Rumor Has It (An Animal Magnetism Novel) (17 page)

“He’s a little punk,” he went on, needing an explanation. “It’d have been so easy for you to dismiss him, not really deal with him, just give him his detention or whatever and put him out of your mind to concentrate on the better-behaved kids, the ones who want to be here.”

Her eyes held his. “I don’t usually take the easy way out, Griffin.”

No. No, she didn’t.

“And anyway, when you’ve been a teacher for any amount of time,” she went on, “you learn to read kids. Or anyone, really. So it was no great mystery. A kid that age isn’t all that complicated. There isn’t a big, long list of things that could be making him act out like that.”

“But you put baseball at the top of the list.”

“It was a guess,” she admitted.

“A good one,” he said. “A smart one. No one else would have seen that.”

She shrugged then studied him. “This hits home for you.” She let out a sigh, unlocked her car, and tossed her purse in. “I don’t leave any kids behind, Griffin. I’m sorry that it happened to you. It shouldn’t have.”

He wasn’t easy to read, he’d made sure of it, and yet she read him like a book.

“Have you ever tried talking to your dad about it?” she asked.

“You mean the brick wall?” He blew out a breath and shook his head. “This isn’t why I came here.”

“Fine. Then let’s talk about why you did come. To make sure I wasn’t secretly devastated about our one night, right? To make sure you haven’t ruined me for all men?”

He grimaced and shoved his hands through his hair. “Okay, how about we leave it at the fact that I’m a complete idiot and move on.”

Finally, he’d reached her. Her mouth curved, albeit slightly, but he’d take it. “I’m willing if you’re willing,” she said.

He nodded and turned to go, but he couldn’t stop himself from stepping in it one last time. “Oh, and online dating is dangerous.”

“More dangerous than dating, say . . . you?”

Touché. “We haven’t dated,” he said.

“True.”

“We should change that.”

She actually paused, and he went for it. “Have dinner with me, Kate.”

“I’ve got a lot to go over in regards to my upcoming parent-teacher conferences . . .”

He knew a blow-off when he heard one. He’d certainly given enough of them in his life. Studying her for a moment, he said, “You change your mind about me?”

“No. No,” she said again more firmly. “I really do just have a lot of work.”

“I could help,” he said in that voice that had gotten him what he wanted more than once. “I’m an excellent . . . debriefer.”

She gave him a considering look, and as he’d intended, a sense of playfulness came into her gaze. “What would this debriefing involve?” She wanted to know.

He stepped closer and was gratified to hear her breath catch. “Personal, hands-on techniques come to mind,” he said.

“Oh,” she breathed, sounding a little short of air and also intrigued.

He smiled. “We’ll discuss at dinner.”

“Now?” she asked.

“Now.”

* * *

Halfway out of town, Kate’s cell phone rang. It was Holly. “Hey,” Kate said, going for casual. “What’s up, everything okay?”

“Depends,” Holly said.

“On?”

“You. Are you okay?”

Kate looked over at Grif, who was driving. “I’m okay.” And excited. And terrified. “Why?”

“Are we still best friends?” Holly asked.

“Well, of course!”

“Then when were you going to tell me you’re on a date?”

“I just texted you five minutes ago that I’d be out tonight.”

“With my brother?”

Kate twisted and looked behind them. “Are you following us?”

Griffin, much more used to Holly’s tricks, didn’t even glance in the rearview mirror.

“I’m not following you,” Holly said.

“Let me guess,” Kate said dryly. “There’s another rumor?”

“Adam asked Grif to go on a quad ride with him tonight, but Grif said he was busy. Grif’s never too busy for a quad ride. I took a wild guess.”

She glanced at Griffin. He was driving in his usual Zen-calm zone. Kate didn’t have a Zen-calm zone. “Was I this annoying when you were dating Adam?” she asked Holly.

“More,” Holly said on a laugh. “Listen, I just want to say that I love you. And take things slow, okay?”

“I will.” Kate looked at Griffin again. “I’ll take very good care of your brother, but he’s a big boy now, Hol.”

Holly laughed.

Griffin slid Kate a long, slow, thoughtful gaze that gave her a hot flash. She hung up with Holly and pocketed her phone.

“I’m a big boy?”

Kate thought about just how big and shifted in her seat, earning her another one of those looks, this one accompanied by a low, sexy laugh.

He drove her into Boise, where they went to a tiny little blues club she’d never been to before. They enjoyed great food, great music, and fantastic wine, and when she curled up with him on a comfy love seat to watch the musicians, kicking off the heels that were killing her feet, Grif pulled her feet onto his lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked, shocked. Panicked. Her feet were . . . well, not pretty. She’d spent years standing on them all day in classrooms. Not even Ryan would have touched her callused stumps.

