Tempting(23)

“Nathaniel, I can see you’re home,” my father’s voice came from the other side of the door. I cursed under my breath, shoving Adele toward the staircase that led upstairs. He’d never go up there, I don’t think he had since the weekend Diana and I moved in.

“Who’s that?” Adele whispered after hurrying up the first couple steps, pulling her pants back into place while she did.

I clenched my jaw and pointed upstairs. “My father. Now just go into the bathroom, first door on the right and stay right there until I tell you to come down.”

The knocking continued and I pulled in a breath and called out, “Coming!”

“No,” Adele said and leaned her head around the top of the stairs to look down at me, despite the incredulous glare I leveled at her, “but I was really, really close.”





Chapter Twelve





Standing in front of the door, pulling in a steadying breath before opening it for my father, there was a brief, lucid moment of déjà vu that swallowed me like a tidal wave. No question that the outcome would be different, obviously Adele was hiding in my bathroom…

Adele was hiding in my bathroom. Fuck.

I’d officially regressed to something akin to a hormonal teenage boy, trying to hide his first boner from his parents after sneaking a peek at a Victoria’s Secret catalog. I shook my head briskly and pulled open the door, scowling at my father.

“What?”

He shouldered past me without actually making contact, which was a true gift, because I backed away as if he had. If there wasn’t a woman hiding about fourteen feet away from us, it might have bothered me more that I’d been the one to move. As it was, I could only focus on looking like I wasn’t on the verge of freaking the hell out.

“My assistant told me that you haven’t RSVP’d yet.”

I sighed, rubbing at my forehead. “That’s because I forgot. I do have other things that I’m responsible for that are actually more important than sitting at that dinner.”

“As much as I love stopping by this godawful house during my free time, I knew you’d just ignore me if I called or emailed again. Your mother wants you there,” I snorted and he continued as if I hadn’t made a noise, “and it reflects positively on our whole family. We’re as much of a legacy at this university as there is without actually building it, and if you plan on continuing your career here as an Easton, then you will be there.”

There might have been another time where I’d push the issue, press back against the way he’d always wanted to plan out every detail of my life. Maybe even tell him that I quit, I’d gladly take my degree somewhere else, even if it meant leaving the Easton name behind. But Adele was upstairs doing God knows what, and I just didn’t have any fight in me.

Shaking my head, I pulled my phone out of the back pocket of my pants and scrolled through my contacts until I found his office number. My father crossed his arms over his barrel chest and leaned back against the wall next to the entryway table. I met his gaze while his assistant picked up.

“Richard Easton’s office.”

“Nancy, it’s Nathan.”

“Well, Nathan,” her voice warmed immediately, but I didn’t smile, unwilling to give him any ammunition against the only employee of his that I’d liked in the last twenty years, “it’s been far too long since I’ve seen that handsome face of yours. When are you going to come visit me?”

“Soon, I promise.” It was a lie. I wouldn’t go near that place as long as I knew he was in the office behind her desk. “Listen, can you put me down for a plate at the family table at the scholarship dinner in a couple weeks? It slipped my mind to RSVP when I received the invitation.”

“Of course, dear. Shall I put you down as bringing a guest as well?”

Then I did smile, getting a vision of Adele sitting next to me at a $1500 a plate dinner, wearing her black leather pants and horrifying my parents. “No, it’ll just be me. Thank you, Nancy.”

I clicked off the call and continued to hold his stare. He broke first, pushing off from the wall and heading back toward the door.

“What? No thank you?” I said when he pulled open the door, showing no intention of speaking to me again. I should’ve just let him leave.

My father paused long enough to spare me a glance over his shoulder. “Thanks aren’t required when you’re fulfilling a familial obligation, Nathaniel. If you had a modicum of professionalism, you’d understand that.”

The door slammed shut behind him and I clenched my teeth together, breathing hard through my nose. I hated him, hated him so much that it sometimes felt like it would burn me alive from the inside out. And yet I was still under his thumb, working where he’d wanted me to work from the day I was born. I braced my hands on my hips, attempting to calm myself down before I went back upstairs to deal with Adele.