The Back-Up Plan (22 page)

“I know a secret,” Melissa singsonged.

“You do?” Donna dropped to her knees in front of her daughter. “Are you allowed to share it with mommy?”

“Nope,” she chirped and then skipped into the house in search of her cousins. When she found them, Donna heard Melissa shout, “Mr. Hank said he’s gonna be my real daddy.”

Donna’s breath trapped in her throat. She blinked furiously to fend off a fresh wave of tears. “Oh, my God,” she managed. She struggled to stay vertical, shock and warmth and dizziness swirling inside her like an emotional tornado. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Patty yanked Donna back into her arms and hugged her fiercely. “Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you.”

“Me too. I think,” Donna said uncertainly. “Why didn’t he tell me,” she wondered out loud.

Patty suddenly drew back, her eyes filled with worry. “When I picked the girls up I heard something I think you should know.”

“What?” Donna straightened the huge neck of Hank’s sweat shirt back onto her shoulders.

“Teresa said that Ms. Masters was fit to be tied when Hank took off to see about you. He may get fired.”

“No,” Donna protested. “She wouldn’t.”

Patty nodded. “Yes, she would.”

Donna held out her hand. “Let me have your keys.”

“What are you going to do?” Patty produced the keys without pause.

“I’m going to defend Hank, that’s what.” Donna nabbed the keys from Patty’s fingers.

“You go, girl,” Patty encouraged as Donna bounded toward her car.

Donna considered the twists and turns her life had taken these past few months as she drove the few blocks to the school. A whirlwind of changes had swept through. All for the better, she realized as she got out of the car in the school parking lot. She loved Huntley. Melissa loved school here. They both loved being close to Patty and her family. And things were definitely looking good at the clinic. Life was going to be wonderful from now on.

And there was Hank. No matter what he decided to do career wise, Donna loved him and she had every intention of telling him so. They could work out something. She felt a sense of relief she couldn’t possibly measure in words at having come to the decision. She loved Hank and in her heart of hearts she knew he had strong feelings for her. After what he told Melissa, Donna suspected he loved her as much as she loved him, but she had to be sure.

Donna checked Hank’s classroom, but it was empty. Masters had probably dragged him to her office for the confrontation. Donna might not be able to help matters, but she could at least give him her support in his time of need as he had her.

As she reached the principal’s domain, she found the outer office empty. The secretary’s desk was abandoned for the day. The door to Master’s office stood ajar, but not open enough to see inside. Donna eased closer. She could hear Hank and Masters arguing.

“You’ve violated one rule too many, Coach,” Masters snarled. “This is your second official reprimand in as many weeks, I think you know what happens next.”

“I realize what I did today wasn’t by the book and I apologize for that, but it was an emergency,” Hank replied, his tone subdued but laced with hostility.

Donna’s heart ached for him. He had gotten himself into serious trouble because of her.

“I’ll be watching every move you make, Bradley,” Masters said ominously. “I’m sure you want to keep your position at Huntley.”

“Of course I do.” A tense silence echoed for a time.

Could that mean he wasn’t going to accept the position at ESPN?

“You know, Hank,” Masters crooned, breaking the tense silence, “it doesn’t have to be like this.”

Her sudden change in tone had Donna leaning closer to the door. This was beginning to sound like—no, no it couldn’t be. Donna knew the woman would like to jump Hank’s bones, but she wouldn’t go this far. Donna shook her head, surely not like this.

“We could forget this whole incident happened.”

“Take your hands off me,” Hank growled, his voice no longer subdued, but hard with fury.

Donna felt her eyes go wide in disbelief.
Sexual harassment
. The woman was using her position to try and force sexual favors from Hank. Well, hell’s bells!

“This is the last time I’ll put up with all this touchy-feely crap, Ms. Masters.” Hank practically shouted now. “If you ever threaten me like this again I will file a complaint.”

