Okay, moving on. Day 2 of the job. And the job has gotten a whole lot tougher since I accepted it.
I only hope I can make it through.
8
DANNY WAS HAVING A HARD time figuring it out.
Last night, Mari had heard him out, accepted his explanation, and his apology, looking both sheepish and very happy that he’d come to explain the situation to her.
Then she’d promptly shown him to the door.
She hadn’t been playing hard to get—he’d have sworn that when she asked him to leave, her eyes were bright with moisture, like she was holding back tears. But she’d been firm about it, refusing his offer to go out for a cup of coffee so they could talk a little more, try to figure things out.
In the end, of course, he’d acceded to her request and left. It had been all he could do to walk out, offering her a nod as she gently closed the door in his face. Because what he’d really wanted to do was take her hands in his, sit her down and make her tell him what was really bothering her.
For a second, he’d worried that she was seeing someone else—that he had been the “other man.” But there had been no evidence of a guy in that apartment. And he couldn’t see her as being someone who’d cheat. Not after the sadness he’d heard in her voice when she’d told him about her parents’ bad choices. God, what a tough background.
So, no. He didn’t see her being a cheat. Plus, he didn’t imagine her neighbor would have kept her big mouth shut about it if another man was regularly showing up at Mari’s door.
“So what the hell is it?” he mumbled as he headed for the lecture hall. “What gave you such cold feet?”
Of course the military thing crossed his mind. She’d sounded pretty convincing when talking to her students about some women not being interested in that lifestyle. But hell, they’d already clicked so beautifully, had a real chemistry and connection. He just couldn’t imagine the anxiety over something that might or might not happen, far down the road, would make her shut him out of her life now.
He honestly didn’t know the truth, but he intended to find out. Fortunately, she had to spend time with him over the next couple of weeks—at least a couple of hours every Monday and Wednesday. Yes, they’d be in front of an audience, but seeing her in public was better than not seeing her at all. And hopefully he’d get her to open up and be honest about what she was thinking.
Danny didn’t spend a lot of time evaluating why he’d fallen so hard and so fast for her. Maybe he should have. Maybe he should at least be curious. Maybe a part of him should have been wondering if he’d just been single too long and was seeing the perfect woman in somebody he barely knew.
None of those things were crossing his mind.
Just as he’d always known he needed flight, he had known right away that he needed her. Maybe not forever—he wasn’t such a romantic that he believed in love at first sight.
But there was that serendipity element.
Things happen for a reason.
The fact was, she’d come into his life and completely knocked him off his feet—the first time that had happened with any woman. It had to mean something.
“Hey, Midas!” a voice said as he reached the lecture hall. Through the inset glass in the door, he saw the room was already filled to the brim with students. Even more than there had been the other day.
Apparently word had spread about the sexy new lecturer.
“Hey, Quag,” he replied, watching as his friend peered through the door, as well.
“She in there?”
He stiffened. He had not told Quag that Marissa—the woman he’d been trying so desperately to find—was the new instructor on campus. “Who?”
“The smoking hot teacher the kids have been talking about.”
“I hope you didn’t encourage them in that,” he replied, his tone steely.
Quag shrugged. “You think I’m stupid? I don’t gossip with students. But it’s kinda hard not to hear the whispers.”
“Yeah, well, next time you hear them whispering, you send ’em my way and I’ll give them so much classwork, they’ll be too busy to talk smack about a lady.”
As if finally realizing Danny was steamed, Quag whistled and then smirked. “
She’s
the one? The mystery woman?”
He replied with a brief nod.
Before Danny had to do anything more than frown, his playboy friend put his hands up, palms out. “Okay, dude, no harm, no foul. Hands off. You saw her first.” Then he sauntered off down the hall, whistling as he went.
“I’ve got an idea. How about you two go out hunting—whoever brings back the biggest mastodon leg gets me. How’s that sound?”
Oh, shit.
Danny glanced behind him and saw Marissa standing a few feet away, her expression as glacial as her tone had been. She’d apparently heard every word.
“Hi. I didn’t realize you hadn’t gone inside yet.”
“I had to drop off some paperwork. Now, if you’ll excuse me…” she said, trying to push past him to the door.
He put a hand on her arm, not restraining her, but gently asking her to stay. She paused—the briefest hesitation—but it was enough to tell him she wasn’t
too
angry.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not a caveman, I promise. Quag’s just a little over-the-top.”
“Let me guess, another flyboy?”
“Something wrong with flyboys?”
She shook her head and forced a visibly tight smile. “Not a thing. I’m sure you’re all very proud of your…wingspans.”
“Oh, we are,” he murmured. “And don’t even ask about how much we love deep dives, tight rolls…all that torque and thrust.”
Her throat quivered as she swallowed.
He stepped toward her, and she backed up, step after step, until she’d slipped into the alcove of the next lecture hall down. Unlike hers, this one was empty. No prying eyes could possibly be watching from behind the glass. They were tucked away, invisible to anyone unless that person walked right by this alcove.
