by Judy Angelo
So as he stared down at her feet, the pink-painted toenails winking at him, Tessa sauntered over to the opposite side of the table and sat down. Then she looked him straight in the eyes, daring him to say a single word.
He didn’t.
He'd better not – Mr. Arrogant – for she would have a proper answer for him. Tessa’s face was serious as she watched him from across the table. And, as usual, he was wearing his ‘forever scowl’. Indie had said that was just him, nothing personal, but how could it not be personal when you gave a man your best smile, used your eyes to tell him you were totally interested, only for him to give you a glare in return? Unforgivable.
But then another thought came to Tessa – as they so often did. Rather than letting him throw her into a bad mood and spoil her evening, why not have some fun…at his expense?
A smile tickled the corners of her mouth as she stared at him. He must have felt the change in her because he cocked an eyebrow as if in curiosity and then his face grew even darker than before. He was probably suspicious. Well, he had every right to be, because before he left that evening she was going to make him sorry he’d disrespected Tessa Tyndale.
“Here you go, Tessa.” Indie reached out and pushed the basket of crispy fried chicken toward her. She’d gone and sat across from Tessa, right beside Wolf. Traitor. Tessa gave her a healthy glare for that move.
But then she decided to drop it. The meal looked so delicious, and Indie and Stone were such good friends of hers, it didn’t make sense for her to sulk and spoil the evening. Not on account of Wolf Spencer, anyway. And besides, she had plans for him. Later.
“Thanks, Indie.” With a bright smile Tessa accepted the basket and began to select her favorite portions of chicken. “You outdid yourself this evening.”
Indie smiled. “I do try,” she said, gracefully accepting the compliment.
But Tessa did not miss Stone’s ‘yeah, right’ look. Indie – cook? In her dreams. More than likely the hardest part of her job had been to decide which caterer to use. Oh, to live the life of a billionaire's wife.
Tessa smiled to herself, pleased for her friend. Stone had married Indie in a lightning-fast romance – one that lasted all of one month before the wedding – and Indie totally deserved it. Tessa couldn’t have been more happy for her.
And now here was Stone’s friend, the great Wolf Spencer. Probably a billionaire himself. And maybe that was why he’d acted like she was beneath him, glowering at her like that. What? Did he think that because he was a billionaire she was throwing herself at him? God forbid. Or was it that, because he was a rich and eligible bachelor, he expected to be pursued? Well, he should know by now that this was one woman who was not into pursuing anyone. If he wasn’t interested, she wasn’t either.
“You haven’t heard a word I said, have you?”
Tessa blinked then looked across at Indie. “Pardon me?”
Her friend shook her head. “There goes Tessa. Head forever in the clouds. What naughty plans are you cooking up now?"
“Who, me?” Tessa put on her best innocent face.
“Yes, you. Don’t think I don’t know you,” Indie said with a laugh. “But I won’t worry about that now. I asked you, how’s school? Any amazing adventures to share with us today?” She glanced over at Wolf. “Tessa teaches high school and the amount of mischief those kids get into, you’d think it was a circus.”
To Tessa’s shock, that got a rise out of Wolf. At Indie’s words the clouds dissolved and his face actually broke into a smile. Not a huge one, but a smile nonetheless.
“I remember the trouble my friends and I used to give our teacher back in high school.” The smile softened his lips and his face took on a faraway look as if remembering happy times.
Tessa’s jaw dropped and then she gave him a fake scowl. “Oh, so you were one of those, were you? One of the troublemakers? I can bet your teachers were relieved when you graduated.”
He looked at her, eyebrows raised as if in surprise at her teasing tone. “Actually, no. One of them even shed tears at my graduation. Mrs. Sirju – my favorite teacher.” This time his face broke into a wide smile. “And she was the one I used to give the most trouble. But one day she fixed me good. Never created mischief in her class again.” He ended this with a chuckle, as if remembering those happy days of troublemaking.
Her curiosity piqued, Tessa laid down her fork. “What happened? Did she suspend you?”
