My Dad's Boss(5)

Nick reached forward with his free hand and picked up mine. He raised it  toward him, and for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss the back  of my hand like some kind of courtly knight. But instead, he paused, our  hands bridging the distance between us. He opened his palm and pushed  his fingers through mine, linking us. When he spoke, his voice was low,  quiet, and devastatingly sexy. "And where were your hands …  while you  were thinking about me?"

I gasped and tried to untwist my fingers from his, but he didn't let go.  He stared me down for a long moment while I squirmed under his gaze.  His cologne gently tickled my nose, some woodsy, masculine scent. He  smelled delicious. His eyes flicked down to my chest, once, then twice,  and I was aware of my nipples pushing against the red satin of my dress.

And then he flashed a devilish wink in my direction. "It would be pretty  hypocritical of me if I objected to something you'd done while  remembering me."

Blushing, I felt like he could see straight into my mind. But then I was  struck by what he said. Did that mean …  did that mean that he'd touched  himself too, while thinking of me? That thought made my pulse race  again, and suddenly I didn't mind being embarrassed. It was actually  pretty hot the way he could make me squirm like this. He was just so  composed. At ease with himself. Utterly certain that he could say these  things to me and make me want him more, not less. That kind of  confidence was such a turn-on.         

     



 

The look in his eyes alone was enough to melt my panties. He looked …   single-minded. Focused. On me. I licked my lips because my mouth  suddenly felt so dry. What was he going to do? Kiss me? Hold me? Bend me  over and fuck me? Whatever it was, I couldn't wait to find out.

His eyes were on my lips, and I held my breath. But then there was a  noise, a shrill laugh coming from just around the corner. Both of us  stopped dead. I'm not sure how he felt, but I'd pretty much forgotten  about every other person at the party.

Blinking down at me, Nick seemed to come out of a trance. He took a step  back, then another. At long last, he spoke. "Shit. What am I thinking?"

"It's okay …  we didn't … " I trailed off. Took a deep breath. Looked him in  the eye. "I kind of liked what you were thinking" I said, my voice  soft.

"Me too," he said, with a quick glance downward. My gaze followed his.  There was definitely a hardness straining against his jeans. "Seeing you  in that red dress …  with your hair up like that …  it made me forget  myself. But I can't let it happen again."

This was so unfair. He fascinated me in a way no man had in a really  long time. Perhaps ever. With Brad, it had been friendship that  eventually turned into love. But never in my twenty years had I met  someone who excited me so much from the start. Was it really going to be  over before it began? "But …  can't we even try-"

"No," he said. "And you know why."

I did. I wished I didn't, but I did. Even if he weren't my dad's boss,  there was the age difference. The fact that I was a college student, and  he was a high school principal. He was a strong, confident man who knew  what he wanted. He probably had been in lots of relationships. I'd just  been in one. There could never be anything between us, but damn he was  tempting. So I'd probably better remove myself from temptation.

He appeared to have had the same thought because he was already backing  up. "I'd better get back to the party. It was nice seeing you again,  Cassie."

"You too," I said softly, wondering how to address him. If there was any  chance that he'd ever be standing by my side again, his arm around me  like he did at the coffee shop, then I'd call him Nick. But since there  wasn't …  "Thank you for coming tonight, Mr. Conner."





Chapter Five





"EVERYONE, CAN I please have your attention?"

I felt nervous as all eyes turned to me. After everyone had finished  eating, I'd gone through the house and the deck, Paul Revere style,  asking people to gather in the large living room, I'd seen Nick talking  with various teachers, many of whom I recognized from my four years at  the high school.

Now everyone was crammed into the living room, seated on sofas, chairs,  armrests of chairs, and anywhere else they could fit. Mom and Dad sat in  the middle, on two dining room chairs I'd placed there for them. At my  back was the eighty-five-inch television they had indulged in last  Christmas.