He hadn’t intended to corner her here. Neither, however, was he disappointed by that fact.
“I shouldn’t have left last night without telling you how much I’ve missed you,” he admitted. He lifted a hand, scraping his palm against her upper arm, noting the silkiness of the blouse, remembering the even silkier skin underneath.
“Danny…”
“You’ve missed me, too,” he claimed, knowing it was true.
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, but didn’t try to deny it. The chemistry between them swirled, thickening the air in the tiny space. Every breath he took was filled with her scent, every beat of his heart echoed by Mari’s.
“I thought you weren’t going to wear your hair like that anymore,” he said, moving even closer until his foot slid between her high-heeled shoes.
Mari was again dressed in that so-prim-but-so-sexy style that drove him utterly wild. He wanted to sink his hands into her blond hair and tug it out of that tight, compressing bun. Wanted to kiss the swollen redness back into her lips, to tear open the simple white blouse, not caring if every button went flying.
He wanted to have her. Here. Now.
Funny, he suspected he wanted her more right at this minute than he had last night, when they’d been alone in her apartment and could actually have done something about it.
Damn, he really was hot for teacher.
“Stop,” she ordered weakly.
“You stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop pretending you don’t want me, too.”
She licked her lips, sucked in an audible breath, then tilted her head to look up at him. “I’m not
pretending
I don’t want you.”
His heart fell. Was he really so far off base? Was he really misreading that smokiness in her eyes, the husky quality of her voice? Had he imagined that flick of her pretty pink tongue against her lips as she stared at his mouth, as if she’d been thinking of nothing but kissing him since the first word they’d exchanged?
No. He hadn’t. He knew he hadn’t.
“I have to hand it to you, sweetheart. You are one beautiful liar.”
Then he proved it to her. Proved she was lying.
Proved she wanted him.
Needing to taste her or die, he dropped his hands to her hips and tugged her close, until the warmth of her thighs melted against his. He didn’t give her a chance to think twice, merely bending to capture her mouth in a kiss that went from Rated G to Rated X in about 2.9 seconds flat.
She parted her lips for him instantly, accepting his kiss and giving it right back. Her sweet, warm tongue thrust against his own—deeper, hotter—and he could hear the helpless little whimpers of pleasure in her throat.
Lifting her hands, Mari twined her fingers in his hair, arching against him. Her breasts pressed against his chest, the points of her nipples stabbing him as her arousal grew.
He felt her slim thighs part, then one rose against the outside of his leg as she arched toward him, so her warmth cupped his hardening cock. It was frustrating as hell through their clothes—but felt so good. So goddamned good.
A door slammed nearby, and he reluctantly ended the kiss, managing a small step back. They both heaved in a few breaths. He wondered if she had any idea how beautiful she looked when she’d been well and truly kissed.
Well. And truly.
He almost smiled, the echo of her words from that morning on the boat replaying in his mind.
He wanted a repeat of that morning. And definitely a repeat of the preceding night.
“I wasn’t lying. I’m not pretending not to want you, Danny, because I
do
want you, and I freely admit it,” she told him, her voice thick. As though she just couldn’t help herself.
Danny couldn’t prevent a tiny, triumphant smile. God, it was good to hear those words come out of her mouth. He wanted to taste them on her lips before they stopped echoing in his ears. Wanted to drag her into the nearest private room with a locking door and do a whole hell of a lot more than kiss her. What he most wanted was to pick up right where they’d left off seventeen days and two hours ago.
“But I’m not going to let myself have you,” she said, that prim teacher’s tone coming back.
All his visual fantasies disappeared like a bubble pricked with a pin. Thrusting a frustrated hand through his hair, Danny took a step back. “Just tell me why. You said you understood about the phone, that you believed me…”
“I do believe you.” Then, with an almost sad little shake of her head, she finally admitted the truth. “But I just don’t want a guy in uniform. Period. End of story. I thought I made that pretty clear.”
Though he’d considered the possibility, he was still surprised by her words. Long-term was one thing, okay, he could buy that. But it seemed downright crazy to insist they couldn’t indulge in the hot sex they both craved just because of his damn job.
“You’re willing to forego the guy just because of the clothes on his back?”
Her lips trembled, revealing that hint of vulnerability again. Then she slowly nodded. “Yes. I am.”
He tried a self-deprecating smile. “Hey, it’s not like I proposed. Can’t you bend your rule and hang out with me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Hang out? I think you mean make out.”
“That’s so high school. What I mean is have hot, steamy, can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head sex.”
She muttered a curse word under her breath, and he saw the way her nipples drew to even tighter points under her blouse.
She didn’t want to want him.
But oh, she definitely
did
want him.
“Come on, Mari. Let’s have a fling.”
She nibbled her lip, her flushed face revealing more than words ever could about what she was thinking.
“Come home with me tonight.”
She gulped and slowly shook her head.
Danny scraped a tiny strand of hair that had come loose from her bun off her cheek, trailing his fingertips over her soft skin. “You don’t have to fall in love with me,” he whispered. “Just be my lover.”