Sallinger, Elene - Reflection (The Chrysalis Series)

‘What does her scholarship have to do with this?’

‘He’s holding it over her head. He’s the dean of my department and he’s threatening to fail her.’

‘Damn, that bites.’ He sat next to her and took her hand. One thing that he enjoyed about her was how much she cared about her students. ‘Do you have any ideas?’

‘No, not a one,’ she said and squeezed his hand. ‘I need to find a way to expose him that can’t be disputed while not putting Skyler or –’ She jumped a little and bit her lip.

‘What?’ he brought her hand to his lips and kissed the soft skin. Tension tightened his chest. He felt certain she wasn’t telling him everything.

Anger surged, bright and hot, but he fought it. Something was not right and it was driving him crazy, but he had no grounds to call her out without making himself look like a completely insecure dick.

‘Nothing.’ She leaned in and kissed him gently. ‘I just had a moment of inspiration. I think I know what I’m going to do.’

‘Care to share?’

‘Not yet. I need to think it through more.’

She smiled at him and straddled his lap, taking his face between her hands and kissing him thoroughly. She still only rarely initiated any sexual encounter between them and he should be thrilled. In this instant, he felt manipulated.

Too bad his dick had no issue with that. He was hard and ready. Just like he always was when it came to Bridget. He wanted to fling her over his shoulder and give her a good spanking for so obviously holding back.

What was it going to take for her to understand that they couldn’t go any further if she didn’t truly open up to him? Some days he didn’t think he could rein in his frustration. He worried his temper would get the better of him. He was an easy-going guy in general, but she was kryptonite to his self-control.

She reached between them and cupped his bulge, pulling his mind away from his ruminations. Lust flowed through him and he knew he wasn’t going to stop just as he knew he wasn’t going to pressure her.

He loved her too much.

The knowledge that he loved her should have been a relief; instead, his eyes burned and he felt as if he were even further away from her. Reaching up, he gently gripped her head and deepened the kiss, slowly taking control. He stood, wrapping her legs around his waist, and walked over to the bed where he proceeded to show her as carnally as possible exactly how he felt.

As he buried himself gently inside her, he did his best to pretend he didn’t feel his hope slowly draining away.

‘That should do it.’ Nico handed Bridget her bag and flashed his dimples at her. ‘You’re finally joining the rest of us in the 21st century, huh, Professor.’

Bridget grinned back at her former student. ‘You always were a smartass, weren’t you.’

‘True –’ the dimples deepened ‘– but I was also your best student.’

‘That you were.’ She settled her purchases on her arm, doing her best to quiet the adrenaline rush pulsing in her veins at the realisation that she was about to put something in motion that she wouldn’t be able to take back once it was done.

‘How are Gina and the baby doing?’

His face, usually so angular and austere, softened at the mention of his wife and newborn daughter. The flash of jealousy Bridget felt shamed her. No matter how hard she tried, she could never fully accept the knowledge that she’d never be a mother.

‘They’re great. We’re not getting much sleep yet, but Cara is amazing. And Gina, she was born to be a mother.’

‘Oh Nico.’ She gripped his forearm, ‘I’m so happy for you.’ She was pleased to see she meant it.

‘Thanks, Prof.’ He walked with her over to the door. ‘Listen, do you need any help setting everything up?’

Bridget shook her head. ‘Nope.’ She adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder and pushed open the door, saying over her shoulder, ‘I’m sure I can figure it all out.’

‘OK then.’ He nodded at the customers who walked in as Bridget left. ‘Feel free to call me if you have any questions.’

‘Will do, sugar,’ she called out as she waved goodbye. She wouldn’t, though. She wasn’t going to involve him any more than she already had.

Bridget strolled down Main Street to her Mustang doing her best to be discreet. She didn’t want to see anyone she knew, especially Evan, who should be at Bibliophile right now.

Yup, there he was. She ducked into the natural grocery across the street and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing to the display in his front window. As she watched, Claire entered the store. In the instant he noticed his wife, he was transformed. His focus lasered in on her and he took her in his arms and kissed her as if she were the breath in his chest.

When he released her, Claire smiled, but her face lacked its usual sparkle. She looked drawn and pale. Bridget’s heart squeezed to see her friend in such obvious pain. Still, the love she and Evan shared was plain to see. She hoped to have that herself one day. Connor’s face flashed through her mind. She smiled. There were definite possibilities there. As long as she handled this ugly business first. She wanted to be able to focus on Connor and she couldn’t do that with Whittier breathing down her neck.

She’d almost spilled the beans about it all to Connor that morning, but something had stopped her. On one level, she understood that she really had no good reason to keep this from him. But, on the other hand, she felt as if she needed to keep this to herself.

He kept her so off balance she needed to feel as if she had complete control in one area of her life.

Didn’t she?

A horn blared, startling her out of her thoughts. She peered through the grocer’s display window to ensure that Claire and Evan were gone. The coast was clear so she hot-footed it over to her car. There were plans to be made. Stashing her packages in the trunk, she headed home to tell Skyler what they were going to do.

‘You’re sure about this?’ Skyler furiously twirled a lock of her ponytail around her fingers.

‘As I can be.’ Bridget sipped the sweet tea she’d poured for them as they talked. ‘Obviously, I’ve never done this before and there is some risk.’

‘Ya think?’ Skyler smirked before tossing back her own tea as if it were something much stronger.

Bridget reached across the table and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

‘You don’t have to do this. We could report him to the authorities. Or I could be the one to do it.’

Skyler squeezed Bridget’s hand hard, but shook her head. ‘No, if you do it, it will be too easy to claim you set him up. Me, though, once I tell him I kept the baby, he’ll lose it. His reaction will be too over the top for anyone to protect him.’

A tremor ran through Skyler and Bridget wanted to wrap her up and protect her from all this ugliness.

‘How are you doing, sugar?’ She released Skyler’s hand and began clearing the dinner dishes from the table.

‘OK, I guess.’ She joined Bridget at the sink and began drying the dishes as Bridget washed them. ‘I still haven’t told anyone yet. I don’t want to burden my parents with this when I still don’t know what’s going to happen with Dale.’

‘That’s understandable.’

Bridget wanted to say so much more, but what could she really say? Skyler needed her support more than she needed a lecture. Besides, a small worm of censure was wriggling up Bridget’s spine at the hypocrisy of advising Skyler on total disclosure when she wasn’t telling Connor everything.

‘Professor?’

‘Hmm?’

Bridget wrung out the sponge and joined Skyler in putting the dishes in the cabinet.