by Lori Wilde
“You’ll make sissy panthers,” bellowed Bud Knuke of Bud’s Boats and Bait. “My boys will be so ferocious, they’ll scare off real panthers.”
Jared leaned over and murmured to Leigh, “His boys can do that without even being in costume.”
Leigh sighed. “It’s going to be a long night. Go find Tommy and Kate so we can get this over with.”
Seemed like a simple enough task. “Sure. I know all the nooks and crannies of this school.”
“Yeah, and you’ve gotten lucky in quite a few of them, haven’t you?”
“Oh, now, I thought we’d agreed to play nice,” he pointed out.
Leigh rolled her eyes. “Fine. Fine. I’ll no longer fix you up with women twice your age, and I’ll no longer bring up the fact that in high school, you scored more than the football team. Just go find them.”
Jared chuckled. Yep, he was getting to her all right. He was about to head off when she said, “Please.”
Turning, he raised one eyebrow and gave her a slight smile. Then he tapped his ear and said, “I must be hearing things. I thought for a second you said please, but I know that can’t be true. You’d never say please to me.” He paused, then deliberately added, “Unless, of course, we were naked in bed.”
As he predicted, that got to her. She snorted and said, “Like I keep telling you, in your dreams, Romeo.”
“You bet. Every night.” Then before she could throw something at him, and he was pretty sure she would, he walked out of the gym and went to find the teenagers.
Even though Leigh didn’t hint that Tommy and Kate were anything other than student helpers, he couldn’t shake the feeling that these two weren’t wandering the halls looking for supplies. Every kid in school knew where the second-floor supply closet was. It didn’t take but a couple of minutes to get a flip chart.
But if you intended on doing something more creative in that closet, like maybe getting a little romantic, well, that could take some time.
Whistling softly, he took the stairs two at a time. When he reached the second floor, he silently made his way down to the supply room door.
Then he banged on it as loudly as he could.
“Cut it out in there,” he hollered, smiling at the scream he got in return.
Oh, yeah. These two weren’t out looking for supplies.
Figuring he’d give them a couple of minutes to compose themselves, he wandered back toward the stairwell. Then, he waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, the door to the supply room opened a fraction of an inch. They must not have been able to see him, because with a lot of whispers, a slim blond girl and a bulky brown-haired boy snuck out of the closet.
They turned toward the stairs, then skittered to a stop when they saw him.
“Well, hello there,” Jared said. “Let me guess; you’re Tommy and Kate. Ms. Barrett told me you were getting her a flip chart.” He glanced at their empty hands. “But it looks like you’ve forgotten it.”
Both kids blushed. Tommy sprinted back to the closet, presumably to get the missing flip chart. Kate stayed behind, her attention fixed on her sneakers.
Jared left her alone until Tommy got back with the chart. Then he said, “I’m Jared Kendrick. I’m going to be working on the committee with Ms. Barrett and you. That is if you remember to actually come to the meetings from now on.”
Tommy took a protective step in front of Kate. “I’m Tommy Tate and this is Kate Monroe. We were just...I mean we just...”
Jared held up one hand. He didn’t want to hear whatever excuse the boy was going to give him. Truthfully, he was having trouble getting over who these kids were.
He studied Kate. “You’re principal Gavin Monroe’s daughter? Little Katie?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Oh, this was too precious for words. Jared barely caught himself from laughing. Gavin had always been the straitlaced kind. The kind who never broke a single rule.
And who, Jared would guess, had no idea his daughter was hanging out in supply closets with Tommy Tate.
The urge to laugh was getting stronger, so instead, he nodded toward the girls’ room. “I think you should go clean up, Kate, before we go downstairs. Your grandmother and grandfather are at the meeting. If you go in there looking the way you do, they’ll know what you’ve been doing. No offense, but you look like you put your lipstick on while trying to bust a bronc.”
With a screech, Kate hurried off to the restroom. Based on the mess she had to clean up, Jared figured he and Tommy would have time for a nice visit.
