Busted (5 page)

Charlene frowned at him, obviously trying to send him a
silent message that he wasn’t welcome. “I’m sure you’re very busy, Mr. Braxton.
We wouldn’t want to take you away from your work just to attend a class field
trip.”

He winked at her and grinned. “I employ plenty of people to
help out at the ranch. I don’t think the place will shut down if I play hooky
for a day.”

She fisted her hands at her sides and glared at him, unbeknownst
to the child between them. “Of course, you’re more than welcome to come,” she
said between gritted teeth. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”

“I never do anything because I have to.” He let his eyes
travel leisurely over her body, unable to hide a smile when a blush stole over
her cheeks. “If I do something…” He licked his lips, enjoying this game of cat
and mouse. “It’s because I want to.” He thought back to how much he’d wanted
her. How much he
still
wanted her. 

She turned her back, obviously intent on pretending his
blatant perusal hadn’t affected her. He may have believed her if not for the
fact that he could see her taut nipples pressing against the thin layer of
silk. Just thinking about how she’d responded when he swirled his tongue around
those rigid peaks had him suppressing a groan.

“If you’d like to join us, just fill out the form and
Cassidy can return it tomorrow.”

“I can take care of that right now.” He walked toward her
and smiled with satisfaction when he saw the flicker of awareness dilate her
pupils. God, she was gorgeous. On the surface, she was the perfect school
teacher: warm, kind, attentive, conservative. No one would guess a sexy, sultry
woman who responded to him like she was hungering for a taste of the forbidden
fruit was hiding behind that facade.

He knew she’d wrestled with her desires that night, trying
to decide whether she was brave enough to step out of her comfort zone to go
after what she really wanted: a hot one-night stand with a dominant stranger.
He couldn’t help but wonder if she indulged her curiosity with anyone else
since him. He hoped not. He didn’t expect her to be abstinent, women who looked
like she did rarely were, but if he imagined her with anyone, he preferred a
boring banker who favored vanilla sex in the missionary position. 

Cole slipped the pen out from behind her ear. He heard her
sharp intake of breath as she stepped back to put a safe distance between them.
After bending over, he scribbled his signature on the line and checked off the
box indicating he wished to volunteer for the trip. He folded the note and tore
along the dotted line, so he would have the details about the departure and
return times. Six hours in the lovely teacher’s company… Friday couldn’t come
soon enough.  

When Charlene’s stomach rumbled, she cursed herself for not
forcing a bowl of cereal down that morning. It was all
his
fault. God,
she hated that man. He was so arrogant, so opinionated, so… sexy. She hated that
part the most.

He insisted on walking Cassidy into class every morning and
picking her up every afternoon. She tried to hold on to her resentment, but it
wasn’t easy when she saw him with his daughter. He was clearly a loving and
devoted father. That little girl was the center of his universe, and if seeing
the softer side of him weakened her resolve marginally, she told herself any
woman with a pulse would feel the same way.

After doing a head count, she settled in at the front of the
bus, as far away from
him
as possible. After smiling at the bus driver,
who peered at her in his rear-view mirror, she pulled some notes out of her
bag, hoping for a few spare minutes to work on a lesson plan. Before she could
get started, the man across the aisle from her drew her attention by extending
his hand.

“We’ve never actually met. My sitter usually drops Kelsey
off. It’s Paul Courtnall.”

Returning his smile, Charlene accepted his outstretched
hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Courtnall. Kelsey’s a lovely little
girl, always so attentive in class.”

He breathed a dramatic sigh of relief and grinned. “You
don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that. It’s not easy being a single
parent. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing everything I need to do for her, ya
know?”

“You’re doing an excellent job with her it seems.” Charlene
saw an unmistakable spark of interest in his eyes. She didn’t know how she felt
about that. He was a nice-looking man, with a medium build and sandy blond
hair. His hazel eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. She liked that.
Maybe she should invite his advances, see where it might lead. Of course, she
couldn’t be overt about it. Although there was no rule about parents and
teachers dating, it was likely frowned upon. 