“Worse than that. She-”
“No, wait,” Indie broke in. “Start at the beginning. What did you do to get in trouble? You’re such a serious kind of guy, somehow I can’t see you as the troublemaker type.”
“Oh, I did my fair share, I can tell you that.” Wolf grimaced then he shook his head. “But on that particular day my buddies and I-”
“Don’t say it, Wolf.” Stone stopped him. “Never tell women about your lowest moments. They’ll use it against you.”
“We will not,” Tessa and Indie said in unison, then they turned to each other and laughed.
“You can trust us, Wolf.” Indie reached over and rested a reassuring hand on his arm. “You’ll never hear about this again. Promise.”
Wolf gave her a wry grin. “I don’t know. It’s not you I’m worried about…” Then he turned his gaze toward Tessa.
She opened her eyes wide. “You’re scared of l’il ole me?” She raised her eyebrows and gave him one of her signature pouts. Those had been known to charm many a man. And if that was what it took to get Wolf to reveal the secrets of his adolescent years then she was more than willing to employ that strategy. She was just as curious as Indie. Maybe even more. Wolf Spencer was like a mysterious onion and no matter how much it burned her eyes, she just wanted to peel away layer after layer until she got to the heart of the man. He couldn’t be all scowls and growls.
“I might be,” he said and darned if he didn’t look like he meant it.
“Well,” she said, tilting her head and giving him a slow smile, “the only reason you’d need to be scared is if you don’t tell me. I have ways of making a man talk so if you don’t want to get hurt, start talking.”
“Do it, Wolf,” Indie said with a grin. “She’s got a tiny fist and she’s not afraid to use it.” She pointed to her shoulder. “Right here, where it hurts.”
Wolf straightened up and gave Tessa a look of respect. “Well, in that case, I’d better start talking.”
“Wimp,” Stone muttered under his breath, his eyes full of laughter. “Scared of a girl.”
“You’re darned right, I am." Wolf was totally unashamed. “Okay, so here's what happened. We’d just finished a tedious session in Calculus so Javed and I decided to lighten things up a bit. Our next class was in the Chemistry lab so we decided to entertain the class with an experiment before Mrs. Sirju got there.”
“Ah, ha,” Indie said, nodding. "The classic ‘blow up the classroom while the teacher’s away’ experiment. I remember that one.”
Wolf put up a finger. “Except this time we weren’t trying to blow up the Chemistry lab. We were trying to make a stink bomb.”
Stone nodded. “The second most popular chemistry experiment.”
Wolf continued. “We’d just finished mixing the solution when in walked our teacher – a whole seven minutes early. We’d been planning to pour it into the vase that sat on her desk. She was always sniffing those flowers and we wanted to give her a whiff of something new.”
Tessa looked at him askance. “So that was how you planned to reward your teacher for her dedication?”
Wolf shrugged then grinned at her. “We didn’t look at it that way. We were just having fun.”
“Hrmph.” She gave him a stern look on behalf of Mrs. Sirju and all the teachers suffering at the hands of wayward teenagers. Then her curiosity got the better of her. “So what happened next?”
Wolf chuckled. “That was when things got really interesting. I put my thumb over the top of the test tube and hid it under my jacket. As she was h
eading toward her desk I tried to sneak out but she chose that very moment to turn back toward the door.”
“I guess she forgot something,” Indie said.
“I guess, but it was the worst thing she could have done. She bumped into me, I stepped on my shoelace and began to topple forward, she reached out to grab me and knocked the tube out of my hand. It fell on the floor and smashed into a thousand pieces, spraying her sari and my trousers with the worst smelling stuff you could ever imagine.”
“Ooh.” Tessa crinkled her nose, imagining the awful stench.
“No,” Wolf said, shaking his head. “Try ‘eww’ and you might be just a little closer. My teacher screamed, I gagged and the whole class burst out laughing. Neither Mrs. Sirju nor I could stay at school that day. We both ended up leaving. I had to soak in a bath with soap and baking soda to get the smell off. Not sure what Mrs. Sirju did but when I saw her next day I didn’t ask.”
