Page 48 of Promises We Meant to Keep

But she wouldn’t give this up for anything.

Elia was so relaxed. For the first time since they’d met, and Kamryn could see that now, Elia wasn’t hiding anything from her. On impulse, Kamryn stepped in, wrapping a hand around Elia’s back and pulling her in close. Their lips touched. The hot spray mingled with the warmth of their skin, their tongues sliding together as Kamryn and Elia both deepened the kiss.

Pulling away slightly, Kamryn pressed her forehead to Elia’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry about last night.”

Elia ran her hands up and down Kamryn’s back. “What happened yesterday?”

“I should ask you that same thing.” Kamryn couldn’t stop the smile from reaching her lips. The Elia from last night was the opposite of the Elia the other week in the hotel room, when she’d said no to a kiss. Last night had been…wild. Kamryn dragged in a slow, deep breath, steadying herself for what she knew needed to come. She had to explain, but she still wasn’t sure how much to say. She didn’t want to hurt Elia in the process.

Stepping away, Kamryn gathered herself. They really needed to talk and not be naked in the shower together for this. But time was short before they’d both have to go into the office, and Kamryn still had to go back to her apartment and change for the day. She ground her molars lightly.

“I’m still in the process of forming a new ethics team. It’s one of the tasks that the board gave me when they hired me. Apparently, Miller was never interested in having an ethics team.”

Elia visibly stiffened. Her eyes widened and were set on Kamryn’s face, her lips slightly parted for a brief second before she snagged her shampoo and turned her back to Kamryn. She was upset by something that Kamryn had said, which was exactly what Kamryn had wanted to avoid.

“Miller was very good at parent-student relations. He wasn’t very good at some of the finer points of administration and dealing with the board.”

Kamryn hummed, the cold settling into her body now more than before. Her skin raised up with goosebumps, but she couldn’t drag her gaze away from Elia’s back.

“An ethics team is a good thing to have,” Elia added.

“I wish you would be on it,” Kamryn mumbled. “Then at least I’d have one ally in this fight.”

Elia looked over her shoulder and shook her head. “You know I won’t do that.”

“I know,” Kamryn answered sadly. “Doesn’t mean I don’t wish it was possible.”

“And after last night, I think that’s one more reason why you should think it’d be a very bad idea for me to be on the team, especially with you in charge of it.” Elia ran her fingers through her hair, massaging the shampoo into the long strands.

Kamryn watched with rapt attention. Elia hadn’t meant anything by that comment, had she? She hadn’t just jumped Kamryn’s bones to avoid being on that particular team? No, that would be too calculated and manipulative. Kamryn couldn’t believe that Elia had that in her.

She refused to believe it.

“Yeah, anyway, the only people on this team right now are me, Susy, and Heather from the board. No one else has agreed to be on it. But instead of working to round out the team as a whole with differing opinions, Susy and Heather have kind of just taken on the work and are pushing it through.” Kamryn paused, pressing her lips together hard. “At least what they think the work should be.”

“You don’t think they’re doing the right thing?” Elia asked before dipping her head under the water to rinse out the shampoo. The suds traveled over her shoulders, down herbreasts, and continued to move across her skin and down her body until it reached the shower floor and disappeared into the drain.

It was damn hard not to step forward and start touching. Kamryn wanted nothing more than to wrap herself back up in Elia’s arms like she had the night before. It would be so much easier than this conversation.

“Why don’t they like you?”

“I’m not very likable,” Elia answered as she snagged the conditioner bottle.

Kamryn pursed her lips again and shook her head. She was freezing in the corner, but she wasn’t going to ask to step under the water. Not until she had this out in the open between them. “This is more than a simple dislike, Elia. They’re out to get you fired.”

Elia wrinkled her nose and nodded. “They both have been for years now. The problem is that they can’t find anything I’ve done wrong that is worth a termination.”

“Why do they want you out of here so bad?” Kamryn wanted to reach out and touch Elia’s hand, hold her again, have that physical connection so they could have more of an emotional one at the same time.

Elia shook her head, gave Kamryn a warning look, and then stepped back under the spray to rinse out the conditioner. This was definitely something that Elia still didn’t want to talk about, but something must have happened that she hadn’t disclosed yet for Susy and Heather to be harping on her specifically so much.

“I can’t protect you from what I don’t know.” Kamryn was pretty sure she’d said that the night before in the heat of everything, but she couldn’t quite remember. Either way, she wanted it to be said again, out loud and when she meant it the most.

“What’d you say?” Elia asked, coming back out from the water.

Kamryn could have face-palmed herself right then. Of course Elia hadn’t heard her. “I can’t protect you from what I don’t know.”

Elia softened immediately, and they were back to that same look that Elia had given her the night before. “I know you can’t. And even then, you can’t protect me from everything anyway. It’s not in your best interest to do that.”

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