Take a Chance on Me (2 page)

Jessica stepped back as a young man in extra-baggy clothing slouched into the classroom.

“Hi,” she said brightly. “I’m Ms. Martin.”

He glanced sideways, then ignored her as he took his seat at the back of the room. She blinked. Okay, never mind.

A crowd of students piled into the classroom, drowning out Jessica’s cheerful greeting. She stood frozen in the doorway as student after student brushed past her as if she didn’t exist.

The second bell rang and she closed the door. She walked to the center of the classroom and stood in front of the whiteboard where she had written her name in bright, bold letters. The chatter continued as she stood there, trying to get the students’ attention.

She smiled. She cleared her throat. She said, “Excuse me.” Finally, she picked up the dry-erase marker and drew a line under her name on the board. Dropping the pen into the tray with a clatter, she turned back to the class.

“Hello!” she said above the rumble of student voices. “I’m Ms. Martin, and I’ll be your teacher for the rest of the year.”

There was no effect on the noise level of the classroom. Students continued to chat, some even turned completely around in their chairs.

Jessica gritted her teeth and glanced around the classroom. She didn’t remember this ever happening in her mentor teacher’s senior English class. How would Mrs. Stratman have handled it? Biting back a smile, she picked up her teacher’s edition of
English Today
.

Bang!
The explosion of sound rocketed around the windowless classroom. All heads turned to the front of the room, where Jessica stood at the podium.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said innocently. “The book must have slipped. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Ms. Martin, and I’ll be your English teacher for the rest of the year.”

Tom strode down the rapidly emptying hallway, muttering under his breath. He had better things to do with his time than run paperwork to Jessica Martin, thank you very much. But Celeste had handed him the forms personally, and there was no point in antagonizing his boss by refusing. So he’d said he’d take care of it as soon as the busses left at the end of the day.

With any luck, Jessica Martin would be gone by then, and he could just leave the damned papers on her desk.

His pace slowed as he rounded the corner to her classroom. He could see a light shining through the slice of window in the door. Today was definitely not his lucky day. He turned the knob on the door and walked into the room.

“Hey,” he said. “So, how’d your first day go?”

Too late, he realized that she was not in the mood for company. She was slumped at her desk, forehead pressed against her crossed arms. Then she lifted her head. There was a suspicious sheen of moisture around her eyes. Dammit, had she been
crying
?

Flustered, he walked to her desk, holding out the papers like a shield. “Uh, Celeste sent some paperwork for you. Insurance information, stipend form, that kind of thing. Here.” He dropped the packet of papers on her desk, keeping his gaze on the floor. “Sorry to bother you.”

He turned and walked quickly towards the door.

“Stipend form?”

Tom turned back, one hand already gripping the doorknob.

Jessica was frowning, flipping through the papers he’d left on the desk. “Stipend form for what?”

He shrugged. “Probably the spring play.”

“The
what
?” Jessica was staring at him with a look of horror on her face. “I’m not directing the spring play!”

Tom let go of the door and crossed back to the desk. He thumbed through the papers he had just deposited and pulled out the stipend form. He glanced at it and shook his head.

“Sorry,” he answered, holding the form out for her inspection. “I guessed right. Maggie Symington is the drama advisor, and you’re replacing her for the rest of the year. Looks like you’ve been nominated.”

“No, thanks,” she said. “You’ll have to find somebody else.”

“Me?” Tom shook his head. “I have nothing to do with it. Take it up with Celeste if you’ve got a problem with it.”

Jessica jumped up from her chair and began to pace. “I don’t even know where to start. Is there a script, or do I have to pick one? How do I cast the show? I don’t know any of the kids yet! I don’t know how to build a set, or work a lighting system, or…oh, my God, I don’t even know where the stage is!”

Tom watched as she paced faster and faster around the front of the room, twisting her hands in a rush of nervous energy. She thrust her fingers through her hair, tousling the chestnut bob. She looked just-rolled-out-of-bed sexy.

