Charm School After Dark: Lesson 1

by Lynn Carmer

  She’d promised him nothing, yet he’d given her everything.

  Caelen stepped forward, directly behind Dare, and the ranting lunatic hadn’t even noticed. She placed a soft hand against his shoulder and his bunched muscles loosened, just a bit. Still, she said nothing.

  “I can’t believe you dated this prick.”

  Caelen sighed long and low. “I need to talk to him.”

  Her statement was like a spike to the chest. “No.”

  “Alone, Goldie.”

  “No.”

  Come on.”

  He didn’t care that he had no claim. He didn’t care that they had a temporary agreement, he would not leave her alone with this asshole. What if he hurt her? What if he made her cry again? His chest became tight. What if she picks him over you, an insidious whisper skittered through his brain.

  Just like Janie.

  “Caelen. Finally.” The moron looked like he was about to launch into another rant, but then caught himself. Cue the smarmy smile. “Baby. I’ve been trying to reach you. This…” he gestured toward Dare, and Dare couldn’t resist leaning menacingly forward. He jumped back. “Guy wouldn’t let me in.” Victor’s neck was bulging, blue-green veins pulsing with agitation. “I need to talk to you.”

  Caleen stepped back and damn if Dare didn’t feel the loss of her soft palm. It made his Goddamn chest hurt.

  “Goldie, I need to talk to him. And then after, I need to talk to you.”

  Not gonna look back. Not gonna do it. Now who was the coward? Caelen’s softly spoken request cut him in half, because he didn’t know what it meant. Talk to him and then follow it up with the breakup, the deathblow? He just didn’t have the balls to turn around and try to gauge the answer from her expression. So he stepped to the side and let her pass.

  *

  DON’T PANIC.

  Too late. Before her was a living, breathing nightmare. Dare and Victor, face to face, both men pissed and ready to brawl. Not that it would be a competition. Dare would wipe the floor with Victor. Tear him limb from limb. But he’d hate himself afterward. Once again, her stupidity was hurting the people she loved most.

  All she could concentrate on was getting rid of Victor and talking to Dare. She walked past quickly, but before she spoke to her ex, she glanced back at Dare. He looked like a stone soldier, arms folded, muscles bunched, his face set in harsh lines. But his eyes? They were alive. She was lost to the intensity of the emotion. God, he was pissed. But so, so beautiful in his intensity.

  Caelen blinked, realizing that he was… dressed up. A crisp, white button-down shirt was tucked into charcoal slacks that hugged his muscular thighs. His hair was styled, sweeping off the front of his face. His clean-shaven face highlighted the strong jaw and killer dimples. “You look… amazing,” she breathed.

  A slight shrug was his only reply. He wouldn’t look at her, instead he kept his calm, intent gaze locked on Victor.

  This is not good. “Dare, I promise I will talk to you right after this. And wait. Shoot! I forgot about—Well, there’s another situation I have to handle in Ms. Belle’s office. But I promise, right after that, you and I will talk. Okay? Just give us a minute.”

  “Goddamn it, Caelen. I’m standing right here, and you haven’t even looked at me.”

  Caelen spun around, realizing Victor was right; she hadn’t looked at him. And now she did. For the first time, in the harsh light of the afternoon sun, she really saw the man she thought she had wanted to marry. Handsome, with graying temples and eyes with smile lines on the side, he looked petulant. With flowers and a Tiffany bag in tow, he presented like an impeccably dressed conman, ready to manipulate the situation to his advantage.

  It was a side of him he’d shown her before, but she’d always made excuses for him, told herself it wasn’t the real him. Now she knew, if she chose to go back to Victor, this would be her future. The idea of it scared the shit out of her, and with a final snip the tenuous threads that’d connected them snapped and fluttered away.

  Again, she looked to Dare and tried one more time. “Give us a minute. I’ll be right in.”

  Dare looked disgusted, but after a long pause, he turned toward the large door.

  “You don’t have to explain anything to him! Who the hell is this guy, anyway?” Victor asked.

