Page 77 of Reckless Temptation

I wasn’t familiar with the house or the patio layout, though, so I wasn’t sure if going back in the double doors I’d just exited from would be enough of a buffer between us.

“Looking for something?” she asked, her tone too sweet to be sincere.

“Yes, actually. I was hoping to speak with Professor Lorsen.”

She rolled her eyes. “Always trying to kiss ass, huh?”

“No. I just need to speak to him.” I approached her.

“He went that way,” Tiffany said. She turned to point behind her, indicating a path that went around the corner of the house here. “Back here.” Walking in that direction, she prompted me to follow.

I didn’t trust her, but this was her home. She would know about what was where. And probably who was where.

As she led me along the stamped and stained pavement squares that lined the patio around the massive, Olympic-size pool, I tried to keep my nerves in check. This pool was too deep. If I fell in…

No. Not happening. Not today. I have too many important things to do.I had to tell her father I didn’t want to be his intern.

She wouldn’t be bumping me into that water. To make sure no “accidents” could happen, I maintained a couple of feet behind her, on the side further from the edge of the pool.

“He went this way?” I asked, slowing to lag behind her and get more space between us.

Unlike the fountain on the campus square, I could drown in a pool this deep.

“Yes. I think so…” She trailed off her sing-song words as she stopped short and spun.

“Tiffany—no!” I held my hands up, digging in to dart further away from this area.

With a snarl, she lunged back toward me and slammed me so hard I flew backward.

And to the side.

Right into the pool.

Down into the water that I didn’t know how to swim in.

28

NICK

Itried to stay away from the study and dining room downstairs. George had taken over most of the first floor for another long day of gatherings for this internship process. I watched from the second floor as professors showed up, chatting and at ease with each other. After them, the students arrived. Tiffany was elsewhere in the mansion, getting ready, and the others would arrive on their own.

Hearing a noise in the hallway, I left my post at the window to see if my mother was around. I hadn’t noticed her all morning, but I wasn’t surprised. With her knowing George was cheating on her, she’d make herself scarce around here.

It wasn’t depression making her acting like this, but sadness in another form.

All this time since we’d lost Dad, the loose and general advice tomove onremained ever-present for us to heed. She’d moved on, or tried to, even in a platonic way that might have eventually led to something more. But George dashed that progress.

I’d moved on too. Finally, I had something else to consider my purpose in life. I was still angry. I was still sad. But Sabrina was making me see that it wouldn’t hurt any to let some light in to break up my darkness. That it was okay to let her in and feel lighter and better about my future.

That was why I wanted to see when she arrived and figure out a way to sneak her to the side. We had to discuss this. We had to stand together against Tiffany’s lies. If George was the one to screw up his marriage with my mom, then she wouldn’t be left penniless. And when I exposed Tiffany for her manipulation, Sabrina would be in the clear to go for this internship spot.

But we had to present as a couple. As two together, not just two parts of deceit.

I didn’t see her come in, but when I walked past the rooms where they were meeting, I saw that she must have slipped in when I looked for my mom in the hallway. They were already talking and I couldn’t interrupt now.

I hung out in the smaller morning room off to the side of them, waiting expectantly for when they’d have to break for lunch. The chef and his staff were already preparing rolling carts with trays of food, so it had to be soon.

Come on, Sabrina. We need to talk.

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