Page 94 of A Legal Affair
“We’ll come back afterward,” he said low in her ear, as if he’d read her mind. “I want you to see my place.”
Daniela’s belly flip-flopped. “I’d like that,” she told him, meaning it.
They crossed the next intersection and descended a staircase leading down to the River Walk, a meandering stretch of water that shimmered under the starry sky.
Lapsing into companionable silence, Caleb and Daniela strolled hand in hand past a promenade of riverside restaurants, clubs, bistros and boutiques that featured a charming array of Mexican-made products, imports, art and clothing. As the two followed the winding path of the river, the sounds changed. First an acoustic guitar and companion cello, serenading the warm night air and drifting from the open door of a restaurant. And then, just a few steps later, the dueling guitars of native mariachis sprinkled the evening with the festive culture for which the city was best known.
As Daniela took it all in, she felt an indescribable sense of completion wash over her and settle deep into her soul. She’d lived in San Antonio all her life, had been downtown more times than she could recall. But never before had the River Walk seemed more magical to her. With Caleb by her side, it was a breathtaking wonderland of soft light and beauty, where romance was thick in the warm night air, and nothing else mattered but this enchanting moment in time.
The line to board the river barges was always shorter at night than during the daytime, when tourists crowded the sidewalks with their cameras and bags filled with souvenirs. Caleb bought two tickets at the window, and in no time at all they were at the front of the line. As Daniela watched, he murmured a low greeting to the fresh-faced Hispanic youth taking tickets and slipped a large bill into the boy’s eager palm. When the next water taxi pulled into port, only Caleb and Daniela boarded, moving to the very back of the barge for more privacy.
As they started off, she sent Caleb a teasing look. “So now we’re resorting to bribery to get what we want?”
His grin flashed white in the moonlit darkness. “Only when absolutely necessary.”
“Of course,” Daniela said with mock sobriety.
Caleb leaned close, his breath a soft, sweet whisper against her face. “You don’t like being alone with me?” he murmured huskily.
His words sent a melting warmth rushing through her. She swallowed hard, gazing into his eyes. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”
He smiled, dark and seductive, and her belly quivered in response.
The tour guide took one look at them and correctly guessed that they weren’t interested in a narrated ride. With a conspiratorial smile, he put away his microphone and simply concentrated on steering with his gaze trained straight ahead.
As the barge drifted lazily down the winding moonlit river, Caleb and Daniela paid scant attention to the colorful sights and sounds around them, so absorbed in each other that everything else ceased to exist.
“It’s such a beautiful night,” Daniela sighed as Caleb draped an arm over the railing behind her. “The weather is perfect, not too warm or muggy. Just perfect.”
“Like everything else about this night.” Caleb shook his head slowly, his expression soft with wonder as he stared at her. “I’ve been to the River Walk a thousand times before, but I can’t remember ever enjoying this place as much as I am now.”
Daniela’s heart clutched and she glanced down, murmuring, “I was thinking the same thing earlier.”
Hearing the note of sorrow in her voice, Caleb tipped her chin up to meet his probing gaze. “That’s not a bad thing, Daniela,” he said softly. “There’s a reason we both feel this way.”
I already know the reason, she thought moodily.My reason, anyway.
“Should we be out in public together like this?” she asked, allowing a trace of apprehension to intrude upon what had to be one of the most romantic nights of her life, second only to theslow dance on the hilltop terrace of his father’s ranch. “What if someone from school sees us?”
“I can’t worry about that right now,” said Caleb, the piercing intensity of his dark gaze taking her breath away. “Ever since I saw you in class this morning, all I’ve been doing is thinking of ways to get you alone to myself. God, Daniela, I don’t know how I’m going to make it through an entire semester with you sitting front and center in the second row. I’m so fucking distracted I can’t think straight.”
She couldn’t help but grin, her toes tingling inside her boots at the ragged frustration in his voice. “You seem to be managing very well. No one would ever guess how distracted you are, especially when they’re in the hot seat.”
Caleb laughed. “Youhandled the hot seat exceptionally well.”
Her grin widened. “Considering how terrified I was, that’s sayinga lot.”
He eyed her with amused curiosity. “Did I terrify you, Daniela?”
“Only half the time.” She slanted him a naughty look beneath her lashes. “The other half of the time, I wanted to jump your bones. From the very first day of class, you caught me daydreaming about kissing you.”
He chuckled softly, his warm lips finding her ear as he confessed, “Then that makes two of us.”
A hot flush heated her skin as he nuzzled her throat, his fingers gently massaging the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes and rested her hand on his knee, resisting the temptation to let her fingers slide up his leg, to cup that oh-so-wonderful swell of manhood. As if reading her mind, Caleb shifted in the seat, moving closer to her, and without a second thought Daniela accepted the unspoken invitation, easing her hand up his denim-clad thigh until she heard his breath quicken in her ear.
She pulled back a little, meeting the blatant lust in his smoldering gaze. Before she could even think about what she was doing, or be shocked by her own brazen behavior, she closed her fingers around the straining bulge of his erection.
He inhaled sharply.