But Griffin wrapped her foot in his big, warm hands and dug his thumbs into her arch.

She moaned so loud that he grinned and leaned over her to kiss her, probably to shut her up.

Later he drove her back to her car. When they reached the school, he woke her up, and she was mortified that she fell asleep on him. He unlocked her car for her and nudged her inside.

“Be careful,” he said, and hooked her seat belt.

To her surprise, he followed her home. “Is this where we get to the hands-on debriefing?” she teased as he walked her inside.

He smiled. “You’re too tired for what I have in mind.”

She was getting less tired by the second. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“A proper debriefing is . . . intense,” he said. “You need to be on top of your game for that.”

Her good parts quivered, and she pressed him against the door. “You think I’m off my game?”

He stroked a hand down her back and palmed her butt in a possessive nature that was shockingly thrilling. “I think you’re exhausted,” he said. “Understandably so.” He patted her butt then and tugged off her sweater. He hung it up on its hook, his thoughtfulness warming her and making her suddenly not so tired. Because for the first time in recent memory, someone was taking care of her. She felt safe. Cared for. Cherished.

And this was a problem. A big one, given the man making her feel these things. The man she’d originally pulled into her orbit for nothing more than a tryst.

After all, he was leaving.

She was leaving.

And she was in over her head . . .

As if he sensed her sudden melancholy, he paused. “You okay?”

She managed a laugh. “I thought guys only asked that question in romance novels.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “We’ll do just about anything to get what we want, Kate. You should remember that.”

She sucked in a breath. “What if what you want is the same thing I want?”

This earned her another steadying gaze. “I don’t think that can be true,” he said.

“Is that why you haven’t tried to get back in my bed? Because you think I don’t want what you want?”

“I didn’t want to push you,” he said.

“I’m not easily pushed.” She put her hand on his chest. “So I’m going to ask again, what if we want the same thing?”

He stared down at her for what had to be an eternity, during which she let her hand shift a little, gliding from pec to pec.

“You’re going to get your way on this, aren’t you?” he murmured, voice low and a little husky.

“I usually do.” She kicked off her shoes. “Don’t try to fight it, Griffin. I’ll be gentle.”

He moved so that his forehead rested against hers as he slid his hands into her hair, his fingertips against her scalp. “You’re daring me.”

“Yes,” she said, not opening her eyes, enjoying the bliss caused by his touch. Even without looking, she felt him smile. After a moment he tugged lightly on her hair until she met his gaze.

“I stayed away to give you time to think,” he said.

“Thinking’s overrated.”

This startled a laugh out of him, and she soaked up the sight of his genuine amusement. He was just too damn sexy for his own good, certainly too sexy for her own good. When he let her inside his personal space like this, when he so rarely let anyone in, letting her see the private side of him, every last defense around her heart melted away.

Just melted away . . .

“Griffin?” she whispered, suddenly serious.

His smile faded. “Yeah?”

She backed him to the foyer table. “Remember when you asked me if this table was sturdy?” She patted her hands on it. “It feels sturdy.

His eyes were serious now, very serious, with only the slightest quirk of his lips as he stepped into her and kissed her hard. “You’re going to be the death of me,” he whispered against her mouth.

“I know,” she said, sliding her hands up around his neck. “But it’s a good way to go, right?”

Apparently he was too busy divesting her of her clothes to answer. He started with her blouse. He smiled at her pretty pink bra and then took that off, too, tossing it over his shoulder. “Do your panties match?” he asked.

“There are some things a man should find out for himself,” she said demurely.

His hands slid beneath her skirt and pulled her leggings down and off. He shoved up her skirt and eyed the matching scrap of pink. “Nice. Lose ’em.” Then, before she could, he tugged the silk down her legs. And then her skirt as well. Which left her bare-assed on the wood. Putting a big hand on each of her thighs, he spread her legs and then stepped between them, his jeans rubbing up against her heated flesh.

Heaven . . . “Griffin?”

“Yeah?” He trailed hot kisses up her cheek to her ear, melting her bones.

“You want me bad,” she said, rocking against him, pulling his head down to hers, pressing a kiss to first one corner of his mouth and then the other.

He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and swallowed hard as if unused to such a tender touch, which of course only made her want to be all the more tender.

“I do want you bad,” he whispered as she planted tiny kisses along his jaw and down his throat. “Very bad.”