After Kate disappeared, Jared shifted his attention to Tommy. “Are you Billy Joe Tate’s brother?”
Tommy had been looking at the door to the girls’ room, but now he glanced at Jared. “Yeah. He’s one of my brothers. What are you going to do to Kate? You can’t tell her dad. He’ll ground her for like a million years. Maybe more.”
This was priceless. Billy Joe Tate’s brother defending Gavin Monroe’s daughter. Growing up, Billy Joe had spent the better part of his high school years tormenting Gavin.
Yep, this was too ironic for words.
“What do you think I should do about you and Kate?”
Tommy asked hopefully, “Is letting us off the hook one of my choices?”
Jared could no longer stop himself from laughing. Tommy was priceless. “You’re kidding, right?”
“But nothing happened. We were just kissing, you know? That’s all.”
At this moment, Jared felt older than dirt. Not too long ago, teachers were finding him in that very same closet kissing girls.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he finally told Tommy. “But while I’m thinking, you and Kate cool it. Deal?”
Tommy shifted his weight from one battered sneaker to the other. “I guess, but that’s going to be hard. Kate is such a great kisser and I—”
“Whoa, whoa.” Jared held up one hand. “Too much information. A simple ‘Yes, Jared’ is enough.”
“Enough what?”
At the sound of Leigh’s voice, Jared slowly turned. She stood at the top of the stairs and looked none too happy.
“Enough for what?” She arched one eyebrow and tapped one foot. Yep, she was one unhappy camper, or in this case, one unhappy homecoming coordinator.
Jared asked, “Enough what what?”
She groaned. “Don’t play dumb.”
“Want me to play smart instead?” he teased.
Leigh rolled her eyes and snorted. “That’ll be the day.”
Jared chuckled. “I’m so glad we’re friends. You’re so kind to my ego.”
He could practically feel frustration oozing off Leigh, but he didn’t want to tell her about Tommy and Kate. Not right away. After giving it some thought, he’d decided to give the kids a break.
“From what I can see, your ego is in great shape.” She looked at the flip chart in Tommy’s hands. “Anyone want to explain to me why it’s so difficult to bring that downstairs? Half the town is in the gym, waiting for that chart so we can start planning the parade.” She gave both Tommy and Jared a narrow-eyed look. “Do you know what it takes to entertain that many residents of Honey?”
Jared nodded toward the chart. “We’re all set.”
Leigh looked thoroughly exasperated. “Good. I was starting to think this hallway was the Bermuda Triangle. People keep coming up here and then never come back downstairs. Now let’s go.”
She took a couple of steps, then stopped. “Wait a minute. Where’s Kate?”
Tommy blushed and looked at Jared. In turn, Jared looked at Leigh, who repeated, “Where’s Kate?”
At that moment, Kate came out of the girls’ room. She looked slightly better, but not enough that Leigh didn’t immediately know what had happened.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She stared at Tommy. “You two were making out up here?”
“Ms. Barrett, it’s not like we planned it or anything,” Tommy said. “We were in
the closet, getting the stuff you asked for, and Kate said she thought I’d rocked in last week’s game.” He shrugged. “Next thing I knew, we were kissing.”
Kate bobbed her head. “That’s right. Tommy and I have never even talked to each other before you sent us to that closet.”
Oh, now this was too good to let slide. Jared couldn’t resist saying, “So, Leigh, when you think about it, if you hadn’t sent them to that closet, they wouldn’t have started talking. And if they hadn’t started talking, well, then they certainly wouldn’t have started kissing.” Leigh glared at him, but he couldn’t help adding, “So when you think about it, this is really your fault.”
With a groan, Leigh turned and headed down the stairs. “This is so unbelievable,” she said as they all made their way back to the gym. “As if I don’t have enough aggravation in my life what with my family and this homecoming thing and Jared, you two end up making out in the closet. Jeez. What’s next? A tornado? Or how about a swarm of locusts? We’ve never had one of those in Honey, but hey, the way my life is going, I’m sure there’s one just around the corner waiting to pay us a visit.”
