Rumor Has It (An Animal Magnetism Novel)

by Shalvis, Jill

  Holly.

  She was wearing a vistor’s pass, which was no doubt thanks to Ryan. Holly and Adam had only taken a few days off. Brady, Adam’s helicopter pilot brother, had flown them to Coeur d’Alene for a lux stay at a resort hotel, but it was high season at Belle Haven and even though they’d hired on new vet Dr. Wyatt to help, business was booming, leaving a real honeymoon slated for early fall.

  Holly had enjoyed her little trip if her glowing complexion was any indicator. She gave a finger wave to the class, who knew her from visits to the animal center.

  Kate moved toward her. “Everyone say hi to Ms. Reid— Actually, she’s Mrs. Connelly now.”

  “Hi, Mrs. Connelly,” the kids said in varying degrees of unison.

  Holly beamed. “Hi, everyone. I just need to borrow Ms. Evans for a minute.”

  Every seven- and eight-year-old in the class had lost their train of thought at the sight of her, hoping she had an animal with her. Which she didn’t. Unfortunately, Kate really needed to keep them on task because they were running behind today. She took the time to lean into Holly for a quick hug and baby rub on her still flat belly. “I’m so happy to see you,” she said, “but we’re on a super-tight schedule today.”

  “Okay, but this is . . .” Holly lowered her voice. “Muy importante.”

  “That means very important,” Tommy said out loud, translating for everyone.

  “How do you even know that, freak?” Dustin asked.

  Tommy shrugged and went back to his coloring.

  “Dustin,” Kate said, making sure her temper didn’t show. “What happens when we call someone a name?”

  He put down his crayon, stood up, and walked to the back of the room to the chair facing the wall. He plopped on it and sprawled out like he didn’t care that he’d been singled out.

  Which Kate knew to be true.

  What she didn’t know was why. Dustin knew the rules, knew the consequences. And they both knew something else, that if he didn’t pass today’s spelling test, he wouldn’t be allowed to play in his travel team’s tournament this weekend.

  Why didn’t he care?

  The answer to that wasn’t at all reassuring. She glanced at Tommy, who was ignoring the entire situation, and then shook her head at Holly.

  She really didn’t have time for this now.

  “It’ll only take a second,” Holly promised.

  Kate sighed. There was no deterring Holly when she sank her teeth into something, though Kate couldn’t imagine what she was all worked up about. She’d just spent several days alone with Adam, one of the sexiest men on the entire planet. “Can this wait until recess?”

  “No, I have to get to work.” Holly helped run her father’s ranching empire with the precision of a drill sergeant and the care of a den mother. She was good at her job, and doing it in a man’s world had made her tough. Few crossed Holly.

  Kate loved her like a sister, but even she didn’t cross Holly. So she glanced back at the class. “Keep practicing,” she told them. “Don’t leave your seats.” She met Holly’s gaze. “So what’s up?”

  “I was thinking you might tell me.”

  Kate knew that tone, and she went still. She had no idea how, but Holly knew something had happened between her and Griffin. Luckily, she had no way of knowing what exactly—

  “Rumor has it,” Holly said, “that you slept with my brother.”

  Okay, scratch that. Holly knew everything. Kate took another glance over her shoulder at the kids. Of course not a single one of them was paying her the slightest bit of attention. Dammit. Where was a crisis when she needed one? Mikey had been pulling Nina’s hair all damn day, but was he doing it now? No, he was sitting in his seat like a perfect little angel, tongue between his teeth, brow furrowed in concentration, actually doing as she’d asked, practicing his spelling.

  Even Dustin had settled down and was taking his time-out with surprising grace.

  “How did this happen?” Holly asked.

  Kate could give her the whole chemistry lesson or tell her the simple truth—it should have been just a harmless kiss, but as it turned out, there was no such thing as harmless as it pertained to Griffin. But she doubted his sister wanted to know that.