“Good.” She pushed up his shirt, reveling in his rock-hard abs and leanly muscled chest, leaning in to take a nibble right above his collarbone, and when he sucked in a breath, she soothed the ache with her tongue.

Her efforts tugged a deep groan from Griffin. He tore off his shirt and shoved his hand into his front pocket, coming up with a condom.

“You think of everything,” she said.

“Yes, would you like to know what I’m thinking now?”

She had a pretty good idea. “If I didn’t know the truth,” she said. “I’d swear you were once a Boy Scout.”

He dropped his forehead to her shoulder and huffed out a laugh, his chest rising and falling as he fought for control. “Don’t play with me right now,” he warned. His taut body wasn’t up for teasing.

Neither was hers. She popped open his jeans and reached inside. “I don’t play.” She stroked him, and he swore roughly. Picking her up, he turned and pinned her against the wall. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her into submission.

“Bed,” he growled against her lips, and carried her to her room. He dropped her onto the mattress and then crawled up her body, kissing every inch of skin he passed, stopping at every spot where she gasped or squirmed, starting over when he felt like it, until she was writhing and panting beneath him. The feel of his hard body pressing into hers, combined with the way he devoured her, sent jolts of pleasure through her, coiling low in her belly.

“The condom,” she finally gasped.

He was one step ahead of her, and then his weight settled on her. Opening her thighs for him, she urged him closer. “Hurry.”

“Hell no.” Cupping her face in his big hands, he moved as calmly and deliberately as he pleased. “We have time.” And then he held her gaze as he, just as slowly and steadily as he did everything, slid into her.

He stilled then, a look of impossible control crossing his face. But if he was learning her body, she was doing the same with his. She knew how to wrestle his hard-earned control away, and she gradually arched her hips, taking even more of him deep inside her.

Eyes hot, he bent over her, and then it wasn’t just his control snapping but hers, too, as they both fought for release. When it came, it was with shocking force, knocking them both into oblivion.

Much later she felt him lean over her to kiss her good-bye, a deliciously hot kiss that left her stirred up all over again. “Uh-oh,” she whispered.

“What?”

“It’s still here. Our chemistry problem.”

He smiled a little tightly in silent agreement, and then he was gone.

K
ate woke up deli
ciously sated and with a smile on her face. Sex absolutely did a body good. Normally, she might have spent a few moments wondering what last night had actually meant—or not meant—but she decided if she didn’t think about it too deeply, she could take it in the spirit she’d originally intended.

Naked fun, and not as the possible beginning to something between them, because that would end in disappointment.

Not that any of that mattered at the moment, because she was running late. She made the usual run to her dad’s, where she speed-read Ashley’s practice SAT essays, fed everyone, grabbed Tommy—Captain America today—and ran out to Ryan’s car.

Thirty minutes later, Kate’s class was humming with the wild energy of twenty second graders getting ready to go on a field trip to Belle Haven.

Their new vet, Dr. Wyatt, usually came to her class for monthly visits, but at least twice a year Kate brought the kids to the animal center. They got a lot from watching responsible adults handle all the animals, and Kate got a lot out of letting the kids run themselves ragged on the large acreage.

With budget cuts, Kate had to rely on parents to drive the class, and as a result, she was humming with her own wild energy—worry. One of the parents who’d signed up to drive hadn’t yet shown up.

Trevan Anders.

She got him on his cell phone five minutes before their scheduled departure time, and he said he was unable to get away from work. He expressed polite regret and offered to make it up to her over dinner, where he hoped to also apologize for his behavior the day before in the parking lot of the school.

The man was as hot and cold as a sink valve, and he gave her a headache. She’d meet him for dinner approximately never.

“Do we have to cancel?” Tommy asked solemnly at her side, having apparently sneaked up on her.

She looked down into his green eyes. The Captain America sweatshirt was a direct contrast to the seriousness of his gaze. “We are not canceling,” she said. “Even if we have to walk there.”

“It’s seven point five miles.”

That got a smile out of her. She wasn’t the only one in the family who knew all sorts of random facts. “How did you know that?”

He pulled out the iPod Touch he’d gotten for his birthday. “Grif loaded a Find My Friends app and a map, too, and I marked out all my favorite places.”

Her heart clenched. God, she loved this kid. “We’re not walking,” she promised, and called Ryan’s cell phone.

“Five days,” he said.

Like she didn’t know she had five days left to accept her full-ride scholarship to UCSD. “Not why I’m calling,” she said.

Luckily, he agreed to step up to the plate, leaving his district meeting early to meet Kate and her class in the school parking lot. The other parent drivers were loading up their cars when he arrived. He ended up with five kids in his truck—including Dustin, who immediately began playing with all the rear control panel buttons of his new car.