They’d reached the bottom of the stairs. Leigh stopped and faced them. “I don’t want anything like this happening ever again.”
As Jared watched, quite a few of the parade committee members wandered out of the gym and stood directly behind Leigh. Apparently they were wondering what the ruckus was, but Leigh was too wound up to hear them. Instead she was busy glaring at him, Tommy, and Kate.
Figuring he’d better warn her that she had an audience, Jared said, “Um, Leigh, there’s a crowd—”
But Leigh cut him off. “I’m trying to land a job here, and you people aren’t helping. So from now on, I want everybody to keep their body parts to themselves. Got it?”
A gasp ran through the crowd, and Jared laughed. Well, Leigh was right about one thing. It sure was going to be a long night.
Leigh turned slowly, hoping she’d been wrong. She had to be wrong. No one was standing behind her. They couldn’t be.
But true to the way her life was going these days not only were there people behind her, but there were lots and lots of people behind her.
Great. Just great.
She forced a smile on her face. “Hi. I guess we’re ready to start.”
Mary Monroe, Gavin’s mother and Kate’s grandmother, stepped forward. “What were you talking about a second ago?”
Silently Leigh sighed. Okeydokey. Here went her career, up in flames. “You see, there was—”
Jared stepped forward. “Leigh’s upset because rather than hurrying with the flip chart, Tommy and I got talking about football. I was showing him a play we made during the homecoming game in ’88, and I almost ended up shoving them all down the stairs.”
Leigh stared at him. Didn’t he realize he was giving this town one more reason to think badly of him? She looked at him and shook her head slightly. He didn’t need to throw himself on this grenade.
But he only grinned and winked. Then he walked over to Mary Monroe, and said, “I’m sorry. I’ll have to be more careful next time. But at least Kate wasn’t hurt.”
The older woman frowned. “You’re still as wild as you were growing up.”
With a huff, she headed back toward the gym with Kate in tow. The rest of the town eventually followed, and Jared would have, too, but Leigh stopped him.
No matter how long she tried, she would never be able to figure out Jared Kendrick. Here he was trying so hard to get the town to forget his past, and then he’d just voluntarily given these people yet another reason to say bad things about him.
“I don’t get you,” she admitted.
Jared chuckled. “Is this where I’m supposed to say you could get me if you tried?”
“Hardeharhar.” Moving closer, she poked him with one finger. “You know what I mean. Why did you tell Mary you’d almost knocked her precious Kate down the stairs? You know she’s going to tell every single person who comes into the drugstore how irresponsible you are. That can really hurt your rodeo school.”
Apparently he wasn’t too thrilled with her poking him in the chest, because he wrapped one hand around hers. “For starters, ouch.”
“Oh, pulleese. You’re a big, bad rodeo rider. I’m not hurting you.”
His grin was sexy as all get out, and as usual, it made Leigh’s heart race.
“Maybe I’m more sensitive than you think,” he told her with a twinkle in his amazing brown eyes. “Maybe I’m easily hurt.”
“Ha. That will be the day. You’ve had horses toss you a bunch of times. You’re big, and strong, and tough.”
He lightly stroked her hand, which he still held against his chest. “Oops. Watch yourself there, Leigh. You came awfully close to complimenting me.”
Maybe she had. She hadn’t really intended on doing anything but chewing him out for not backing her up when she’d been lecturing Kate and Tommy.
But now that she thought about it, maybe his approach was the right one. He’d gone out of his way to make sure those kids weren’t humiliated in front of the citizens of Honey.
“Maybe you deserve the compliment. This time. That was a good thing you did for Tommy and Kate tonight,” she admitted.
His grin grew wider. “Mary Monroe hasn’t liked me since I bought a box of condoms in her store the day I turned eighteen. Unlike Kate and Tommy, I had nothing to lose.”
She playfully shoved at his shoulder. “How am I supposed to stay mad at you if you do nice things?”
He grinned that slow, sexy grin of his that made her tingle all over with awareness. She loved it when he grinned like that. She also hated it. That grin really got to her.
