Safe in his Arms (5 page)

“Good morning, Ms. Simms. I’m here to meet with Carol O’Connor.” Excellent. Her voice was calm, self-assured. These people would never know that she was actually shaking in her borrowed boots.

“Yes, she’s been waiting for you. Go right on in. And it’s a real pleasure to have you here with us.”

“Thank you. I already feel welcome,” Natalie replied, surprised that she did feel welcome. With as much confidence as she could muster, Natalie walked over to the principal’s door, knocked timidly, and went inside. She found a petite blond woman sitting behind a desk, reading on her laptop.

When the principal finally looked up, a big grin split Carol’s face, and she stood up. “You must be Natalie. It’s so good to finally meet you in person,” she said as she
stepped around her desk. “I hope you’re settling in nicely at your house.”

“Yes. The furnace was broken, but maintenance fixed it almost immediately.”

A shudder passed through Natalie at that thought. After Thanksgiving dinner, she’d been told there was no way she could go home alone for the next twenty-four hours, and Maggie had insisted she stay the night. At some point the topic of her furnace had come up, and as soon as she said there was a problem, Hawk had jumped up and left his parents’ house.

The next day, when he came to pick her up and he drove her home, she’d been more nervous in his presence than ever before. But then the two of them walked into her place, and she couldn’t suppress the bounce in her step when she felt the heat.

It seemed that when Hawk decided to do something, he did it fast. And the proof was in the fact that in only a weekend, this man had managed to wedge his way permanently into her brain. And that’s where he seemed to be staying.

It would be good to get to work, because she needed something to focus on other than a very sexy fire chief who always seemed to be around. She’d run into him at least four times over the weekend. At the small clothing store. In the post office. At the diner. He just seemed to be everywhere.

“Well, you can’t have a broken furnace in this weather,” Carol said with a laugh. “You’re in Hawk’s old house, right?”

That quickly snapped Natalie back to the present. “Yes, it’s a lovely home.”

“Hawk’s a good man. A little rough around the edges, but there’s nothing that man won’t do for the people he cares about, which happens to be just about everyone in our close-knit community. He has a heart of gold. If only I were twenty years younger,” she said with a sigh before turning to Natalie again. “Oh, and if I didn’t already have a husband,” she added with a laugh.

Natalie didn’t know why, but she found herself blushing. Could everyone please talk about something other than Hawk Winchester? She really didn’t know what to say to that statement—it was far from
professional
as she understood the word. But everything here was just different, so she’d have to learn to go with the flow or she’d never fit in. Still, she was tongue-tied and more than grateful when Carol started speaking again.

“I know this is your first job as a teacher, Natalie, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me or any of the other teachers. Dorothy is a godsend for this school, and she’s your best source of information. She knows everything, and I do mean
everything
!”

“Thank you. I do have one question. I was told I would be in charge of the pageant? I’m not complaining—not in the least—but as I’m so new, it might be better to have someone else in charge.”

There. That had come out professionally. She didn’t sound as if she was whining. Or at least she really hoped she didn’t.

“Nonsense. You’ll be just fine.” And that was the end
of that as far as Carol was concerned. Everything suddenly moved at warp speed.

Carol moved to her door, and she continued speaking as she led Natalie down the hallway to one of the classrooms. Natalie gulped when she walked through the doorway and found a giant
Welcome
on her chalkboard with little messages from all the other teachers.

When Carol left her and she was alone in her first real classroom, she read those sweet and hospitable notes. Natalie really hadn’t wanted to come to this small town; she’d always dreamed of working in a prestigious private school where she could feel she was molding future presidents and high-level businessmen and -women.

But as she stared at the chalkboard, she was so overcome with emotion that she was struggling to fight off the tears. This wasn’t the sort of place where she’d feel intimidated, where parents would try to bribe her to give their kid a better grade.

No, this was the type of school where she would find young children eager to learn, and parents who asked to see their homework. Taking out her cell phone, she snapped a few photos so she could always remember this moment, and then she picked up the eraser and cleared the board. It was time to be practical. Cool, calm, collected. Time to get her lesson plan up, and time to jump into her first day of being a real teacher.

Just as she finished writing on the board, the bell rang and the sweet music of children’s voices filled the halls. Laughter preceded the kids into the classroom. With a shaky smile, Natalie turned to face her class—thirty
pairs of young eyes looking back at her, trying to decide whether she made the cut or not.

“Good morning, class.” The noise didn’t die down as the kids all settled into their chairs, so Natalie tried again, this time louder. “Good morning, class!”

The voices quieted; heads turned and eager eyes looked back at her. “Good morning, Ms. Duncan.”

Natalie beamed at the little blond girl sitting in the first row.

“Thank you for answering,” Natalie said as she pulled out a piece of candy and tossed it to the now-excited little girl. “Each time you answer a question today, or respond to a statement, you get a small treat.

“Since this is my first day here, I thought we’d start off by you each introducing yourselves to me, and then I’ll do the same,” she said, and a burst of confidence blazed through her as thirty hands shot up. Nothing like having a bag of candy to get them to listen.

The day passed in a blur of activity, and when the final bell rang, Natalie dropped into her chair. When she was sure no one was looking, she scooted backward, kicked off from the floor, and set her chair to spinning, then hugged her knees to her chest as she whirled around and around.

She’d survived. Not only had she survived, but she’d had a wonderful day, one full of great kids who were eager to learn. She felt on top of the world. A happy giggle flew from her lips as she continued spinning. She didn’t stop until her head was light and she knew if she continued she’d make herself sick.

