Take a Chance on Me (7 page)

His silence was dubious at best, but at least he started moving forward again, leading her like a guide for the blind. Hopefully, his eyesight was better in the dark than hers. Otherwise, he’d be likely to take them both over the edge of the stage and into the orchestra pit.

She gritted her teeth as he sidestepped carefully to the corner of the stage and led her down the stairs. Why couldn’t he carry a flashlight or something? Anything to end this torture.

Jessica held on to Tom’s hand as he helped her down the stairs. His grip was surprisingly strong, his hand warm. She fought the instinct to slide her fingers between his, entwining their hands in a lover’s clasp.

They weren’t lovers. They never would be.

Finally,
finally
they were on the auditorium floor, and she sighed, a whoosh of relief to be on solid ground again. The aisle was right in front of them, but though she expected him to let go of her hand for the short trek to the exit, the clasp of his fingers grew stronger. They were walking a little faster now, holding on to the backs of the chairs as they passed by.

The aisle leveled out as they reached the last row of chairs.

“Here we are.” Tom dropped her hand and fumbled in his pocket for his keys. “I’ll get the door.”

Almost free.

Then, before she could talk herself out of it, Jessica wrapped one hand around his neck, pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

Oh, God.

What was she doing?

Horrified by her impetuous move—and by his stunned lack of response—Jessica tried to pull back. Really, she’d only been reacting to the fright of being in a dark, unfamiliar place, wanting to thank him for being so understanding about her silly fear. But the minute her lips touched his, she’d known it was a terrible mistake.

Because she wanted more.

And he wasn’t kissing her back.

Squeezing her eyes shut, which made about as much sense in the pitch-black theater as kissing a man she barely knew, she pulled away. “I’m so sor—”

But before she could finish the sentence, he’d hauled her close again and claimed her mouth in a searing kiss.

One hand pressed against the small of her back, keeping her tight against him, while the other cupped the back of her head and tilted it slightly, giving him just the right angle to tease her mouth open. She groaned as his tongue swept inside, stroking the inside of her mouth as his hand slid lower, curving past the base of her spine and cupping her ass.

With a swift movement, he spun them both around so her back was to the door. Taking one step forward, he pressed against her, hips to shoulders.

He was hard, the thick length of him branding her where their bodies met. She slid her hands up and over his shoulders, wrapped them around his neck, locking him in place.

She didn’t want this moment to end.

Ever.

He moved in closer. She ignored the sensation of the hard metal bar of the door pressing into the small of her back. He slid his hand down her leg and lifted it up and around his waist, the hard length of his cock grinding against her sweet spot.

She whimpered, clinging to him, her head dropping back against the door with a quiet thump. He kissed down the length of her neck, tugging at the collar of her dress, the other hand bracing them both against the door. Their breathing was harsh in the darkened room.

Another openmouthed kiss against the top of her breast, another slow, drugging roll of the hips, and Jessica could feel the pulse of orgasm starting to throb deep inside. Bracing herself against the cold metal behind her, she started to wrap her other leg around him.

And the door fell open, sending them both staggering into the blinding light of the hallway.

Tom wrenched his mouth away from hers and settled her on her feet as quickly as humanly possible. He braced her as she stumbled.

She wasn’t sure when she’d have strength in her legs again to hold herself upright. If ever.

A quick glance down the hall in both directions assured her no one was watching. Thank God for that.

Tom closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing fast and harsh in the empty hallway. “God,” he muttered.

“I, uh,” Jessica stammered, all vocabulary fleeing her in the aftermath of that kiss.

“Yeah.”

With slow, stuttering movements, as if forcing himself to react, Tom let go of her, his steps faltering backwards. Already, she felt colder, a shiver tracing down her spine. What the hell had she done?

And what the hell had he done back?

“I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Jessica winced. “I don’t think either of us did.”

“I’m sorry,” he began, but she cut him off.

