated him and he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him close, kissing him back as fervently as he kissed her.
He moaned softly and lifted his lips from hers for a moment, looking at her intently. “I’m never going to get enough of you.” He closed his mouth over hers again. She gave in to the dizziness and heady desire that had begun to overwhelm her and she traced her tongue along his, losing herself in the wonder of being in his arms.
“I missed this so much!” she whispered as his mouth moved over her cheek and down her neck. His hands went to her waist and he lifted her, pulling her onto his lap so that she faced him. She slid her knees up close to his hips and leaned down to kiss him deeper.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” she asked him breathlessly.
He laughed coolly at the irony. “Why not? What are they going to do to us if they find out?” he asked a little sarcastically. “They are already trying to take you away from me,” he said as he pulled her blouse from her body and slipped her bra off, revealing her breasts which were only bare long enough for him to stare at for a moment before he caressed them and kissed them passionately.
“They are taking my job away from me, they are telling you that you can’t ever see me again, hell, for all we know, this will be the last time that we are ever together again.” He breathed against her skin as his tongue and mouth moved over all of her flesh that he could get to. His hands canvassed her back, holding her to him as they kissed.
Her heart felt like it was breaking inside of her. He was right. Everyone was trying to pull them away from each other, and it seemed like all of them combined against her and Connor would only ensure a defeat for the two of them. Tears rolled down her cheeks and Connor looked up from her breasts and saw them. He shook his head and kissed each one away.
“Don’t cry, baby, please don’t cry. If this is our last time together, I want it to be beautiful. Please don’t cry.” He took her face in his hands. “Kiss me… please kiss me. Just lose yourself in me and we’ll pretend that no one exists right now but you and I,” he told her, and it sounded like the best idea in the world to her.
She kissed him more passionately than she ever had and he groaned and shifted beneath her, pulling her further up onto his groin. He was hard with desire and as his hands reached underneath the hem of her skirt, pushing it up all the way over her hips, he brought her down on top of his erection, rubbing it against her satin panties as he sucked on her nipples and began to rock himself against her.
“Make love with me!” she pleaded with him.
He leaned up and kissed her mouth fervently. “I am going to make love with you until neither one of us can move. The door is locked. No one is coming in, and no one is going to stop us from having this time together,” he promised her as he pulled her clothes from her body and did the same for himself.
Minutes later they were laying together on his sofa, their skin hot and moist, their bodies hungry for one another, and he was nestled in between her thighs, his tongue teasing her and driving her wild with pleasure and happiness as he made her come in his mouth once, and then again before he released her and moved his hips up against hers. He looked down at her as he thrust himself inside of her, staring at her face and knowing that there was no woman on the planet that he wanted or desired more than her.
The feel of her body hot and tight around his erection made him gasp and shut his eyes, and he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her hungrily as he moved in her, burying himself all the way in her and making her cry out softly with the intensity of the pleasure coursing through her.
She rocked her hips hard against his, and they made love together for a long while, clinging together as they moved from one end of the couch to the other, wrestling in their lovemaking, sharing everything that was on fire within them, until neither one of them could hold back any longer.
They came together, crying out and holding each other fast as he filled her with his orgasm, flooding her, and she sighed in release, her lips touching his gently at long last, before she rested her head on his shoulder and tried to catch her breath.
They laid together on the sofa for a long while, holding and touching each other, savoring every moment together, and as the light outside of the window began to grow faint, he moved in between her legs and made love with her again, more sweetly and lovingly than their wild and passionate encounter earlier.
They held each other tightly as the last of their orgasms spelled out the end of their affair. They wiped tears from each other’s eyes, and slowly disentangled themselves from one another, quietly pulling their clothes back on and kissing each other over and over as she made her way slowly to the door.
They were careful not to touch or kiss once the door was opened, and with a long last look, they whispered goodbye, and she turned and left him, and he closed the door behind her, unable to watch her walk away from him.
When the door was shut, he leaned against it and slid down the length of it until he was sitting on the floor, and there he stayed with his head in his hands and tears on his cheeks, wondering how in the world he was ever going to talk himself into believing that letting her walk out was the right thing to do.