  Caelen made it down the last step, scowling at Victor who was now focused on Dare, probably because Dare was leaving. All of a sudden, he’d gotten real brave. “He’s none of your business.”

  “None of my business? Why are you acting like this? Does it have something to do with him?” His eyes narrowed, and he looked from one to the other. “Are you fucking him? Are you fucking this piece of shit?”

  The rest happened simultaneously in hyper speed and super slow motion. Dare spun and was down the steps in seconds, ready to beat the life out of Victor. He, in turn, took a few steps back, but was unprepared for the assault, tripping on his own feet in his haste to get away. Caelen, on the other hand, felt like she was moving through molasses with a really tight dress on. All she knew was she had to stop Dare, had to stop him from ruining the rest of his life.

  “No. Stop!” Caelen half-shuffled, half-ran and right before Dare would have been up in Victor’s face, she took a running jump, pell-mell, straight into Dare’s arms.

  Luckily, he was strong. He took the brunt of the force, wrapping steely arms around her as he stumbled backwards, tripping on the middle step, and falling flat on his ass with Caelen in his arms.

  At this point, everybody was on the ground.

  All of them were slightly out of breath. Dare looked over her shoulder, pulverizing Victor with his eyes as he said to her, “Still protecting the moron?”

  “Moron? That’s the best you can come up with, huh?” Caelen took his face in her hands. “Listen to me, you idiot. He’s nobody. I’m not going to let you throw your life away for him. You promised you wouldn’t hit him.”

  Dare flicked a dismissive glance toward Victor. “I wouldn’t have until he started disrespecting you.”

  “Once again, I am right fucking here. I won’t be ignored!” Victor shouted as he awkwardly jumped to his feet.

  Neither of them paid him any attention. “Goldie, I’m trying to get rid of him. How can I prove that?”

  Finally, Dare swung his gaze away from Victor and concentrated on her lips. “Kiss me.”

  “What? Right here? Right now?”

  “Yeah. Right now.”

  Caelen knew the request was some sort of macho move that only Victor and Dare understood. They might as well whip out rulers and start measuring dick size. But she was so happy that Dare was still seated that she didn’t even care. Leaning forward, she whispered, “I think you had your one kiss for the day, but I will make an exception in this case.” Instead of going in deep, she settled her lips against Dare’s, reveling in the warmth, sinking further into his arms.

  “You feel so good.” Dare breathed into her mouth.

  Victor continued to spew profanities in the background, and right smack in the middle of the softest kiss of her life, Victor said two words that he couldn’t come back from.

  “Fucking cunt.”

  Dare didn’t utter a word. His muscles tensed, and Caelen grabbed his face again. “No. No. Enough. He’s just goading you.”

  “He can’t talk to you like that!” His voice roared. He stood, deposited her next to him on the steps and moved quickly toward Victor.

  The color in Victor’s face seemed to drop to his feet—he was as white as a ghost. He backed up, quickly, and actually started running away.

  “Goddamn it! Don’t make me chase you, you son of a…”

  “I am calling the fucking cops! Stay the fuck away from me!” Victor called over his shoulder, his phone glued to his ear.

  Caelen launched forward and grabbed onto the back of Dare’s crisp shirt. She held for dear life as she pleaded, “Please don’t fight because of me. I’m not totally innocent in all of this. He’ll sue you, me
, the school. He doesn’t care. And if he does that, it’ll be all my fault.” Her breath caught in her throat. “I’m not worth it.”

  He spun around, his fists still bunched. His eyes… The heat, the fury in them was enough to make a girl faint. “You’re worth everything,” he whispered fiercely, his voice raw with emotion. “Everything.”

  His words made her toes curl. She wanted to fling her arms around him, and kiss him ’til the rest of the world dropped away. Instead, they stared at each other, in front of Ms. Belle’s school, one second passing, and then two… Victor cursed, breaking the spell.

  Finally she said, “Okay, let go. I have to fix things.”

  “You’re the one holding onto me.”

  Caelen glanced down, realizing her hands were still bunched up in his shirt. “Oh, sorry.” The whole moment was so ridiculous, she burst into manic laughter.

