She looked at Luke, and he grinned at her. “Your funeral,” he whispered.

Embry rolled her eyes at him and looked back to Camden. “I went to the University of Florida.”

Forks dropped around the table as Luke’s family stared at Embry.

“You do realize, sweetheart,” Luke’s father said with a broad smile, “that you’re in a house full of Bulldogs, right?”

“You all went to UGA?” Embry asked.

“Each and every one of us,” Luke’s mother answered. “William and I met there; so did Cam and Lori.”

“I’m gonna be a Dawg someday, too!” Mackayla chirped.

Luke pulled Embry toward him and planted a kiss on the side of her head. “Looks like you’re outnumbered, baby.”

Everyone broke out into laughter. For the next hour, Embry put up with all manner of obnoxious Florida Gator jokes, but she couldn’t be mad about it. It had broken the ice and taken the focus off of her and Luke’s relationship.

* * *

Embry tossed and turned as a loud pounding echoed in her ears. Luke’s arm came around her, pulling her naked body against his.

“Ignore it,” he said in her ear, his voice thick with sleep.

She nuzzled into his chest and did just that, until a too-high voice accompanied the pounding. “Uncle Lukey! Wake up! Wake up! Santa is here!”

Luke groaned and grabbed the comforter, pulling it over their heads. “Make it stop.”

“She’s your niece. You make it stop,” Embry said back, snuggling closer to his warm chest.

Then they heard the door handle jiggle, and Embry shot upright, tearing the covers off of them both. “Did you lock that door?”

He rolled onto his back in all of his naked glory, his erection thick and long against his belly. “Yes, baby. But if I hadn’t, I’m pretty sure that ripping the covers off of us is a surefire way to traumatize my niece.”

Embry glared at him and fell back against the pillows.

“I can hear you talking in there! Santa won’t wait forever!” Mackayla yelled.

Luke ignored the racket outside their bedroom and rolled onto Embry, his warm body covering hers and heating her right up. His hand came up to massage her breast and his fingers teased her nipple as he kissed and nipped at her lips. He groaned against her mouth as his hard cock nudged her entrance.

Embry planted a kiss on his lips and pushed him away. “I am not having sex with you when your niece is on the other side of that door. You know how hard a time I have being quiet.”

“She’ll give up, I promise.”

His lips traveled down her neck and sent a shiver of pleasure up her spine. He made his way down to her breasts, his lips encircling her nipple as he teased her with his teeth. Embry let out a soft moan in response.

“Hear that, baby?” he asked.

“What? I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly,” he said as he went back to work on her breast.

His hand traveled between them, his fingers slipping through her wetness and easily finding their way inside of her. She arched her back, pushing against his hand. And then it was gone. He pulled his fingers from Embry and brought them to his mouth, tasting her.

“Mmm,” he said, his eyes dark with desire. “Santa delivered my Christmas present straight to my bed.”

Pound. Pound. Pound. “Un-cle Luuuuuuke!” Mackayla shouted causing both Luke and Embry to jump.

Luke’s head fell to Embry’s chest as he let out a frustrated huff.

She tugged at his hair, bringing his head up. “Looks like Santa doesn’t want you to open your present just yet,” she said, and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Santa is a sadist.” He pushed out of the bed and walked into his closet. He came out a minute later in the Gator pajama pants and a white T-shirt.

Embry stared in disbelief at his choice of clothing.

He looked down at the pants then back up at her, his lips tipped into a cute smile. “Figured I’d take some of the heat off of you,” he said, bending to kiss her lips. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

She smiled. “Merry Christmas.”

“I’ll go keep the little monster occupied. Why don’t you take a nice hot shower and then come down?”

Embry did exactly as he suggested. After her shower, she slipped into the UGA thong Luke had bought her as a show of good faith—though his family would definitely not be seeing her underwear—threw on a pair of leggings and one of Luke’s sweatshirts, and she started downstairs.

“She’s very nice,” Lori said, her voice traveling up the stairs.

“Yes, she is,” Luke agreed.

Embry stopped halfway down the stairs. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help herself. She had a feeling they were talking about her, and she wanted to hear what they had to say. She leaned against the banister and listened.

