Covert Lessons

by Mari Carr

  “Do you?” he asked hotly. “Do you really? Because from where I’m standing it seems to me you’d be very happy to see this investigation fail.”

  “That’s not true,” she retorted. “I don’t like the underhanded way you’re going about it, but I do realize the need for change. I don’t like my students being in danger and I’m perfectly aware of the fact that gangs are dangerous. Hell, I broke up two fights just last week outside my classroom door! I’m not an idiot.”

  At his deepening scowl, she feared her words weren’t soothing his temper at all. “What do you mean you broke up two fights?”

  She was taken aback by the quick change of topic. “Verbal altercations and a little shoving. Not fights, really.”

  “Well, you won’t be doing that again.”

  She was appalled by the man’s conceit. Surely he didn’t think he could solve all the school’s problems in one day? “Well excuse me, Mighty Miracle Worker, but I hardly think you can claim there won’t be any more fights simply because you’re in the building.”

  “Oh there are bound to be more fights, but you won’t be breaking them up. Good God, woman, what were you thinking? Tiny thing like you? You could have been hurt.”

  She was confused by his immediate about-face. One minute he was yelling at her for nearly blowing his cover and the next he was yelling at her for endangering herself. Infuriating, frustrating man. Anxious to recover the upper hand, she dismissed his words with a shrug of her shoulder. “It’s part of the job. Besides, as I recall, you were brought here to put an end to gangs taking over the hallways, not to act as my personal bodyguard. If trouble starts up again, I’ll step in.”

  He leaned toward her as a smile she immediately distrusted claimed his handsome face. “Perhaps it’s time for us to establish some ground rules.”

  “Rules?” His lips hovered mere inches from hers. The temperature in the small book room shot up and she fought the impulse to fan herself.

  “You’re a teacher.” He moved even closer, although she wasn’t sure how that was possible given the fact that it already felt as if he were taking up every available square inch of the room. “No doubt you have rules in your classroom and consequences if those rules are broken. That might be a good idea for us as well.”

  “Fine,” she choked out. “Rule one, you can’t keep—!”

  He interrupted her. “Oh no, sweetheart. You misunderstand. I make the rules.”

  Fury rippled through her at the thought of Mac attempting to impose a bunch of rules on her. Did the pompous male chauvinist pig actually think she would consent to such foolishness?

  “You can kiss my ass if you think—”

  “Careful, Kelly, you might not want to give me that particular permission. You see, there’s nothing I’d like so much as to kiss your…” He reached back to envelop her rear end in his strong hands, letting his fingers fill in the blanks.

  “Get your hands off me!” She was shocked by the liberties he was taking. And in the English office, first thing in the morning. “Someone could walk in!”

  Rather than removing his hands, he started lightly stroking her buttocks through her dress slacks. “So you wouldn’t mind me doing this if there weren’t a chance we’d get caught?”

  “God.” She drove both her fists against his rock-hard chest. “You are the most annoying, irritating man I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet!”

  Taking his hands away from her bottom, he smiled and moved them up until he gripped the shelf of the bookcase right above her shoulders. “You played with fire yesterday, Kelly, and now I think it’s important you realize how dangerous that was.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t you?” He leaned forward and, taking her earlobe in his teeth, he nipped lightly. “We had a name for a girl like you when I went to high school. A cock-tease.”

  Offended by his words and insult to her reputation, she started to protest, but he bit her ear again, this time hard enough to sting.

  “Rule one,” he whispered as his tongue dabbed the sore spot briefly. “The next time you undress me with those sexy eyes or tease me with that husky voice, I’m going to give you exactly what you’re asking for. Rule two, if those lovely lips of yours call me ‘lieutenant’ again, I’m going to fill them up so you can’t speak at all. And rule three, if you put yourself in danger and attempt to break up another fight, I will turn you over my knee and spank that lovely ass of yours, then I’ll take you up on your invitation and kiss it better. Understand?”

