Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set (98 page)

So she closed her eyes again for a second, inhaled, exhaled, and opened them again.

Jim still watched her.

“Jim…”

He placed a finger on her lips. A tingle shot through to her chest.

“Patti, I’m going to tell you something, just so I can give you fair warning. This is a little awkward, maybe, and I hope you don’t clobber me or something, but I am going to kiss you. Kiss you hard. Right here. And right now.”

She swallowed.
“Oh?”

“
Yes.”

“
Oh.”

And his lips descended.

Chapter Six

From the moment he put his hands on her, and while he had cave-manned his way through the house with her in his arms, up until this very moment in time, Jim hadn’t really engaged his pre-Doctorate degree brain or considered any serious consequences of his actions.

And he wasn
’t considering any of that now.

While he had the chance, he was taking it. And as he leaned into Patti, his chest flattening against hers, his lips capturing those red, slightly trembling and luscious lips of hers, he wasn
’t thinking about anything but pleasure.

Pure, unadulterated, pleasure.

She tasted like cinnamon.

Like sugar.

Like…candy.

Oh, yes….

At first he touched his lips to her sticky ones in a tentative and tender way, but before the kiss was through, he had inclined further, repositioning himself somewhat at her side, cradled her head in his hands, and deepened that kiss. His tongue sweeped inside—

Patti jerked away.
“Um. Wait,” she mumbled.

Reaching up, she pulled a round, red candy out of her mouth and shrugged.
“Sorry.”

“
No problem.” She had the candy between her fingers, and on a whim he grasped her hand and sucked it right off her fingertips, taking it into his mouth. “Yum…” he growled.

Caution to the wind. Yes, for once in his life….

Patti’s round-eyed gaze never left his. “Wha—”

She tilted her head up, and Jim didn
’t need anything more to let him know that she was open to this subject of kissing. Plunging straight ahead, he took her lips again, mingling and suckling and taking what he wanted to be his.

Sweet, mother….

A moan curled up from deep in his throat, and he passed it off to her through his open lips. Hers responded, and he raked the tip of his tongue over her smooth teeth. It was she, then, who echoed his moan right back at him, and arched up to meet his tongue, thrust for thrust.

Hot. Friggin
’. Damn.

With a gasp she broke away. Her hands had worked their way up to his shoulders. Jim jerked back.

They stayed frozen there for a moment, eyes wide, peering into one another’s face.

“
Oh my God,” said Patti, clasping a hand over her mouth. “Oh. My. God.”

“
Bad idea?” He surely hoped she’d say no.

She pushed at his chest and scooted up toward the headboard somewhat. He reared back to let her.
“Oh, Jim. Oh, crap. We have to talk.”

“
Patti, let me start, I…”

“
Jim, I’ll confess, I did hire Suzie for a matchmaking job.” Suddenly she appeared very alert and coherent. Bump on the head healed already? “…but I did not ask her to go after you, to hook me up with you, I mean!” She slid out from under him and stood next to the bed, wringing her hands and glancing about.

“
What?” He sat still, looking up at her. This was about to be his worst nightmare come true.

“
It can’t be you,” she told him, her eyes still wide. “It can’t. It. Just. Can’t.”

“
I…I…”

“
I didn’t hire her to fix me up with you. You have to believe that. Oh, God! What must you think? Jim, I’ve never, ever once been interested in you. Not once! You have to believe me. I did not plan this. I didn’t even know there was a party here tonight and now…now…”

She headed for the door, and all Jim could do was stare after her. Then she turned abruptly, clenched the hair on either side of her head into her fists, and said,
“Now it’s all screwed up! What you must think of me! I can never be in your presence again. Oh, shit. I am going to have to quit my job. I am sooooo embarrassed! Oh Hell’s Christmas Bells…”

And with that, she was gone.

Jim sat in the quiet room for several long ticks of the bedside alarm clock and contemplated his next move. Exiting through the front door meant forced conversations with all of the people out there. Exiting via the kitchen door meant he was a coward.

In the end he said the hell with it and snuck out the back way.

He went home. Where he should have stayed all along.

****

Sunday came and went, quick as a whistle. Patti barely got out of bed. She slept late, stayed in her jammies all day, and read books. Mysteries.
Not
romance. Reading seemed to be the only activity she could engage in to keep her brain busy, and not get immediately embarrassed by her actions of the previous night.

On Monday morning she faced the inevitable. She had to go to school, had to get the decorations up in the gym, and had to get the booths, tables and chairs arranged around the perimeter. She needed help, sure, and a lot of people had signed up. But she had to lead the charge, and damn if she did not feel like leading anything.

Not one bit.

