He shrugged. “Thought I’d try.”

“Fine. How about I let you tell me the fourth requirement for contract modification?”

His lips tipped into a small grin. “Fair and equitable.”

“Ah, I knew that!” she said, smacking her forehead into his chest.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her toward the kitchen. “Dinner’s almost ready. I’ll quiz you while we eat.”

Embry sat in front of the computer chewing on her bottom lip, her knee bouncing up and down.

“Will you stop?” Luke asked, placing a hand on her knee.

“I’m nervous,” she admitted.

He swept his lips across her cheek. “I can tell, but there’s no need.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I am.”

“She’s four, baby.”

She glared at him. “Now you’re just making me feel stupid.”

Luke had a Skype date with his niece, and she wanted to “meet” Embry. He didn’t talk much about his family, but she knew he adored his niece. Mackayla meant the world to him, and Embry desperately wanted Mackayla to like her.

Luke pulled up Skype and hovered the mouse over the call button. He looked at Embry, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “You ready?”

She nodded and sat waiting for the chat to connect.

“Uncle Lukey?” Mackayla’s high-pitched voice came through the speakers before the video connected.

“I’m here, sweet pea,” he answered.

The video caught up to the audio, and Mackayla’s smiling face filled the screen. She had white-blond hair pulled into French braids on either side of her head and big brown eyes. “Hi!”

“Hey, how’s my girl?” Luke asked with a huge smile.

“Uncle Luke?” she responded, ignoring his question. Embry couldn’t get over her cuteness.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Who is that pretty lady?” she said, pointing at the screen.

“That’s my friend Embry. Remember we talked about her?”

Embry loved the way his tone softened when he spoke to his niece. As if her boyfriend weren’t swoony enough already.

“Embry, meet Mac. Mackie, this is Embry,” Luke said.

“Hey, Mac.” Embry waved into the camera.

“Nice to meet you, Embee!” she said, mispronouncing Embry’s name in that adorable way only a toddler can.

“Nice to meet you too, sweetheart.”

“Are you going to come see the big Christmas tree with us?”

“Um …” Embry glanced at Luke. “I’m not sure.”

“Uncle Luke said when we come visit, he’s gonna take me to see a big tree in the rock-ee-fella center.”

Embry giggled. “That’s a great idea. You’re going to love it!”

“Uncle Luke?” Mackayla asked, batting her long blond eyelashes. She clearly knew she had her uncle wrapped around her finger.

“Yeah, Mackie?” he answered.

“Can Embee come to the tree with me?”

“Sure, I—” Embry started, but she was interrupted by Luke.

“I think she’s gonna be busy, sweetheart.”

Embry’s mouth fell open, but she recovered quickly and nodded to agree with Luke. What the hell? Stunned, Embry sat next to him while he continued to chat with his niece. She responded to Mackayla and kept a smile plastered on her face, but she was stuck in her head, worrying over why Luke was once again being shady about his family.

She’d thought it was a fluke when he hadn’t told her about his visit to Georgia last month. But this time, not only had he failed to mention that his family was coming up for the holidays, he’d actually made it clear that Embry wouldn’t be there. She was baffled. He wasn’t shy about telling his mother about her, or even having her on speakerphone, but maybe he wasn’t ready to have his family meet her. Was he ashamed of her? Then why let her Skype with his niece?

Her mind spun, trying to make sense of his behavior. It was giving her a headache. She told Luke she was tired, said good night to Mackayla, and went to bed. She lay awake studying her outline, but when she heard Luke leaving his office, she shut off the light and pretended to be asleep. She didn’t want to talk to him yet. Not until she could get her emotions straight. She was pissed off. Hurt. Confused. Her heart raced with anxiety when she heard him walk in. She heard his clothes fall to the floor and felt the bed shift as his naked body pressed up against hers.

“You awake, baby?” he asked, snaking his arm around her waist and nuzzling her neck.

“Hmm?” Embry answered, pretending to be half asleep.

“I know you’re awake.” His lips brushed her jaw. “I saw the light turn off not even a minute ago. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She desperately fought her body’s desire to respond to his touch. Mad or not, she couldn’t help it when his mouth was on her skin.

He pulled at her arm, rolling her over to face him in the dark. “Talk to me.”

Embry shook her head, not trusting herself to talk. She didn’t want him to hear how upset she was.

“Please?” He swept kisses across her cheek.

“Tomorrow,” she said softly. “Can we just talk tomorrow?”

“All right, baby.” She rolled back to her original position, and he pulled her against his chest as he said, “Love you.”

“I know,” she whispered. And she did know. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that Luke was still hiding something. Why else would he not want her around his family?

“Okay, enough,” Luke said, startling Embry as she poured her coffee into a travel mug.

She had avoided him all morning, only speaking when he spoke first. She thought that if she slept on it, she’d wake up and have the answer to the mystery that was Luke. Instead, she was up half the night. The little sleep she got was marred by nightmares about Luke and finals and Jack and anything else her mind could come up with to freak her out.

“What?” Embry said harshly as she faced him.

“Enough with the silent treatment. Talk to me.”

“Fine.” Embry slammed the mug on the counter. “Why did you tell your niece that I would be busy when you take her to see the tree?”

“Seriously?” he asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

His response pissed her off even further. “Yes, seriously. Did you even think to tell me your family was coming to visit? Being that I don’t know what my plans are for the holidays, I’d love to know how you know that I’ll be busy.”

“Embry,” Luke said in a warning tone.

“No, Luke, I don’t understand. Are you ashamed of me? Because I feel like I’m your dirty little secret.”

Luke’s eyes went wide. “Dirty little secret? You wanted this. We both wanted this. We knew full well what it meant when we decided to be together. No one knows about us except for Morgan, and that couldn’t be helped.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it.” She was fuming and felt tears prickle at her eyes. “You spent the holiday with my family, Luke. What’s the difference?”

“The difference is that my family knows I’m a professor,” he bit out.

“But it’s your family. We don’t have to tell them I’m a student. And even if they found out, would they report us to the school?”

“No,” he replied.

“Right, then why are you keeping me a secret?”

He had no answer. He stood with his arms crossed, that muscle working in his jaw.

Embry grabbed her mug and her bag and brushed by him. “Your dirty little secret has to get to her review session.”

That snapped him out of it. He followed her to the door. “Bree, stop—”

“No, Luke, you stop.” Her mouth fell into a frown. “I’ll see you in class, Professor,” she spat, before walking out the door.

Embry was feeling particularly spiteful. As Luke went over review questions in class, she sat and stewed over what he’d said. She couldn’t let it go. She knew that they had to be careful or they could both get hurt, but she couldn’t see what that had to do with his family. The more she thought about it, the more upset she got. Emotions clouding her judgment, Embry did the one thing she knew would upset Luke. Resting her chin on her palm, she turned her attention to Jeremy.