“And just who do you suppose they’ll believe?” she asked caustically. “It’ll be your word against mine.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Donna straightened just in time to prevent herself from being smacked in the face by the door as Hank stormed out of the office. She watched him leave thinking she should follow. Comfort him.
No
. Fury snarled through her. Hank Bradley was hers—hopefully. Masters had better back off.

Masters sat behind the desk checking her reflection in a small gold compact. Suddenly aware that someone had entered her office, she looked up.

“Dr. Jacobs,” she said as she rose to her feet. “What can I do for you?” she asked, her impatience showing through her slick professional mask.

The thought of this woman putting her hands on Hank shot another blast of anger through Donna. “I just popped in to clarify a little mistake.”

“Mistake?” Masters dropped back into her leather chair. Her dislike for Donna crystal clear. “And what mistake would that be?”

Donna flattened her palms on the well-polished mahogany desk and leaned toward the woman. “I believe you said it was his word against yours. Well, you’re wrong. It’s your word against
ours
.”

A startled expression seized the principal’s features.

“I must warn you,” Donna continued. “I won’t hesitate to report you myself even if Hank hesitates.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dr. Jacobs.”

“Sexual harassment, Ms. Masters, that’s what I’m talking about.”

“Whatever you’ve deduced in that little head of yours from anything you may have overheard or something Bradley has told you, you’ve come to the wrong conclusion, I assure you.”

“I’m sure you didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Donna allowed charitably. “I’ll bear that in mind when I attend the next school board meeting. I’m sure my sister and various members of her church who have children enrolled in this school will want to hear what I have to say.”

Masters looked as if she might start foaming at the mouth, but no response made its way across her ruby-red lips.

“In fact, as a concerned parent and a prominent member of this community, I’m sure the board will be interested in anything I have to say any day of the week.” Donna smiled at her flabbergasted expression. “Good day, Ms. Masters.”

Donna found Hank in his classroom shuffling papers on his desk. He looked tired, his broad shoulders slumped in defeat. She surveyed the empty classroom and made her decision. Finger-painted cotton sheets draped the windows, preventing anyone outside from seeing inside. She closed the door behind her and turned the lock. Hank’s gaze shot to her. He smiled, the warmth of it spanned the distance between them.

“What are you doing here, Doc?”

“I think we have some unfinished business.” She smiled provocatively, pulled the sweat shirt over her head, and dropped it on the floor. Her buttonless blouse followed. Hank’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared. The papers slipped from his hands and fluttered back to his desk. He stood stone still, his eyes clocking her every move. Donna reached behind her and slid the zipper of her skirt down. The gray linen fabric puddled around her feet.

She stepped out of her skirt and kicked off her heels. She pulled the clasp from her hair and allowed it to splay over her shoulders. Then, feeling bold, she paused a moment to let him look at her in nothing but white satin and lace. A smile tilted her lips at his instant and obvious physical response. She felt strong and powerful with the knowledge that she could make a guy like Hank Bradley sweat.

He blew out a long low whistle. “I may need a doctor if you keep this up.”

“Don’t worry, Coach, I am a doctor,” Donna said, breathless with the way he looked at her. She took the few final steps that separated them and pushed her arms around his waist. “And I think I need to examine you more closely.” She knotted her fingers in his tee-shirt and pulled it up and over his head.

She sighed with delicious satisfaction as she smoothed her palms over the hard planes and contours of his chest. Tremors shot through her flesh. Her body was wet and pulsing and more ready for him than she had ever been for anything in her life. She could touch him forever and never tire of the feel of him.

“I believe you said we needed to talk.”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “We can talk later.”

She looked up and his mouth covered hers. His kiss was long and hard and probing. He held her close against his chest with his left arm, and in one smooth stroke of his right, cleared his desk top. She gasped, the sound lost to his kisses. He lowered her bottom onto the surface of his desk, his mouth still moving in that frantic dance with hers. He snatched her strappy panties off, the sound of ripping fabric echoed in the silent room.

