Sizzling Seduction (6 page)

She must have been imagining things. There was no way he had found her out of al the other teachers and the many students standing outside the building. She shook her head trying to clear the daze.

Not for me. Not for me. Not for me.

Maybe if she changed her mantra she’d stand a better chance. The image of Patrick’s slow, seductive smile and simmering eyes came into her mind and she realized that al the mantras in the world wouldn’t help her. She’d just have to be sure to stay away from him.

Since there was no smoke and the only heat she could sense was the sizzling sparks she felt whenever she thought of the fire captain, she figured that fate must have conspired with some little kid who was thinking it was a good idea to pul a prank by pul ing the fire alarm.

She hoped the little rat was caught and suspended for an entire month—heck, the rest of the school year wouldn’t be enough punishment for him bringing temptation in the form of the sexy fire captain into her world yet again.

Sure enough, there was no fire in the building. The school administrators were now looking for the child who had wasted the time of the fire department.

While they did that and the other teachers took their students back to class, Aisha watched the firemen get back in the truck. She told herself it was because she had to stand outside and wait for her afternoon kindergartners anyway. But deep inside she knew it was because she wanted to get just one more peek at Patrick.

Just because she couldn’t have him didn’t mean she couldn’t look. Did it? What possible harm could be done by looking?

She regretted the thought as soon as she caught his dead-on stare once again. If she had any doubts about who he had been looking at the first time he zeroed in on her, they were al gone now. The rest of the teachers and students had gone back to their classrooms.

She watched as his sumptuous lips slowly curved, showing a hint of perfect white teeth and then the ful bright grin hit her and sparked a powerful keening, needful emotion deep down in her gut.

What the heck was it? Lust? Desire? Wantonness? It had to be one of those. Whatever it was, she certainly wasn’t giving in to it. No matter how much it was starting to ache just looking at him.

She let out a sigh when the truck started to pul off.

Patrick kept looking at her, though. She could have sworn he kept looking at her until the truck reached the corner.

And then he pointed from himself to her and she found herself smiling as she shook her head. He pointed between them again as he nodded and the truck turned the corner.

“Mmm-hmm. I see that, missy. You can’t fool me. You want that fine Hightower man in a bad way, don’t you?”

Rats!
When had Toni crept up on her?

Her teaching assistant had had an emergency dental appointment because one of her fil ings fel out, and had missed the morning class. Even though the little ones could be more than a handful, Aisha almost wished Toni had stayed out the entire day.

“Looks like I missed the fire dril and the fire,
too
, the way you two were heating things up out here. Dang, if he wasn’t al the way up there in that truck ful y clothed in that sexy fireman’s uniform, I would have had to tel you two to go get a room.”

“Stop playing. How’s your tooth?”

“Uh-uh. Don’t try to change the subject. What did I miss?”

“You missed a false fire alarm. I think it was one of those little roughneck-in-training eighth graders.”

“Okay. Be like that, Aisha. But you wait until I have a sexy fireman giving me the ooo-baby-I-want-you-bad look. Don’t think I’m going to give you the dish. Because I won’t.”

“Girl, you wouldn’t be able to help yourself. You’d tel me everything as soon as the dude cracked the first smile at you.”

Toni burst out laughing. “You know me so wel !”

“Hel o, Michaela. Stand in line as we wait for the rest of your classmates.” Aisha shot Toni a quick glance to let her know the subject of Patrick Hightower was done as soon as the first parent walked up and dropped off her child.

“Oh, don’t worry, missy, we’re going to finish this conversation at book club tomorrow.” Toni grinned. “Hey, Michaela! Are you ready for a fun afternoon?”

Michaela grinned back at Toni, showing a big, wide space in the front of her mouth where her two front teeth used to be. She nodded and giggled. That was a big change from the little girl who only a month ago had cried every time her mother dropped her off.

The rest of her twenty students came and soon she was in the classroom repeating everything she had taught the morning class earlier. But try as she might, she couldn’t seem to get Patrick Hightower out of her mind.

He couldn’t get out of his uniform and out of the station fast enough. Once his replacement was in, he headed out and rushed over to the school to try to catch Aisha before she left for the day.

They had gotten the alarm while they were waiting for their shift replacement and his gear was stil up, so he had to take the ride. Luckily, it was just an alarm and not a fire.

Patrick showered quickly and put on his street clothes, al the while thinking about that sweet, hesitant smile that had crossed her delectable lips. If she real y didn’t want anything to do with him, then she needed to control her lips and never smile at him again.

Man!
What was happening to him?

He didn’t know. But he did know that he was ready to start thinking about a more long-term arrangement, certainly longer than his typical brief and hot encounters. He had a feeling it would take him longer to tire of the sexy schoolteacher—a whole lot longer.

If only he could get her to agree to a date with him…

He didn’t know why she refused his request, but he had no intention of letting that stop him. So he planned to catch her as she left work today and ask her again. He was going to keep asking her until he got a yes.

He parked his SUV and hopped out in front of the school just in time to see her walking to her car. Running up beside her, he caught her. She shrieked, jumped and stumbled, dropping her bag on the ground.

Shock waves covered his skin and his mouth suddenly felt like it was ful of cotton candy. It wasn’t just dry, it was sticky and he seemed to have forgotten how to move it to get words out.

“You scared me! You can’t just come running up to people like that. What is
wrong
with you?” With one hand patting her chest and the other on her hip, she looked the picture of beauty.

She spoke with perfect inflection and a healthy dose of righteous indignation, even as she struggled to catch her breath.

He, on the other hand, couldn’t say a word. So he bent down to pick up her bag. When he handed it to her, his fingers grazed hers.

Tingles. And something else…

“Sorry I scared you.” His mind final y managed to figure out how the mouth, tongue, lips thing actual y formed words.

