25. Kylie

Chapter twenty-five

Kylie

" K ylie, are you ok, hun?" Mrs. Carrington stops at my desk to hand me my graded test.

For the love! She's the third person to ask me that today.

"First day after a new workout. It's brutal." I grimace. It's the best response I could think of on the fly.

"Oh. I need a new workout—mine's gone stagnate. You'll have to tell me what you're doing. I've been thinking about going to a trainer, but that seems intimidating." She looks at me expectantly.

"You should do it, Mrs. Carrington. That's what I did. I got a trainer, and he worked me hard." A hysterical giggle escapes and I slap a hand over my mouth.

What the hell am I saying?

She's a little taken aback by my strange behavior, but that doesn't deter her. "That's just what I need. Can you share his number?"

"Uh … well … you see, I had to sign an exclusivity contract with him. He likes to focus on one client at a time."

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

"But I can ask him for a reference. He's well connected." Honestly, I think Luca fucked all the brain cells out of me .

"Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you." She moves on to the next student, and I sigh in relief that our discussion is over.

I shift in my seat to remove the pressure from my right butt cheek. Luca loves slapping my ass. Sitting on hard wooden chairs all day made me realize how sore I actually am. I'm going to have to ask him to be kind to me tonight.

I'm also going to nix my plans to visit my parents today. If Mrs. Carrington—who is the flightiest professor I've ever known—is noticing my discomfort, so will my mom. No way do I want to tell her the same excuse. She'll insist on working out with me.

Hmm, maybe I can convince her to take yoga classes with me. I like the idea of doing a mom and daughter yoga class. I'll be able to spend time with her and strengthen my body for Luca's voracious appetite.

I giggle at my own thoughts.

"Alright, class. Open your books to chapter twenty-three." Mrs. Carrington announces as she heads to the whiteboard.

I sigh, needing to shift in my seat again.

***

Danny isn't waiting for me as I arrive at my last class. After taking a visual sweep around the room, I confirm he's not here.

As I sit and gather my items, I contemplate his absence. I'm torn between being happy that he won't be another person asking why I'm stiff, and sad because of how we left things last time.

After being with Luca this weekend, I realize Danny was just a crush. The thought of dating anyone else doesn't sit well with me.

I'm doomed if that doesn't change. Falling for Luca will only lead to heartbreak. A pang hits my chest and I chew on my lip with worry. Not that there's anything I can do about it right now.

Glad for the distraction, Mrs. Matthews begins her lecture, forcing me to let go of all thoughts of my impending heartbreak.

** *

I breathe a sigh of relief after leaving my last class for the day. There's a noticeable difference to how Mrs. Matthews treats me in class and I weirdly don't want to disappoint her after hearing her story despite our rocky semester. Now that she's easing off me, I can enjoy this last month.

However, I'm looking forward to being done with school and I can't wait to teach. I need to search for a position soon. Hopefully in elementary education. I don't know how my mom handles junior high kids and no way do I want to even attempt high school. Memories of how my classmates acted are too fresh in my mind.

"Kylie!"

I'm steps away from my car when Danny calls for me. Plastering a smile on my face, I turn and wait for him to catch up.

"Hey, Danny. I was wondering why you weren't in class today." I hug my bag to my chest and lean against my car.

His brows dip as he sweeps his gaze over the Range Rover before meeting my eyes. "Yeah, I uh … I'm not in the class anymore. Since I found no evidence of Mrs. Matthews purposely messing with the players, the coach pulled me." He returns his attention back to my car.

I straighten, hoping he won't say anything. "That's good. For you, I mean. I'm sure you don't need the hassle of another class while working full time."

"Yeah. I thought I was done with school last year." He chuckles. "So, is this your car? I thought you drove a Grand Am."

"Yeahhh. It's uh … a loaner. From my boyfriend." Danny snaps his gaze to mine. I look off to my left, suddenly uncomfortable. "Mine broke down, so he's helping me out until I decide what to do." I shrug, looking back at Danny.

He swallows and looks down while he runs his hand through his hair. "That's nice of him. So … boyfriend? Didn't you just go on your first date with him? "

"What can I say? He moves fast." I smile, shrugging a shoulder. "We've spent the weekend together, and it turns out we're pretty compatible." I shuffle my foot on the pavement.

Ugh, this is awkward.

Danny swallows again, then sighs before crossing his arms. "I'm an idiot."

I frown. "What?"

He looks off to the side. "I've wanted to ask you out for years." He looks back at me and searches my eyes. "I was a coward and afraid you'd turn me down. You always seemed so …"

"So … what?" I raise my eyebrow, getting mad, but not sure why.

He flounders with his answer. "I don't know … serious. At the time, I wanted to enjoy college. You know, go to parties, have fun. As much as I wanted to ask you out, I didn't think you would be down with that, so … I waited."

Yeah. I'm mad.

"So, you what? Put me on hold until you wanted something serious? Are you being serious right now? Do you know how that sounds?" I swing my bag over my shoulder and cross my arms, trying to hold back the urge to punch him.

Danny's eyes widen. "Uh … well, you know."

"No. I don't know. Did you ever think I would want to go to those parties with you? That I could have fun? Do I look like someone who doesn't like to have fun?" I growl.

"Oh shit. That's not what I meant—"

"How? How is that not what you meant? Do you know how insulting that is?"

I'm yelling, but I don't care because I'm pissed. I had such a crush on him and he put me on hold.

HOLD.

Oh, how I want to punch him in his pearly white teeth.

"Is everything okay here?"

I whip around to find Joseph coming up behind me .

"Holy Shit. Yeah, no, we're good." Danny quickly says and I whip around to glare at him. His eyes widen as he backs away. "I'm just gonna … you know … go." He turns around and jogs away.