They were all laughing now and especially Tessa. For the life of her she just couldn’t picture Wolf as having been a kid who would do something like that. A serious guy like him? But then as he laughed too, his blue eyes twinkling and a dimple winking in his left cheek, she couldn’t stop staring. Was this the Wolf Spencer she’d met at the wedding? If she hadn’t witnessed the transformation herself she would have sworn it was a different man.
“So…so what happened when you saw her next class?” Indie asked between guffaws.
Wolf shook his head. “That’s the really sad part. For the rest of that semester I had to be her lab assistant. I had to make sure the lab was always clean, the equipment ready and the worst part – I had to go in front of the class and do demonstrations with her. I was a really shy kid so that was the part that gave me nightmares.”
“No. She made you her lab assistant?” Tessa stared at him, incredulous.
“Yes, and I have the emotional scars to prove it. You don’t believe me?”
“I do. It’s just…that’s the very same punishment I gave one of my students this week. Except, he’s not my lab assistant. He’s my teaching assistant.”
Wolf gave her a crooked smile. “Great minds think alike.” He relaxed back into his chair. “But of all the years I spent in India, the semester I spent as Mrs. Sirju’s lab assistant was the time I learned most. And,” he tapped the table with his knuckle, “it cured me of my shyness. Being forced to speak in front of an audience every day for months will do that to you.”
Then his face turned wistful. “Mrs. Sirju and I grew really close that year and when I met her son, who’s just a year older than I am, we clicked immediately. I kept in touch with them for years after leaving the American School. And even though she’s gone I’ve never forgotten her.”
“She passed away?” Tessa’s voice was soft and respectful, just in case her guess was accurate.
He nodded. “Four years ago. But she’d lived a full life and Sanjay told me that after the stroke she died peacefully in her sleep.”
They were silent for a moment, each seeming lost in thought, then Indie spoke. “I never knew you went to school in India.”
“I lived there from age eight to eighteen. When I was eight my mother got a teaching appointment at Gopaul Singh University in Delhi so she packed us all up – me, my brother and my dad – and we headed for India.”
“Wow, no objection on your dad’s part?” Indie asked as she reached out to pull the bowl of fruit salad closer. She began to ladle out smaller bowls, filling them with the mélange of pineapple, watermelon, mango and mandarin orange.
“None at all. He was a practicing engineer and he picked up a position very easily, lecturing at the technical college just outside the city.”
Tessa didn’t say anything but she was all ears. So he’d spent his adolescence in India while his parents taught college. Interesting. So that put in question her theory that he was probably one of Stone’s billionaire friends. He wouldn’t be from a billionaire family if his parents taught school. Not impossible but unlikely. She liked that. She had no intention of competing with a man’s money for his attention.
Then she caught herself. She’d been thinking about Wolf as a potential man friend. But hadn’t that ship already sailed? She’d crossed him off her list and had been planning to teach him a lesson. So now what?
Now that she’d gone past the stone wall he’d used for a face and had seen the human side of him should she drop her evil planning? Hmmm.
It was still fairly early in the evening so she guessed it would depend on whether she got bored or if he got grumpy again. Right now he had a smile on his face. She didn’t have the heart to prank him. But if he reverted to his old scowling self she would definitely have some fun.
As she reached for her bowl of fruit salad she smiled serenely back at him. If he only knew what thoughts were fighting for control in her head he’d be shaking in his boots.
But she would bide her time and see what the rest of the evening would bring. One thing was certain – if Wolf’s magical transformation was anything to go by, it was going to be an interesting evening.
CHAPTER THREE
Immediately after dessert the men headed back down to the den to catch the end of the baseball game, leaving Tessa and Indie sipping herbal tea at the dining table. Indie hardly even gave them time to leave the room before she turned to Tessa.
“So, what do you think?” she asked, her eyes eager. “Isn’t he nice once you get to know him?”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Oh, come on, Tessa. Don’t you see he’s not a grump? Deep down he’s a really nice guy. You just have to pull him out of his shell.”
