Seducing Kaden (The Kennedy Boys Book 6)

by Siobhan Davis

  I wait until he’s in the car to rush back to my bedroom, retrieving the hidden cell and stowing it in the inside pocket of my bag. Then I make my way to work.

  Once inside my office, I power up my computer and call Kaden to explain.

  “Can you get out this afternoon instead?” he asks, as I scan my email inbox. “I can call my contact and see if we can bring the session forward.”

  “I don’t think so,” I say, frowning as I open up a group email from the head of the department. “The big boss has called a staff meeting this afternoon. There’s no way I can not show up.” There isn’t much they can do to me if I don’t go, not now I’m leaving, but I’m reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary or anything to draw attention to myself, in case Jeremy does have people watching me, so I think it’s best I attend. From the wording of the email, I can tell it’s a serious issue.

  “Okay.” Kade’s calm voice is unruffled. “I’ll rearrange things. Don’t worry about it.”

  “What do you think this is about?” Renee asks me later that day as we make our way through successive corridors en route to the conference room where the staff meeting is being held.

  “No idea,” I say, distracted a little with thoughts of the dinner tonight. And I say “dinner” in vague terms, because they are always just an excuse to drink to excess. Since Michael married Jenna ten months ago, she seems intent on turning their home into party central. I’ve lost count of the amount of invites we’ve received. I’ve managed to avoid attending a few of her events, but I know I won’t be able to get out of this one tonight.

  The Carlisles’ parties are definitely an acquired taste, and it’s bound to be a long night, because they’ve most likely invited a big crowd and the party will drag on into the small hours. But I’ll grin and bear it, because I won’t have to put up with this for much longer. Excitement bubbles in my veins, and I let it loose for a few seconds, but then I shut it down.

  I won’t allow myself to get excited or hopeful or to celebrate prematurely.

  Not until we’re on board a plane headed far away from the United States.

  Then, and only then, will I allow myself to believe in it, to taste freedom, to finally breath.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Renee asks, her brow furrowing as her gaze slips to my neck.

  Self-conscious, I pull my scarf up higher, shooting her a reassuring smile. “Never better.” I loop my arm through hers, deploying a tried and tested diversion tactic. “How are the wedding plans coming along?”

  We chatter about wedding stuff as we make our way into the room, muting when we notice all the solemn faces and the apprehensive atmosphere in the room. Renee and I trade puzzled expressions. Most of our colleagues are already seated, and there are only a few vacant chairs left around the table, so we’re forced to sit across from one another. Unfortunately, that means I’m seated alongside Jesse, and I wonder if it’s the universe’s way of punishing me. I can feel his eyes boring a hole in the side of my head, but I ignore him, opening up my pad and jotting down a few notes.

  The big boss man arrives a couple of minutes later, and a deathly hush settles over the room. He wastes no time getting down to the bones of the matter. Standing at the top of the table, he doesn’t sit down, slowly perusing the men and women in front of him. “Harvard’s excellent reputation and stellar results have been built on the foundation of structure, discipline, and always striving to be the best. We are a pillar within our community and an example to all those who wish to follow in our footsteps.”

  He slams his palms down on the table, and my heart jumps behind my ribcage. Thunderclouds roll over his face as he stares each of us down. “The rules by which we govern are there for an important reason. To protect the sanctity of the brand and our reputation and to safeguard our staff and our students.” He rakes his gaze around the table again, and I’m growing uncomfortable in my own skin. “The no fraternization policy is in effect because it is absolutely abhorrent to use your position in this university for personal sexual gratification.”

  All the blood drains from my face as I realize where this is going.

  “To take advantage of any student, irrespective of the circumstances, is an abuse of power and one which is not tolerated by this faculty.” He straightens up and his gaze lands on my side of the table. Bile swims up my throat, and I worry I’m about to hurl up the contents of my stomach.

