“Did you find Stan?” She lowered her voice as someone walked by.
“Can we go in your room?” he asked.
She took a step, then stopped. “Yes. But…I’ll be right back.”
Stacking her coffees, as she walked, she pushed open the door where the brunette had disappeared. Brit watched her go and the sway of her hips made his mouth go dry.
Seven hours.
Work-related reasons, he reminded himself.
“Yeah, right,” echoed that damn internal voice again.
~
Cali heard a thud as she hit Tanya in the head. Her friend had obviously been listening at the crack. “Sorry,” Cali said and handed her a cup.
Tanya rubbed her forehead. “I was just making sure he wasn’t being a jerk again.”
Cali smiled. “Did I hear you call him an ass?”
“Yeah.” Tanya made a face. “Do you think he’s going to arrest me for it?”
“I don’t think so.” Cali pulled the tab back on her cup and sipped the hot coffee. “You’ve got to teach me to be a bitch.”
“He leave?” Tanya frowned back at the door.
Cali shook her head and remembered her headache thanks to the painful messages the movement brought on. “No.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I’m practicing being a bitch and making him wait.”
“You go, girl.” Tanya grinned and sipped her coffee. Cali sipped hers. They both sighed as the caffeine seeped into their hung-over bodies.
That’s when Cali remembered her mom telling her to wear the pink dress because she was going to see Brit. That she was going to help Brit. Her headache pounded a bit stronger.
“Why do you suppose he’s here?” she wondered aloud.
Tanya did the hung-over shuffle to her desk where she dropped into her chair. “He said he was going to apologize.”
“Really? Well, I better go collect my apology.” Cali took one step. “Or should I let him wait a while longer?”
“Go. I’m cheering for you.” Tanya winced at the sound of her own voice. “Quietly, of course.”
Cali bit into the edge of her cup, making teeth prints. “He’s messing up my plans.”
“What plans?” Tanya asked.
“I was going to forget about him.”
Tanya grinned. “He’s too hot to forget. You got a plan B?”
“No plan B.”
“Then come up with one. Fast.” Tanya’s eyes twinkled with mischief, even in their hung-over glaze. “He’s really hot.”
Cali sighed and went to face the detective. She found Mr. Hottie pacing in the hall. Meeting his gaze, she almost flinched and her stomach sent the hot coffee gurgling. She hadn’t realized she went for the Burt Reynolds type. But the flip in her stomach said otherwise—definitely the “you’re attracted to this man” flip.
“This way.” She walked into her classroom.
Cali looked at her watch as she placed her coffee on her desk. She tried not to notice how wide his shoulders were, or how long his legs looked encased in those form-fitting jeans. Glancing away, she reached up to loosen the clip in her hair, hoping to relieve some of the tight pounding behind her eyes.
“I have exactly seven minutes before the bell rings.” When she looked at him, she could swear the man was staring at her breasts.
She cleared her throat, forgetting that the throat clearing muscles were connected to the headache muscles. She winced.
He jerked his gaze up, looked a bit guilty, then, he frowned. “I’m definitely going to need more than seven minutes.”
“Why more time?” Cali shifted and knocked over her cup of pencils. Seeing him in her classroom, in this part of her world, felt odd—as if the craziness in her outside life had followed her to school. Her headache throbbed as she collected the lead #2s. Right now even her false sense of control was slipping.
He tucked his fingers into his jeans’ pockets, winced, pulled his hands out, and rubbed his shoulder.
“I tried to find you last night. It’s about the bracelet you had on.” He looked at her wrist.
“Why do you care about that?” She remembered him helping her unlatch the bracelet. Then, she remembered the couple of smiles he’d offered her yesterday at the police station. The man was a mixed bag of emotions. And he wasn’t smiling now. She noticed his shoulders again. Not that she was actually taking Tanya’s advice and coming up with Plan B.
She simply had a shoulder fetish and his looked good in his navy windbreaker. The thought of his leather jacket popped into her head. She’d left it in her car.
“Your jacket. I…it’s in my car.” She suddenly remembered the condom in his pocket and felt her face heat up.
“Where’s the bracelet?” he insisted. “Do you have it on you?” He edged closer and those shoulders shifted making him look even more masculine.
She hesitated, completely at a loss as to why he cared about…She pushed a finger against her temple and tried to remember his question. Oh yeah, the bracelet. “I threw it away.”