Chapter One
Carla Lawless sat back in her office chair, unable to keep the words on her laptop screen in focus, her mind reeling after what had just happened.
She lightly touched her lips, still in a daze, hardly believing that she’d tugged Ashley into her office like that, especially when there was a ninety-nine percent chance that Ashley was one of her students.
God, the look of terror on Ashley’s face. It wasn’t surprise, like Carla had initially thought. It was fear. Ashley had been caught, walking the halls of their college, bumping into Carla as she’d been leaving her office for the evening.
And if that wasn’t enough, the way Ashley had acted as soon as Carla had encouraged Ashley inside said it all.
“I can explain.”
Carla could still hear Ashley’s voice ringing in her ears. What else was there to explain? If Ashley had been in this building to see someone else or for some other innocent reason, she wouldn’t have led with that.
Right now, Carla wished she had a bottle of whiskey and a tumbler in her office, just like the hot shot lawyers she watched on Netflix in the evenings, but this was not some TV show. This was her life. And she was coming dangerously close to completely fucking it up.
Carla pushed herself out of her chair and closed the blinds, flicking on the desk lamp before sinking into it again, willing herself to concentrate and forget about Ashley.
Carla should have been proud of herself. She’d dodged a bullet. If she had gotten Ashley’s number that first night, Carla probably would have met up with her again. Someone might have seen them together, and Carla could have really fallen for a student.
That hadn’t happened. They’d spent one night together, and Carla had briefly lost her mind a few minutes ago when she’d let her desires cloud her judgement. One kiss. That’s all that had happened though.
Carla’s eyes fluttered shut, letting her imagination run wild, picturing what might have happened if she hadn’t been so sensible.
Would she have pinned Ashley against the door and slipped her hand into her jeans? Or would she have led her by the hand into her office, easing her down onto the desk, and...
A knock at the door made Carla jump. She swallowed, her heart racing.
Carla cleared her throat. “Come in.”