Embarrassed, still, her biggest worry was coming face-to-face with Jim. This whole Jim mess was something she
’d rather not think about at the moment. And Suzie, well, when she got a chance to have a heart-to-heart with her….

But now was not the time.

She had one strategy today: to stay out of the front part of the school and Jim’s way, and hope to hell if he came in the gym, someone would snag him and get him busy so she wouldn’t have to speak with him at all.

It was the best she could come up with. Otherwise she was going to have to move to Alaska. Tomorrow.

For the first half of the day, all was well. She managed to use whatever volunteers were available to get the heavy work done right up front. All of the tables were set up and several of them had their booths constructed on top of them. Decorations were in the hanging process, and for the first time this Christmas season, Patti felt like she might just pull off another fantastic Winter Carnival.

Then all hell broke loose.

The commotion came from the big double entry doors to the gym. What kids were there scampered off first. The adults lifted their gazes a little more slowly as the word spread.

“
Cupcakes.” Someone said.

“
Cupcakes!” Another proclaimed, louder now.

“
Cupcakes! Cupcakes!
“ Came the chant once more.

And within seconds all of her help had dissipated, converging on Legend’s own hostess with the mostess, Suzie Matthews, the Matchmaking Chef, and the best damned cupcake baker in town, who was holding one humongous box of delectable cupcake confection. Her sister, Chelly, brought up the rear with another just like it, followed by Sydney with a third.

“
Great.” Patti stared her way. “It will be hell getting these people back to work later,” she said out loud, although there was no one near to hear. Sugar rush and a nap was what she could see in their futures.

Then her gaze lifted over Suzie
’s shoulder, and her eyes connected straight-away with the one set of eyes she did not want to see this day, not at all—Jim Hamilton’s. It was all she could do not to jerk away, break the stare, and go running blindly out of the building, mortified. As it was she simply slipped her gaze sideways, lingered for a moment, and then quietly and efficiently exited the gym, strolled down the hallway, and locked herself inside her classroom—in the far, way back corner, sitting between the wall and a very old and tall storage cabinet.

Then she cried the most confused tears she
’d ever cried in her life.

****

Well he had avoided the inevitable long enough.

All weekend he had mulled over the situation, and after taking some time to ponder, he finally figured it all out. After he cajoled Mike and Kate into confirming his suspicions, he knew at some point he was going to have to have a serious talk with Ms. Patti Jo Baker.

Today wasn’t the day on his list, but heck, why put it off? And seeing Patti go skittering off out of the gym after her glance met his, well, it seemed like the appropriate time.

He had to talk to her, set some things straight. Now.

Assuming she’d gone to her classroom, he moved down the hallway. Empty. His sneakers squelched on the newly mopped and waxed floor as he walked. Her classroom was about halfway down on the right. He arrived; jiggled the door handle. Locked.

He gave a quick glance inside. The room appeared empty. About to turn away, a slight movement across the room caught his eye. He angled his gaze toward the rear of the room. Yes.

There. A foot. Twitching and moving about. Behind the cabinet.

“
What in the hell.”

Jim reached into his pocket for his keys, found the master, slid it in the lock, and quickly slipped inside the classroom. As quiet as he could muster, he shut the door and locked it behind him. With soft footfall, he crossed the room to where he stood directly in front of Patti, who at that precise moment inhaled deep and let out a big sob.

“What in the world.” He crouched before her.

She jumped, flattened herself further into the corner, and wailed,
“Jim! What are you doing here?”

“
Just trying to figure out what is going on with you. Come on out of there, Patti. We need to talk about this.”

Her head gave a brisk shake.
“Nothing to talk about, Jim.”

He moved a little closer.
“Why are you crying?”

She swiped both hands over her face in a downward motion.
“I’m not crying. Who said I was crying?”

Stifling a chuckle, he reached for her hand, grasped it, and pulled her to her feet as he stood.
“I said you are crying, and you are.”

Steadying her in front of him, much like he would do one of his students when he wanted their full attention, he peered down into her face and said,
“Don’t move.”

Surprisingly, she obeyed.

He reached into his pocket for a handkerchief, looked into her eyes as he wiped away fat tears from her face and beneath her eyelids, and said, “Now if those aren’t tears, I don’t know what are.”

Patti sniffled.
“Oh, all right. I was crying.”

“
Why?”

She glanced off.
“Because.”

He caught her chin between thumb and forefinger and pulled her back to look at him.

“Because why.”

Sniffling, again.

“Patti…”

“
Oh, geez, Jim. This is so embarrassing. I’m serious. I don’t know what to do here. I mean, we kissed. I can’t work here now.”

He studied her for a moment.
“Perhaps that’s not a bad idea.”