“Look, I’m just as embarrassed as you are. But please don’t make it worse by apologizing. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I started it.”

“That’s beside the point.”

She shook her head. “No, it
is
the point.”

He sighed heavily. “So where do we go from here?”

“Home.” She walked back into the theater and grabbed her bag. “Separately. And we forget it ever happened.”

His voice was harsh. “Forget it happened. Right.”

Somehow, it didn’t sound like agreement.

Back in the hallway, Jessica thrust out a hand for a nice impersonal handshake. “Good night. Thanks for the tour.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

She shot him a warning look. “Good night.”

He took her hand briefly in his, but it wasn’t short enough to avoid the spark that never failed to appear when they touched.
Damn.

He must have felt it too, because he dropped her hand like a hot coal. “It’s been…interesting.”

She clutched her bag to her chest, eyes wide, as she watched him stride on down the hall. Interesting? What the hell did that mean?

And did she really want to find out?

Chapter Four

“Sign here.” The officious blonde tapped on the clipboard with her pencil. “And here. And put your room number here.”

She flipped a page and started again. Jessica scrawled her signature in each spot, glancing briefly at the legalese as it flipped past her. Apparently, keys to the theater were on a level with security clearance at the Navy base down the road, judging by the forms required.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tom’s office door open. She ducked her head and focused her attention back on the page in front of her. Footsteps informed her that she had company at Trudy’s desk.

“Hi.” His voice was low, with a hint of amusement lurking in the back. “I see you took my advice. Good for you.”

Stung, she shot a narrow-eyed glance at him. “I was already planning on getting the keys, thank you very much. I just didn’t do it on your timetable.”

“Of course,” he replied, nodding calmly.

Gritting her teeth, Jessica turned her attention back to the forms. A surreptitious glance told her that Trudy was listening to their conversation with undisguised interest. She signed the last page and handed the clipboard back.

“Theater, light booth, green room, costumes,” Trudy chanted as she dropped keys in Jessica’s outstretched palm. “Enjoy.” Then she eyed Tom and asked, “Did you need something, Mr. Cameron?”

Jessica slid a glance at Tom under lowered eyelids, and was gratified to see him fumble for an answer. He muttered a goodbye and continued on toward the main door. Trudy swiveled back to her computer keyboard, pretending she wasn’t the least bit interested in the tension snapping between Jessica and Tom.

Jessica turned to go, groaning inwardly as she exited the office and discovered that Tom was leaning against the doorframe to the front entrance of the school. Her heels clicking on the pebbled flooring alerted him to her presence, and he turned slowly, still watching for the arrival of the first bus.

“So.” She stood in the foyer, arms crossed, though whether she was warning off him or herself she couldn’t say.

“So,” he echoed, one eyebrow quirked.

Jessica searched her brain for a topic of conversation, considering and discarding the weather, the current political situation and her lesson plans for the day. God knew she didn’t want him to bring up yesterday. Not now. Maybe not ever.

They stood in the hallway, glancing everywhere but at each other. It was empty for the moment, but students would be arriving soon and filling every inch with their jostling, laughing, shouting energy. Five kids or five hundred—they’d still manage to expand to fill the space provided.

“About yesterday.”

Jessica shot Tom a look. “Don’t say another word.”

“I really think we should talk about it.”

“Why?” She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak again. “Seriously. It happened. We’re both adults. No harm, no foul. Let’s just forget it.”

As if she’d ever be able to forget
that
kiss.

“I just—”

Jessica slapped her hand over his mouth. “Not. Another. Word.”

His breath was hot on her palm. Jessica suppressed the shudder that threatened to overcome her. It was time to get out of this situation, and fast. Pulling her hand away, she hitched her bag over her shoulder and turned to go. “Have a nice day.” She tossed off a little half-wave and strode around the corner to the Language Arts wing.