  She was overwhelmed by his powerful words. She knew she should be appalled by his rough treatment, yet she was incredibly turned-on. God help her, what did that make her? She wasn’t some weak-willed woman who let a man order her around and yet, the idea of taking orders from Mac in the bedroom made her so hot and bothered she could barely breathe. The temperature in the damn book room must have been pushing at least a hundred and ten.

  When she failed to respond, he pushed away from her and looked at her face. “I said, do you understand, Kelly?”

  Gathering her wits about her, she replied with as much strength as she could muster. “I’m not one of your subordinates, Lieu—”

  His lips devoured the rest of her words as he demonstrated exactly how he intended to silence her. His tongue thrust inside her mouth, exploring and touching. She swayed slightly and secretly relished the feeling of his arms wrapping around her waist to steady her. He was pure muscle and, for the first time in a long time, she felt a true spark of desire run through her. She’d never met such a virile, powerful man. She’d given up thinking guys like Mac even existed. So many of her failed dates had been with weak-minded men who constantly waited for her to make the first move.

  The sound of the bell ringing brought her back to her senses and she managed to push him away and escape the small room. Thankfully, no one else was in the larger outer office—they would have known in a second what she’d been up to with her new student teacher in the book room. Her face was flushed and as she ran her tongue across her lips, she could feel an unfamiliar puffiness there. She didn’t look back at him as she spoke over her shoulder.

  “I think you’ll find I have a definite problem with following rules, Mr. McNally.” She walked out the door toward her classroom.

  Unfortunately, before she could make good on her getaway, she clearly heard Mac mutter, “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  Chapter Three

  Mac followed his sexy, sassy teacher to her room, admiring the way her pert ass swayed as she walked. Actually, stalked might be a better word. Obviously he’d pissed her off with his list of rules. He couldn’t quite believe he’d issued them, but something about the uptight Ms. Finch told him she was dying for a man to take charge and he had very little doubt he was just the man for the job.

  As soon as he’d discovered which teacher’s classroom he would be working in, he had done a little reconnaissance work and learned everything he could about the illustrious Kelly Finch. Given the fact she was a hometown girl, there weren’t many folks who didn’t know at least a bit about the feisty teacher.

  When he and his captain had been approached by the superintendent and principal about the operation, he’d felt as leery as Kelly about the idea of infiltrating the high school. Unfortunately, he was too old to impersonate a teen himself, so the captain suggested the student teacher idea.

  Unbeknownst to his pretty teacher, he had backup. Glancing down the hallway, he saw Rodney Peterson, the newest member of the gang task force, entering a classroom. Rodney, with his youthful face and tough attitude, would have no difficulty passing for a troubled teen and attracting the wrong sort of new friends. If he could manage to successfully gain admittance to the Broadstreet Thugs, their job of shutting down that gang’s activities would be much easier. The BT gang was the largest organized group in the area. Although a few other smaller gangs had formed, if his team could bring down the key players in the BT gang it would be a major
blow to all the groups.

  As the second bell rang, he watched Kelly switch into teacher mode, closing the door behind the last couple of stragglers with a word of admonishment for their tardiness.

  “Settle down, folks. Now.” Once everyone was seated, she took attendance. “I’d like to introduce you to Mr. McNally.” She gestured to him. “Mr. McNally will be spending the next several weeks in this classroom as a student teacher.”

  She had to wait for the teens’ comments and snickers to die down. He could hear a couple of girls in the back giggling and making comments about his rear end. A couple of tough-looking Hispanic guys sitting next to the wall seemed to take his measure and decide if he was worth the effort of trying to run out of education all together. He took special care to give them a look that let them know he was not worth it.

  “Quiet down,” she said after a few moments. “Mr. McNally, why don’t you take a seat at my desk? As for the rest of you, get out your textbooks.” She waited until the groans died down before continuing. “Open to page fifty-four. We’re going to start studying persuasive speeches.”