“Stop that,” Ryan told him, and shut the back passenger door. Standing by his driver’s door, he eyed Kate. “You owe me,” he said.

“What do I owe you?”

The kids were inside his car with the windows up, but ever vigilant, Ryan pulled out his phone and sent her a text.

“Seriously?” she asked, lifting her head and meeting his gaze after reading the obscene suggestion. “Is that all men think about?”

“Yes. And food.”

“Good. Because that’s what you’re getting. Food.”

Ryan sighed. “Fine. Pizza. Loaded. And beer.”

“Done.”

“That was too easy,” Ryan said. “I should have demanded both.”

Clearly things hadn’t worked out with the bridesmaid from Holly’s wedding. Probably it was his charm. The drive to the animal center was uneventful. The center was large, and right out front were Brady and Dell, working with a couple of horses in the pens.

As Kate ushered her class past them and inside, Jade stood up from the front desk and waved. She ran the ship here at Belle View with the same drill sergeant ability with which Holly ran her dad’s ranch. Each kid was given a lanyard with a nametag to wear around his or her neck. Jade walked them through an examination room and taught them about some of the equipment.

Then they went out back. In the big barn, they got to meet a bovine and her new calf, who were at the center for some special care after tangling with a coyote. And then Lulu the sheep, who’d just given birth to two lambs out of season.

Back outside, they found Adam in the huge open yard teaching a survival class with Griffin. They’d rigged some sort of climbing wall and were working the ropes. Adam stood at the bottom, belaying Griffin, who was thirty feet above them in the air, clinging to the inverted wall by nothing but his fingertips.

“Wow,” her class breathed in unison.

Yeah. Wow . . . Kate watched him swing and then reach for the next tiny little handhold, holding her breath until he pulled himself up with ease. She wondered if he knew she was there, and then he met her gaze, his own sparking a fire inside her.

Yeah. He knew she was there.

“I could do that,” Ryan said in her ear.

Kate turned and met his gaze. “Yeah?”

“Totally.”

“Except for your fear of heights,” Kate said.

“Yeah. Except for that.”

Dr. Wyatt brought out a big crate of kittens, eight weeks old and ready for adoption. The kids sat around the box and took turns petting and holding them. Dr. Wyatt told them that they could have first dibs, if any of their parents were in agreement.

Dustin had pushed his way to the front and was cuddling one, a black little girl with bright blue eyes who looked up at him like he was her mama. “I want this one,” he said.

“Let your parents know,” Dr. Wyatt said. “If they approve, she’s yours.”

Dustin ducked his face down, but not before Kate saw his expression. He knew his dad would never approve a kitten.

Tommy looked at Dustin for a long moment and then at Kate. “Dad would let me get one, right?”

“Shut up, Captain America,” Dustin said, and swiped his arm across his eyes.

Tommy reached out and stroked the black kitten. “If I adopted her, you could come see her every day. If you wanted.”

Kate’s heart swelled in her chest, both with love and pride. Dustin buried his face in the kitten’s fur and didn’t say anything for a long moment before giving a barely there nod.

Kate let out her breath and swallowed the lump in her throat. She thought of her dad and hoped like hell he could handle one more living creature in his house . . .

After that, Brady’s wife, Lilah, took the kids across the way to Sunshine Kennels to visit the animals there. Kate and the other parent drivers ended up in the employee kitchen with some of the staff. Dell came in and pinned Jade to the fridge for a kiss.

“Hey,” Adam said. “I’m the newlywed.”

Dell pulled back from a now dazed-looking Jade and grinned down into her face. “Just saying hi.”

Jade rolled her eyes, but still gave him a dopey smile.

Everyone but Ryan and Kate drifted out of the kitchen. Ryan handed her a bottle of water. “Figured you were thirsty. What with all that panting you’re doing over Reid.”

She snatched the bottle. “I’m not panting.”

“Drooling, then.”

She ignored this. Because okay, she might have drooled a little bit over Griffin on the ropes. She was definitely lusting. Every time she thought about Griffin and what he’d done to her last night—what he always did to her—her legs got all watery and she went damp in areas she had no business going damp in during daylight hours. “It’s not a thing.” She lifted a shoulder. “Or it’s not a real thing.”

Ryan looked at her for a long moment. There was a lot in his gaze. Affection. A touching amount of concern. And then, wariness just as Kate felt a change in her force field.

She didn’t have to turn around to know who’d come up behind her and now stood at her back. It was utterly unnecessary because her happy nipples told her exactly who it was.