  “Ms. Evans?” Scott called from the front row. “Can I give Bunny some more water? He looks thirsty.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kate whispered to Holly. “I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

  “Honey, this isn’t about me. It’s about you, and I’m worried. Grif’s only here for the week, or however long the fancy strikes him. You know that, right? Tell me you know that.”

  “I know that.”

  “He’s not your picket-fence guy.”

  “I know that, too,” Kate said, even though the words sent a little stab of pain into her chest.

  “And it’s not like I’m not happy you’re getting laid . . .”

  “Ohmigod,” Kate said, feeling her face flush. “I can’t believe this is ‘muy importante.’”

  “I had to make sure you were okay.”

  Holly could have no idea how much that meant to Kate, but the fact was that Kate had never been better. She glanced down at the tug on her sweater. Scott. “Yes, you can give Bunny some water.”

  The boy beamed and ran to the bunny cage on the counter that ran along the classroom windows.

  Kate let out a breath and met Holly’s gaze. “So how did you find out?”

  “Adam took one look at Grif and could tell he’d gotten lucky,” Holly said.

  “He could’ve been with anyone,” Kate said. “How did you know it was me?”

  Holly gave her a get-real look. “You’re the only one he’s bothered with since he got here.”

  This gave Kate a little frisson of pleasure.

  “And you need to look in the mirror once in a while,” Holly said. “A guy would be crazy not to want you.” She paused. “But also, I know because I talked to him.”

  Kate’s heart stopped as she imagined how that conversation must have gone, what with Holly’s interfering ways and Griffin’s ability to be silent until the end of time. “You did?”

  “Actually, I hit him.”

  “You what?”

  “Hey, it was my sisterly duty,” Holly said. “Don’t worry, I didn’t hurt him too badly.”

  “You talked to Griffin,” Kate repeated, mortified.

  “Well, as much as you can actually talk to Grif. He’s not exactly a conversationalist.”

  Kate closed her eyes. This was true. Griffin wasn’t a big talker. But there were other ways to communicate, and he had those ways down.

  “Ms. Evans?” Scott was back at her side. “Bunny’s got a problem.”

  “What is it?”

  “You know how he was a little fat? Well, he’s not so fat now. I think he’s hungry. Can I feed him?”

  “Yes, but don’t touch him until I get there, okay?”

  “’Kay.”

  “And don’t lick!”

  “’Kay.”

  Holly looked shocked. “Lick?” she whispered.

  “Long story,” Kate said. “Don’t ask.”

  Holly shook her head. “Thank God I’m not a teacher.” She took Kate’s hand. “I love you,” she said. “You know that. And I want you to be happy. But I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “I’m not. I won’t.”

  “Kate—”

  “I seduced him, Hol.” Kate closed her eyes and then opened them. “It was all me. I knew what I was doing. I just wanted the one night, that was it. It’s done. And we’re good.”

  “It’s . . . done?”

  “Yep.” Done. Well, except for that chemistry problem.

  “And you’re okay?” Holly asked softly. “Really?”

  “Really.” Except . . . she didn’t have any idea how
to get over the memory of being with him. She hadn’t had any idea at all that their night would literally move heaven and earth for her, that her soul would be woken up, that her body could hum like that. She hadn’t known any of it, but even if she had, she’d still have done it.

  Holly sighed and hugged her hard.

  “I’m so happy you’re back,” Kate said.

  “Even though I yelled at you in a whisper?”

  “Even though.”

  Holly squeezed her hand. “You know, if you’d asked me, he’s not who I’d have picked for you.”

  Kate nodded. “I know.”

  Holly stared at her for a long moment. “But I’d have been wrong. He thinks he’s an island. He’s certainly always been a rock. For me. My mom. Everyone.”

  Kate nodded. She knew this, too. She’d seen this.

  “But he’s never had anyone be his rock.” She smiled. “Be his rock, Kate.”

  “Ms. Evans!”