Tom narrowed his eyes.
Focus, man, focus
. He knew he had to deal with the situation at hand, and that wouldn’t be possible if he kept getting distracted by her looks.

Tom grabbed her chair and wheeled it over to where she was standing. He reached out a hand to take her shoulder and guide her into the chair, but thought better of it. It was ridiculous to think he had felt a spark when they shook hands this morning, but he didn’t necessarily want to tempt fate either.

He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes instead. “Sit down.”

She blinked, startled, looking at him as if she had just remembered there was someone else in the room. She hesitated, then dropped into the waiting chair like a puppet whose strings had been unceremoniously cut.

“What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to calm down. Then you’re going to call the office and ask for Maggie’s home phone number.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure she’ll have lots of advice for you. She’s on maternity leave, not out of the country. Give her a call.” He walked briskly to the door of the classroom.

“Okay.” It was barely above a whisper.

He glanced back at Jessica. She was curled up in the chair, arms wrapped around her knees.

“I’ve gotta go.” He sighed. “Are you—do you need—look, are you gonna be okay?”

She glared at him. “I’ll be fine.”

“Good.” He paused, unsure of what to say. “Then I’ll see you later.”

He was out the door and down the hall before she even finished saying goodbye.

The echo of the door closing reverberated down the hallway as Jessica locked up to go home. The surrounding classrooms were all closed up tight and there was no light to indicate someone else had worked as late as she had.

With a sigh, she tucked her key in her pocket and tugged on the doorknob, just to make sure. Then she shifted the straps of her overloaded book bag higher onto her shoulder and headed down the hall.

Luckily, she wouldn’t have to figure out the alarm code yet, since the night custodian had stopped in half an hour before to introduce himself. It had made her feel just a little less twitchy about being in the huge building all by herself. Though she was pretty sure Tom was gone for the day, she couldn’t help looking for him as she passed the main office. No, the lights were off there too.

An image of him flashed into her mind, standing over her desk, flipping through papers to find the stipend form. A lock of hair tumbled over one eye, giving him a slightly rakish look. Luckily, he’d been so intent on his job that he hadn’t noticed her staring.

It was his mouth that caught her attention. Strong, full lips, pursed slightly as he concentrated on the stack of papers. Something about that lower lip just begged to be kissed. Then, from his mouth it was only a short distance to his jawline, strong and lightly fuzzed—you couldn’t really call the blond, late-afternoon growth stubble. Or could you? Well, whatever you called it, she wanted to run her fingertips over the barely visible hairs, see if they were as touchable as they looked. She didn’t even want to think about his eyes.

Okay, she couldn’t help thinking about his eyes. Jessica groaned and leaned against the nearest locker. She had a feeling those eyes would haunt her tonight as she slogged through her drama materials. It wasn’t just the color, a deep blue that reminded her of midnight skies and her favorite velvet dress. There was just something about the way he looked at her that made her feel…vulnerable. Like a book, open and exposed.

And when those velvet eyes turned their gaze on her, she wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing—or very, very good.

Tom sat at his desk, drumming his fingers on the scarred surface. The main office was closed for the day, and the dim emergency lighting surrounded his office on all sides. He was the last to leave most days. He preferred the quiet for his end-of-day paperwork. He kept a desk lamp for just that purpose—to get some work done without interruption. There was something about the building after hours that appealed to his solitary nature.

Pretty humorous actually, that someone who liked to work alone would end up a security officer for a school of more than fifteen hundred students. He’d had to force himself to move beyond his natural reserve in order to develop relationships with the kids, but that hadn’t been rough once he got the hang of it. After all, he took the job so he could make a difference for teens. The staff, however, was a different story.

He knew they thought he was a loner. One or two probably referred to him in more unflattering terms. Staff parties held no interest, and neither did the little activities designed to bring employees closer together. No Secret Pals, no end-of-the-week get-togethers—he showed up at the school on time, did his job and went home.

