“So how did you get so lucky?” Meg asked when Kelly walked into the English Department’s office the next morning.
“Did I miss something?” She was confused by Meg’s comment.
“Hello? Earth to Ms. Finch. Are you blind, girlfriend? I know you met your new student teacher yesterday. Perhaps you remember? Six and half feet of tall, tan and handsome with a stacked body most women would sell their souls for? And he’s not some wet-behind-the ears frat boy fresh from college either. He’s a man—a fully-grown man. Must be one of those career switchers. So I repeat, how did you get so lucky?”
She rolled her eyes over Meg’s drooling comments.
“Pardon me, Meg, but I could have sworn you just recently married Mr. Perfect. Honeymoon over so soon?”
“Puh-lease,” Meg drawled. “You know I love my husband but I didn’t gouge my eyes out at the altar. I can look.”
“Maybe I should tell Rob about your roving eye,” she teased. Her best friend, Meg had been married less than a year to Rob Madison. No one on earth had been more surprised than Kelly when Meg had returned from a dream vacation with not only a tan, but a hunky, rich boyfriend. Fresh from maternity leave, Meg was struggling with the choice of continuing her career or staying home as a full-time mom.
“Don’t you dare,” Meg scolded. “Man has a jealous streak a mile wide.”
“How’s my beautiful goddaughter?”
“Manipulative,” Meg replied.
Kelly laughed at her quick response. “She’s not even two months old. How can she be manipulative?”
“I swear she knows the second Rob walks in the door. She’ll be crying her damn head off all afternoon and the moment Daddy comes home, she turns on the charm, cooing and smiling. Rob thinks she’s an angel come down to earth because he never hears her squalling loud enough to shake the shutters.”
“I think maybe she has both your numbers.” Kelly grinned. “She knows you can’t stand for her to be sad, so she piles on the tears so you’ll carry and rock her and sing to her. And she knows Rob is a sucker for a sassy grin, so she gives him his money’s worth. I seem to recall Rob mentioning at the wedding reception that it was your grin that sealed the deal on his heart.”
Deep dimples claimed Meg’s lovely face as she conceded Kelly’s point. “She’s such a doll. Rob and I stand by her crib at night for hours just watching her sleep. Oh Kelly, I can’t wait for you to have a baby! The experience is so much more than you could ever imagine.”
“I think maybe I should focus my attention on the husband part first.”
“Which leads me right back to my original conversation. Perhaps Mr. Right will be sitting in your classroom this very morning.”
“Actually, you can forget about the student teacher.” Kelly stumbled over the lie, uncomfortable with keeping a secret from one of her dearest friends. If she was being honest with herself, she was incredibly attracted to Mac. If she was being equally truthful, she also knew they were like oil and water and destined to butt heads from now until the end of this assignment. “Go ahead and strike him off your list of men you plan to set me up with. We’re simply not compatible.”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“I talked to him yesterday afternoon and he’s not my type.”
“Who’s not your type?” The same deep voice that filled her dreams last night startled her.
Groaning, Kelly turned slowly, struggling to catch her breath as it was knocked out by the sight of Lt. Jared McNally dressed for school. His T-shirt and jeans the prior day had been deadly enough to her libido, but the image of Mac in dress khakis and a buttoned-up shirt and tie were fatal. She slowly closed her eyes and prayed for strength in an attempt to retain the smallest part of her waning self-control.
“Welcome to Lowell High School,” Meg’s cheery voice rang out. “I’m Meg Madison. I teach Special Ed.”
“Jared McNally, but most folks call me Mac.” He reached out to shake Meg’s outstretched hand.
“Nice to meet you.” Meg grinned in a way that let Kelly know she was aware her previous words had been a damn lie. She could see her best friend mentally moving Mac’s name to the top of her set-up list. Damn woman probably had it bolded and underlined as well.
“So, what kind of guy is not your type?” Mac asked again, no doubt loving the fact he was keeping her on the hot seat.
Raising her chin, Kelly felt her face flush before gathering her wits. “Oh, you know.” She looked him straight in the eye, unwilling to let the man intimidate her. “Arrogant and overbearing, opinionated. That type.”
He grinned at her answer. “I can’t imagine that type of guy would attract any woman. What do you think, Meg? Would you date a guy like that?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Meg started. “Of course, my husband, Rob, is rather overbearing. You remember how he was when I was pregnant, Kelly. Never let me do a thing. And I’m sure more than a few of his employees think he’s arrogant, but really that’s just self-confidence. He’s a very intelligent fellow.” She added the last comment as if confiding some great secret to Mac, and Kelly stifled a groan. Meg was honest to a fault and thought far too much. “And in all fairness, he does feel very strongly about his opinions, so I suppose that must mean he’s opinionated… Oh hell. I married that kind of man. What do you think of that, Mr. McNally?”