“Thanks, I hope so. It’s not easy, but I do my best.” He
shifted in his seat to face her. “We just moved to town last year. Have you
lived here all your life?”

Charlene slipped the papers back in her bag. She’d have time
to work on her lesson plan tonight. “Except for the few years I went away to
school.”

“I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure I’d like small town life, but
I really love it.”

“Me too.” She had considered living in a big city when she
graduated, but Brant would always be her home. “There’s not a lot to do here,
but there’s nothing like the sense of community.”

“Yeah, the homecoming games at the high school are like
nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“Football’s a pretty big deal around here.” Charlene
laughed. “It’s pretty much the only thing we’ve got going on, so…”

He laughed. “Hey, at least it’s a winning team, right?”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be much fun to watch if they lost every
game, would it?” He seemed like a nice guy, and she kept hoping to feel
butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. Something, anything, to let her
know that this conversation wasn’t a complete waste of time. She chastised
herself for thinking that way. Paul was a nice man and the father of one of her
students. That was reason enough to build a friendship with him.

“Do you ever get out to the games?”

“I’m gonna try to. I have to admit, this job’s kept me
busier than I thought it would. There’s a lot of lesson planning, and I’ve
volunteered to help with the holiday activities, you know, Halloween parties,
Christmas concerts.” She laughed. “I don’t know who’s going to enjoy it more:
me or the kids.”

He smiled. “Listen, I hope you don’t think I’m overstepping,
but I’m a teacher at the high school, so I attend most of the games. Maybe we
could go together sometime?”

He wasn’t asking her to join him for an intimate dinner,
just a high school football game. Perfectly innocent. “I’d love to.”

“Great.” He pointed to her bag. “I left my cell phone in my
truck. You got a pen and paper in there?”

“Sure.” She reached inside and scribbled her full name,
email, and home phone number on a piece of paper before handing it to him. “Here
you go.”

He tore the paper in half and wrote down his contact
information before handing half back to her. “I’ll call you later, if that’s
okay?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Did you see that?” Kelsey Courtnall said, bouncing up and
down in her seat. “My daddy just gave Miss McCoy his phone number.”

Cole hadn’t missed that either. He wanted to go up there and
tear the paper into pieces, but he couldn’t make a spectacle of himself in
front of the other parents and students. What the hell was Charlene thinking?
Was she just doing this to piss him off, or was she really attracted to that guy?
He was as vanilla as a man could get. From his pressed chinos to his button-down
plaid shirt, he practically screamed dull and boring. Charlene needed fun,
excitement. Hell, what she needed was him, so why was she wasting her time with
a guy like Paul Courtnall?

He knew, even liked the high school teacher, until today.
Now Paul was venturing into dangerous territory, whether he realized it or not.

Cole looked across the aisle to see his daughter crossing
her arms, a sullen expression on her face. “You don’t know that’s what they
were doin’.”

“Do to,” Kelsey said. “I was watchin’ ‘em. Did you seem
them, talkin’ and laughin’? They like each other.”

Cole clenched his teeth and tried to pretend he wasn’t
eavesdropping on a conversation between two seven-year-old girls.  

“You don’t know that,” Cassidy said, frowning.

Cole realized that his little girl may be a little jealous
to see her new favorite teacher developing a personal relationship with one of
her friends’ parents. Every day when Cassidy came home from school, she gushed
about Miss McCoy. No matter what Charlene said or did, she had a fan in Cole’s
daughter. He couldn’t say he blamed the little girl; he was a quickly becoming
a fan himself. From the way she commanded silence from twenty-five screaming
seven year-olds to the polite, but firm way she organized her parent
volunteers, the woman was a force to be reckoned with.

What he wouldn’t give to convince her to relinquish that
control in his arms one more time. Who was he kidding? If he got her into his
bed, he feared he might never want to let her go.

“Penny for your thoughts, Cole,” Charlie’s mother, Lynda,
said, twisting to face him. She was trying to get his attention, waving a sheet
of paper in front of his face. “This is your group for the day.” She laughed.
“You’ve got my kid. Good luck with that.”