  “Unfortunately, such a scenario has been brought to my attention recently. Upon investigation, it appears there is merit in the allegations that have been made. One of your colleagues, an assistant professor, has been engaged in intimate sexual activity with a student.” His voice booms around the room, but I barely hear it over the blood thrumming in my ears.

  Wiping my sweaty palms down the front of my skirt, I’m struggling to contain the violent shaking that has overtaken my body. If this comes out now, it will ruin everything Kaden and I are hoping to do. While he isn’t my student any longer, and technically the policy doesn’t apply to our current situation, that won’t matter if it comes out that we started our affair when we were student and teacher. And the fact I’m married, and to whom I’m married, would cause a big enough scandal to bring plenty of heat on the department.

  No, if this comes out now, it would not be good.

  That nauseating feeling intensifies, and I clamp my lips shut, cautioning myself to calm down.

  “You may feel this should be dealt with privately with the individual concerned,” the department head continues, “and the human resources department may very well agree with you, but this is my department, and I will handle things the way I want to. I’m doing this today, in front of all staff members, because I want this to be a warning. To all of you.” Those steely eyes roam the room again, and I have to force myself to keep my chin up and my eyes fixed straight ahead. “I will not tolerate noncompliance with any of our policies, especially this one. To take advantage of a student under your charge is most heinous and has the potential to significantly damage Harvard’s reputation and the reputation of my department.”

  He swings his gaze back around, leveling a ferocious look in my direction. “That is why I am calling the culprit out in public.” His eyes narrow, and I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Sweat coasts down my spine, and little beads of moisture dab at my brow. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Present Day

  Kaden

  I check my cell for the umpteenth time, frowning at the lack of new texts. I haven’t heard from Eva since yesterday afternoon, and I’m growing increasingly worried. I know she said she had an important staff meeting to attend and then she was going out with that thug she’s married to, but surely she could’ve found some opportunity to message me back?

  I crick my neck from side to side, trying to loosen my stiff shoulder muscles, but nothing’s working.

  “No cell phones on the golf course,” my dad, James, says, sending me a dark look. He’s a complete stickler for the rules when it comes to golf. Pity he didn’t share that same sense of obligation when it came to his marriage. Then he may never have gotten involved with that witch Courtney, and my parents might still be together.

  I slip it into the back pocket of my golf pants. “Sorry.”

  “What’s so important you have to check it every five seconds?” my brother Kyler asks, squinting as he watches Dad’s ball rise high into the sky. We’re at the fifteenth hole, preparing to tee off, and this is turning into the longest game of golf ever. Between Kyler continuously ending up in the bunker and the length of time it takes Kev to line up and take each shot, it’s dragging out unnecessarily, only adding to my nerves. The eighteenth hole can’t come quick enough.

  “Nothing,” I murmur, pulling a driver out of my golf bag.

  Kev sends me a knowing look, and I hold his stare, daring him to let the cat out of the bag, but he
holds his tongue, knowing full and well what shitstorm he’d unleash if he went there.

  An hour later, we’re finally finished. Dropping our bags off at our cars, we walk into the clubhouse together. Dad wanders off, chatting to a couple of his golf buddies while Kev, Kyler, and I walk to the dining room, securing a table for lunch.

  “So, who’s the girl?” Kyler asks once we’re seated with drinks, idly reading the menu.

  “There is no girl.” I keep my eyes on the menu, so I don’t have to lie to his face.

  “Please tell me you’re not back with Tiffani,” he groans.

  “Tiff and I are permanently finished. I told you that.” I lift my chin and meet his gaze head-on.

  “I’ve heard that a few times,” he retorts, leaning back in his chair with a smirk on his face.

  “He means it this time,” Kev interjects, taking a sip of his beer. Our eyes lock briefly.

  Kyler’s eyes narrow as he assesses us. “What don’t I know?”

  “Nothing. How’s Faye?” It’s a deliberate attempt to steer the conversation to safer topics.

