Hard loving man

by Lorraine Heath

  “You’re kidding?”

  The hairs on the nape of her neck bristled at the condemnation and disbelief she heard in his voice. “No, I’m not. Kids are too sexually aware these days.”

  “You think maybe that’s the reason she ended up at Morty’s dressed up like a whore? To protest a ruling that’s a little old-school?”

  “I think it’s none of your business.”

  “It is when she ends up in my police station.”

  “Look, she’s only sixteen. I’ve let her do some group dating.”

  “Group dating? That sounds like it has the potential for fun.”

  She released a sigh of impatience. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

  “Because I know you. You’re thinking orgies. Kids today hang out in groups. Boys and girls having innocent fun. It gives them a chance to get comfortable with each other in a group setting—without that awful first-date stress. It’s not easy being a sixteen-year-old girl.”

  “You oughtta try being a guy sometime. We’re the ones who get all the excuses and rejects when we make our moves.”

  “I can’t see you getting rejected, Jack.”

  “Since our paths crossed last week, you’ve told me no at least twice to my face, and that’s not even counting all the little subtle hints you’re dropping that you’re not interested.”

  Not interested? It was because she was so interested that she was dropping hints like an abducted woman leaving a trail for her rescuers.

  “What’s everyone want?” Madison called out once she made it to the cooler and lifted the lid.

  After the guys got their drinks and headed back to the apartment, Kelley walked to the side of the truck.

  “He’s got bottled water,” Madison said.

  “I’ll take one of those.” Kelley took the bottle, twisted the cap, and looked up to see Madison dangling a plastic bag of sliced lemons in front of her face.

  “How did he know you like lemon in your water?” Madison asked.

  Kelley lifted her shoulders helplessly. “Lucky guess. Or maybe he likes lemon.”

  “The sheriff doesn’t strike me as a squeezing-lemon-into-his-water type.” Madison sat on the closed lid of the cooler and sipped her water. “There’s something between you and him.”

  A past she didn’t want to get into. He’d been her student. She never should have gotten involved with him, could lose her reputation as a trusted teacher if anyone found out. Accusations and suspicions—even if never proven true—could be harmful in her profession.

  “He had a crush on me,” Kelley admitted. “That happens. Students get crushes on their teachers all the time.”

  “How about teachers getting crushes on their students?”

  Kelley shook her head. “Getting involved with a student is morally and ethically wrong, Madison. I would never, ever do that.” Although she’d skated up to the edge of the line, she hadn’t crossed over it and gotten seriously involved with Jack until after he graduated, until he was no longer her student.

  “But he knows you squeeze lemon into your water.”

  “He probably noticed when I drank water in class. He paid attention. That’s all.”

  She hated not being completely candid with Madison, hated that she didn’t feel as though she could trust Madison with her past. But what had happened between her and Jack was the past and was best left there, buried deep, forgotten.

  When the furniture and boxes were crammed into every space of both trucks, Jack announced that it was time to take the first haul to the house.

  “Madison, do you know where the house is?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Can you find your way there?”

  “Not a problem.”

  Kelley knew what was coming a second too late to cut it off.

  “Great. You ride with Rick and the guys in case we get separated. Spencer, you can ride with me and show me the way.”

  Jack could fairly see the hairs on the nape of Kelley’s slender neck bristling, her nostrils flaring. She was angry at the manipulative tactics he’d used to get her into his truck alone. He hadn’t enjoyed himself this much in a long time. She riled so easily. She always wanted to be the one in control. He liked it when she wasn’t.

  Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw Rick’s truck behind him. He could make out Rick and Madison in the front seat. Since both trucks had extended cabs, the other two boys would be sitting behind the couple in the front.

  Jack had done a fairly good job of arranging things, if he did say so himself. He didn’t really need Kelley to show him the way. All he needed was the address. He had an intimate knowledge of all the streets in this town. Not only had he traveled most of them in his youth, he cruised them at night as part of his job.

  “They’re talking,” he said as he continued driving down the street toward the house Kelley had rented.

  Kelley looked over her shoulder through the rear window. “I suppose that’s good. I want her to have friends.”

  “It’s easier for youngsters to get to know each other if the old folks aren’t hanging around,” he said as if he were some sort of expert on raising kids. After taking classes on child development and reading self-help books, he’d decided raising kids was a hit-or-miss adventure. Sometimes, you got it right. Most of the time, you got it wrong.

  Kelley turned back around to face the front. “I’m sure it was concern for Madison’s social life that prompted your suggestion that she ride with Rick. To loosely quote Madison, ‘What are the odds of us getting separated in Podunk?’ ”

  Jack grinned. “Hey, you never know. Could happen.”

  “Right. By the way, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop dropping hints that we have a past.”

  His smile vanished. “What are you talking about?”

  “The lemon slices?”

  “Some women might view my action as considerate. Remembering you like lemon with your water and then providing said lemon. Besides, those guys aren’t going to notice—”

  “It’s not the guys I’m worried about. It’s Madison. She’s sharp, Jack.”

  “She doesn’t know about us?”

  “There is no us.”

  “There was.”

