I sighed and took another look at the offensive envelope before I picked it up and pulled out the flap with a familiar set of three golden letters. “Are you kidding me?” It was a gift certificate for the matchmaking business in town, Time for Love. “Mom, you’re being ridiculous.”
“I am not,” she insisted far too innocently. “I am being a proactive mother, making sure her children are settled and happy.”
“I am happy.” I had a career that I loved, a good group of friends and an active social life. “And I’m not looking to settle down.”
“Men always think that,” she said dismissively. “Until they find a woman who makes them want to settle down.” She wore such a happy and hopeful expression that I hated to burst her bubble, but this was too much.
“Mom, stop. I’m not getting married or having children on your schedule. Be happy with how things are, or I’ll stay single forever.” She opened her mouth to argue and I pointed one finger at her across the table. “Forever, Mom.”
She snapped her mouth shut just long enough for me to enjoy one single slice of cake. “I expect good things from this gift certificate,” she said as I scraped the frosting off the plate with my fingers. “Eva, Sophie and Olive have an excellent reputation,” she gushed. “I’m hoping for a summer wedding. But Christmas would be acceptable.”
I almost laughed at the wistful look on her face, but it was quickly replaced a serious expression I knew well. “Thanks for dinner, Mom.” I stood and kissed both of my sisters, fist bumped their husbands, and hugged my nieces and nephew. “See you next week. Maybe.”
I went straight to The Mayflower where I knew there would be at least one set of ears to complain to over a few beers, and as luck would have it, Xander was there along with Stone and Oliver. I stopped at the bar and grabbed two pitchers, one lager and one ale, and made my way over to them.
Oliver laughed as he took in my load. “Uh oh, who pissed of Principal Rutherford?”
Xander held his hands up with a wide smile. “This time it wasn’t me. Was it?”
“No,” I growled and took the empty seat. “My own damn mother ambushed me over dessert with a TFL gift certificate.” Silence fell around the table for a long moment and then erupted in laughter, instead of the sympathetic commiseration I expected. “Why is this funny?”
Stone flashed a sympathetic smile and dropped a hand on my shoulder. “Liam isn’t here, know why?” I shook my head and made a mental note to catch up with the new dad. “Because he’s on diaper duty and the fool couldn’t be happier about it. Shitty diapers and he’s smiling like a fool. Look!” Stone showed a photo I never needed to see again. Ever in my life.
“He’s married, of course he’s happy about it.”
Xander barked out a laugh and drained half his glass. “Oliver is planning a wedding with one of the biggest fashionistas in town and look at that face, it’s glowing. It’s also disgusting, but definitely glowing.”
“Oliver didn’t sign up for TFL looking for love, and Liam didn’t sign up at all, so what’s your point?” I took a long pull from my glass, trying to tamp down my growing frustration.
“My point, genius, is that it’s funny because you’re complaining to guys who are stupidly, madly in love. Of course, they want you to join them.”
I glanced at Oliver and then Stone, who’d finally gotten the girl of his dreams, who also happened to be his best friend, and yeah they both wore wide goofy grins. The kind of smiles that men who was well-loved and regularly, wore without shame.
Stone shrugged. “Being in love is great. Regular adventurous sex is pretty damn incredible too. Plus sharing a bed with a warm woman who smells good and loves you?”
Oliver groaned. “The best damn thing ever.” He raised his glass and Stone did the same before they tapped them together.
“Ever,” Stone agreed.
“Okay, I’ll buy that, a little. But why aren’t you on my side, Xander?” He’d been single for more years than he’d ever been in a relationship, and that was a running tally, because he didn’t stay with any one woman longer than a few months.
“I am,” he said easily and shrugged. “But it’s your mama, Ben. Do it to make her happy or don’t.”
“You can always do like I did, and screw it up,” Oliver offered with a laugh.
That was an option, but I couldn’t do that. “I don’t want to be deliberately mean to women who genuinely want to find a partner.”