Kelly and Mac both broke into laughter at Meg’s rambling diatribe about her husband.
“Call me Mac, please, and I’m not sure being opinionated is an insult or else the person would be an uninteresting slob. Personally I think anyone who can’t make up their mind about a subject and stick to it is boring.”
He was grinning directly at Kelly. Perhaps he wasn’t as turned-off by her strong feelings about her students as he’d insinuated yesterday. Her heart started to beat a bit faster at his smile. It was friendlier today, as if he actually liked what he saw, and she wondered about the sudden change.
“Well, there you have it, Kelly. You’ve just described Rob perfectly and I adore every inch of that man. Guess it’s a good thing he’s not your type. Don’t have to worry about you stealing my husband.”
“As if anyone could pry him away from your side, even with a crowbar.” Her friend had truly found herself the world’s most devoted husband. In spite of the fact she was happy for Meg, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy in the face of her friend’s newfound love. Meg had always been the quiet, reserved one. The one who rarely dated. She, on the other hand, had pretty much worked her way through most of the male population of the town in terms of long, unbearable first dates that never led to a second—and she still hadn’t found Mr. Right.
Mac rejoined the conversation. “You know there’s this theory that people hate characteristics in others that they secretly fear may be their own faults.”
Kelly narrowed her eyes, angrily glaring at Mac. “Are you implying that I’m arrogant, overbearing and opinionated?”
Meg snorted back a laugh before walking toward the door. “That sounds like my cue to leave.”
“Freeze! What are you implying, Meg?”
“Not a thing. I really need to go to class.”
“You think I’m arrogant and opinionated?” She was unwilling to let Meg off the hook. This was news to her.
“Listen—” Mac started. He must have sensed the tense undercurrent and was clearly hoping to break up the fight he’d started.
“Butt out.” She turned back to Meg. “Do you?”
“I think you’re an extremely self-confident, self-assured woman with a strong sense of right and wrong.”
“Good God.” She thought perhaps Mac’s comments were closer to the mark than she’d realized. “You think I’m a bitch!”
“Kelly,” Meg laughed. “Sweetheart, I think you’re the bee’s knees and you know it. You are just what I said.”
“Yeah, but all those words you used are synonyms for arrogant and opinionated and bitchy.” She frowned.
“Lord save me from English teachers,” Meg joked. “Tell you what, Mr. McNally—sorry, Mac. You started this so I’m going to let you finish it. Have a nice first day. You couldn’t ask for a better cooperating teacher than Kelly, by the way.” Meg walked out of the room. From the hallway, they could clearly hear her add the words, “Even if she is arrogant and opinionated!” Her jest was followed by her own loud, pleased laughter.
Kelly rolled her eyes, accustomed to Meg’s teasing manner. Turning around, she found Mac studying her closely, no doubt expecting her to blow up at her friend’s words.
“Meg has a rather twisted sense of humor.” She grinned despite the fact she was once again alone with the man who seemed capable of tying her insides in knots simply by entering a room.
“I don’t know.” He leaned back against the counter, drawing her attention once again to his muscular thighs. She couldn’t help but wonder what he looked like in swim trunks, or better yet a Speedo. Not that she’d ever find out, of course. After all, it was the middle of January in Virginia. He waited until her eyes returned to his face. The cocky look in his gaze let her know she’d been busted again and she shook her head for being so transparent. Damn man was reading her attraction to him like a book. “Meg seems to be an extremely intelligent and astute woman.”
“Such big words, Lieutenant.”
The immediate disappearance of his smile clued her in to her mistake. Glancing around quickly to make sure they were alone, she held up her hand to ward off the chastisement she read on his lips.
“Sorry. Slip of the tongue. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
He stalked toward her and she found herself backing up involuntarily at the anger she saw in his face. In four steps, she found herself cornered in the book room off the office, backed up against the wall and watching him kick the door shut with his foot. The room was tiny at best and finding herself in such close proximity to him left her struggling to take a deep breath.
“I said I was sorry.” However, he simply continued to glare at her.
“Sorry isn’t really enough, Kelly,” he said sternly. “If Meg or anyone else had been in that room, my cover would have been blown in an instant. Not only would you have ruined my chances of working here covertly, you would have made it next to impossible to sneak someone else in without raising suspicion.”
“I understand all of that.” She was unhappy with being treated like a child by this infuriating man.
“Do you?” he asked hotly. “Do you really? Because from where I’m standing it seems to me you’d be very happy to see this investigation fail.”
“That’s not true,” she retorted. “I don’t like the underhanded way you’re going about it, but I do realize the need for change. I don’t like my students being in danger and I’m perfectly aware of the fact that gangs are dangerous. Hell, I broke up two fights just last week outside my classroom door! I’m not an idiot.”
At his deepening scowl, she feared her words weren’t soothing his temper at all. “What do you mean you broke up two fights?”
