Kaylee’s First Crush Read Free Page B

him? Was he
serious? She tried to picture it, and all her exhausted brain could come up
with was the sensation of falling flat on her face right in front of him. She
winced internally.
    Hugo followed
her and grabbed her elbow before she could sit down. “Don’t be silly. It’s not
like I’m a stranger.”
    She stared at
him. “You can’t be serious.”
    He tugged on
her arm. “I’m completely serious.”
    She resisted
his pull. “I can’t stay with you.” Her heart couldn’t take it, for starters.
The image of him taking off his shirt and sliding into bed had her almost
wheezing with panic. She’d never even managed to finish a whole date without
some disaster happening! She’d probably kill him in his sleep with her elbow or
something, completely by accident.
    “Yes, you can.
I insist.” He pulled harder.
    Kaylee let him
tow her toward the elevators. “I can sleep on the floor.”
    He rolled his
eyes. “There’s a king sized bed in the room. And a sofa.”
    She swallowed.
“I can sleep on the sofa, then.” The elevator doors dinged open. She extracted
her arm from him and looked around. “Where’s your driver?”
    He ushered her
into the elevator. “Dan has a sister who lives here in Chicago. He went to stay
with her.”
    Kaylee watched
him insert his key card into a slot and punch the button for the top floor.
“You don’t have to do this.”
    He smiled at
her. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let one of my former students sleep in
the lounge when I have more than enough space in my room to share.”
    And just like
that, Kaylee remembered precisely who she was going to be sharing a room with.
Mr. Valtree. The hottest teacher on two legs. Billionaire bachelor. She wondered if maybe she was really
asleep in the airport, dreaming this entire scenario up.
    “Here we are,”
he said as the doors opened.
    Kaylee
hesitated when he strode out. The elevator opened right into the top floor
suite. Her stomach felt like a collection of butterflies had somehow gotten
trapped inside and they weren’t happy about it. Hugo tossed his coat over the
back of the sofa and strode to the windows. A single low lamp lit the space,
highlighting the vast expanse of the bed. It held the most gigantic mattress
she’d ever seen.
    “Are you coming
in?” he asked, humor lacing his voice. “I assure you I won’t be grading you on
the quality of your sleep.”
    She chuckled,
amused despite herself. “I always got As , remember?”
    He nodded as
she walked into the room and set her bag down by the bench at the foot of the
bed. “I remember. You were a wonderful student,” he said.
    She fidgeted
with her purse strap. “You were a good teacher.”
    He smiled. “You
made it easy.”
    Kaylee didn’t
know what to say. Even though he’d come to her rescue and told her to call him
Hugo, she still felt like there was a huge chasm of experience between them.
“How old are you?” she blurted out, suddenly curious enough to overcome her
natural hesitation over asking such a personal question.
    He raised his
eyebrows, but answered despite his obvious surprise. “Thirty-five. How old are you? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
    She flushed.
What the hell was she doing, asking him that? “Yes. Twenty-two.” And never been loved , a tiny voice
said in the back of her mind. She shushed it, looking him over. He’d shed his
jacket and tie and was even now undoing his shirt-sleeves. The clink of
expensive cuff links hitting a metal tray startled her out of her reverie, and
she jerked her eyes away from his hands.
    “You should
change into something more comfortable. You look tired,” he said, unbuttoning
his shirt.
    Was he going
to completely undress in front of her? she wondered frantically, looking everywhere but at him.
“I’ll just go—” She waved in the direction of the bathroom, unable to get a
complete sentence to come out of her mouth. She grabbed her overnight bag and
dragged it to the bathroom, only to stop,