with the other. He tore out a five-dollar bill and threw it down on the bar.
Chip slid it back toward him roughly.
“Oh no, my treat.”
“Take it,” Adam growled, pushing it back toward him.
“I
“You know what? Have it your way.” Adam grabbed the bill back and lifted Harper’s half-full glass of beer in a mock toast. “It’s on you.” And he dumped the beer on Chip’s head, grabbing Harper and pulling her out of the bar before the dim-witted loser’s reflexes had time to kick him into motion.
“What the hell did you just do in there, Ad?” Harper asked, gasping with laughter, once they were safely out in the parking lot. “I can never show my face in there again!”
“He was asking for it,” Adam said, stone-faced. “And you!” He shook his head. “I know you’ve dated some losers in your time, but this guy?”
“Well, Chip’s an idiot,” Harper admitted, “but he’s got a few other things going for him.”
“Stop.” Adam lightly covered her mouth with his hand. “Please, I don’t want to hear it.”
She batted her eyelashes up at him. “What? Jealous?”
“Oh, please,” he scoffed. “Just get in the car.”
She laughed, and did as he said. She didn’t have to press the point-because she knew she was right.
He’d fought for her honor.
He’d been jealous, jealous of the idea of her with another guy.
Which meant that somewhere in that thick and oblivious head of his was buried the knowledge that she really belonged to him. That somewhere beneath all those layers of puppy dog love for Beth and all that “just friends” bullshit he reserved for Harper, he wanted something more.
He wanted her.
She knew it.
He just needed a little push in the right direction. And he was about to get it.
Chapter 4
Kaia skipped lunch on Monday. It was no big loss. After a month in this hick-filled hellhole, she’d learned that the less Grace-produced food ingested, the better. Besides, Kaia had other things on her mind. One in particular.
He wasn’t in his classroom, but she found him a few minutes later in the so-called “faculty lounge,” really a dark, oversize closet with a few threadbare couches and a malfunctioning coffee machine.
Students weren’t allowed in the room-it was to be a sanctuary for the underpaid burnouts whose snoozing students failed to see the applicability of algebra to a future career in tractor-pulling, or the ability of Shakespeare to improve their application to the beauty academy. Two years ago the teachers had gone on strike, demanding shorter hours, fewer students per class, more pay; they’d received a faculty lounge.
Kaia didn’t know any of that, of course, but if she had, she wouldn’t have cared.
She did know she wasn’t supposed to go inside. The boldfaced NO STUDENTS sign on the door was a good tip-off. The sharp glare Mrs. Martin shot her as she scuttled out of the lounge was a better one. Teachers-only territory. No trespassing.
Kaia didn’t care about that, either. She pushed through the door into the dark space, and there he was, Jack Powell-adorable, and alone.
At first he didn’t see her. He was sprawled on one of the couches, reading by the dim light of a halogen lamp- the overhead lighting was about as much use as a half-dead flashlight when it came to lighting up the room, much less the page. He’d kicked his legs up on the makeshift coffee table and was poring over a thick hardcover, his face scrunched up in thought. He was completely absorbed, and failed to notice when the door swung open. It was left to Kaia to break his concentration.
“Greetings and salutations, Mr. Powell,” she said in a low voice.
He looked up with an expression of absentminded bemusement; it disappeared as soon as he paired the voice with her face. He snapped the book shut in anger and quickly stood, backing away from her.
“Did I not make myself clear the last time we spoke, Ms. Sellers? Get out of here.”
“Don’t trust yourself alone with me?” she taunted him. “Worried about what you might do?”
“I’m not the one who’s worried-thanks to you, I’ve got half the school thinking I want to play Humbert Humbert to your Lolita. But I’m sure you know that already, since it’s exactly what you wanted.”
“All I ever wanted was you, Mr. Powell,” she said sweetly. “Didn’t
“Crystal. Now, did anyone see you come in here?”
“Only Mrs. Martin,” she admitted.
“Well, that’s just great.” He shook his head and raised his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. “She’ll have half the town ready to lynch me if she figures out we were in here together. You have to get out of here. Now.”
“You’re sounding a little desperate there, Mr. Powell-it’s not very becoming.” That was a lie, actually. The sharp edge of desperation in his voice made the whole hard-to-get act even sexier.
He paused and gave her a piercing look. It was the same intent gaze he’d given her in their very first encounter, just before explaining that even if she hadn’t been “trouble dressed up in a miniskirt,” he made it a policy not to get involved with students. That had been before she caught him trying to get “involved” with Beth, of course-it turned out the only students he stayed away from were the ones he saw as potential threats. She was too hot to handle, apparently-which was infuriating. And flattering.
“Kaia, you seem like a bright girl,” he finally said. “Bright enough to know that you can make life here rather uncomfortable for me.”
“I’m glad you noticed.”
“So I’ll assume you’re bright enough to understand that
“I could say it was sexual harassment,” she countered. “Retribution.”
“I could say it was your word against mine.”
“I could say that’s attacking the victim.”
“And I could say the same-so it would seem we’re at an impasse.”
“Why, Mr. Powell,” she asked flirtatiously, “are you suggesting a truce?”
He slumped back down on the couch and began massaging his temples. “Kaia, I’m not the one who declared a war,” he reminded her. “I’m suggesting you drop this whole thing, drop my class if you can, do whatever it takes for you to walk out this door and out of my life forever.”
“You’d miss me,” she chirped.
“I doubt it.”
“What would you do for fun without me?”
“I suspect I’d find something else,” he said wearily. “Something that didn’t cause blinding headaches and nausea.”
Any more of this sweet talk and she was going to get a cavity.
“Okay, I’ll go,” she allowed. “For now. But I should point out that when you say we’re at an impasse, you’re forgetting two things.”
“Enlighten me.”
“One.” She ticked it off on one of her fingers. “You’re right that it would be your word against mine, and maybe my word’s not worth too much around here. But
He stood up again-but suddenly seemed slightly unsteady on his feet. “Is this your ham-handed way of threatening to blackmail me, Kaia?” It sounded tough, but she knew she’d shaken him. Good. Now they both understood that she had the upper hand.
“No-lets call it a demonstration of goodwill,” she offered. “Because for the moment, I’m planning to keep my