“It appears that you like your new job.”

Natalie froze, but her chair spun one more time before her feet touched the ground and she could focus her eyes on the doorway. Leaning against the doorjamb, and looking far too good, was Hawk, sporting a sexy-as-hell smile and those made-for-dreams smoldering eyes.

Oh, this was going to be a very,
very
long month if she had to work with the man every day. As the wattage on his smile kicked up a notch, her stomach shook.

Yes. A
very
long month . . .

S
low and painful torture would be better than this!” Hawk’s stomach dipped when his hand brushed against Natalie’s for the tenth time this day alone. His muscles tight, his mind anywhere but where it should be, he moved quickly to the other side of the gym, feeling her gaze follow him.

“What’s your problem?”

Turning, Hawk found his best friend, Colt, walking up.

“None of your damn business,” Hawk grumbled.

“Ha! Obviously it’s woman trouble.”

“How would you know about woman trouble, Colt?”

“That’s a hoot, Hawk! Weren’t you mocking me this past year while Brielle put me through the ringer?”

“Well, that was
you
. It was much more fun to watch.” Hawk had definitely enjoyed how uncomfortable Brielle Storm had made his friend.

“Yeah. Well, payback’s a bitch,” Colt said with an evil grin.

“We’re in a school, Colt,” Hawk reminded him. He looked around and was grateful not to see any kids listening in. “And what are you doing here anyway?”

“I had to drop off the green paint I picked up.”

“Well, you did. Now leave,” Hawk said, not in a mood for visiting.

“If I promise to be good, will you tell me about your troubles?”

What the hell.
“The entire situation is ridiculous, Colt. I barely know this woman, but suddenly I can’t seem to think of anything else but her.” Blowing out his breath, he waited for Colt to mock him.

“Maybe you should just take her out, see where things could go,” Colt told him as they both turned to stare at the woman in question while she moved through the gym hanging decorations.

“Nah. Women are great and all, especially for one thing. However, they’re also pretty much interchangeable, and most important, they’re
always
temporary. Natalie lives in this town, so she’s automatically out. I don’t sleep with women here, you know that.”

“Yeah, I remember that rule. That was until I met Brielle . . .” Colt said with a knowing laugh.

“You’re not being any help at all, Colt. This woman is just too damn complicated. Too messy. Too . . .”

“Too what?” Hawk’s eyes narrowed. Was his best friend mocking him?

“Hell, this is insane. I just need to get over myself, quit acting like a damn teenager.”

“All I can say is, good luck, buddy,” Colt said before laughing and walking away.

“Thanks a lot!” Hawk replied, but all he got back was a chuckle from his engaged and far too happy friend. “They all fall sometime,” he muttered, and tried to focus on what needed to be done for the pageant to be a success.

Thirty minutes later, when he took a step back and knocked into Natalie, nearly tripping over her as she leaned over a chair, he was barely able to stop the groan that seemed hell-bent on escaping from his dry throat.

Her ass should have Warning: Lethal pasted right on it, because for a woman who had shown up in town in such uptight clothing, she’d sure found her own casually hot style during the last week. The jeans were enough to give him a heart attack, and the tight sweaters she’d decided to wear with those jeans didn’t leave much to his imagination.

Conversation. That’s what they needed. Then he’d discover she wasn’t so appealing after all. He’d grow bored and the fact that she had a great body wouldn’t matter, because he couldn’t stand a woman who didn’t know how to hold her own while talking.

He cornered her by the gym wall. “We never finished the discussion we began at Thanksgiving, Natalie.”

“We’ve talked plenty of times, Hawk,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Not about anything important. It’s usually just you telling me what to do.”

“Isn’t that what women are supposed to do?”

Her sass had him smiling. “That’s what my mama says, anyway.”

“Ah. I like a man who knows that he’s supposed to listen to women,” she said, making his stomach clench.

“So you like me, huh?”

This was where he expected her to blush and run away. That was her usual reaction when he flirted with her. This time, she must have had a bowl of Wheaties for breakfast, because she took his breath away when she winked at him.

“Nah. I think you’re a pain in the butt, Hawk, but you do make a great worker bee.” She turned.

“No way,” he said, stopping her easily and trapping her against the wall with a hand on either side of her head. “You don’t get to make a statement like that and then just walk away.”

Her breathing hitched, making his groin tighten, and he leaned just a bit closer. Conversation certainly wasn’t helping him get over his fascination with Natalie Duncan.

“Hawk, I get to say whatever I want and then walk away because it’s my prerogative.” She looked a bit jittery, but not nearly as spooked as she’d been a week ago.

“Then you’ll have to learn that if you play with fire . . .”

“If I play with fire, what?”

Amazing. She wasn’t backing down.

“Then the fire chief has to come put out the flames,” he said. Their bodies were practically touching now; Hawk had forgotten they weren’t the only two people in the gym.

“Well . . .” she said, making his heart thunder. “In that case, I’ll have to . . .” He waited with bated breath, and she looked deep into his eyes. “. . . stop playing with fire.”

It took several heartbeats for the words to process in his muddled brain. When he realized she was through with this little dance, he pulled his hands from the wall, releasing her.

After watching the sway of her hips as she walked away, Hawk leaned against the wall for several agonizing moments, unwilling to turn and show everyone in the gym just what effect Natalie Duncan had on him.

When he knew it was finally safe to turn, he looked out and saw Natalie going about her business as if nothing had just happened. That irritated him more than anything else. How could she play so hot one minute and then so cold the next? What was her problem?