The first time we met, James Dumont knocked me
off my feet.
He's sexy and smart, the classic good guy.... Exactly what I want, and everything I've ever dreamed of. The most perfect guy at Somerset High School.
He even makes sixth-period Geography interesting.
Everyone says high school is tough. Fighting my attraction to James? That's the hardest part, because this guy, my perfect match, the one who makes my heart overrule my head...
He's my teacher.
What if the greatest lesson you could learn in school couldn't be found in a book?
He's sexy and smart, the classic good guy.... Exactly what I want, and everything I've ever dreamed of. The most perfect guy at Somerset High School.
He even makes sixth-period Geography interesting.
Everyone says high school is tough. Fighting my attraction to James? That's the hardest part, because this guy, my perfect match, the one who makes my heart overrule my head...
He's my teacher.
What if the greatest lesson you could learn in school couldn't be found in a book?
Gathering up the assignment book, I start walking
back toward Mrs. Davis’s desk when I run into something. I sprawl on the
floor, my ass pounding in discomfort as the papers and book skitter away from
me.
“Damn,” I mutter to
myself.
That’s when I start to look up and see it
wasn’t a something I ran into but a someone. A really tall
someone. A really handsome someone with green eyes and a head full
of disheveled brown hair. My throat tightens and my heart beats just a smidge faster
as I look up from my squatted position.
“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I
didn’t see you there,” he says as he reaches down to grab my
hand.
I place my shaking hand in his and am amazed
how tightly he grips me. Not painful but strong, sure, almost as if he was meant to
always hold my hand. The fit of our hands is perfect with just the right amount of
symmetry.
“Yeah I’m fine,” I grunt as he
pulls me off the floor. I brush the dust off my jeans and
sweater.
“It’s my fault. I wasn’t
paying attention to where I was going and then I got turned around back here.
It’s kind of a maze.”
“I hear you there. It took me a while to
figure it out my first time back here. Are you
new?”
He gives me a smile that has my heart skipping a
beat. Whoa. That’s a strange
reaction.
“I will be. I start on Monday, so I was just
kind of wandering around trying to find stuff. I guess I got
lost.”
I laugh, and his smile widens. “I guess you
did. Well, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help point you in the right
direction.”
He pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket and
studies it for a second. While he’s looking over the paper, I take the moment
to examine him further. He’s tall but not overly tall, and lean but not skinny.
The long-sleeved shirt he’s wearing shows off enough to let me know he
takes care of himself. Not buff but definitely muscular, judging from the way his
body narrows at the waist. And he looks good in jeans. Really good. Damn good. Like
the boy-next-door good.
I shake my head, shameful of where my thoughts
were going. I have no idea who this guy is or how he ended up back in the
teacher’s lounge. But if he’s a new student starting Monday I need to
find out what classes he has. Maybe this school year can be salvaged after
all.
“I’m looking for Mr.
Herman’s office. Someone told me it was back this
way.”
I shake my head. “No, not back here.
He’s in the main office, next to Mr. Leonard’s office. Mr. Herman is the
vice principal.”
He rolls his eyes and it makes me smile.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only person who does that
anymore.
“Of course. I should have known
that.” He looks around for an exit and returns my gaze with wide eyes.
“So how do I get out of here?”
“This way,” I say trying to suppress
my giggle. I place the grade book and papers on Mrs. Davis’s desk and show
the good-looking stranger the way out of the
lounge.
“Why do they make this so
confusing?” he asks.
“It’s difficult to say. My guess is so
students don’t go wandering back here without permission. Unless
you’re back there all the time, you never know whose office is whose or the
way to get out without losing your mind.”
“I’ve seen labyrinths that were
easier to navigate than this.”
I laugh and he smiles again at me.
“Supposedly when the school got remodeled they forgot to add the
teacher’s offices. So it was a last minute thing, throwing together walls
behind this study room, hiding it from the students prying
eyes.”
“So the teachers have an office and a
classroom?”
I nod. “Yep. It’s better that way
really. This way the students can’t break into the desks in the classrooms
and change their grades and stuff like that.”
“Good
idea.”
He’s wearing some sort of cologne and it
smells like heaven. And it’s not overpowering like some of the other guys
around the school. Walking near them is like walking by the Abercrombie store, just
makes your head instantly hurt. But his is subtle, blending perfectly into him and
whatever pheromones he’s giving off, making him that much more
appealing.
“So this is the main office. They’ll be
able to help you out with anything else.”
I look down at my boots and scuff them against
the floor. For some reason, I don’t want to leave. I’m not sure why,
though. Maybe because I don’t know his name
yet.
“Thanks for your help, um. I’m
sorry, I guess I never got your name.”
I laugh and hold my hand out to him.
“Britta.”
“James.”
He takes my hand again and another round of
tingles travels between our fingers. The sudden jolt of electricity surprises me, and I
pull my hand back abruptly. James looks down at me with a slight concern on his
face, but I force a smile, trying to play off my strange
reaction.
The bell rings again and I start backing away.
“I better get going to class. Guess I’ll see you
around.”
He nods and flashes one last smile in my direction
as I back away. “Guess I will. Nice meeting
you.”
Jodie Larson is a wife and mother to four beautiful
girls, making their home in northern Minnesota along the shore of Lake Superior.
When she isn’t running around to various activities or working her regular
job, you can find her sitting in her favorite spot reading her new favorite book or
camped out somewhere quiet trying to write her next manuscript. She’s
addicted to reading (just ask her kids or husband) and loves talking books even
more so with her friends. She’s also a lover of all things romance and happily
ever afters, whether in movies or in books, as shown in her extensive collection of
both.
Other books written by Jodie
Larson:
Fated to be Yours
Fated to be Mine
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