  He squints at me, knowing exactly what I’ve done, but he can’t help talking about his girlfriend. He’s completely infatuated with her.

  A goofy smile slips over his mouth. “She’s good.” Sitting up, he leans his elbows on the table. “Did you hear I’m permanently living with her now?” I arch a brow, and he continues explaining. “Shit kinda came to a head with Brad, so I moved in with Faye, and Rachel moved in with him.”

  “Do Mom and Dad know that?”

  He snorts. “Don’t know, and don’t care. We’re both twenty next year, and there isn’t anything they can do about it. Besides, they know how we feel about one another.”

  “And everyone knows they’re screwing each other’s brains out any chance they get,” Kev adds, earning a slap to the back of the head from Ky.

  “Shut it, ass face. That’s my future wife you’re talking about.”

  “When’re you planning on using that ring you bought?” I ask, and shock splays across Kev’s face.

  “What?” Kev splutters, leveling an incredulous look at Kyler. “You have a ring? Since when?”

  Ky shrugs, but he can’t keep the grin off his face. “I went shopping with Kal last summer and ended up walking away with an engagement ring for Faye. It was a spur of the moment thing, but I’m not sorry I bought it.”

  “Wow.” Kev is virtually speechless for once. I never thought our younger brothers would be the first to get engaged, but Kal’s loved Lana virtually his whole life, and Kyler fell head over heels for Faye the minute she showed up on our doorstep.

  “When you find the one, you just know,” Kyler confidently says, and I’m so proud of my brother. He’s come a long way in the last two years.

  “I’m happy for you, Ky. For both of you. She’s a gorgeous girl, and you two belong together. I hope everything works out.”

  Kev’s sharp gaze flashes to mine, and I know how that came out.

  Like a goodbye.

  “Thanks, man.” Kyler flushes with pride. “Even if all the shit with Brad doesn’t go away, I’ve decided I’m going to propose at Christmas. I’m done waiting. I want my ring on her finger so every asshole who wants in her pants knows she’s mine.”

  Kev barks out a laugh. “Spoken like a true possessive douche. I’m not sure Faye would be too pleased to hear your motives.”

  “Don’t be a jerk.” Ky discreetly flips him the bird. “You know I’m asking her because I fucking love that girl to death, and I want to make sure I get to spend every minute of the rest of my life with her, but there are other obvious advantages too.”

  “I’m only messing around,” Kev says in a somber tone. “We all see how you feel about her. How you feel about one another.”

  A pang of sorrow hits me in the chest. My family is never going to see how that exists between me and Eva too, and I hate that. Hate that they might never get to meet her, to get a chance to know her.

  Dad appears then, putting an end to that particular conversation. I spend the rest of lunch locked in my troubled mind, sneaking glances at my cell every chance I get, growing more and more alarmed at the silence glaring back at me.

  Kev hovers around my Jeep as we say goodbye to Dad and Kyler. “Make sure to call your mother,” Dad cautions me, giving me a quick hug. “She wants to confirm numbers for Christmas, so you need to let her know if you’re bringing a plus one or not.”

  My chest tightens again. I’m hoping we’ll be out of the country for Christmas, because the longer we leave it, the more likely Jeremy Garcia is to find out about our affair and our plans. Forcing a fake smile on my face, I hug Dad again, slapping him on the back. “I’ll call her. Stop fretting.” Dad gets in his car, and Ky and I knuckle touch before he slides behind the wheel of his SUV.

  They haven’t even started their engines, when Kev rounds on me. “We need to talk.”

  I open my Jeep door. “Get in.”

  Gripping the steering wheel tight, I’m psyching myself up for lecture number three hundred and sixty-three.

  “Are you really doing this?” Kev asks quietly, eyeballing me.

  “Doing what?”

  “Running away with her.”

  I nod, and air expels from his mouth in a noisy outburst. He stares out the side passenger window, and you could cut the tension with a knife.

