Desire (Desire, Book 1) - By Missy Johnson Page 0,60

Not anymore though, and the thought of that affected me much more than I wanted to admit.

The only good thing right now was I had raised enough money for Neri’s camp. Once that was paid, I could go back to being a normal girl with a normal job.

One who was not sleeping with her professor.

My phone buzzed. I shuffled through my bag, determined to catch it before it stopped ringing. Just as I put my fingertips on it, the ringing stopped.

“Shit!” I pulled it out to see who it was. Devon. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. Ara strained to see what had caused my face to drop.

“Ignore him.” Ara ordered, waving her hand.

“That’s just it.” I said through gritted teeth, “I can’t.”

“Oh. Your mom. Right. I guess that does make it hard. Why don’t you go to the police station and request a change in detective?” I shot her a look. Was she serious? Apparently so.

“I couldn’t do that to him, Ara. I know how much his career means to him.” Ara threw her hands up in frustration. If I wasn’t so frustrated myself, I’d have laughed. Finally, she was getting it. I couldn’t avoid him, or ignore him, yet I couldn’t have him either. I was already calling him before she could answer.

“Kait. Hi.”

“Hi. You called.”

“Yes I did.” I closed my eyes and tried not to think of the wonderfully sexy mouth his words were coming out of. Or the way his eyes would be staring right into mine if we were face to face. Or the way-Jesus Kaitlin, get a grip! “I wanted to see how Sam was doing.”

“He is okay.” I said, relieved. He was just calling to check on my brother. That was such a sweet, thoughtful thing to do. “Thanks for calling.” I added, hoping he took the hint that I wanted the conversation to end here.

“I need to see you.” Oh god. I willed myself to say no.

Just say it, Kaitlin. Two letters. NO

“Why?” I almost whispered. Why couldn’t I say no?

“Because I can’t not see you.” I knew I was falling. Ara stood in front of me practically whacking me with a pillow, her arms furiously flailing around. I braced myself for the barrage of hits.

“Okay. Come over.”

“Seriously, Kait? Really? You’re going to do this again?” I’d never seen Ara look so angry. What was her problem, anyway? What did my love life, or lack thereof, have to do with her?

“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” I retorted, “I know, I know, but it’s not that easy, Ara.” Her face softened. She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead, she just took my hand and squeezed it.

“Just don’t let him hurt you.”

“I won’t.” I replied, wishing I felt as confident as I sounded.

Ara had disappeared by the time Devon arrived. I had changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. Actually I’d changed into close to fifteen shirts, the winner finally being an emerald green wraparound shirt that flattened my waist and showed a nice amount of cleavage.

I ran to the door when I heard him pull up outside. The last thing I wanted was Neri or Sam wandering around.

“Hey.” Devon leaned on the door frame, looking way, way too sexy for my liking. If he was planning on looking this good, anything could happen. As he walked past me I caught a whiff of his aftershave. I wanted to bury my face in his chest. I giggled to myself as I imagined his reaction to that.

“What’s so funny?” Devon cocked his head, amused by my outburst. I blushed, making him smile even wider. Great, now he probably thought I was thinking something dirty.

“Nothing to do with you.” Good god, Kaitlin, just stop. I couldn’t make it any more obvious it was about him if I tried. “Just go in.” I said, pointing to the lounge room.

“So…” He stood in the middle of the lounge, his eyebrows raised. I sat down, hoping he’d do the same. He did.

“So what? You wanted to come here.” I pulled my legs up under me, and sat my hands in my lap.

“I did.” He leaned forward in his seat so that he was almost touching me. Having him this close to me wasn’t making it easy for me to be strong, “I wanted to see you.”

“Okay, well you’ve seen me.”

“I haven’t seen enough of you.” I blushed, thinking back to the last few times we’d been together. What more could he