Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(61)
As he gazed out of them, he saw her crossing the lawn in front of the building, and he watched her walk so gracefully, almost gliding, the sun reflecting off her hair and skin. He sighed again and lifted his hand to the window pane, leaning his forehead against it as she got further from him.
He could not have her. He could not wish to have her, or want her. She was off limits and desiring her was out of the question. He made himself think those thoughts over and over, like a mantra that he was determined to make himself believe. He vowed to respect her and remain committed to his position at the school. He’d never had any kind of romantic or inappropriate feelings for any student before at any time, and he was determined that this anomaly of desire for her was not going to get the better of him.
He remained at the window, watching her until she vanished from sight, and then he closed the window and told himself that he had to focus with laser beam intensity on the work they would do in the week ahead, and nothing else.
Chapter2
Catalina could hardly sleep the night before their trip, for several reasons. First and foremost, she was completely elated to be going for the work. Second to that, and only slightly so, was that after her visit with Connor in his office, she had struggled to keep him out of her thoughts and off her mind.
Moments that had happened between them kept returning to her; the brush of his arm against hers, the quickened heartbeat when he turned and looked into her eyes, the feel of him in her arms and up against her body when she had hugged him, and so many other brief, fleeting, powerful moments with him that continued to make her breathless when they crossed her mind, over and over, hours after they had passed.
She didn’t know where the building attraction was coming from, only that she couldn’t let herself feel anything of the kind for him during their upcoming trip. She was going to be alone with him on the trip for four days. She tossed and turned in her bed the night before they were to leave, struggling to keep bold romantic thoughts from developing in her mind.
Every time she closed her eyes, her mind would lead her to imaginings, such as what it would have been like if she had turned her face toward his and kissed him on the cheek when she was hugging him, wondering if he would have pulled away or turned to kiss her in return.
Such thoughts gave her a long and restless night, and combined with the excitement of the trip, she was left with very little sleep at all. It was dark and cold when she slipped out of her front door with her suitcase in her hand. Her coat was done up around her, and her face was buried in a thick scarf with only her steel blue eyes peeking out above it.
She pulled her car away from the curb, waving at her father, Harold, who was standing in the window with a solitary light shining behind him. He waved back at her as he stood there in his old flannel pajamas, watching her leave with a worried look on his worn and tired face.
He’d knocked on her bedroom door an hour earlier to wake her with a hot breakfast and coffee, but she was already awake. He didn’t say much while she ate, which was his customary manner. He wasn’t a man of many words, but he showed all of his thoughts and feelings through his actions. She knew that he was worried about her; the crease on his forehead between his eyes was deep, and his eyes were downcast much of the morning. She suspected that he hadn’t gotten much sleep, either.
He’d taken most of her bags out to the car and started it for her so it would be warm when she got into it. She glanced over at the passenger seat and saw a cardboard box filled with food and two thermoses of coffee. She smiled and shook her head. Her father loved her more than just about anyone in the world. He did everything he could to take care of her, and though they didn’t have much, she never went without. She was always his first priority, before himself, before anyone.
She reached the college campus and parked her car in the student parking area where Connor had asked her to meet him. They were taking his car and leaving hers there so she’d have a way home when the trip was over. It had been one small way he was trying to keep things strictly business between them.
He was waiting for her when she got there, and it made her heart jump to see him as he stepped out of his car and gave her a wave and a smile. She felt warmth spread through her and she couldn’t stop the smile that formed on her face. Connor loaded her bags into his car and she put the box of food and coffee in the back seat and they both clicked their seatbelts and looked at one another.
She felt a little nervous as their eyes met. This was it. This was the trip, the first real photojournalism job, and this was four days with Connor. She grinned at him. He reflected her excitement back to her with his own smile and looked her in the eyes.
“Are you ready to go?” He raised one eyebrow.
“Definitely! Let’s do this!” she said as she looked out the front windshield.
He chuckled and drove them out onto the road. “So what’s in the box that you put in the back seat?” he asked a few minutes after they had gotten onto the highway.
She turned to look over her shoulder at it. “Oh, well, that’s some food and coffee that my dad sent for us. He wanted to make sure that we had enough to eat. He worries. He was up this morning making all of that, and breakfast for me, so I know it will be good and it will be fresh.”
He glanced over at her and gave her a surprised smile. “Really? That whole box is food?”
She looked at it. It was a good sized cardboard box, and it was full. “It looks like it. I think we won’t need to stop anywhere to eat for the entire week.” She laughed a little and looked over at him. “There are two thermoses of coffee in there, would you like some?” she asked.