Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(58)
Catalina tilted her head and gave him a sweet smile, laying her slender hand on his wide shoulder. “Reggie, it’s going to be fine. Seriously. This isn’t anything for anyone to get worked up about. We’re going to go, we’ll be gone for three or four days and we’ll be back. Easy as that.”
He sat up straight and turned sharply to look at her in alarm. “Three or four days? You mean this isn’t a one day thing?”
She lowered her brows and looked at him in irritation. “No, it’s a three day event and we have to drive there, so there’s some travel time involved, which makes it about four days.”
He looked away from her and shook his head. “I don’t like it. Where are you staying?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know; a hotel, I guess. We haven’t talked too much about the details because we were waiting to hear back on the press passes. I’m supposed to go in and see Connor to talk with him about it. We’ll get it all worked out. Please don’t worry about it.”
Reggie faced her and leveled his eyes at her. “You’re going out of town alone with your professor for four days and you don’t want me to worry about it. Right. I just don’t like it.”
She frowned at him and pushed her lips out stubbornly. “It’s not up to you to decide whether you should let me go or not!”
He rolled his eyes and leaned back with a sigh. “Like I could stop you,” he said dejectedly as he stood up and turned to face her. “Hug me.”
She stood up and her irritation dissipated in the face of their friendship. She reached her arms around his chest and hugged him, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back, leaning his head close to her cheek and touching his lips ever so softly to her skin there as he whispered, “You be careful and come back as soon as you can.”
Catalina let him go and looked up at him almost reproachfully. “I’ll be fine, and I’ll come back when it’s done.” She gave him a wink.
He heaved a sigh as big as he was, and shook his head slowly as he turned around and walked away from her. She watched him go and smiled at his dedication to her and to their friendship. She was grateful that her best friend cared so much about her, that he worried about her, and that he was always looking out for her. She knew she was lucky to have someone who cared so much.
Catalina walked through the campus and headed toward Connor’s classroom. She checked her watch and saw that he was still teaching his class. She nudged fallen leaves of red, gold, and brown as she walked, smiling at the perfection of the moment. She loved fall, it was her favorite season, and she loved the school she was attending, about to graduate from after spring semester, and she was thrilled that she and her professor were able to get the press passes they needed to the political rally.
There were three nights of activities, and she would be able to attend all of them as media, and the realization of that sent adrenaline and excitement all the way through her soul. It was the beginning of what she had worked so hard for since high school to make into her lifelong career. The first real story. The first real work. The publishable pieces that would be the foundation of her early portfolio, and it was starting. It felt like she was just at the top of a roller coaster ride that was about to go screaming straight down on its way through a wild and unprecedented ride.
She reached the building where Connor James was teaching his class, and she slipped silently through the doorway of his room, sitting at the last seat in the back row, so as not to disturb the other students in the room.
Connor James was by far one of the most handsome young professors at the college. There was no end of girls or women who seemed to want him, and somehow he never really noticed their considerable numbers or keen interest; his attention was always focused on the present and whatever task he was dedicating himself. There were many hearts crushed as a result of his obliviousness.
Catalina rested her chin in her hand and watched him. While she did not suffer a crush on him, like so many others did, she did not miss the fact that he was a beautiful man to look at, and it made her smile to think that she was lucky enough to be in his company often, for he was as smart and as good humored as he was good looking.
Her eyes followed him as he stood before the class, outlining details of the photojournalistic approach to photography, which was significantly different than any other approach to the subject. He was going on about how each photograph must tell a story, but she had taken that class her first year, and she knew it all by heart at that point. She was more focused on him.
His golden sandy hair was combed back away from his face, styled carefully to one side, ending at his collar. His short beard was trimmed and allowed the perfect view of his full lips, and framed his square jaw line. He had jade green eyes that swept over the room and stopped on her when they saw her. He gave the slightest of nods that she was sure was so imperceptible to the other students, that they must all have missed it. She smiled back and he continued with his lesson.
As he spoke, he began to pull his dark brown sport coat off, sliding it over his thick-muscled shoulders and down his arms and hung it neatly on the back of the chair. The solid wall of his chest looked as if it was pulling just a little at the buttons on his shirt, leaving many of the girls in the class wondering what he looked like without the shirt on.
It was tucked into the band of his jeans, which hugged his narrow hips and when he turned around to face the screen behind him, many of the ladies eyes dropped to get a view of his back side. Several of them bit their lower lips and looked at each other, shaking their heads breathlessly.