Stone sat back and stared at me for a long moment. “No offense Ben, but you’re practically the town Dad, why don’t you want to settle down and start a family?”
“I do, but in my own time.”
“You’re so damn picky, maybe Time for Love is exactly what you need.” Xander shook his head.
“Picky? Me?” They must have me confused with someone else. “I’m not picky, just discerning.”
Another round of laughter, this time from the whole table. “What about sweet little Cassie? What was wrong with her,” Xander asked, his brows arched in question.
“Nothing. She was a perfectly nice woman, but it’s just not professional to date employees.” I’d felt like a complete ass when Joss thought I was asking her out after Friday’s football game. Hell, I wanted to ask her out, more than anything. She’d intrigued me from the moment she arrived in Pilgrim, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t right. “That limits my options a lot, and you know Eva and Sophie will only try to talk me out of it.” And those women were convincing when they set their minds to a goal.
Xander rocked back in his chair, testing the limits by refilling his beer as he did so. “I know of at least three different couples who work at the high school, including the Dean of Students and the newly single English Lit teacher.”
“I didn’t say it was against the rules, I said it was a bad idea, especially for the principal.” I’d thought about it long and hard when I first took the job as principal.
Stone shook his head and gave me a sad look. “Man, you are making this way more difficult than it has to be, which means you should definitely use that certificate. And I’m not just saying that because of Sophie.”
“Bullshit,” Xander coughed in his beer, which earned him a glare and a middle finger from Stone. “Even though he’s totally whipped, he’s not wrong. Let the girls help, and if they can’t, you mama can’t be mad about it, now can she? At least not mad at you.”
And that right there, the most mercenary of all reasons, was what decided things for me. “But a matchmaker feels like giving up, like I’m saying I’m not capable of finding a woman on my own, doesn’t it?”
Oliver laughed. “Hell no. I use my GPS because it does the job more efficiently. Sure, I’d find my way around, eventually, but now I don’t have to because of the maps app.”
“And sports,” Stone added.
“And local babes looking for a good time,” Xander added with an arrogant smile. “Not to mention digital fingerprint scans. Weather. All kinds of other things we let professionals do for us when we could do it for ourselves.”
“Okay, I get the point.” It still felt like giving up, but I was half a beer away from caring, and it was time to turn the conversation to something else. Hell, anything else.
Joss
“You don’t have to look so nervous, Joss.” Kendra smiled at me from her spot perched behind the white reception desk. “This is the first step in finding love.”
Finding love. It sounded so damn hokey when she said it, all beautiful and well put together, but I wanted to believe, so I guess she was good at her job. “I’m more nervous about the trying and failing, than the finding love part.”
Kendra laughed and the sound was husky and sexy, and I was envious. Why couldn’t my laugh sound like that instead of a fourteen year old girl with a case of the nonstop giggles?
“No one has ever died from rejection. Trust me.”
Like she had ever been rejected for anything. Ever. “Not that we know of, anyway.”
Kendra
flashed another friendly, yet sympathetic smile as she led me back to a room with a small round table, four matching chairs, and a giant television screen on the wall. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
“She doesn’t need luck, she has the Dream Team.” The sound of Olive’s voice startled me and I turned towards the giant screen to see her smiling face, a little bundle of joy in her arms. “Sorry. Hi.”
“Hey Olive. You’re looking good.” And happy, she was practically bursting with happiness.
“You mean exhausted,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m only here to observe, to make sure these girls don’t intimidate the hell out of our new clients.”
I nodded, feeling stronger with Olive’s kind presence in the room, even if it was just virtual. I stood a little taller and felt a bit more confident about taking control of my life. About getting over my stupid crush. My stupid unrequited crush. “I’m ready.”
“See,” Eva said with a wide knowing look at the screen. “She’s ready. And not at all intimidated.”
“I didn’t say that,” I added but they all ignored me.