  “For God’s sake, Caelen. Are you really going to ignore me? I rearranged my whole life for you, I left my—”

  Caelen froze. He was going to say it. He was going to crush the only chance she had with Dare.

  The door swung open and Brynn peeked out, cutting through Victor’s rant. “Caelen, we need you. The shit’s hitting the fan in here.” She didn’t stick around, didn’t ask who Victor was, didn’t ask why they were in front of the steps, and Victor was halfway down the street. This was bad.

  “Let’s go.” Caelen said to Dare, willing him back inside.

  He sent one last scowl toward Victor, his hands on his hips as if contemplating what to do. Finally, he moved up the steps.

  “Dare, just—Just remember, right after this mess is resolved, we’re talking. Right?”

  “Caelen.” Victor whined again.

  Caelen ascended the steps, pushing Dare ahead of her and into the house. Just as he crossed the threshold, she grabbed the heavy door with two hands, and shut it quickly. She spun around and confronted Victor. In a hushed but heated voice, she said, “Don’t you dare say you left your wife because of me. You did it for yourself. I don’t ever want to see you again. I really hope you did sign those papers, because your lovely wife and kids deserve better. And, oh yeah, I am fucking him, and his dick is amazing.”

  Victor looked both crestfallen and shocked to the core. She knew it wouldn’t last, and she needed a little leverage. “I have no interest in causing you any trouble, but you know I have access to every important contact you’ve ever had, including the board. If you so much as look in my direction, or anyone I love, I start talking about our affair, about personal memos, about hidden expense accounts. That’s right, I know everything. Just forget you ever knew me. ’Kay? Bye.”

  Caelen didn’t spare another second for Victor. Time to move on. The school needed her now, and if she was really going to make this her career, she was going to have to get rid of Ms. Belle’s crazy grandson.

  She had no time for old news like Vic the Dick.

  Searching the foyer for Dare as she made her way to Mr. Brown’s office, Caelen spotted him hustling Ms. Hattie and the usual gang quickly down the corridor, toward Ms. Belle’s office.

  “Don’t forget you promised to talk to me after this whole mess is over,” Caelen called down the hall.

  He shot her a look that made her thighs tighten as he escorted Ms. Scarlett down the hall. “I won’t forget. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  Panic assailed Caelen once again. She didn’t need Dare in the same room with The Devil. She’d end up facing the same problem she’d just solved a few minutes ago. “Why don’t you just handle Ms. Hattie and The Ladies, and I’ll take care of this mess.”

  “No.”

  So much for diplomacy. It never worked with this man. “Do not start, Dare. I mean it! I will handle this…” a well-timed curse word floated from Mr. Brown’s office, probably from Athena, “situation. I need you for backup. What if someone comes to the front door? What if some of the customers show up early?”

  Dare was almost to the end of the hall. “I will be in that room. Try and stop me.”

  Oooh! That man. A tingle went down her spine. That stubborn, stubborn man. She might just have a chance to make him hers. For the first time in this crazy week, she felt optimistic. “You have to promise you’ll let us handle it.”

  He started to shake his head.

  “Dare, please. We have to show him we can stand up to him on our own.” Her soft voice was imploring. “No interfering.”

  “All right. But if he even takes one step toward any of you…”

  “I know, I know. I don’t think that’ll be a problem. He doesn’t look the type. Just remember, no fighting!”

  He didn’t bother to answer and disappeared around the corner.

  Chapter 32

  ‡

  CAELEN TURNED AND made a dash toward the room. She had to shove Dare to the back of her mind; the school was her number one priority. No way would some random grandson, no matter how pretty he was, be allowed to steal her and her sisters’ inheritance.

  The door opened onto utter chaos. Everyone stood exactly where she’d left them. Athena leaning over the desk, Brynn observing in the corner, and Dacey pacing back and forth across the room.

  Athena had her hand up with her famous ‘I’m so pissed I’m going to get up all in your face’ finger ready to go. “You take even one step, you even breathe in our direction, and I take you out. Understand?” Great. Not again. The idiot in front of her was going to get himself killed. Athena was no joke. She’d taken martial art classes for years; she could kick some serious ass.

