Chapter 2

Cody

Cody hadn't been talking long when he heard a laugh and his words stumbled. His eyes shot straight to the seat the noise had come from and instantly connected with the ones belonging to the woman that thought it was okay to laugh while he was speaking. He watched her hand move to cover her mouth. Then, as she moved her hand away, she mouthed the word sorry. What the fuck, he thought? Who did she think she was? Did she even know who he was? He pulled his eyes away from hers and continued with what he'd been trying to say before she so rudely interrupted him.

The more he talked, the more he looked her way. He couldn't help it. Where everyone else silently listened to him, she stared down at her paper with her pen moving like crazy. The same woman that laughed at him was actually taking notes. If he could have walked through the rows to get a glimpse of her paper, he would have, but there wasn't room for that, so he stood there, wondering if she was really taking notes or writing something different and ignoring him completely.

He kept his eyes on her as he continued to speak. She was beautiful. That would be obvious to anyone just looking at her, he thought, but watching her concentrate on what she was doing, while pulling her bottom lip between her teeth at the corner, that was so damn sexy. Her long brown hair hung down next to the sides of her face as she wrote, and he couldn't help but smile as she'd push it away with irritation in her movement. She'd turn her paper over and keep right on moving without ever looking up, and with each turn of her page, he found himself more intrigued with what exactly she was writing.

When his time was up, he realized that he hadn't left any time for questions, so he offered to stay after a few minutes for anyone that had any. The woman with the laugh didn't move. Instead, she kept writing. Most of the students left, but a handful of them were walking toward him. He watched that same woman put her things in her bag, but she didn't get up. She had a sad look on her face for just a second before that look was gone and a curious one took over. The next thing Cody knew, she was out of her seat and headed his way.

There were five guys standing there with her, but not a single one of them asked a question. He thought about all of the students that had left, and he couldn't help but smile. They could have come forward. They could have asked anything they wanted, but they didn't. Instead, they left. That just made Cody's competition that much less, and that made him smile every single time he thought about it. He was standing there, willing to give them any answer they wanted, but they couldn't be bothered. If you didn't want it, you weren't competition, and you most likely never would be. That was how Cody saw it anyway.

It didn't take long for the laughing lady to push her way to the front of those men, and Cody couldn't help but smile again.

“Mr. Williams,” she began, but he cut her off right away.

“Cody,” he said.

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am for,” she began, but he cut her off again.

“And who would you be?” he asked.

“Julie,” she said, as she moved nervously from foot to foot, which he didn't miss. “My name is Julie Lucas, and like I was saying, I'm really sorry. It had nothing to do with you, and I feel terrible about it.”

“Julie Lucas,” Cody whispered, as he thought about who she was.

The second she'd said her name, everything made sense. He knew exactly who she was and who her father and uncle were too. Cody paid attention to everything, but the thing he paid attention to most was his competition, the ones he needed to take out to be number one, and her family was on the top of that list. Keeping track of her father meant keeping track of her too. Gavin's other kids, not so much, but her, definitely. He'd never seen her, but he'd heard her name many times. She was the one that was going to do big things at the Lucas company, there was no doubt in his mind about that. From what he'd heard, she had the drive to run that company, and from the crazy note taking he'd just observed, something told him what he'd heard was spot on.

“I heard every word you said,” she blurted out, cutting off his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. Then she continued without taking a single breath the entire time. “It was very interesting. I have a million questions, but I know there's no time for that. A few of your ideas really got me. I'd thought of those very same ones myself, but I'd been told that they wouldn't work. I'm glad to hear I was right. I learned a lot from your talk, and I took a ton of notes. I can't wait to read through them. Thank you for coming to our class. I just wanted to apologize for earlier and say thank you.”

Before he could even respond, she'd turned, pushed right back through the group of guys, and was gone. Cody turned and looked over to see a huge smile on her teacher's face.

“She's one of a kind,” the man said, with a laugh. “She knows what she's doing, and she's damn passionate about her work.”

“Gavin Lucas is her father,” Cody said.

“He is,” the teacher replied.

“Why didn't you ask him to speak?” Cody asked.

The teacher looked at him nervously, with his smile gone, but didn't answer.

“He turned you down?” Cody asked.

“He did,” the teacher answered.

“It was nice meeting all of you,” Cody said, as he stepped forward.

The guys standing before him cleared the way, and Cody walked toward the door. He walked into the hallway and began to turn the corner, and there she was again, standing just around the bend, talking to another woman her age. Cody took a step back before she had a chance to see him. He heard the woman with her begging her to go out. It was their last day of classes. They were done, and her friend wanted to celebrate. After several attempts, Julie finally gave in and agreed to go. She said she had work to do but would meet the woman there. That was when he caught the name of the place they were going to.

With a smile on his face, Cody stood tall. Then he rounded that corner again and walked right by the two women. He could feel eyes on him the entire time, and he couldn't help but laugh to himself. He could use a night out, he thought. It had been a very long time since he'd had one, and it was starting to sound pretty damn good.

“If I can't get her on my team, I can at least find out what her daddy has been up to,” he told himself, as he pushed open the door of the building, ready for the evening ahead.