“Pretty, too,” Camden chimed in.

“Beautiful,” Luke corrected.

Embry wished she could see Luke’s face. Something was off about his voice.

“Spill it. Where are you going with this?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure you know,” Lori answered.

Luke sighed and Embry could practically see his eyes rolling. “I know.”

“Does she?” Camden asked.

Embry’s stomach dropped. Do I know what?

“Just be careful,” said Lori, her voice pleading. “I don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”

Embry heard a door open down the hallway, and Mackayla came barreling down the stairs. Embry barely made out the words, “not like last time,” coming from Luke before Mackayla shouted “Merry Christmas, Embee!” and threw herself into Embry’s arms.

“Merry Christmas, Mackie,” she replied, and wrapped her arms around the little girl. She carried Luke’s niece downstairs and found everyone in the living room.

“Hey, beautiful,” Luke said as she sat next to him.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

Everyone laughed and opened presents around the fire while Embry silently freaked out inside. After all they’d been through, she didn’t want to believe Luke might be hiding something else from her. So when he wrapped her in his strong arms and whispered, “I love you,” she pushed all other thoughts from her mind.

35

Embry lay in bed relaxing with Luke. He was reading through legal papers for one of his cases, and he looked downright delicious doing it. He was bare-chested, the comforter covering his naked bottom half, and he wore dark-framed reading glasses. Embry laughed to herself as she pictured the girls in her class that lusted after him and how their heads would explode if they saw how Professor Brody looked while he worked at home. The man was pure sex, and he didn’t even know it. Luke glanced over catching Embry mid-stare, and a self-assured smirk lifted his lips. Maybe he did know it.

Embry shook her head, set down her book, and reached for her purse on the nightstand. She pulled out the mail she had stuffed inside and began to flip through it. She opened a few Christmas cards from random family members and skipped past credit card offers and other junk mail. She almost missed the thin envelope with her school’s crest in the upper left-hand corner. Turning it over, she was confused. She had already received all of her loan information for the following semester, and as far as she knew, grades were uploaded onto the university’s server, not sent out in paper form. “Luke?”

“Yeah, babe,” he replied, distractedly.

“Does Whitman send grades out by mail?”

He looked at her, and then his eyes traveled to the envelope. “No, they go up online only. You should get an email when your professors make them available.”

“Hmm, okay,” she said.

Luke went back to his work, and Embry slipped her finger under the flap of the envelope. She unfolded the single sheet of paper, and her entire world stopped.

She sat stock-still staring at the page in front of her, the words “Notice of Disciplinary Hearing” in big bold letters at the top. Her heart stopped dead in her chest and then kicked back in, beating at an erratic and frenzied pace. Her eyes frantically scanned the document. The words review board, investigation, and violation of university policy jumped from the page.

Oh my God. She couldn’t move, couldn’t form coherent thought. She didn’t know how long she sat there staring at the paper in her shaking hands before Luke interrupted her.

“Baby?”

She didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

“Hey,” he said, stroking his hand down her arm. “Are you all right?”

She turned to him, tears spilling from her eyes. “They know,” she whispered as she handed him the letter.

“What?”

She watched as his eyes scanned the page and grew wide. “Fuck,” he breathed out and scrubbed his hand down his face. He looked over at Embry, his eyes filled with concern. He reached for her, pulling her close and squeezing her hand. It was the only thing keeping her grounded. “We’re gonna get through this, baby,” he said reassuringly. “I promise you.”

Embry crawled into his lap and buried her head in his chest. “I don’t understand how this happened.”

His arms came around her and he held her tight. “I don’t either. But we can’t focus on that. We have to figure out how we’re going to handle this.”

“It’s in two days, Luke. What am I supposed to do?”

“How long have you had this letter?”

Embry shook her head against his chest. “At least a week. I’ve been spending so much time here, I forgot to check my mail. Why?”

“I’m surprised I haven’t been notified. But it doesn’t matter if you opened it a week ago or today, they like to handle these things expeditiously. When there’s been any kind of accusation like this, they launch an investigation immediately.”