Cole smiled as he glanced at the list. He wasn’t worried
about his ability to control a little boy. “Don’t worry about him. We’ll be
just fine.” Cassidy and Charlie were in the same class last year and he’d
developed a casual friendship with Lynda and her husband, Jerry.

“You like her, don’t you?” Lynda said, inclining her head
toward Charlene.

Cole spared a glance across the aisle, hoping his daughter
wasn’t listening in on their conversation. Fortunately, she seemed to be
engrossed in a glossy magazine with her friend. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

If he was smart, he’d try to change the subject, but
Charlene and Lynda had obviously known each other a long time. Maybe he could
pump her for information about his fantasy girl. Lord knows he couldn’t ask her
brother. Jake would use him for target practice if he found out he couldn’t
stop thinking about corrupting his baby sister.

Lynda rolled her eyes. “Gimme a break. I see the way you
look at her.” She smirked. “And since when do you come into the school to pick
your daughter up? Last year, you’d wait outside with a scowl on your face,
glancin’ at your watch every ten seconds if she made you wait. Now you seem
only too happy to linger in the classroom, tryin’ to coerce Charlene into
talkin’ to you.”

He hadn’t realized he was so obvious. Maybe that’s why his
daughter was upset about the prospect of her teacher dating her friend’s
father. Perhaps she suspected Cole wanted Charlene for himself. “You’re lettin’
your imagination run away with you again, Lyn,” he said, pointing at her. “I
thought ol’ Jerry was tryin’ to rein you in.”

“Hell, he’s been tryin’ to do that for years.” She laughed.
“Hasn’t done him a damn bit of good, though.” She glanced at Charlene. “Uh oh,
looks like someone else has his eye on your girl.”

Cole scowled as he watched Paul move over to share
Charlene’s bench seat. “She’s not
my
girl.” He knew she didn’t owe him
anything. They’d only spent one night together, but he’d be damned if he’d sit
by and watch her hook up with some other guy.

“But you’d like her to be,” Lynda said, grinning. “It’s
about time you showed an interest in someone. Hell, all the single moms at
school have been tryin’ to get your attention since you showed up in town.”

Cole would never date the mother of one his daughter’s
classmates. He suspected many of the parents already speculated about sexual
appetites, but he had no intention of fueling the fire with one of their own.
He tried to be discreet, because of his daughter, but one or two of the women
he’d dated since he moved to town obviously didn’t appreciate his need for
discretion. Before he knew it, he was getting side-long glances all over town.

He knew the locals thought he was a freak. He didn’t much
care what they thought of him, but he didn’t want his choices to make Cassidy
the butt of school-yard jokes. He remembered how cruel kids could be, and if he
had to take a vow of celibacy to protect his little girl, he would. It would
kill him, especially with Charlene back in town, but nothing and no one was
more important to him than his daughter.

“I haven’t had much time for relationships. I’ve been busy
with Cassidy and runnin’ the ranch.”

She glanced across the aisle at the two little girls,
giggling and pointing at a picture of some teen pop star. “Every little girl
needs a mama, Cole. You
oughta
know that.”

He’d heard this too many times from well-meaning friends.
Hell, even his own mother was on his case about finding a wife and settling
down. He suspected his mother had heard the rumors about him too, but she never
worked up the courage to ask him if they were true.
Thank God.
He never
lied to his mama, but he sure as hell wasn’t gonna tell her about his penchant
for fur-lined handcuffs and nipple clamps.

“I appreciate your concern, Lynda. But Cassidy and I are
doin’ just fine on our own.”

Lynda raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what your mama said. I
ran into her at the library yesterday and she said she thinks her granddaughter
has taken to Charlene so quickly ‘cause she’s just dyin’ to have a mother
figure in her life.”

Cole’s gut twisted. He wished he could deny his mother’s claim,
but he knew it was true. He’d seen his daughter with Charlene. She was so
desperate to please her, almost as though she was trying to earn her love and
affection with good deeds. Cole’s heart broke to see Cassidy working so hard to
try to earn a permanent place in Charlene’s life.