“Oh, come on Joss. You know us, we don’t bite. We’ll just make you actualize the best possible version of yourself to give you the confidence to find what you’re looking for in love.” Sophie flashed a grin and laid a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, and I couldn’t lie, I relaxed a little.
Only a little, though.
“All right Joss, tell us about why you finally decided to take a chance on Time for Love. And love.” Sophie’s smile was gentle, no prodding, and I let out a quiet breath and nodded, giving myself time to formulate an answer.
“Honestly? I want to fall in love and start that chapter of my life. I want a man who doesn’t mind that I wear jeans or workout clothes on most days. I want him to love me because I’m a jock, not in spite of it. And most of all, I want him to see me. Just me.” Ben couldn’t see beyond that, or maybe he could, and just didn’t like the package. Or the woman. Either way, he was in the past. Firmly in the past.
“That won’t be a problem,” Eva reassured with a sincere smile. “You’re gorgeous, and the rest is just wrapping paper. Fabulous wrapping paper, sure, but it’s not magic. I promise.”
I wasn’t sure I believed that, because fashion had always seemed a little bit magical to me, but before I could say as much, Sophie chimed in. “We’ll get to that in a moment, but why are you really here Joss? You’ve been in town for close to two years and you haven’t dated anyone, at least not publicly. Why now?”
I should have known these women weren’t just matchmakers, they were mind readers. “I had a crush on someone, but he doesn’t see me how I want to be seen, and I finally realized it was time to move on to someone who does. And doing this, taking control of my love life, will give me more confidence to do other things I need to do in my personal life.”
My whole reason for coming to Pilgrim was to meet my half brothers, Nate and Jase, without encroaching on their space in Tulip. It was close enough without having to see them often if they wanted nothing to do with me, which scares the crap out of me. Mara was the only one who knew that secret, and I wanted to keep it that way. For now.
“Oooh,” Olive cooed from the screen. “Who is it?”
“Olive,” Sophie admonished.
“What? You’re the nosy ones, but you forced me to ask, so whatever. Who is it Joss?”
“Ben,” I admitted quietly. “Principal Rutherford.”
“Oh, he is a cutie,” Olive said. “But clearly blind.”
“Thanks, Olive.” We both knew there was nothing wrong with those beautiful green eyes, but it was nice to hear anyway.
“If you want confidence,” Sophie said with a confident grin, “then there’s just one place to start.”
“The makeover,” all three women said at the same time.
A low groan escaped, and I flashed an apologetic look at the women who were just trying to help me. I’ve never been much into clothes or fashion, spending most of my life as an athlete or training, but I always secretly wanted to look as beautiful and put together as the women in this building. They each had their own distinctive styles, but they always looked incredible. Picture perfect. Runway ready.
I took a look down at the jeans that made my legs look a little less thick and my ass perfectly round, my windbreaker and worn sneakers and I shrugged. “You ladies have your work cut out for you.”
“Dressing you will be the easy part,” Eva assured me with a kind smile. “It’s making you comfortable with your new wardrobe that will very likely test my patience until I’m forced to threaten you.”
“Threaten me, and I’ll threaten your baby booties,” I told her as I folded my arms and arched a brow.
Sophie and Olive groaned at the same time, and Sophie shook her head. “Ankle booties. Baby booties are for babies, Joss.”
Oh. “Then you definitely have your work cut out for you,” I said with a laugh. “But the good news is that I’m a willing victim, so let’s do this.”
The makeover session took up the entire afternoon, but when it was all over, an eternity later, the reflection staring back at me was familiar, but way more fabulous.
And hotter.
Ben
Being in charge of a building full of hormonal teenagers required constant oversight, which is why I kept an open-door policy whenever possible. It wasn’t just to keep an eye on the students though, I wanted everyone in the building to know they could always come and talk to me, whether they had a problem to gnaw on, or a success to celebrate. It was all part of being principal of a school, but it was my favorite part of the job.
“Lookin’ good, Ms. Callahan.” The young voice was vaguely familiar, but the appreciation in his tone was unmistakable.