  “Jack, what happened between us was so totally wrong. I have a teenager under my care now. How can I guide her into making the right decisions if she learns that in my youth, I didn’t always travel the moral high ground?”

  He clenched his jaw. It had never occurred to him that she hadn’t written back to him because she’d regretted what had happened between them. That in the end he’d disappointed and hurt her he could understand. But still, to have regrets that they’d shared anything at all? He couldn’t quite grasp that possibility.

  “I wasn’t your student that night,” he ground out.

  “No, but you were every night before that. The phone calls, the notes we passed back and forth, the little gifts you left at my desk. My God, Jack, it was a dangerous game that could have cost me my teacher’s certificate.” She placed her hand over her mouth as if she thought she could keep herself from talking about the unspeakable. “I was so stupid, risking everything for what in the end turned out to be nothing.”

  “I never considered it nothing.”

  “Oh, yeah, Jack. You were so convinced it was something that you took another girl to bed.”

  Having sex with Stephanie hadn’t been his plan. He’d given in to anger and hurt and hormones raging out of control.

  “I was nineteen and horny. And you sure as hell weren’t putting out.”

  “I was your teacher!”

  He slammed on the brakes. She braced her arm against the dashboard, her eyes filled with fury, her breathing hard and heavy. God, he wanted her with a ferocity that was unnerving.

  “It hurt, Jack,” she rasped. “It hurt so damned much. And it was wrong on so many levels. Can’t you understand that I’m ashamed of what happe
ned nine years ago? That I want to forget it?”

  Forget the first time in his life when he’d ever felt that he was worth anything to anyone?

  Hurting her had never been his intent. He wanted to take her in his arms, comfort her, and reverse her thinking. He glanced in the mirror. The timing for them was always lousy. “We have an audience. We’ll discuss it later.”

  “We have nothing to discuss.”

  He watched her clamber out of the truck. Oh, they had plenty to discuss. They had too much unfinished business.

  Chapter 8

  Kelley held her breath as Jack prowled through the house. She was still trembling from their encounter in the truck. How quickly he could prick her temper. How quickly he could make her regret the one night they’d shared that had brought her absolute joy. How quickly he could make her remember how much she’d hurt when she learned that he’d gotten Stephanie pregnant.

  None of his excuses warranted a second thought as far as she was concerned. She didn’t care that he’d been nineteen or horny. It shouldn’t have made any difference at all that she and Jack weren’t actively engaged in sex.

  In an odd way, they’d been developing a relationship. Clandestine, to be sure. But it was still taking root, growing. She’d expected him to show restraint when it came to his uncontrollable hormones. She’d naively thought that she deserved for him to hold his lust in check for her. Boy, had they possessed differing opinions on that matter.

  “We’ve already signed the lease,” she informed him testily as he checked the windows and doors while she followed him around like a well-trained puppy.

  He nodded, as though she hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already know. Which she realized she hadn’t. Still, it grated on her nerves to have him judging her decisions.

  “No alarm system,” he announced as he returned to the front room where the others were waiting.

  “Like we need one in Podunk,” Madison said.

  “Two beautiful women living alone?” Jack asked. “You bet you need one.”

  Madison’s cheeks turned almost as bright as her hair had been last weekend. The boys were grinning, darting glances at each other as though trying to figure out if one of them had an interest in Madison or who could make the first move.

  She was torn between being happy that Madison had their attention and worried that she didn’t have enough experience to know when to say no. Or if she’d even want to. She certainly didn’t want Madison to end up as a statistic, a teen pregnancy. She knew too well how painful that road was to travel. She probably needed to have a heart-to-heart talk with Madison about the realities that a girl faced when she got pregnant at a young age, the tough decisions that had to be faced.

  Tugging on Kelley’s ponytail as he walked past her, bringing her back to the present, Jack said, “I’ll talk to Lambert. Have her tell the owner to get an alarm system in here.”

  “Jack, we’re temporary. Two years at the most.”

  “One year,” Madison reminded her, a challenge in her voice. “You promised—”

  “I promised I’d think about it.”

  “I want to graduate with my friends.”

  “Look, the alarm system will increase the value of the property regardless of how long you stay. I’ll take care of it,” Jack said.

  Her head was spinning as she tried to carry on two different conversations with two forceful people. She threw up her hands. “Fine, Jack, whatever. Let’s just get moved in, okay?”

  “The guys and I will haul in; you tell us where to put it.”

  A miniature regiment, Jack and the boys tromped out to the trucks.

  “How was the ride over?” Kelley asked Madison. They hadn’t had a second alone since they’d arrived.

  “I don’t want to be here my senior year,” Madison said.

  So, they were back to that topic, were they? “I know—”

  “Then why not just say that we’re leaving at the end of the year?”

  “Because I haven’t had time to consider all the options and ramifications”—she held up a hand to stifle any further discussion or protests—“and right now is not the best time to get into a heated debate on this subject. Let’s get everything moved in, okay? We’ll discuss it all later.”

  Madison did this little roll that made it look as though she were shrugging her entire body. “Okay, but I’m not going to forget what you promised.”