She was taken aback by the quick change of topic. “Verbal altercations and a little shoving. Not fights, really.”
“Well, you won’t be doing that again.”
She was appalled by the man’s conceit. Surely he didn’t think he could solve all the school’s problems in one day? “Well excuse me, Mighty Miracle Worker, but I hardly think you can claim there won’t be any more fights simply because you’re in the building.”
“Oh there are bound to be more fights, but you won’t be breaking them up. Good God, woman, what were you thinking? Tiny thing like you? You could have been hurt.”
She was confused by his immediate about-face. One minute he was yelling at her for nearly blowing his cover and the next he was yelling at her for endangering herself. Infuriating, frustrating man. Anxious to recover the upper hand, she dismissed his words with a shrug of her shoulder. “It’s part of the job. Besides, as I recall, you were brought here to put an end to gangs taking over the hallways, not to act as my personal bodyguard. If trouble starts up again, I’ll step in.”
He leaned toward her as a smile she immediately distrusted claimed his handsome face. “Perhaps it’s time for us to establish some ground rules.”
“Rules?” His lips hovered mere inches from hers. The temperature in the small book room shot up and she fought the impulse to fan herself.
“You’re a teacher.” He moved even closer, although she wasn’t sure how that was possible given the fact that it already felt as if he were taking up every available square inch of the room. “No doubt you have rules in your classroom and consequences if those rules are broken. That might be a good idea for us as well.”
“Fine,” she choked out. “Rule one, you can’t keep—!”
He interrupted her. “Oh no, sweetheart. You misunderstand. I make the rules.”
Fury rippled through her at the thought of Mac attempting to impose a bunch of rules on her. Did the pompous male chauvinist pig actually think she would consent to such foolishness?
“You can kiss my ass if you think—”
“Careful, Kelly, you might not want to give me that particular permission. You see, there’s nothing I’d like so much as to kiss your…” He reached back to envelop her rear end in his strong hands, letting his fingers fill in the blanks.
“Get your hands off me!” She was shocked by the liberties he was taking. And in the English office, first thing in the morning. “Someone could walk in!”
Rather than removing his hands, he started lightly stroking her buttocks through her dress slacks. “So you wouldn’t mind me doing this if there weren’t a chance we’d get caught?”
“God.” She drove both her fists against his rock-hard chest. “You are the most annoying, irritating man I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet!”
Taking his hands away from her bottom, he smiled and moved them up until he gripped the shelf of the bookcase right above her shoulders. “You played with fire yesterday, Kelly, and now I think it’s important you realize how dangerous that was.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” He leaned forward and, taking her earlobe in his teeth, he nipped lightly. “We had a name for a girl like you when I went to high school. A cock-tease.”
Offended by his words and insult to her reputation, she started to protest, but he bit her ear again, this time hard enough to sting.
“Rule one,” he whispered as his tongue dabbed the sore spot briefly. “The next time you undress me with those sexy eyes or tease me with that husky voice, I’m going to give you exactly what you’re asking for. Rule two, if those lovely lips of yours call me ‘lieutenant’ again, I’m going to fill them up so you can’t speak at all. And rule three, if you put yourself in danger and attempt to break up another fight, I will turn you over my knee and spank that lovely ass of yours, then I’ll take you up on your invitation and kiss it better. Understand?”
She was overwhelmed by his powerful words. She knew she should be appalled by his rough treatment, yet she was incredibly turned-on. God help her, what did that make her? She wasn’t some weak-willed woman who let a man order her around and yet, the idea of taking orders from Mac in the bedroom made her so hot and bothered she could barely breathe. The temperature in the damn book room must have been pushing at least a hundred and ten.
When she failed to respond, he pushed away from her and looked at her face. “I said, do you understand, Kelly?”
Gathering her wits about her, she replied with as much strength as she could muster. “I’m not one of your subordinates, Lieu—”
His lips devoured the rest of her words as he demonstrated exactly how he intended to silence her. His tongue thrust inside her mouth, exploring and touching. She swayed slightly and secretly relished the feeling of his arms wrapping around her waist to steady her. He was pure muscle and, for the first time in a long time, she felt a true spark of desire run through her. She’d never met such a virile, powerful man. She’d given up thinking guys like Mac even existed. So many of her failed dates had been with weak-minded men who constantly waited for her to make the first move.
The sound of the bell ringing brought her back to her senses and she managed to push him away and escape the small room. Thankfully, no one else was in the larger outer office—they would have known in a second what she’d been up to with her new student teacher in the book room. Her face was flushed and as she ran her tongue across her lips, she could feel an unfamiliar puffiness there. She didn’t look back at him as she spoke over her shoulder.
“I think you’ll find I have a definite problem with following rules, Mr. McNally.” She walked out the door toward her classroom.
Unfortunately, before she could make good on her getaway, she clearly heard Mac mutter, “That’s what I’m hoping.”