  “I ain’t got my textbook,” a scrawny kid in the back of the room called out.

  “You don’t have your textbook,” she corrected him automatically. “Scoot your desk over and share with Taneesha.”

  “Aw, Ms. Finch,” Taneesha complained. “You know Scotty forgets it on purpose so he can look down my shirt. Make him share with Dustin.”

  Mac watched as Kelly fought a grin before agreeing to Taneesha’s request. “Good idea, Neesha.” He took note of her familiar, friendly way with the young girl. “Scotty, share with Dustin. That way you can keep your eyes on the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

  Scotty grumbled at this change but did as she commanded without complaint. As she began her lesson on King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Mac silently marveled at the way she interacted with her students. She was firm and strict, yet the students seemed to know they could say anything—within reason—and she would treat their words respectfully and thoughtfully.

  At one point, Scotty made a rather astute observation, yet the rest of the class snickered and muttered “teacher’s pet”.

  Chad, a loud-mouthed kid he was quickly coming to dislike, made a snide remark about Scotty’s comment.

  Kelly jumped on Chad in a heartbeat. “What is the one rule in this classroom?” Her voice radiated with anger and Mac grinned, taking consolation in the thought that at least it wasn’t only him who could inspire that temper of hers.

  “Respect.” Chad was obviously aware he’d overstepped the mark.

  “Respect,” she repeated. “For me, for your classmates and for yourself. And what does it mean to be an antagonist?” Mac stifled laughter as he watched Chad spout off a definition Kelly had apparently beaten into his head time and time again.

  “The character that gets in the way of the pro, pro—” Chad stumbled on the word.

  “Protagonist,” she supplied.

  “Protagonist.” Chad repeated the definition completely. “The antagonist gets in his way so he can’t get to his goal.”

  “That’s right. Do you know what it means to antagonize someone, Chad?”

  “No,” Chad grumbled.

  “Does anyone else know?”

  Taneesha raised her hand. “Doesn’t that mean like picking on someone?”

  “That’s very close, Neesha. It means you work against someone in hopes of provoking them to anger. I want all eyes on me.” Mac watched several heads that had been drifting down toward their desks jerk up. “Since we’ve returned from winter break I’ve watched several of you antagonize others inside the classroom and out of it. It stops here. I’m not just talking to Chad right now. I’ve had enough, folks. Can anyone give me an example of what I’m talking about?”

  Several students mentioned times when they either picked on or were picked on by others in the classroom. Chad grudgingly apologized for making fun of Scotty’s comment, though Mac could see the boy hadn’t really learned his lesson. He considered taking Chad outside and issuing him a few lessons of his own, but realized he couldn’t do that.

  Scotty spoke up. “Neesha antagonized me when she said all I do is look down her shirt.”

  Again, he watched the slight grin pass Kelly’s lips. “No, Scotty. I’m afraid that was honesty, not antagonism.” The whole class laughed, as did Scotty and Neesha.

  “Now back to the speech.”

  The ninety-minute block passed so quickly and enjoyably that Mac actually jumped when the bell marking the end of the period rang. As the students filed out, she reorganized her papers and awaited the next batch of students. Within five minutes, thirty new faces were seated before her and she started all over again with just as much enthusiasm and excitement.

  The group dynamics in this room were very similar to the prior class and he had to agree with Mr. Hallstrom’s choice of teacher. Kelly did indeed seem to have every bad-attitude, big-trouble type of teenager in her class, and he spotted several kids sporting their gang colors. However, he had to admit the ‘tudes of the kids seemed to disappear as they entered her room. Students he’d observed in the hallway this morning cussing fluently and loudly were, for the most part, quiet and respectful in her room.

  Mac considered everything he’d learned about Kelly Finch since their meeting yesterday in the principal’s office. She was twenty-eight and single, a fact he was exceedingly grateful for after meeting her. She lived alone in a townhouse located only a couple of miles away from the school.