Nice day. Yeah, right. Tom shouldered his way out the front door and took up his customary spot at the top of the stairs. It was sure starting on a low note. After a night of tossing, turning and far too little sleep, not to mention too many repeats of the kiss that shouldn’t have happened running through his head, he’d punched off the alarm clock at oh-dark-thirty, only to discover that his coffee machine had died sometime during the night. He’d grumbled his way to the drive-through espresso stand nearest the school, cursing his dependence on caffeine to start the day.

Then, to top it off, the source of his sleepless night chose this morning to invade the office with her cheery disposition and her citrusy scent calling up every erotic image that had danced through his mind last night. He’d followed the light, tempting fragrance out into the main office right to the source. Then Trudy, office manager and busybody extraordinaire, had caught him off-guard and left him stammering like an idiot.

So he left the office, fully intending to continue out into the cold morning air, both to fulfill his morning greeting ritual and to cool his overheated hormones. But instead he found himself dawdling at the entrance to the school, hoping to run into her one more time.

This was ridiculous. Was he going to offer to carry her books next? All he’d wanted to do was apologize for yesterday. She made it seem like even that little gesture would be a capital offense.

He did not do things like this. He didn’t get chummy with co-workers. He didn’t volunteer to help out. And he certainly didn’t make out with bright-eyed new teachers in the middle of the school theater. My God, what if someone had walked in?

It would have been more than embarrassing—it could possibly have been a career ender. Jessica would be well within her rights to file sexual harassment charges against him, although judging from her reaction to the kiss, that probably wouldn’t happen.

Tom shook his head and groaned again. Not only was it a stunning breach of ethics to make such a blatant pass at a co-worker, it was completely out of character. Before Jessica had arrived on the scene, he stayed in his nice orderly world, did his job and went home to a life he’d structured around his need for control.

But with that amazing, mind-blowing, blood-pumping kiss, Tom could feel his hard-earned control sliding down the drain.

He cinched his jacket a little tighter against the morning chill. A rumble down the street announced the arrival of the first bus. Time to relegate Jessica Martin to a back pocket of his brain and focus on the kids.

“I’m not doing this.”

Jessica looked up from the stack of papers she was handing out and focused on the back of the classroom. “Excuse me?”

“I said I’m not doing this.” With a toss of her pink-hued head, Fallon dropped the assignment sheet on the floor and crossed her arms defiantly across her chest.

A low rumble traveled across the classroom as students watched to see what she would do. Jessica schooled her expression to one of calm authority, although inside she was groaning. Fallon had complained about every assignment and activity since Jessica had started, and this was no exception. Frankly, she was sick of it.

Turning away to hand the assignment sheet to another student, Jessica shrugged. “Okay.”

“What?” Fallon was staring at her with a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

The muttering from the rest of the students grew louder.

Jessica kept handing out papers. “I can’t force you to do the assignment. You’re in high school. You don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.” Voices raised, the class was quickly spinning out of control until she raised her hand for attention. “Don’t forget, however, that there are consequences.”

A collective groan echoed through the room. Jessica smiled calmly at her class. “You don’t do the work, you don’t get the grade. You don’t get the grade, you don’t pass the class. Don’t pass the class and you get summer school—or take English 9 next year. So, if you really want to be the only sophomore in freshman English, be my guest.”

The muttering died away as Jessica blithely continued her rounds of the classroom. She kept her head carefully averted as she passed Fallon’s desk, but noted that the assignment sheet was no longer on the floor. She bit back a smile and returned to the front of the room.

“Ms. Martin, why do we have to do this anyway?”

She smiled and sat down on her stool, leaning forward slightly. “We’re researching Shakespeare because we are starting
Romeo and Juliet
next week. It’s important to know some facts before jumping in.”

“No, I mean, why read Shakespeare? It’s not like it’s relevant to our lives today.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Fallon, obviously unwilling to let her protest drop completely. “He’s just another stupid DWEM.”

Jessica looked at her, a puzzled frown wrinkling her brow. “A what?”