  Slowly, he turns to face me. “I didn’t understand before, but I think I do now.” My brows lift. “You love her, and she loves you. Like Faye and Ky. Like Kal and Lana.”

  I drag my hand through my hair, slowly nodding. “Yeah. It’s like that.”

  “Then I’m happy for you, man.”

  My jaw hangs open, and my eyes blink wide as I stare at the stranger sitting in the car beside me. “Come again?”

  He smiles. “You can’t help who you fall for, and I had her figured out all wrong.”

  “I tried to stay away from her, Kev. I tried real hard, but it’s always been Eva for me. I didn’t care that she was my professor or that she’s married. We just have this connection. It’s been there from the moment I met her, and the more I get to know her, the harder I fall. There won’t ever be anyone else for me. I need to keep her safe, and I can’t do that here.”

  A dark look crosses his eyes. “Does he do that to her a lot?”

  I know what he’s referencing. “She says it’s only a recent thing, but I’m not sure it’s the truth.”

  “I want to help.”

  For the second time in minutes, my mouth sags to the floor. “What?”

  “I’ll help. You’ll need to be really clever to disappear without a trace.”

  My heart swells in my chest, and my voice is a little choked when I speak. “You’ve no idea how much it means to hear you say that, but no.” I shake my head. “I don’t want you involved. I don’t want any of my family involved. I want nothing that could lead from me to you. Not just because that prick might trace us if he finds a connection to you, but more so that he doesn’t go after any of my family for colluding in our escape. You can’t get anywhere near this, Kev.”

  “I don’t have to be personally involved. I can hook you up with—”

  “No,” I cut across him, vehemently shaking my head. “Any of your contacts could lead back to you, and I can’t have that on my conscience too. I’ll have enough to worry about without worrying about you or any of my family. Promise me, Kev. Promise me you’ll stay out of this.”

  “But—”

  “No.” I interject again. “I have this in hand, and I’m not completely clueless. I’m working with some good people who know what they’re doing, and I’ve hired people who will keep us safe.”

  Reluctantly, he nods. Then he leans his head back against the headrest, exhaling noisily. “I can’t believe you’re leaving. That I might
not see you again.” He twists his head around to look at me, and I’m startled by the display of naked emotion on his face. “This is going to kill Mom and Dad. You do realize that?”

  I rub an aching spot between my brows, sighing. “I know, but I don’t have a choice. And I’m hoping it won’t be forever. The guy who’s helping me get out of the country has put me in touch with an organization overseas run by a guy who is ex-CIA. He has a bunch of really experienced guys working for him, most ex-CIA, FBI, and Homeland, and they run security missions all over the world. I’m going to speak to him about getting a crew on Garcia and his operation. All I need is some concrete piece of evidence against him, and we can use that to take him down. If he goes away, the threat goes away, and we can come back home.”

  “There’s a lot of ifs in that scenario.”

  “I know, but I’m not going to give up, and everyone makes mistakes sometime. I’m going to ensure one of my guys is there to capture the moment Garcia fucks up, and then I’ll take great pleasure in helping the authorities take him down.” I clamp a hand on his shoulder. “We will see each other again. I firmly believe that.”

  “I’m sorry,” he abruptly says, surprising me for the third time today. “For all that shit in Ireland and for not making more of an effort to patch things up between us. I’m not going to apologize for spying on you, because I did what I had to do to protect my brother, but I’m sorry things have been shitty between us. I never wanted that, and I don’t want you to leave with any bad blood between us.”

  “Ah, shit, man. You’re going to make me cry.”

  He laughs, punching me in the shoulder, and it fucking hurts. Kev has one mean left hook. Not that I’m telling him that—the competitive Kennedy gene is still alive and kicking.

  “Are we good?” he asks, sobering up.

  I grip his shoulder. “We’re good, Kev, and our separation was as much my fault. I’ve regretted so much of what was said.”