“An oldie but goodie – I approve. Who would be the one dunked?”
“You, of course.”
Of course. When don’t the students want to dunk the teacher? “Ah. Silly me for asking.”
“Maybe we can meet up after school today so I can show you my designs and go over a few ideas I had. How about we meet in the gym?”
The gym, which was a separate building from the school and would be very empty after classes were done for the day. Goosebumps rose across the back of her neck. “I’m busy after school. Seventh-period study hall, why don’t you meet me in the teacher’s lounge?
“C’mon, Miss Miller, it will only take fifteen minutes, and I need you in the gym so you can see what I’ve done so far. We’ve been keeping all the supplies in the back.” The wheedling tone was in direct contrast to that intense look that had once again entered his eyes.
“Sorry, I can’t. Let’s plan it for next Tuesday, I’ll meet you then.” Like hell I will.
His lips thinned for a long moment and his eyes grew stormy. But he came back to himself and all traces of anger at her pronouncement disappeared. “Sure, next Tuesday. But let me know if you have an opening before then. I’m really eager to get on this design.” He turned and left the classroom as other students came filing in.
Jason Evans, all-star quarterback and the golden boy of the school, who was unnaturally fixated on necromancers and was doing his best to get her someplace alone.
This needed to end, because either she was starting to jump at shadows or those evil creatures were coming at her through her kids, and like hell she’d let them near her kids.
For the first time since she finished the student side of high school and began the educator side, the final bell ringing brought sweet, sweet relief and thankfulness that the day was done. She was out of the building before most of her students, her little yellow loaner car tearing up the asphalt to get her home. Once home, she closed the curtains tight, hoping that would discourage any knocks from her gargoyle guardian.
She was being a coward. Fully admitted it, would sign a note to that effect. But what else could she do after that kiss…
That kiss.
Gods.
Never had anything like that happened in her life, that flint-to-wood inferno that exploded the moment his lips touched hers. If that was what happened when you called a male a coward, it was something that needed to happen a lot more often.
Every millimeter of his skin branded hers and demanded she press closer, and she wanted to do nothing except obey. There had never been anyone else who had ever caused that reaction, that desperation to have him trapped in the most intimate embrace she could hold him in.
It would have been the most perfect moment of her life, except he was the member of another race, she’d just called him a coward, and he was engaged.
She didn’t mess up often, but when she did, she went big.
The memory brought the 20/20 cringe. Somehow at the time it made sense, she was saving him from a stupid mistake – never mind it was self-serving bunk.
Gargoyles were hardly alone in their philosophy of strength, and not everyone was meant to have the fairy tale that her parents did. Even her parents hadn’t had the fairy tale. Reality needed to be acknowledged.
But he was the one who kissed her. He cradled her in his arms and held her tight and made her feel so cherished. If he didn’t return her feelings, if he was at peace with his people’s traditions, then none of that would have happened. Right?
A knock sounded on the door. No, not a knock. Several heavy thumps and a loud, “Damn it, Ris, open this gods damned door now!”
Couldn’t she have one day alone to mope and obsess? After checking the peephole and seeing it was indeed family, Larissa pulled the door open, fixing in place a scowl that would signal her extreme displeasure. “What do you want, Michael?”
He pushed past her, kicking the door closed with his foot. “Don’t you dare lie to me. What are you involved in?”
Oh, he did not. It didn’t matter if he had eight inches and a hundred pounds on her, like hell she was letting him get away with this bullying. “You might want to stop with the attitude right now and back off. I don’t know what you mean.”
Michael was pacing, his hands running in his hair as he talked, the way all the males of her family acted when they were upset. “You aren’t going to throw me off that easily. I’m fucking mad as hell I let myself become so wrapped up in seeing that guy in your apartment that I forgot myself the first time and let you talk me out of what my gut was saying.”
“Nothing was left unfinished the last time.”