Chapter 21: Legal Hurdle

Leaning into another turn, Kira wondered how a race between just she and Jebb had somehow involved a police car chasing both of them. Looking up at Jebb just ahead of her, she hoped that he knew where he was going since she had no plans of getting caught by the cop following them. It was only after seeing the group of trees up ahead that she realized that he intended for them to ditch the officer pursuing them by riding headlong into the woods.

Kira gunned her bike forward just a bit faster and followed Jebb has he hit a dip just right that caused him to go flying through the air with ease. Once she'd landed from her own jump, Kira relaxed knowing that they'd finally ditched their tail. With blue lights no longer lighting the sky behind them, they continued their race back toward the small bar that they'd started at. When both bikes screeched to a halt Jebb let out an exhilarated yell as he removed his helmet. Not only had he outrun the cop but he'd won the race between himself and Kira; which meant that she now had to agree to one real date between the two of them. Though he hoped that it would only be the first of many.

"So, when do you want to go out on our first date?"

Kira pulled her own helmet off and straightened out her hair as she grinned at his eagerness. "And here I thought we were already on it."

Weeks later, Jebb waited for Kira to come downstairs for their date. He'd planned to take her to a Christmas party at Blake's to help her relax after a week of exams at school. He remembered too well how exhausting it was to take them back in high school; and his only goal had been to make a good enough grade to not have to repeat the grade again. Kira's goals were much higher than his had ever been. At times it had seemed as if she expected nothing less than perfection from herself where her grades were concerned. He remembered that she'd berated herself for making a ninety-five on one of her mid-terms when she had known that she could have done better. He'd thought that she should have been proud of the grade. Instead she'd used it as a reason why she had to study harder for the end of the semester exams.

When Kira joined him in the den he saw that even though she was dressed for the party she didn't look ready for a wild night all.

"Are you sure you're up to going out? You don't have to, you know."

"I'm fine. My last exam just lasted longer than I expected."

Jebb looked at his watch before sitting down on the couch and said, "We still have a while, if you want to sit down. The real fun won't even start for at least another hour."

Kira glanced at her own watch and then back to Jebb before she sat down on the couch beside him. She knew that once they got to the party Jebb would be in high demand. His friends would each demand some of his attention and he wasn't just going to leave her to blend in with the wall, even if she wanted him to, so she likely wouldn't get a chance to sit down for the rest of the evening.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to sit down for just a little while." It was only after sitting down next to Jebb that the stress of a week's worth of exams finally started to catch up to her. While Jebb shared some of the latest gossip regarding various racing friends who were bound to be at the party, Kira leaned against him as she started to doze as she was lulled to sleep by the sound of his voice as well as the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Ben finished up his opening statement for a case that was going to trial the next morning so he closed his brief case and got ready to head up for bed. He had a long day ahead of him. As he passed the den he saw that the television was on and the door was open so he poked his head in and saw two individuals sound asleep on the couch and he had to smile. He knew that neither would appreciate the meaning of it quite like he could. Ben knew that Kira still slept with her bedroom door locked even after she'd lived in the house for the past few years. For her to drop her defenses enough to fall asleep while leaning up against Jebb on the couch showed that, even if she wasn't aware of it, she trusted him.

Of course he'd noticed that even before the two had officially started to date. When Kira talked to Ben about Jebb, he'd known that she cared more for him that she was ready to admit. Of course it hadn't hurt that Jebb had come from a good family who had taught him to be patient where dating was concerned; along with all that most expect to go with it. Ben suspected that Kira wasn't the only one further in the relationship than either realized. How else could he explain why the man was so willing to walk down this road with Kira at the pace that she needed? Ben remembered what it was like to be a young man and everything that went along with it.

Smiling, Ben left the two alone. The couch wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on but he suspected that neither would really want him to wake them up anyway.

Kira sat in the library in the house finishing up a paper for class when Ben joined her carrying an envelope in his hand. When she saw it she knew what it was. She'd been waiting for word from various law schools but she'd been anxious about one in particular. The same school that Shawn had gone to. The one that he'd claimed that she'd never be able to get into. She didn't care about its reputation or the fact that it was a prestigious school. No, she'd chosen that school as her preferred one after she'd overheard him telling his sister that if Kira did get accepted into law school, it would only be at a so-called discount law school since she didn't have what it took to go to a real school. Kira planned to make him eat those words. She could be just as good of a lawyer as he was with credentials that equaled his own.

"This was just delivered and I thought that you'd want it just as soon as possible." Ben handed Kira the envelope and waited to see if she'd open it. After a moment of hesitation she did and quickly read the top line of the letter that told her all that she needed.

"Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you that the Committee on Admissions has admitted you-" Kira looked up to see that Ben wore a smile as broadly as the one on her own face. She scanned a few more lines before reading out those that informed her of when the school would be hosting a weekend for upcoming freshman to get acquainted with the school and the surrounding area next spring.

"That's just a couple of months from now. We'll have to set up some appointments to look at apartments while we're up there," Ben said as took a seat in a nearby chair.

Kira looked back at the letter in her hands and felt a sense of pride in herself that she couldn't ever remember feeling before. She'd actually gotten in. Setting aside her paper that she'd almost been finished with anyway, she and Ben started to make plans for her upcoming trip.

Jebb rolled his eyes as he listened to his mother go on about how he should ask yet another girl from town out on a date. He hadn't told his parents that the reason that he headed into Atlanta so frequently was because he was already dating a girl there. As much as his mother harped on his personal life, he got a strange sort of satisfaction out of hiding that aspect of his life from her. Instead, both his mother and father always just thought that he was going into town to see some of his racing friends like Blake who lived in the area. Which wasn't a complete lie since he'd met Kira on the racing circuit.

Still, even he knew that his mother that you had to take in small doses. He could just imagine how Kira and his mother would get along. He imagined Kira snipping at his mother and her having a complete fit in return. Just one more reason to not introduce those two together just yet. He didn't need his mother driving Kira away now that he'd just recently gotten her to agree to really date him.

Borrowing his father's truck to avoid the winter chill, Jebb made his way to Kira's place to pick her up for the movie after going out for burgers like they'd planned for the night. When he got to the large house that belonged to Ben Kyle, the butler let him in and led him to the library where both Kira and Ben were at. As he joined them it was clear that they were in the middle of an animated conversation.

"Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, Jebb," Ben shook his head as he stood to meet the young man whom he genuinely liked. He'd been good for his adoptive daughter; he'd seen her blossom as a result of their relationship. "We were just discussing a trip up to Cambridge. Kira got her acceptance letter today."

"She did?" Jebb had forgotten that Kira had been applying to colleges away from the area. He'd hoped that she'd end up staying right where she was to get her degree. Selfish of him, perhaps, but he had been hoping that she wouldn't hear from any of the colleges that she'd mentioned to him. Doing his best to hide his disappointment, Jebb congratulated her has he walked over to give her a hug.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone. I have work to do in my office." Ben then left the two young people alone as he decided that he had a few phone calls to make. Among them would be calls to share the news of Kira's acceptance into the college of her choice. Most would be happy for her. Those who weren't, well those were the ones that he couldn't wait to tell in person just to see their reactions. Kira was proving them wrong and he couldn't be more proud of her.

After the door to the library closed Jebb listened as Kira told him of how Ben was going to help her find an apartment close to campus when they went up to tour the college and get acquainted with the area in the spring so that she'd be prepared for the move in the fall. Jebb felt guilty but the whole time that he listened as Kira told him about the impending change in her life he could only think about how it was going to affect him. He'd gotten so close with her, closer than he had with anyone else, and now she was about to head off away from him. And he'd thought that she'd felt just as close to him. Sure, she could still be a bit confusing at times, but he liked that about her. She kept him on his toes.

One thought that kept coming up in his mind, even after they'd gone out for their dinner and while they were sitting through the movie, was that if she left would she come back?

Kira waited as the others in the group congratulated Jebb on a good day of racing as she gave her bike a look over. The throttle had stalled in the last race which meant that she'd have to work on it before the first race in the morning. It had been several months since she and Jebb had really started to go out together though he had come to see her nearly every week during her recovery from her latest long bout with cancer and then remained a constant in her life during her first season back out on the race track. Still, she wasn't sure that she was comfortable with kidding around with Jebb's friends quite yet. She preferred to remain a bit aloof. Detached even. Oh sure, she had raced with them, traveled with them, even went to several after-race parties and joined in various initiations within their group but joining them as Jebb's date just seemed to be a step that she wasn't ready for.

Fortunately, Jebb had surprised her and hadn't turned out to be the pushy type of guy that she had first thought considering that he was such a popular guy on the circuit. She knew that he could very well have nearly any racing groupie that he wanted which could definitely make most men very egotistical. Instead, Jebb had been very understanding of the fact that she wasn't the type to rush headlong into a relationship; especially one of the physical kind.

When Jebb was finished bidding his friends goodbye, telling them that he'd see them all bright and early for the next morning for the race, he walked over where Kira was keeping herself busy with a minor repair that had to have only taken her a few minutes to fix. He then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she knew what he planned since she normally pulled back just slightly when he tried to surprise her with a small token of affection. But given what he knew now about the woman who had captivated his attention since the first day she'd raced out on the track, Jebb understood and was determined to not rush her into anything that she wasn't ready for yet. Kira would make out a little on occasion and, while it could be frustrating to want more than he was getting, he was more than happy to know that she trusted him more each day.