  When he’d asked fellow teachers about her this morning in the hallway, all he’d heard were the same words repeated. “Dedicated”, “friendly”, “pretty”, “hard worker”. No one seemed to know anything more personal about her than the fact that she was a good teacher who rarely missed school. Curious about her, he’d attempted to dig deeper and discovered that—besides Meg Madison and the school secretary, Carly James—she didn’t seem to have a great number of close friends, despite the fact she’d lived in this small town and attended Lowell as a student herself. She didn’t currently have a steady boyfriend, although she dated frequently.

  After four classes, a twenty-three-minute lunch and a rowdy study hall period, the last bell of the day rang. He watched her flit about her room, picking up papers and stray books. He’d spent the majority of the day simply observing her routine and he was exhausted. He quite frankly couldn’t imagine doing this day after day without collapsing and yet, here was Kelly, as fresh and pretty as she’d been this morning.

  “Got plans for dinner Thursday night?” The question fell from his lips before he considered what he was saying.

  She seemed surprised by his question and he could see her struggling to decide the best way to answer.

  He quickly decided to take the decision away from her, lest she reject him. “Good, me neither. I’ll pick you up at six.”

  “Mac—” He watched her attempt to regain some of the control he’d determinedly stripped from her. Studying her more closely, he could see dark circles under her eyes and a tinge of weariness in her face. So, he thought, the hardships of teaching all day did wear her out. She wasn’t Superwoman, no matter how much she tried to project that image. An urge to take her in his arms and hold her rumbled through him.

  “Actually,” he interrupted, “what do you say we just order a pizza and hang out at your place?” Again she looked as if she wanted to refuse, so he forged on. “I’d like to talk a bit about the students, maybe get some background info on a few of them.”

  Her eyes darkened as she obviously recalled his true purpose for being in her classroom. “I’m sure you would, but I don’t think I’m privy to reveal personal information about my students.”

  He was pleased to see the fire return to her eyes. He was becoming all too fond of her spirited nature. “Oh, you can tell me anything I need to know. The superintendent approved that, but we can stop in and ask Mr. Hallstrom before we leave today if you want
reassurance.”

  She simply rolled her eyes in response. “Forget it. I generally try to stay out of Mr. Hallstrom’s line of fire whenever possible. I’m strictly a ‘fly under the radar’ kinda girl, so I’ll take your word for it. Besides, I have an afternoon session to prepare for. I need to get my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of the English department. Do you want to search them for files before I give them to the kids?”

  “You’re going to teach another class? Now?” He couldn’t believe she had the energy for it.

  “This isn’t really another class. More like independent study. Kids come in and read or I help them with their homework or we just talk about stuff that’s bothering them. Actually, this is my favorite part of the day.”

  As she finished speaking, he watched the couple of rough-looking Hispanic kids he’d observed in the first period class saunter in.

  “Hey, Ms. Finch.” The larger of the two boys high-fived her on the way in. “Where’s the grub?”

  She grinned. “I was just going to get it, José. Moris, why don’t you help me carry it?”

  “Okay, Miss.” The smaller of the two boys followed her back toward the door of the classroom.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said to Mac. “Do you mind hanging out for a couple more minutes? I’ll give you my home address.”

  “No problem.” He felt a bit like doing a touchdown victory dance. She’d obviously just accepted his dinner invitation. Now all he had to do was wait patiently for Thursday to arrive.

  “Hey.” The remaining boy called over to him when Kelly and Moris left the room. “Why you want to be a teacher anyway? Sucks, man. No money, no respect.”

  “Sometimes there’s more to life than money. What was your name again?” Mac was overwhelmed by the number of teenagers he’d met in this single day.

  “José Alvarado.”

  Immediately his ears pricked up. Alvarado was the name of one of the suspected ringleaders of the Broadstreet Thugs, although the first name José didn’t seem right. “Nice to meet you, José,” he said genially. “So you’re in tenth grade, right?”