Not for lack of trying on his co-workers’ part, however. When he first started working at Summit, several female staff members—and a male staff member or two—dropped by his office regularly, using some flimsy excuses to try to get to know him. A few stilted conversations, a politely disinterested smile, some pointed glances at the papers stacked on his desk, and the visits dwindled to nothing. Even Gabriella, of the painted-on dresses and musky perfume, finally seemed to accept—grudgingly—that her charms were wasted on him and turned her attention elsewhere. Tom Cameron wasn’t interested. He was here for the kids, and didn’t need any distractions.

He sighed. He currently had a big distraction on his hands. He needed to find a way to remove Jessica Martin from his mind, and quick.

What was it about her anyway? It wasn’t like there weren’t other attractive single women on staff here already, but none of them had turned his head. In fact, his head hadn’t been turned at all in a very long time. Until today.

Tom looked at the clock over his doorframe. How did it get that late? He tossed his pencil in the top drawer and stood, stretching a bit to work out the kinks of a long day. He had just enough time to swing by Aphrodite Pizzeria, grab take-out for dinner, and hit the couch for some serious spud time.

He locked his office door and headed down the hall, squinting a little as he adjusted to the dim lights. He knew by this time it would be dark outside. Hopefully Jessica had gotten to her car safely. Maybe he should make one more sweep of the building, just to be sure.

Tom rolled his eyes. She was a grown-up, for God’s sake. The last thing he needed to do was start acting like Sir Galahad, rushing to save her from the boogeyman at any little excuse. And his past had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was definitely not a knight in shining armor.

He strode briskly to the main entrance and shoved open the door with perhaps a little more force than necessary. His gaze swept the parking lot, noting only two cars—the night custodian’s, and his own. Well, good. She was already gone.

Maybe now he could stop thinking about her.

Chapter Two

The phone was ringing as Jessica stumbled through her front door. Dropping her bags, she grabbed the receiver just as the answering machine clicked on.

“Hello?” she shouted over the recorded message, shoving drama books and paperwork off the counter. “Hang on a second.” She punched the off button and said hello again.

“Hey, babes. How soon can you be ready?”

“Ready?”

“Come on, Jess. You just started your first teaching job. We’ve got to celebrate.”

“I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Ana ignored her. “Unless you’ve got plans with your parents.”

Jessica sighed. “Are you kidding? Celebration is the last thing on their minds. Now, if I had your job, Mom and Dad would be taking out a full-page ad in the Times.”

“Please. I’m a local TV reporter, not Barbara Walters.”

“You know what they’re like. If you can’t be rich, be famous.”

“Are they still shoving corporate life down your throat?”

“Did you know I could be making three times as much money in the private sector? Of course, I would have had to major in something practical, rather than English Lit.”

“Money isn’t everything.”

“No. But they’ll never forgive me for getting a BA instead of an MBA.”

“Like you need a huge paycheck to be a success. You’re making a difference.”

Jessica sighed. “Not judging by my first day.”

“Tell me all about it over dinner.”

“I really appreciate the offer, but—”

“Nope. No way. You are not weaseling out of this. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“I’m serious, Ana. All I want to do tonight is take a bubble bath and catch up on paperwork. This weekend, maybe.”

“Sorry. I’m paying, so I’m calling the shots. And don’t think you can get out of it by changing into your jammies. You know me well enough to know I’ll make you go anyway.”

Jessica laughed. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Honey, you don’t know the half of it.”

Still laughing, Jessica clicked off the phone and padded towards the bedroom. Pajamas were out, but she needed something more comfortable than business wear.

A quick bite with Ana, let off a little steam, and she’d have plenty of time later for paperwork—and that bubble bath.

“Don’t look now, but my future husband just walked in.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Another one?”

“Hey. It’s bound to be true one of these days, isn’t it? Besides, I’ve got a feeling about this one. I wonder if
he’s
available for take-out.” Ana grinned, wiggling her eyebrows in what was probably meant to be a lascivious manner.