Someone Like You (14 page)
Authors: Kathryn Shay
Tags: #troubled teens, #teacher series, #high school sports, #teachers and students, #professional conflict, #backlistebooks, #Contemporary Romance
“Yeah, want to tell me why they bring you luck?”
“Over a beer, maybe.”
They settled in the hotel bar. In the dim light, he began to notice other things about her. How her nose turned up at the end. The feminine curve of her chin. How her big brown eyes held sadness now and again. He wondered why.
“So, tell me about more about you,” he said sipping his Johnny Walker Red.
“Not much to tell. I’ve been a teacher for nine years and it’s my life.”
“It always is with the good ones.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say I’ve had recent experiences with one who makes tenure a dirty word.”
“Legally?”
“No, not yet, at least. I have a daughter who’s not the high school darling and this guy has made it his mission to prove that to her.”
“You’re married?”
“Divorced.”
“Does your daughter live with you?”
“More than she’s supposed to.” He sighed heavily. “We have joint custody. But my ex drops her off at my place on a whim.”
“And?”
“She feels abandoned by her mother. And since she got into high school, when the divorce happened, she gets into more trouble, it seems, when she’s staying with me.” He shook his head. “It’s why I wanted to get back tonight.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Let’s not talk about our problems.”
“Fine by me. Talking about issues is highly overrated. Why don’t you tell me about your Legal Aid cases, and I’ll share my positive teacher stories and try to change your mind about us as a whole.”
He clinked his glass with hers. “You’re on.”
o0o
Around midnight, when they strolled back to their rooms, Delaney was feeling all sorts of delightful things. After a few beers, she was suffering from lowered defenses, which was probably why she blurted out, “I guess I’ll see the dawn of my birthday.”
His brows shot up. “Tomorrow’s your birthday?”
“Uh-huh. The big 3-0.”
“Ah, you’re a babe.”
“And you’re an old man?”
“I saw thirty years ago.”
She pouted her lips. “I like older men.”
“Well, I’m not
that
old.” He touched his temple, where some gray was starting to show. “Premature,” he said.
“It looks good on you.”
“I like the auburn color of yours.”
“Yeah, I’ve had streaks in it at one time.”
“Seriously? My kid, too. I have to say it drives me nuts, and I think that’s why she does it. Why don’t you have them now?”
“When I got a teaching job, I stopped with the wild stuff.” She grinned. “Except in the summer. Sometimes I go back to one of the more daring tints.”
“Don’t you see your students over the summer?”
“Nope. I don’t live where I teach.”
They reached his room first and he stopped. “I suppose we should get to sleep.”
“I was thinking of staying up all night. We only have six hours until we have to be back at the airport.”
Leaning against the door, he folded his arms across his chest. It was a nice chest, not too pumped yet solid.
“But being an old man, you probably can’t stay up like that anymore.”
Gage arched a brow. “You’d be surprised what I can do all night, Delaney.” His voice was a low sexy rumble and there was no mistaking his meaning.
She giggled.
The moment stretched out; the air electrified. “What time is it?” she asked.
He checked his watch. “Just after twelve.”
Turning, she faced him fully. “Hmm, I think a girl deserves a kiss on her birthday, don’t you?”
“I do. I absolutely do.” Straightening, he put his hands on her arms and drew her close. The hallway was deserted, the lighting dim. Lowering his head, he pressed his lips against hers.
From there it got very wild, very fast.
o0o
Delaney arrived at school early Tuesday morning so she could get her bearings from being absent the day before. As she entered her classroom, she felt an immediate sense of belonging. She decorated for every season and now, winter snowflakes hung from the ceiling, fake snow bordered the blackboard and posters of ski slopes and snow covered mountains with motivational sayings graced the walls. The bulletin boards displayed poetry, essays and projects students had done. Plain and simple, she loved it here. She’d just removed her coat when the wall phone rang. The caller was the principal’s secretary asking her to come immediately to the office. It was urgent, Sheryl said.
Grabbing her purse, she hurried out and down the hall. It was a long enough walk that thoughts she’d promised to keep at bay at school plagued her…
Here?
Oh, God, yes! How did you know?
I feel like I know your body.
You do…oh, Gage, yes. Yes.
The sex in that obscure hotel room with Gage whatever-his-last-name-was had rocked her world. The next morning, she’d been chagrined to have jumped in the sack with him, but that whole night—they
didn’t
sleep those precious six hours—had been amazing.
“Stop it!” she mumbled to herself when she was almost at the administrative office. “Concentrate on school.”
One of her girls was in early, too, and stopped Delaney in the hall. “Ms. Dawson, did you hear what happened to Steph yesterday?”
“I think I’m about to.”
“She got into it bad with Mr. Speranza.”
“Hell.” Oops, she had to learn to control her cussing. “Pretend you didn’t hear that, Lily. I’ll see you in class.”
At least she knew she why she’d been summoned. Sheryl greeted her then led her to Dylan’s office. She stepped inside and saw Stephanie Grayson, with her usual sulky expression on her face, seated next to a man whose back was to her.
Dylan Kane, their principal, and the reason that Delaney was at the high school, nodded to her. “Thanks for coming so soon, Ms. Dawson. Stephanie refused to talk until you got here. Please sit.”
As she took a chair next to the girl, she squeezed her arm and glanced over at the man who must be her father.
“Delaney Dawson, this is Gage Grayson, Stephanie’s father.”
Oh, wow.
Oh, God.
Jesus.
She was in trouble now. The man who explored every inch of her body, more than once, the man who moaned when she touched him, was Stephanie Grayson’s dad?
Well, at least now she knew his last name.
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