Lust

am.”

“As you should be.” She smiled to let him know she was joking. Sort of.

“But this sort of thing, teacher-student-it can’t happen.”

She leaned in, giving him easy visual access down the dark crevasse of her cleavage, if he wanted it-which, she could tell, he did.

“Oh, it can happen, Mr. Powell,” she assured him. “Trust me, I’ve seen it.”

“Okay, then,” he said, folding the quiz in half and methodically tearing it into small pieces, letting them filter through his fingers and drift down into the trash can. “It won’t happen. Don’t be embarrassed,” he added quickly. “It’s very common that a student develops a crush on a teacher, especially since you’re new here. I’m sure it’s been a little tough for you to adjust. I can empathize.”

“Mr. Powell,” she interrupted him coolly, “I think you’ve got the wrong idea. This is not some sweet schoolgirl crush. I’m not in love with you, nor do I dream of marrying you someday and bearing your British schoolteacher children.”

“I didn’t say-”

“What I’m offering you is a simple physical relationship with a very attractive woman,” she informed him. “So if we’re going to talk about this, let’s do it adult to adult, instead of pretending I’m some kind of blushing virginal teenybopper. Because I’m not.”

“That much is obvious.” His voice hardened, the genial warmth replaced by a sliver of ice. “You want to be treated as an adult?” he asked, offering a condescending smile. “I make it a policy not to get involved with my students-but even if that were not the case, I wouldn’t touch you, Ms. Sellers. Not if you paid me. You’re trouble dressed up in a miniskirt, and I’d have to be blind not to see it.”

She tried to interrupt, but he cut her off.

“Blind and stupid-which must be what you think of me if you imagined this little Lolita act was actually going to work.”

“Mr. Powell, I-” Kaia broke off in midsentence. For once, she was speechless.

He sat up straight and smiled at her, but the smile never touched his eyes.

“Play all the games you want with the boys your own age, Kaia, and have fun.” He folded his arms on the desk and leaned toward her, their faces now separated by only a few inches of frosty air. “But trust me-I’m way out of your league.”

Kaia left the classroom fuming… but intrigued. This new and improved Jack Powell was even sexier than the old one. Who didn’t prefer Colin Farrell to Colin Firth? No, this cold, calculating front was definitely hot. And promising.

After all, any teacher willing to speak to a student like that clearly had a somewhat flexible understanding of standard school policy-whatever he may have said, she knew he’d be up for bending the rules. It was just a matter of getting him to bend in the right way.

But she still needed something to keep her entertained in the meantime. Down but not out, she decided to take Mr. Powell’s advice and pick on a boy her own size.

So, onward to the boys’ locker room. (Where else?)

By her calculations, the swim team should be just about finished with their practice-which meant that Adam, who despite his halfhearted commitment to the sport was too much of a stand-up guy to ever skip a practice-should be on his way in. Hot, wet, and mostly naked. Perfect.

She burst through the door, and the locker room echoed with enraged shouts of flustered jocks as they whipped towels around themselves and ran from Kaia’s prying eyes.

“Get out of here!”

“What gives!”

“Hey, baby, you want some of this?”

“Trust me, boys, I’ve seen it all before,” she said calmly as they shouted her down. And while that was true, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t appreciate a repeat performance. Once again, she marveled at the caliber of male bodies this tiny town had produced.

She threaded her way through the crowd of flesh, searching for Adam, finally spotting him on the edge of the sea of muscles.

Those orange bikini briefs didn’t leave much to the imagination.

“What the hell are you doing here, Kaia?” he asked, when she stopped just in front of him and stared him down. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said sweetly. “I just wanted to see you.” All of you, she could have added-but it seemed redundant.

“It couldn’t have waited?” he asked, wrapping a towel around himself protectively and slowly inching away from her.

“I’m tired of waiting,” she explained, taking his hand and threading her fingers through his. He pulled away and shot a quick look behind her, where the rest of the guys on the swim team were toweling off and throwing clothes onto their wet and sticky bodies as quickly as possible. Each was keeping a close eye on the live-action soap opera.

“What are you talking about?” he hissed, dropping the towel and pulling on a pair of jeans over his sopping briefs. He grabbed the rest of his clothes and ushered her over to a-relatively-more private area behind a bank of lockers. “Tired of waiting for what?”

“For this,” she said, and grabbed his face and kissed him, sucking in the taste of his soft lower lip before he harshly shoved her away.

“Kaia, what the fuck…?”

“What? You didn’t enjoy that? You didn’t want that?” she challenged him.

“Can you please lower your voice?” he whispered frantically. He peered around the edge of the locker-the room had pretty much emptied out, but a few swimmers still lingered, hoping for some excitement.

“Can you get out of here, guys?” he called out. “Come on, help me out here!”

He turned back to Kaia.

“What are you trying to do to me?” he asked in a low and urgent voice. He suddenly looked down and, realizing his chest was still bare, quickly pulled on a T-shirt, the thin white cotton clinging to his wet body. “It’s going to get back to Beth that you came looking for me here. She’ll freak.”

“To be honest, Adam, I don’t really care,” Kaia explained patiently. “And I’m not sure why you do, either.”

“Kaia, I’m in love with her,” he shouted in frustration. “You know that.You said you understood. That the whole thing, that other thing, was a mistake, that-”

“Forget what I said,” she cut in. Now she knew she’d done the right thing, shucking the good girl act and coming after him hard and fast. Being soft and subtle, giving him time to think and regret before he acted, would never have worked. She needed him to stop thinking and start acting. And for that, he needed to know exactly what was on the table-exactly what he would be passing up.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” she informed him. “When we were in that motel, I wanted you. Just like I want you now.” She placed a hand on the waistband of his jeans, then let it slide slowly downward. “And you can’t tell me you don’t want me, too.”

He shoved her away. Hard. She slammed into the lockers behind her with a crash. The shock of impact was mirrored on his face when he saw how hard he’d pushed her. But he shook it off, letting anger sweep over him again-and she was glad of it. Finally, some real, deep emotion breaking through that placid surface. Some passion. Kaia knew what that meant-it was only a matter of time. She couldn’t suppress the smile.

He saw the look on her face and shook his head violently, backing away.

“Forget it, Kaia,” he snapped, stuffing his belongings into his backpack as quickly as he could. “It doesn’t matter what you want, or what you think I want. It can’t happen. It won’t happen.”

It was the second time in an hour that Kaia had heard those words. This was getting old-but once again, Kaia was certain: He may have said no. But he meant soon.

Adam slammed through the door of the locker room, with Kaia close behind him. This whole situation was maddening. Okay-flattering, too, but also completely out of control. Kaia was out of control. And word was sure to get back to Beth and-

Uh-oh.