I turn back to Joseph—still glaring. "What are you doing here? Wait—I'm sorry." I take a deep breath. I hate that I snapped at Joseph. It's not his fault Danny's an idiot. I plaster a smile on my face and try again. "I didn't mean to take my anger out on you. But, really, what are you doing here?"

Stoic Joseph looks like he might be amused if the slight crinkling in the corner of his eyes is any indication. "I've been meaning to bring your items from your old car. I had some free time today and Mr. Morelli gave me your whereabouts." He hands me a folder I assume is filled with the paperwork I had in the glove box. I never kept anything else in the car.

"Thanks. You didn't have to go out of your way, but I appreciate it." I find it odd he tracked me down at school, but Joseph is a little odd.

"You're welcome. I'm sorry I didn't bring it to you sooner." Joseph looks behind me where Danny took off. I look over my shoulder and he's standing by one of the buildings, talking to another guy. A football player, probably.

"Was he bothering you? Do you need help?"

I sigh. "No, he just said something that pissed me off. Nothing major just … boys can be stupid, you know?" I cringe. "Sorry, no offense."

Joseph chuckles. Actually chuckles.

"No offense taken." He turns to leave but stops mid turn. "If that changes and you need me to have a talk with him, just tell me." He waits a beat and then nods before leaving.

Dumbstruck, I just gape at him.

Today is weird.

I continue to stare at his retreating back as he walks down the block to the school's visitor parking lot. Why would he hunt me down at school and not drop the folder off at my apartment? What if I was in class? Did he purposely wait until I was walking to my car?

Shaking my head, I dismiss it. I'm overanalyzing. Swinging open my car door, I look at where Danny's talking to that guy. I catch him watching me before he ducks his head. Glaring, I turn away and climb into the car before pulling out my phone to text Luca.

I'm out of class but decided to skip the parental visit today. Where would you like me?

While I wait for an answer, I grab the car manual out of the glove box and flip through the pages. There's an option to pair my phone to the car, but I've never done that before. The instructions are pretty simple and as soon as I pair my phone, the car pings with a text notification. Pressing the button on the screen, a voice comes over the speaker, reading his message to me.

Put this address in your navigation system and come to my office. I'll notify the security guard of your visit. Just give your name at the front desk.

I give a thumbs up emoji and blow out a breath. Great, now I have to figure out the navigation system. I shuffle the pages of the manual until I find the instructions.

***

"Thank you, Todd." I smile at the nervous security guard who guided me to Luca's assistant. As intimidated as I was with Luca at first, I can't even imagine what it's like working for him, so I chalk his nervousness up to normal employee/boss intimidation.

I turn my attention to Luca's assistant, who's standing at attention when we arrive at her desk. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not relieved she's an older woman wearing a wedding band. She's giving me a friendly smile that immediately puts me at ease. Not that a young, attractive assistant would be bad. I've just read enough billionaire romance tropes with the sexy assistant sabotaging the heroine's chances at love .

Internally, I giggle at my thoughts. Maybe I read too much.

"Hi, you must be Kylie. I'm Esther, Mr. Morelli's assistant. Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Tea? Water?"

I shake my head. "Thank you, Esther, but I'm good." I look over and Luca's on the phone. "I see he's busy. Is it alright if I amuse myself here?" Waving my hand to indicate the guest seating area.

She walks over to the office door, shaking her head. "Mr. Morelli asked me to let you in as soon as you got here, even if he was on the phone."

"Alright then. Thank you." I smile at her before entering Luca's office. He's standing at the glass wall, staring out as he speaks into the phone, but turns his head when I walk in. I smile and point to the couch that's off to the side and against the wall, but he crooks his finger at me to come to him instead.

Luca wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. It's quick, but when he pulls back, he doesn't let me go. His gaze roams over my face while he caresses my cheek with his thumb.

I smile at his sweetness.

The corner of his mouth tips up. Then his attention is snagged by the caller and he drops his hand. When he turns back to face the view, I take that as my cue to move to the couch.

Setting my bag on the table, I take my notes out to study for Wednesday's test while I wait, but I'm having trouble focusing. Danny's excuse for not asking me out earlier still has me angry. It's not that I'm mourning the loss of dating him—Luca cured me of that. Well, and so did Danny's asinine reasoning for waiting. It's just how can he not realize how insulting his excuse is? He literally put me on the back burner because he didn't think I was fun enough and expected me to be available.

"What's got you scowling, Angel?"

Startled, I snap my gaze to Luca. He's done with the call and moves to his desk to set his cell down .

"What was your first impression of me?" I wave my hand, stopping him from answering just yet. "I mean, besides the lust, I know you found me attractive. What else did you think?"

Luca gives a slight head tilt as he studies me. "What brought this on?" He shifts to lean on his desk and crosses his arms. I'm momentarily distracted by his forearms. He's rolled up his sleeves, and the man is just flat out sexy. "Angel?"

Blushing, I whip my eyes back to his to find his lopsided smile. Sighing, I try again. "Did you think I would be fun?"

Luca blinks. "Why are you asking me this?"

I huff and turn my glare out the window.

"This guy at school just told me he put off asking me out for years because he thought I would hinder his fun at college. Can you believe that?"

Getting even more angry about the conversation, I get up and pace.

"I mean, why would you even say that to a woman you like and … and I can be fun. I mean … alright, so I never went to frat parties, but if I was dating a guy who wanted to go, I would've gone." Twisting, I pace the opposite direction. "Who looks at a person and decides they won't be fun, so they put them on hold?" I twist again. "Who wants to date someone they don't even think will be fun in the first place?" I'm about to turn again when Luca's menacing growl stops me in my tracks.

"What the fuck?"