After Jebb bussed her cheek, Kira abandoned her finished repair and slipped her arm around his waist though doing so still seemed a bit strange for her to do. She enjoyed being so close to him but a small part of her always seemed to be waiting for Dr. Jekyll to become Mr. Hyde. The two slowly walked through the infield as they waited for the traffic to die down before they too would head out. Jebb to Placid, Kira to her home here in Atlanta that she shared with her adoptive father. Neither were ready to part since, given the day's activities, they'd not really had a chance to spend much time together with just the two of them. It didn't help that Kira would be leaving out in just two days to check out the college where she was accepted into up north. He still didn't know why she had to decide to go so far away when she had been going to classes locally just fine. She could get a degree right where she was at.

To avoid the subject of Kira's leaving, he spoke of the coming planting season out at his parents' farm and even his latest trip to visit some of his relatives a few hours away. All to keep from talking about the fact that she would be heading off to look at her new college; and this time it wouldn't be quite so local. Jebb hated the prospect of just how complicated it would make their relationship. The two would spend months apart from one another before she returned for Thanksgiving break when he won't even be in the area since his family always spends the week four hours away. That meant that they won't even have a chance to see one another until Christmas once she leaves out in the fall. What a relationship.

Eventually, the two made it back through a deserted field back to their bikes where Jebb gave Kira a slow and un-demanding kiss. When the two came up for air, Kira kept her arms around him as she tried to decide if she wanted him to drive all of the way back to Placid considering that he'd just have to turn right back around to get back by seven the next morning when the racers were all supposed to be back on the track for the pre-race festivities. Kira knew that Jebb had done his best to not show how much he didn't really want her to head up to Massachusetts but that had only made her feel even worse about leaving him in the fall. Feeling guilty, she could only think of one thing that could make the impending departure easier on him.

"You know," Kira spun around as she spoke and pulled Jebb closer behind her and rested her head on his chest as she did so. "You don't have to ride back to Tranquil if you don't want to tonight."

"I don't?" Considering that Kira had been wanting to take things slow, hearing her suggest that he stay the night did more than just surprise him a little. Still, he figured that she must have been thinking along the same lines as he had been about her leaving out Monday. Trying to play it off cool, Jebb gave a little smirk and asked, "And just where would I stay instead?"

"You could come out to the house," Jebb wished he could see Kira as she spoke. "If you want to, that is."

"What about Ben?"

Kira shrugged, "He won't mind. He likes you. But if it makes you feel any better, he's been working on a case over in Savannah this past week. He's coming back in the morning."

Jebb bit back a groan as he thought about being able to go back to Kira's place and spend the night with her. Still, he knew that Ben did indeed both like and trust him and he really didn't want to do anything to lose that trust. In the end, the thought of sharing Kira's bed was too much to resist. He spun her back around and gave her lustful kiss before the two made their way through Atlanta toward the large house that Kira had called home for only a matter of a few years.

Once at the house, they quickly stowed their bikes away in the garage and Kira led Jebb in through the house toward a wing that he'd not been to yet in the two years that he'd been coming to the house. When Kira paused at the top of the stairs to give Jebb a kiss he asked her if she was sure that she wanted to do this.

She had, or at least she had thought that she did, right up until the two of them had gotten to the house. If she'd felt guilty earlier in the night, she really did now with what she was about to do to him. Still, she knew she couldn't let him know that.

Kira nodded then moved forward to kiss him once more only to pause less than an inch from his lips and said, "Everything that you need will be in the guest room; the third door on the left."

She then stepped back and turned in the opposite direction toward her own room. As she turned she could see the look that crossed his face when he realized that his idea of staying the night hadn't been exactly what she had in mind. Grinning to herself, Kira almost turned back around to tell him that she was just kidding but instead she maintained her resolve and made it all the way back to her room without looking back again.

Jebb, for his part, was left standing slack-jawed in the middle of the upstairs hall more sexually frustrated than he could remember in all the time that he'd been seeing Kira. Here he'd gone without for well over a year and now just when he thought that he and Kira were about to go to the next level she…

Jebb turned back toward the room that Kira had indicated and flung the door open without even taking in the posh room's appearance and practically flew himself onto the bed. Pulling his hands up behind his head, Jebb wanted to be so mad at Kira. Instead, he surprised himself when he suddenly started laughing so hard that his ribs hurt. It served him right to think that Kira's signals would be just like any other woman's. After all, she was by far not like anyone else that he'd ever known. Perhaps that's why he found her so fascinating.