She froze.
“What?”

“
I said, perhaps that’s not a bad idea.”

“
I don’t know what you are talking about. I’d have to quit, Jim. Find another job. Move to Alaska maybe.”

She was so cute, and bewildered, it was very difficult for him to not chuckle at her sincerity, even though it was ridiculous. Slowly he moved closer to her. She backed into the corner. He took another step. She was flat against the wall now.

“Jim. Stop. We…”

“
Patti, I want you to transfer to the middle school. You have a middle school certificate, right?”

She blinked.
“Yes, but…”

“
Put in for a transfer.”

“
Why? Oh, shit, Jim! I swear; it was Suzie, not me! It was not my idea. Please, please don’t make me quit my job because of some silly thing. I swear, I didn’t know she had invited you…it wasn’t my doing. Don’t make me quit because I was an idiot. It was all Kate’s idea to begin with, the matchmaking thing instead of the online dating services and all, so really, please don’t make me…”

Jim had quite had enough. He crowded closer, into that tight space between cabinet and wall, and looked square in her eyes.
“Transfer, Patti, because I have this rule. I don’t date my teachers, and that complicates things because I don’t want to stop kissing you.”

Chapter Seven

In all of her days, Patti was pretty darned sure she had never seen a more serious look from a man, not like the one she was seeing right now coming from Jim.

“Oh?”

“
Oh.”

“
Jim, this is all sort of weird and confusing.”

He didn
’t respond, but what he did do confused her even more. His hands went to her waist and he snaked them around to her back, pulling her snug up against him. She had to admit that felt pretty darned enjoyable, for Jim was tall and nicely built, and he had fine broad shoulders that she had never really noticed before, until now, and, the real unsettling thing was, that his gaze had traveled to her lips, and he was watching them move as she spoke.

She couldn
’t help it. She licked those lips while he was watching.

“
Forget weird,” he said, and she closed her eyes as he moved in for the kiss.

A kiss that they weren
’t supposed to be having since there were “rules.”

A kiss that felt quite possibly like the best kiss she
’d ever had in the world. His lips were firm, moist, and all over hers. He tasted like wood smoke and salt, and every time those lips scraped over hers, her tummy turned to jelly and quivered, sending little sparks down to her toes, and all she wanted to do was get closer and put her arms around his neck, which she did, and thread her fingers through his hair, which she did, and let him kiss her more and more and more and more and more….

After a moment of feeling like she was stealing kisses in the barn back of the football field, she moved her hands to his face and pulled away.

“Jim,” she said. “I need to go.”

She hated the defeated look on his face, and it seemed his stature dropped about four inches at her words.
“Patti, please… I know this kissing thing is new, but we’ve known each other forever, and, please, let’s just…”

This time she placed her fingertips on Jim
’s lips. “I need to get over to the school board office before it closes. Today is the last day they are open before the holidays. And if I want to put in that transfer to possibly get into the middle school by January, I need to get moving.”

With a dumbfounded look on his face, Jim stepped back and let her pass. Patti went to her desk and retrieved her purse, then ran back into his arms for one last, lingering kiss on the lips, then turned and left.

****

Watching her go was like witnessing a tornado pass through your neighborhood. You weren
’t sure in which direction the thing was going to go, whether you should take cover or run, or simply just stand there in fascination unable to take your eyes off of what was happening.

Jim decided he didn
’t have time for any of it. Patti was gone, headed off to the school board office. Asking for a transfer?

He wanted to smile. There was some part of him that wanted to be elated. Her revelation meant that she was interested in him. And he, well, of course he was interested in her.

Wasn’t he?

But shit. She was going to ask for a transfer. In the middle of the school year. And they would ask a reason. And what would she say? Surely she wouldn
’t say it was because they had been kissing in her classroom, would she? Certainly she would make something up. Right?

Suddenly his nerves made him a little queasy.

What would she make up?

Teachers don
’t just leave, or ask for transfers in the middle of the year, unless something is really, really wrong with their job, and he didn’t need something like that coming down on him and the school.

He couldn
’t afford rumors. And the receptionist at the board office was eager for gossip and could squeeze information out of a turnip if she wanted to….

Oh, hell.

Jim raced out of Patti’s classroom and toward his office. He glanced at this watch. Patti had been gone only a few minutes. If he was quick about it, he could get to the phone in his office before she got there. Racing hell-bent-for-leather, he turned the corner on those newly waxed tile floors, skidded around a water fountain, and made a beeline for his office where he shut the door real quick, ran to his phone, and made the call.

He relaxed when the person on the other end picked up the phone, and he could say,

“Hey, it’s Jim, and I need a huge favor.”