  Scott again. He was back at her side, cradling a lump of something in the front of his sweatshirt. “Scott, I told you not to touch.”

  “Not touching. Carrying.” He revealed his precious cargo.

  Three bunny babies.

  “Bunny multiplied!” he said joyously.

  Kate met Holly’s amused glance. “Really have to go now.”

  * * *

  By the end of the day, Dell had come by to check on the bunnies, and Kate had arranged homes for them when they were old enough to be separated from Bunny.

  And she’d nearly recovered from the fact that people knew she’d slept with Griffin.

  Nearly, but not quite

  All she had left now were parent conferences. There had been four of them each day after school all week long. Today the first one was with Dustin’s parents.

  Emily Anders was divorced from Trevan so the meeting was tense from the start. They sat at the art table. Trevan’s arms were crossed over his chest, his jaw tight, everything about him and his expensive suit saying, Pissed-off male.

  Kate did her best to put them at ease. “Dustin’s doing extremely well in math and science.” She handed them Dustin’s progress report.

  Trevan’s jaw bunched as he looked it over. “You’re aware that in order to play in his travel league, Dustin needs to maintain a certain grade level.”

  “Yes.”

  “So why did you give him a D in spelling?”

  “That’s what he earned.”

  Trevan gave her an intimidating stare that Kate refused to let get to her.

  “This will take him out of tournament play until the next grading period,” he said.

  “His homework and test scores are below grade average,” Kate said. “I’ve been offering to help after school, but you’ve turned that help down.”

  Emily turned to her ex. “Is that true?”

  Trevan ignored her and stared at Kate. “You know he has daily baseball practice for his travel league. It’s extensive and time-consuming.”

  “Oh my God,” Emily said. “Are you kidding me? He’s eight. I’ve told you a million times, you’re putting too much pressure on him.”

  Kate agreed. “School is important, too, Mr. Anders.”

  “So is this,” he said, voice low, vibrating with temper now. “He has to do better.”

  “Yes, he does,” Kate said. “Or he’s going to miss our next few field trips, one of which is tomorrow. He’s going home with some extra credit tonight. You could help—”

  “Or you could help by taking some of this ridiculous pressure off,” Trevan said. “It’s second grade for crissake.”

  “Second grade is important,” Kate said. “But my offer of tutoring is still open.”

  “My tax dollars pay you to teach him in the amount of time you have,” Trevan said.

  “You often taken him out early,” Kate reminded him. “And he misses valuable class time.”

  Emily gasped. “Trevan, we agreed that you would no longer do that!”

  Trevan’s face remained cool and blank, but pure temper sparked in his eyes. He’d slipped up, and he clearly blamed Kate for making that public.

  Emily drew a deep breath, and ignoring her ex now, she spoke directly to Kate. “You’ve been very generous with your time. We’re grateful.” She rose and gave Trevan an expectant look.

  Grim-faced, he rose, too. “Teaching is your job, Ms. Evans. Not the school play or Bingo Night or running through the park feeding all the bums. My job is parenting. You do your job and I’ll do mine.” And then he left the classroom without another word.

  Kate let out a breath.

  “I’d apologize for him,” Emily said into the silence, “but I no longer have to do that.”

  Kate smiled and did her best to shrug it off. “I know it’s not easy to hear your child needs extra help.”

  “No. But you’re a lot kinder than I could ever be,” Emily said, and left.

  Kate didn’t feel kind. She felt a little shaken, a feeling that didn’t improve when she called for the next parents to come into her classroom for their conference and saw that among the others waiting for her was Griffin, wearing a guest tag in what she recognized as Ryan’s handwriting, complete with a smiley face alongside his name.

  Eighteen

  Grif questioned his sanity while waiting in the hallway of the elementary school for Kate. He’d had breakfast with Adam and Dell then spent the day working on the ranch with his dad.

  It had been a good day. A damn good day. And he had no idea the last time he could have said that about a day with his dad.