Tessa shrugged. “Okay, so he’s not quite the emotionless robot that I thought he was. But still, he’s got a long way to go-”
“But at least he’s trying.” Indie’s tone said she was getting frustrated with Tessa’s objections. “Look how he opened up to us about his past life.”
“I guess you’re right,” Tessa finally conceded. “He’s not beyond hope. In fact-”
She was cut off by loud whoops coming all the way from the den. She looked at Indie and shook her head. “Men and their baseball.” But then she noticed Indie’s eyes, which now gleamed bright with excitement.
“The game's over,” her friend said, her voice a whole lot higher than usual. “Let’s go down and find out who won.”
Tessa frowned and stretched a hand toward her teacup. “I don’t want to know. I couldn’t care less.” But again she was cut off, this time by Indie grabbing her arm.
“Come on, just for a minute. I’ve got to see this.” And then she was up and out of her chair, pulling Tessa along with her. And Tessa could splutter and hang back all she wanted. Her strength was no match for Indie’s, so like it or not she had to follow.
“Who won, guys?” Indie called out even before she got down the stairs.
“The Blue Jays,” Stone yelled and pumped his fist in the air.
Wolf, too, was ecstatic. That much was obvious from his face-splitting smile.
Tessa could only shake her head. She would never get it. What was so great about a baseball game, anyway? You’d think their lives were invested in it or something. Men.
But when Indie hopped up with a whoop of her own Tessa had to take that back. Okay, so it wasn’t just men. It was men and those really weird women like Indie who lived, breathed and ate sports.
After all the hopping and whooping and backslapping were over Tessa finally got a word in. “All right, guys, you’ve had your fun. My turn now.” She grabbed a seat on the sofa and reached for the remote control device.
Indie snatched it up before her fingers even touched the thing. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
Tessa frowned. “I was planning on surfing channels to see if there are any good shows on. Before you grabbed the remote, that is. Anyway, let’s see if ‘Desperate Housewives’ is on. Or maybe ‘Grey's Anatomy’.
Indie’s gre
en-eyed glare was hot enough to scorch Tessa’s face off. “Hell, no, you’re not changing this channel.”
“And why not? The game's over, isn’t it?” Tessa glared back. Her glare could be as hot as anyone's.
“And there’s another one starting in two minutes. So just relax and enjoy the game.” Indie gave her a smug grin and slid into the space beside Tessa, making herself comfortable between her and Stone. Wolf, who was sitting over in the La-Z-Boy recliner chair across from them, said nothing but his raised eyebrows and crooked smile were ample evidence of his amusement.
But Tessa was not amused. Actually, she was annoyed with all of them for loving baseball so much, but especially with Indie for hogging the remote control. She was sure that if Indie weren’t there the men would let her change the channel. But oh no, Miss Bossy Pants had to take charge.
With a hrmph Tessa folded her arms across her chest then sat back in her seat and began to think of all the ways she could make Indie pay for her sin. She couldn’t very well punch her on the shoulder. Indie had a husband to protect her now. Not that she couldn’t protect herself but she’d always let Tessa get away with murder. Stone might not.
And she should punish the men, too, for not insisting that she be allowed her way. After all, she was a guest, wasn’t she? But then she also wanted to punish Wolf. She didn’t know why, but his sardonic grin was pissing her off big time.
But then the next game started and she was no longer the center of attention. In fact, none of the others even remembered she existed. Their eyes glued to the television, they began discussing play by play among themselves until Tessa got so tired of it that she pushed herself up and out of the deep sofa and padded across the room. None of them even acknowledged her departure. So much for being a valued member of the group. She certainly wasn’t the life of this party.
Her mouth set in a pout, she marched up the stairs and back into the hallway. Then she trudged all the way to the distant living room. She didn’t need Indie or Stone or Wolf. She didn’t need any company at all. There was a TV in the living room and this was where she would chill out until she was ready to go.