Donna’s hands went instantly to his fly. She tugged the button loose and carefully slid the zipper over the hardened flesh straining against his shorts. She shoved those barriers away and took him in her hands. Hank grasped her bottom and pulled her to him, filling her completely. She whimpered with pleasure.

He shuddered, his taut body relaxing against her for the briefest moment. Maybe she wasn’t the only one about to lose it. Her body pulsed and burned around him. He pressed his forehead to hers and sucked in a ragged breath. “I want you so much.” His big body trembled. “I need you to trust me.”

Unable to bear the exquisite pressure any longer, she arched her hips into him. “Stop talking, Coach,” she whispered against his lips. She needed him to move…her body was screaming for release. Six years was a long, long time.

He murmured sweet, unintelligible sounds as he made love to her with incredible tenderness, his body trembling with restraint. She surrendered to the sensations. Every defense she had built these six long years shattered, dissolving with the act that bound her heart and soul to this man.

“I love you,” he whispered.

She touched his lips just to be sure she hadn’t imagined the words he had spoken. As if he understood he said it again.

“I want to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. I want to be Melissa’s father, and I want to stay right here in Huntley,” he murmured against her fingertips and then kissed each one in turn.

“I know,” she said softly. Tears burned behind her eyes.

“You know?”

“Melissa announced your secret to her cousins.”

“Women, you just can’t keep a secret,” he complained and then planted a kiss at the side of her mouth.

“And you’re very sure about this—about staying here and not taking the job in Atlanta?” Her fearful heart twisted anxiously.

He smiled then. A true Hank Bradley charmer. “For the first time in my life I’m positive. I won’t leave you. Nothing will ever be more important to me than you and Melissa.”

Donna smiled and tugged him closer. “I love you, Hank Bradley,” she whispered. “I love you with all my heart.”

He kissed the pounding pulse at the base of her throat. “Then you’ll have to marry me,” he murmured between more kisses.

“Marry you?” Her heart swelled with hope.

“Yep.” He left a trail of kisses along her jaw line. “You know how small towns are. I wouldn’t want any gossip when I move in with you.”

“Move in with me?” His hands were roving over her body in a most distracting manner.

“I’m not spending another night away from you, Doc.” His talented mouth fastened on her exposed breast.

Donna closed her eyes and moaned as sizzling sensations vibrated through her.

“When I make my mind up, I go the distance,” he murmured against her sensitive flesh and then lifted his head to look deeply into her eyes. “I want it all, Doc. You, Melissa, the picket fence, and at least a couple more kids. Is that agreeable with you?”

Donna gasped when he began to move inside her once more. Climax threatened immediately. She tried to speak but the sound came out more like a tortured groan.

He flashed a devilish grin at her responsiveness. “Sounds like a yes to me.” He pulled her hips more firmly against his, sliding his hands beneath her bottom. “Come on, Doc,” he murmured against her ear. “Let’s make a baby.”

The thought of having Hank’s baby took her breath away.

A loud knock rattled the hinges on the door. “Coach, are you in there? It’s Henry the custodian. I need to lock up the building for the night.”

They groaned simultaneously. “Are we never going to have an hour alone together without being interrupted,” Donna groused.

Hank smiled. “Knowing our track record, I seriously doubt it.” He brushed a kiss across her lips. “We’ll just make sure we have a back-up plan in place.”

Sounded perfect to Donna.

-The End-

About the Author

DEBRA WEBB, born in Alabama, wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn’t until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain—and a five-year stint with NASA—that she realized her true calling. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Since then she has penned nearly 100 novels including her internationally bestselling Colby Agency series. Her debut novel, OBSESSION, in her romantic thriller series, the Faces of Evil, propelled Debra to the top of the bestselling charts for an unparalleled twenty-four weeks and garnered critical acclaim from reviewers and readers alike. Don’t miss a single installment of this fascinating and chilling twelve-book series!

Visit Debra at
www.thefacesofevil.com
or at
www.debrawebb.com
. You can write to Debra at PO Box 12485, Huntsville, AL, 35815.

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