“I just wanted to catch you before you got away. I real y think you ought to let me take you out on a date.”

The eyebrow over her left eye rose slightly and her chest puffed up. He wished she hadn’t taken that huff of air because now his eyes fixated on her perfect, perky breasts and that probably wasn’t going to make her amenable to his request.

He forced his glance away just in time to catch her glaring stare and clenched teeth.

“I just don’t understand why a beautiful woman like you has taken herself off the dating market. I don’t see a ring on your finger. Are you married?”

“It’s none of your business why I don’t date.”

“I sense a serious connection between the two of us and I know I’m not the only one.” This was not happening to him.

It couldn’t be. She was rejecting him
again
? He had to make her see what he saw. There was no way she didn’t feel what he felt.

“I know you felt it when I touched you just now. The jolt that felt like your heart was about to jump al the way up into your throat? The rapid beating of your heart that makes you feel like you had one too many cups of espresso fol owed by a Mountain Dew.”

“I learned to control my hormones in high school, Captain Hightower. You’d do wel to do the same.”

“It’s not just hormones. If it were just that, I wouldn’t be out here trying to convince you to go out on one date with me.”

“Wel , I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time. I’m not going out with you. And I’d thank you not to show up at my place of employment again with your requests. It’s not going to happen.”

He paused and studied her. If he hadn’t been attuned to her every breath, every shudder and pul , he might have missed her trying to firm her resolve, as if she were trying to convince herself.

Then, he might have decided she was right. After al , he had never had to beg for a date or work this hard to get a woman’s attention before. He was a Hightower. He had a line of women waiting for the day he was ready to open his heart for more than a brief fling, and those were just the single women at his family church of Mount Zion. He was a catch, and begging was not his M.O.

He took a step back and smiled. He wasn’t a glutton for punishment or on some sadomasochistic trip. He should just walk away from this pursuit now…

But he did feel more alive in the few days he’d been trying to get the beautiful schoolteacher to say yes to a date than he had felt in a long time. He couldn’t walk away.

“So I guess I’l take that as a no?”

Prim and proper in her pose and body language, she opened her mouth and closed it before she simply nodded her head. Her pretty reddish-brown face showed the slightest hint of hesitation as she sucked in her bottom lip and nibbled on it.

He couldn’t help it. He reached out and touched her cheek and there it was. That jolt. That spark. Her eyes widened and he knew without a doubt that she felt it, too.

“Are you married, Aisha? You got a man? Is that it? Is that why you won’t let me take you out on a date?”

She looked up at him, her eyes deep pools of rich brown sugar. “I’m divorced and I’m real y not looking for another relationship. It’s not high on my priority list. It real y has—

Wel , it real y has nothing to do with you.”

“Did he hurt you?” He had to know what her ex-husband did to make her take her lovely self out of the game.

There was no way he was going to let any of their past relationships threaten the wonderful feeling of what-could-be that bubbled between them.

She stepped back and his hand fel away from her face.

Even though he could tel that she didn’t want to, she reached up and touched the space where his hand had rested before she took a big gulp of air, swal owed and then pursed her lips.

“That’s none of your business. And this conversation,
you touching me
every chance you get, al of it is highly inappropriate and I’d thank you to
cut it out!
”

Her brown-sugar gaze crystal ized into sharp points and he had to chuckle. She was the sweetest-looking woman he’d ever seen, even when she was angry,
especially
when she was angry. As if brown-sugar daggers could real y do him any harm. Her glare didn’t scare him at al . It made him want her even more.

“I’l let you go for now. But I want you to know that we are going to have our date sometime in the near future.” He ran his hand across her cheek again just so he could feel the jolt. “I’l see you around, Aisha. You can count on that.”

He turned and walked away then, because he wasn’t exactly sure that he wouldn’t pul her into his arms and kiss her senseless if he stood there looking at her a moment longer.

Sophie Hightower glanced at her watch and frowned.

Courtney was late. Why she stil bothered with the girl was beyond her. She had al but made sure her favorite nephew met and fel in love with Courtney years ago, and the sil y girl had cheated and broken Patrick’s heart.

Sophie glanced around the smal eatery. Courtney had picked this little sandwich shop. Sophie brushed a crumb off the ecru tablecloth. Courtney certainly wouldn’t be al owed to pick again. With crumbs on the table and the dingy tablecloths, how could she trust that the silverware would be clean?

If Sophie didn’t know that Courtney was a good girl from a strong, upstanding family, she would have given up on the girl a long time ago. Even though she had cheated on Patrick, Courtney was stil a mil ion times better than those unworthy women her other nephews ended up marrying.

And if Sophie could find a way to get Courtney and Patrick back together, at least she would have an al y in the family.

And she needed an al y badly.

“Hi, Sophie. Sorry I’m late.” Courtney swept into the restaurant, gave Sophie a peck on the cheek and sat down opposite her at the smal table.

“It’s okay, Courtney. I was just busying myself thinking about what we can do to get you back in the good graces of my nephew.”

Courtney laughed. “If you can think of something I hadn’t thought of and tried when he first filed for divorce, then by al means do so. I tried every trick in the book to make him forgive me for my mistake, and he wouldn’t budge. I hope that time and space has mel owed his stubborn streak and his anger. Because I want my husband back.”

Sophie studied the young woman. She had certainly matured over the years. Truth be told, neither Courtney nor Patrick had been ready for marriage. They were both young and stil way too selfish at the time. Sophie could see that, and if she hadn’t been worried about what kind of woeful y inappropriate woman Patrick might end up with if he listened to his mother, Celia Hightower, the constant thorn in Sophie’s side, then Sophie would have told them to wait awhile.