“Maybe you’ll just have to stop being mad at me,” he said. “We’re friends, now. We should work harder at getting along.”
Friends. That was right. They were friends.
She took a step backward, away from all the temptation she felt whenever she was near Jared.
“Thank you for being nice to Tommy and Kate,” she finally managed to say.
“Do you realize you gave me both a please and a thank you tonight? I’m on a roll.”
“Let’s hope so. Let’s hope your noble deed doesn’t end up hurting your new business,” Leigh said.
With one last slow caress, he released her hand and opened the door to the gym for her. “The funny thing is I seem to be attracting customers because of my wild reputation.”
Leigh stared at him. “Let me guess. These customers are all female.”
“Seems like you’re not the only lady in town who’d like to find out what sort of talents I have,” he said dryly. “Like I told you on Monday, that’s exactly why I need your help figuring out which women in this town are interested in a serious relationship not just a quick roll in the hay.”
Leigh frowned. Women were signing up at his school in the hopes of seducing him? Boy, that stunk. She taught school during the week and was busy on the weekends. She couldn’t sign up for classes. Not that she wanted to. Um…
She was getting another of those headaches she only got when she was around him. “Let’s get this meeting over with.”
Jared nodded. “Good idea. And who knows? Maybe you’ll notice someone at the meeting tonight who’s perfect for me. What do you think?”
His comment felt like ice dropped down her shirt. “I know someone who might like to go out with you,” she said, biting back a smile. “In fact, she’s here tonight. In Mr. Buckingham’s classroom.”
Jared looked confused. “In the classroom? I thought all the teachers had left for the night.” Although she knew it wasn’t fair, Leigh was enjoying this little game. “They have. But Connie Pearl Reardon always stays here. She’s very loyal.”
“Is she on the cleaning crew?” he asked.
Leigh shook her head. “No.”
With a sigh, Jared said, “I’m lost, then. Why is this woman here? For the meeting?”
With effort, Leigh hel
d in a laugh. “No. She’s not coming to the meeting. But now that you mention it, she might be interested in joining the parade.”
“Leigh, dang it, what are you talking about? Who is this woman?”
She couldn’t help herself anymore. She laughed. “Connie Pearl Reardon happens to be a dummy.”
“Seems to me you had some trouble with algebra in the ninth grade,” Jared pointed out.
Leigh laughed again, her good mood rapidly returning. “No, you don’t understand. She’s a real dummy. You know, the kind they use to teach CPR.”
With a groan, Jared said, “I get it. Connie Pearl Reardon—CPR. So the only female in the whole place you think will go out with me is a rubber dummy in health class? Man, I must be losing my touch.”
No, that wasn’t the only female she thought would go out with him...as he well knew. “I think you’re missing out on a golden opportunity with Connie Pearl. She’s quiet, and polite, and definitely wants to settle down. In fact, she’s the type of woman who stays where you put her.”
“No offense to Connie Pearl,” he said slowly, “but I prefer my women a lot more animated.” The sexy way he said the word animated made the air in Leigh’s lungs sort of whoosh out. She stared at him for a second, and then with effort, slammed her brain back in gear.
“I’ll make a mental note,” she said dryly. “And store it someplace safe in my brain.”
Jared chuckled and fell into step next to her as they crossed the gym. “You know, sometimes I get the feeling you’re not really intending on helping me find my soulmate.”
Gee, now how’d he figure that one out?
“I think you’re capable of trolling for your own dates,” she told him. “But if you really want me to keep trying, I will.”
Thankfully they’d reached the center of the gym. Anxious to get the meeting going, Leigh sat in the first empty chair she found and said, “Who has the list of parade entrants?”
Tommy brought it over and gave it to her. She didn’t miss that he no longer looked her in the eye.
Too bad. The kid had a bright future. This was his senior year, and because of his football skill and good grades, it looked like he was going to get offered a lot of scholarships to some very impressive colleges. But if he got involved with the daughter of the principal, there was no telling what might happen to those scholarships.