  “What are you talking about? I haven’t moved an inch from behind this desk.” The Devil threw his hands up in total exasperation.

  “What is going on here? Since when is violence the answer? I already had to calm Dare down—”

  “Why? What happened?” Dacey’s hazel gaze zeroed in on Caelen, as if she could sense something had gone down. It was a sacred gift that all four sisters held, but “the force” was strongest in the youngest. The ability to ferret out all forms of drama, gossip, and all-around shit-talking.

  Caelen couldn’t resist giving them just a taste, because now all three sisters were looking her over.

  “Well, I had a certain visitor that we’d been discussing earlier…” She let the sentence trail off dramatically.

  “Holy shit!”

  “It was him, wasn’t it?”

  “I knew he’d show up. Didn’t I say he’d show?”

  “Can you believe it? And Dare answered the door!” Caelen couldn’t resist adding the last piece of information, which was the icing on the cake.

  All three sisters screamed simultaneously.

  “It’s official. You’re all bat-shit crazy. You need to be admitted to hospital for serious psychiatric evaluation. Thank God, I am saving my grandmother’s charm school. How in the hell would the four of you be able to teach manners, decorum? You can’t even hold a conversation longer than five minutes.” The man was truly verklempt. He had not one clue on how to handle the Calvo Quads.

  “Oh, honey. Manners, decorum? Ms. Belle was way beyond etiquette. You have a lot to learn,” Brynn said with her usual dry humor. All four sisters peeled into laughter.

  “I have had enough.” He reached for his bag and started to come around the desk.

  “Ah, ah, ah. What did I say about moving?” Athena launched back into pointing mode.

  “Are you trying to insinuate I’d hurt a woman? I wouldn’t waste my breath. I deal in information, and I have more than enough to take the four of you down. I even have information on your watchdog back there; I suggest you tread carefully.”

  Caelen glanced back and yelped when she saw Dare leaning casually against the door, a deep scowl on his face. She hadn’t even heard him come in. Thank God, no one had mentioned the married thing. The idea of it infuriated her. She was sick of the lies, sick of the deception. She needed to talk to Dare soon; the guilt was eating her up from the inside out. So she focused her fury on the moving target
at the front of the room. “Don’t call him that! He’s a firefighter, braver than you could ever be. And he’s the best guy I know. Plus, he’s…” she said with a grand flourish, her only chance at true love. Her mind blanked after the explosive thought popped in her brain. “He’s—He’s—”

  “A national treasure?”

  “Almost as hot as you.”

  “A badass that’s going to make you cry like a baby.”

  Dare chuckled softly at the sisters’ descriptions, but didn’t respond. Instead, he kept a steady gaze on The Devil.

  “Yeah! Except for the violent one. No more fighting.” Caelen placed her hands on her hips and directed her comment to Dare.

  “If he lays a hand on me, I’ll have his ass in jail faster than he can blink,” Willem stated, a now all too familiar refrain.

  Not again. Weren’t there any real men left? Dare scowled and shook his head, as if he’d heard her thoughts. Caelen knew exactly what he was thinking, Pussy.

  “Not if we insist it was self-defense. He has four witnesses willing to testify, in court, on his behalf. Even Dacey, who seems to think you’re better than sliced bread, would defend Dare,” Athena announced with a smirk.

  “You think I’m better than sliced bread?” The Devil paused, a perplexed half-frown on his face.

  “Yes.” Dacey bounced on her feet, a smile as bright as the sun plastered on her face.

  “But you would testify against me? Lie about me?”

  “In a heartbeat.” She nodded slowly, but her smile never faltered. “That’s how crazy loyal I am. You might want to take note of that outstanding character trait for when we start dating.”

  “When we—You can’t—” He threw his hands in the air. “This is a madhouse. I don’t have time for this.”

  “Good. Get out.” This from Caelen, not Athena.

  “Not before I make you understand. I want this school, and I have the means to take it.”

  “Dacey?” Caelen asked as she moved closer toward the front of the room.