“Yeah, what a hottie!” That voice I knew well, and it belonged to a kid from a prominent family who wouldn’t tolerate such disrespectful behavior. I was on my feet in an instant, marching towards my office door to talk to the boys about the proper way to treat a lady.
“Boys,” I barked at the two of them. They leaned against the blue metal lockers, gazes locked on a familiar figure. Sort of.
Snickers sounded beside me, but I ignored them as I took in the sight. Long blond hair, decidedly not in a bouncy ponytail, but with touchable waves that cascaded around her shoulders.
“Yeah, he sees her.” I saw her all right, her being Joss, who had always been beautiful in that natural, girl-next-door way, but this version of her, she was stunning.
“Totally,” the boys’ laughter grew louder and I was vaguely aware that I was staring, but I couldn’t look away.
She had on one of those shirt dresses, blue and black plaid flannel-looking with tight pants that looked…were they leather? Joss turned as I took in the knee-high boots with the three, maybe four inch heel. And makeup. She was wearing makeup that made her blue eyes bluer and smoky, her lips pink and pouty, her cheeks sharp and pink.
“Ms. Callahan, are these boys bothering you?” My tone was harsher than I meant it to be, earning a frown from Joss.
“Not at all, Principal Rutherford.” She gifted me with a bland smile that wasn’t quite as bright as I was used to from her, and I wondered if she was still upset about the date confusion. “Thank you for the compliments boys, but maybe you should save those kind words for girls your own age.”
“Nah, those girls are cute. Not hot.”
“Or stunning,” another kid, just passing by added with an appreciative onceover.
“Yeah, that’s a good word. Stunning. She looks totally stunning.” Skip Baylor from the prominent family nodded slowly, unable to tear his gaze from Joss. Not that I could blame him, but I was the adult here. The role model.
Skip’s best friend, Roger turned to me with his trademark smirk. “You gonna jump on that, Mr. Rutherford?”
“Boys! Ms. Callahan is a woman, not an object to jump on.”
Both boys dipped their heads in embarrassment. �
��Sorry, Ms. Callahan.”
“Apology accepted boys, and the compliments. But don’t think that kind words will get you out of a detention for tardiness.” She tapped her wrist where there was no watch before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as a blush stained her face. “You have thirty seconds before the bell rings.”
A look of alarm flashed on both their faces, and both boys scrambled to grab textbooks and notepads before running off. “Catch ya later, Ms. Callahan.”
Joss, for her part, let out a soft and utterly feminine giggle and shook her head at their backs. “Boys,” she said softly and turned towards the teacher’s lounge.
“If they’re making you uncomfortable…” Joss shook her head, distracting me with shiny blond hair that bounced alluringly, before I could finish that statement.
“It’s fine,” she said easily, her expression genuine. “Besides, it’s nice to be noticed as a woman even if it is by hormonal teenagers. Enjoy your day, Principal Rutherford.” She flashed another smile, and again I couldn’t help but notice it wasn’t quite as bright as her smiles had been for the past year. “Later.”
I watched Joss go, unable to not notice the way those leather pants formed to the thick muscles of her thighs and shapely calves. The plaid shirt dress hid what I knew to be an incredible ass, and I was grateful for the covering, because the last thing I needed was to pursue anything with one of my teachers, technically my subordinates.
There was no point staring at, longing for, a woman I couldn’t have, so I shook off the lust and went back to my office, leaving the door open just in case any of the teachers needed to talk. It was unlikely they would, but the open door was just so they knew they could rely on me. Always.
My phone vibrated on my desk beside the calendar that my secretary, Martha, insisted on, even though I used a digital one to keep track of all appointments and meetings. It was a text from my mother, a photo of Chris and Tara on the Time for Love homepage, and of course she just took a photo of the computer screen because my mother refused to learn how to use the new technology she loved so much.
Misbehaving Curves: A Boss Romance Page 2