  A promise to think about it was not a promise to act on it.

  “So, how was the ride over?” Kelley asked again, desperate to get Madison’s thoughts away from the possibility of moving. Maybe with a little more time, things would fall into place and Madison would be content to stay.

  “Kinda cool, I guess. At least, we didn’t listen to country music.”

  “They seem nice.”

  “They think my red furniture is awesome, but I was thinking about painting it another color.”

  “Something bright and cheery, hopefully.”

  “Black.”

  Kelley cringed. “Black isn’t a color. It’s the absence of color.”

  “Rick said he’d help. He even offered to build me some shelves. He said he needed a woodshop project, so I don’t think it’s anything personal.”

  Kelley forced herself to tamp down her trepidation and smile. Just because she’d had a bad experience didn’t mean that Madison would. “Do you like him?”

  “Well, yeah, sorta. I mean, they’re not as dorky as they look. Actually, they all know some neat stuff.”

  She had to admit that she might really owe Jack for having the foresight to hook Madison up with these guys. If Madison could only get a circle of friends going, maybe she wouldn’t find life here so unappealing. And maybe trouble would quit knocking at their door.

  She also owed Jack for working so diligently to ensure that everything got moved today. She was absolutely amazed by the amount of stuff they’d accumulated. Even though they’d moved a few months earlier, it seemed their belongings had multiplied like rabbits in the wild.

  After several more trips to the apartment and back, once every piece of furniture and all the boxes were moved into the house, Jack cut the boys loose. Then he set about putting the beds together. Madison’s first, then Kelley’s.

  She and Madison were lining the shelves in the kitchen when he ambled in. “Think all the macho stuff is done. Only the girly stuff remains.”

  “You think you’re too good to put away pots?” Kelley asked.

  “I’m more talented in the bedroom than in the kitchen.”

  Honestly, why did he have to say things like that when Madison was within hearing distance?

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his hips against the counter. “We’ve worked hard. Why don’t you girls call it a day?” Jack asked.

  “Because we still have a lot to unpack, things to put away, a need to get settled in,” Kelley explained. She hated having a half-done feeling.

  He looked over at Madison as though he knew any argument with Kelley was futile. “There’s a dance club in town. The Broken Wagon. One Saturday a month, they put away the booze, have a live band fire up some hip music, and only allow kids under thirty through the doors. Just our luck, tonight’s the night.” Grinning at Madison, he jerked his head toward Kelley. “Think we can scrounge up a fake ID for your sister?”

  Manipulative. Bossy. Domineering. Kelley could think of a hundred unflattering adjectives to throw Jack’s way as she sat on a hard wooden chair near the railing that separated the dance floor from the surrounding tables. She could also think of a few flattering adjectives that applied: undeniably handsome, sexy as sin, considerate.

  It was the last one that was the most dangerous. With Madison as his ally, he’d managed to wheedle Kelley into agreeing to go to the Broken Wagon. He’d walked out her door with the warning that they had an hour to get ready.

  Amid giggles and anticipation, she and Madison had scrambled to prepare themselves for the evening. Kelley ha
d even broken down and applied makeup. Not as much as Madison, of course, and she’d left her hair its natural color, unlike Madison, who had tinted the tips green.

  When Jack had returned with punctuality, he was obviously freshly showered and shaven, wearing tight jeans and probably the closest thing he had to a dress shirt—a starched blue cambric shirt.

  As far as Kelley was concerned, one of the nicest things about small Texas towns was that getting dressed up still meant going casual.

  They’d arrived at the Broken Wagon in high spirits, with everyone anticipating the evening. Even Madison had seemed enthusiastic about spending time at the honky-tonk. She’d laughed with total abandon at Jack’s melodramatic attempt to sneak Kelley through the door as though he really believed they wouldn’t let her in because she was thirty-one. It was so seldom she heard Madison laugh lately that Kelley had taken great delight in the sound.

  Sitting beside Madison and across from Jack, Kelley was becoming increasingly aware, though, that Madison was obviously beginning to wish she were somewhere else. Having grown skilled at recognizing the signs of discontent, Kelley sometimes thought keeping Madison happy was an impossible task.

  “I thought you said the music was hip,” Madison grumbled.

  The band, touting itself as the Outlaws, was a group of youngsters, all dressed in black shirts, black jeans, and black cowboy hats. The older guys were all in need of a shave. They had two lead singers, a male and a female, as though they couldn’t quite decide if they wanted to be Tim McGraw or Faith Hill. The lead singers alternated most of the songs between them, occasionally singing a duet. Kelley thought they were really quite talented, but she couldn’t imagine many talent scouts passing through Hopeful. Still, she supposed a person needed to start somewhere, and the Broken Wagon certainly drew a large, enthusiastic, appreciative crowd. Kelley understood now why Jack had wanted to get there early. There was barely any room to move.

  “That’s a Clay Walker song. Very modern,” Jack told Madison. “Any other Saturday, you’ll be entertained with the great songs of Hank Williams and Waylon Jennings.” Grinning, winking at Kelley, he brought his frosty mug of root beer to his lips.