  He had things he could be doing and absolutely no business waiting here for a woman who’d already gotten what she wanted from him.

  But there was something niggling at him. His sister had gotten into his head. She’d accused him of taking advantage of Kate, and now he kept thinking about that.

  Kate had promised she was fine, had even joked about their chemistry still being a problem, but was she really okay? She wasn’t a one-night sort of woman, and now he was wondering if maybe she was just pretending all was good just to assuage his guilt. Maybe . . . maybe she was secretly pining away for him.

  He watched yet another parent come out of her classroom. It had been some sort of parent-kid afternoon, and he’d seen the way Kate handled herself and others.

  Effortlessly.

  Every single kid got a kind word. Every parent the same. Never a lack of patience or an awkward moment.

  Nope, she only exhibited those particular personality traits with him.

  Which for some reason made him like her even more. He looked at his watch. She’d been on her feet all day. That had to be exhausting. And doing it while dealing with kids . . . well, that was Grif’s very own definition of hell.

  But she didn’t look strained. She looked . . . sexy and adorable in yet another colorful cargo skirt, cardigan sweater, and leggings. Her hair was up, prim and proper today, and she was apologizing to one of the parents for having to wait to speak to her.

  Grif watched as the parents filed out with smiles on their faces, each thinking that their kid was the shit. It couldn’t possibly be true, but Kate made them believe it.

  “You didn’t like school much, did you?”

  Grif looked down at Tommy. The kid was wearing jeans that were slightly too big on his scrawny frame so that when he walked, he had to hitch them up or lose them. One of his battered sneakers was untied. And in complete opposition to the bedraggled, vulnerable appearance he gave off, his hoodie featured the Incredible Hulk in all his green fierceness.

  “I like school,” Tommy said.

  This surprised Grif, given that Tommy never seemed to actually be interacting with anyone other than himself. “You do?”

  “Yeah. The library’s full of books, and you can pick whatever you want. And there�
�s Internet on the computers in there so I can play games. Words with Friends is my favorite. I’d rather play on a cell phone, but my dad says I can’t have a cell phone yet, so I play it on my iPod Touch when I’m at home.” He shrugged. “And I like the brownies. And Mrs. Hinkle. She’s the cafeteria lady. She doesn’t make me eat my veggies if I don’t wanna.”

  Grif nodded. “That’s a most excellent cafeteria lady.”

  “You don’t like veggies either?” the kid asked, tilting his head up. As he did, his hood fell back.

  There was a bruise under his left eye, and it looked new. “When I was your age,” Grif said, “I used to sneak my veggies to the dog beneath the table until I got caught.”

  “You get in trouble?”

  “Always.” It was the truth. Holly could have murdered someone and gotten away with it, but Grif had lived on his father’s shit list. It was just a matter of how far up or down on the list he was at any given point. “How about you?” he asked. “You get in trouble?” He paused. “Maybe today?”

  Tommy went still then pulled his hood back up over his head. “No. I don’t really get into trouble very much.”

  “Maybe someone caused you some trouble, then.”

  Tommy didn’t answer that one. Instead he walked down the hallway and out to the playground.

  Grif went with him and then crouched down to look into Tommy’s face. “He bothering you?”

  “No.”

  “Tommy.”

  Tommy looked away. “I hit him first,” he whispered.

  This shocked Grif into a short laugh. “Yeah?”

  “He was picking on Gwendolyn. She’s in my class. He told her that her dad works for his dad and is a complete loser and that so was she. I looked for an adult like we’re supposed to, but there was no one.”

  “And?”

  “And Dustin was still too close to her, so . . . I pushed him, and then his elbow hit me in the eye when he went down.”

  “That was nice of you to stick up for your friend.”

  “No man left behind,” Tommy recited. “Even if it’s a girl, right?”

  “Right,” Grif said.

  Tommy nodded, then nibbled on his lower lip, pride gone, replaced by unhappiness. “He cried,” he whispered. “He tried to hide it, but I saw.”