"Twenty-one years is a long time," I began nervously. "That's longer  than I've been alive." There were chuckles at this though I hadn't meant  to make a joke. But somehow seeing people's friendly smiles helped me  to relax. "Which I guess is how it's supposed to work," I said, grinning  at my parents. Mom already had tears in her eyes and I hadn't even  shown them my gift yet.

"Since I wasn't around-or very aware-for the first few years, I  interviewed some people who were. Family. Friends. Anyone I could. And  I've got pictures-pictures that Mom and Dad probably thought were buried  forever."

Everyone laughed again, a few people patting my parents on the shoulder.

"So, I now present to you, the world debut of Robert and Gwen: The First  Twenty-One Years." Hitting the remote, I dashed across the room,  stepping over legs so I could get the lights. The music from my video  started, and I blinked, trying to see where I could sit in the darkened  room.

"Cassie, over here," my Aunt Lauren whispered. Her voice came from the  direction of one of the longer sofas, so I moved cautiously toward her,  trying not to step on anyone. A quick glance at the screen made me  hurry. I'd seen the video a hundred times while editing it, but I didn't  want to miss anyone's reactions.

"Scooch over, there's room," Lauren was saying. And then I could see a  small space at the end of the couch. I kicked off my shoes, folding my  knee underneath me as I sat down so that I'd be higher up. But the space  was tighter than I thought, and I overbalanced, placing a hand on the  arm of the man next to me.         

     



 

"Sorry," I whispered, quickly withdrawing my hand.

"No problem," came a familiar voice. It was Nick.

Seriously? I was wedged against the hot, hard body of the man I was forbidden to see? Life really wasn't fair sometimes.

We were really scrunched in tight, too. I shifted my weight away from  him, trying not to touch him, but there wasn't enough room. Finally, he  eased his arm out from between us and put it over the back of the couch  behind me. That freed up a little space though we were still thigh to  thigh.

Soon, though, my focus was on the video. Mom had said I'd been working  on it a lot this month, but the truth was I'd started it way back in  February. Twice I'd returned home from college on weekends I knew my  parents wouldn't be here to scan hundreds of photos from their photo  albums. I also raided their things in the attic, finding a treasure  trove of old love letters, mementos from their first dates, baby clothes  from when I was born, and more. They were definitely savers.

The video was arranged chronologically, a mixture of pictures, snippets  of videos, warm wishes from various family and friends, and more. It was  all set to my parents' favorite songs. By the time we got to my  favorite part, a recorded message from my mother's ninety-three-year-old  Grandpa Jack in New York, I heard quite a bit of sniffling. I knew Mom  was crying, of course, but she wasn't the only one.

When the video was halfway through, I began to relax. It was going well.  People liked it. No one was checking their phones-everyone was  watching. Just as if it were a real movie. Relieved, I slumped back in  my seat, forgetting that Nick's arm was behind me until I bumped it with  the back of my head.

I stiffened as I felt him there, but he casually draped his arm around  my shoulder. Closing my eyes briefly, I let myself enjoy the feeling of  being so close to him. Ours sides were pressed together, our legs  touched. His arm was around me. And I know it was just a friendly  gesture on his part, but it still felt good.

We'd gotten to the part of the video in which my parents and I had taken  a trip to Europe, and now people were laughing at the video clips of my  dad trying to say phrases in Italian, German, and French. I laughed,  too, at a scene of him buying food from a street vendor in Rome and  saying gracias instead of grazie.

"You have to send me a copy of this, Cassie," Aunt Lauren whispered, and  several other people concurred. Pleased, I set my hand down without  thinking where it would land-which ended up being on Nick's hard thigh.  Oops. But wow, it felt good. The heat from his skin rose up even through  his pants. He must work out-he seemed to have muscles in all the right  places.

After a moment, Nick shifted, his free hand closing in on mine. He moved  my hand off his leg, and it felt like he was going to let me go-but  then he clasped my hand tighter.