“Griffin,” Ryan said.

“Ryan,” Griffin said.

Kate sipped her water like her life depended on it.

“Kate,” Griffin finally said.

Slurp . . . She couldn’t speak, not when she’d just realized that she was standing between the only two men she’d ever slept with. Ryan had been a good lover, fun and easy to be with.

But Griffin . . . Griffin was magic.

And she was sandwiched between them. A virtual hot guy sandwich. Her hands trembled a little bit, but before she could put down her bottle of water, it was taken out of her fingers by a big, callused hand and set on the counter for her.

She met Griffin’s gaze and straightened, lust immediately taking a backseat to concern.

He had a headache.

She saw it in the tight lines of his mouth, in the shadows of his eyes, and in every movement that he didn’t make.

“Well,” Ryan said. “This is a whole heck of a lot of fun, standing here awkwardly staring at each other and all, but I really should . . . something.” And then he left.

“You have another migraine,” Kate said, pushing Grif to a chair.

“Little bit.”

She moved to the freezer and found a bag of peas. She dimmed the lights. Griffin had sprawled himself out in the chair, long legs in front of him, head back, eyes closed. Stepping between his legs, she gently pressed the cold bag to his temple.

His hands went to her hips, and he leaned forward and pressed his face to her stomach.

She closed her eyes and ran her hands over his shoulders. She heard the smile in his voice when he said, “Your tummy’s rumbling.”

“It’s working at producing a new layer of mucus,” she said. “It has to do that every two weeks to avoid digesting itself.” She paused. “Everyone’s stomach has to. Not just mine.” Shut up, Kate . . .

He laughed softly as his hands slid beneath her sweater now. His rough palms brought goose bumps to her body as he headed north, stopping just short of her breasts.

“Really?” she asked, her calm voice belying her suddenly racing heart. “You can think about sex right now?”

A low laugh gusted out of him, his breath warming her skin through her sweater as his thumbs brushed over the heavy undersides of her breasts through her bra. “I can always think about sex.”

“That’s . . . inconvenient,” she managed. It certainly was for her.

He let out another low laugh. “You mean because I’m torn between throwing up and taking you right here?”

He was talking the big talk, but there was no way he was up to anything but a very long nap. “Do you have meds?” she asked.

“Not with me. The headaches are fading. Mostly.”

His thumbs were rubbing back and forth over her upper ribs, not quite touching her breasts. Her nipples were reacting like they were going to get luckier than was possible standing here in the animal center. “What’s your pain level from one to ten?”

“Eleven,” he said calmly. “But that’s only because there’s a hot poker behind my eyeball and I can’t see out of it.”

She wanted to get him back to the ranch, but she was afraid that he wouldn’t get any TLC there from his father. She would have liked to take him home, because she happened to have plenty of TLC for him, but she also had twenty kids to think about. “You need to lie down.”

“Yeah. And you probably need to get back to the kids.”

She hesitated, and he met her gaze. “I’ll be fine.” But he didn’t remove his hands.

“Griffin—”

“You always say my full name,” he said softly, pressing his face between her breasts just as he shifted his hand northward and let his thumbs scrape over her aching nipples. “Like you’re going to put me in the corner.”

She had to lock her knees. It took her two tries to speak. “That’s not where I’m thinking of putting you right now.”

He smiled, but it faded fast. So did the color from his face.

“Oh, Griffin,” she whispered.

“You’re the only one who ever calls me that. The only one . . .” Turning his head, he kissed her breast, and then the nipple poking at the material of her sweater. When he nipped it lightly with his teeth, she gasped. He kissed it again, and then with a sigh he removed his hands from under her clothes and gave her a little push. “Go. I’ll be fine. I’ll be so fine, I’m coming over tonight to show you how fine.”

“Another date?”

His pain-filled gaze met hers. “Yeah. Another date.”

She didn’t answer. Didn’t know if she could. Or should.

Another date . . . It was either going to kill her or . . .

She decided she didn’t need to worry about the or. He was sick with a migraine. He could be a big talker all he wanted, but he wasn’t immortal.

When she got outside, Ryan and Jade had the kids in the yard. Kate went straight to Adam. “Griffin’s—”

“Sick. I know.” His dark eyes met hers. “I’ve got him, Kate.”

Good. That was good. Because now she could walk away. Walking away from Griffin Reid was the smart thing to do.

And Kate always did the smart thing.

* * *

Griffin woke up at midnight in his own bed. This time there was no musical laughter from outside his window. It was pitch-black out there, and the only sound was an incredibly obnoxious chorus of crickets and a lone wolf howling his frustration at the moon.