Big Girls Don’t Cry (Dundee, Idaho #6)(68)
Author: Brenda Novak

Which was why he chose to dwell on last week’s kiss. Physical desire he could understand. He’d experienced it often; he’d experience it again. It never interfered too much with his work or changed his life. But that odd sense of wanting to connect with Reenie in other ways, as well, even when her nose was running and her eyes were red and swollen was disconcerting. If he wasn’t careful, he could wind up going from bachelor to stepfather of three almost overnight. Then he’d have to say goodbye to Africa and Chicago. He’d have to deal with Keith on a much more personal level, because Keith had partial custody of the girls. And it’d be very awkward for Liz. For all of them, really.

No matter how he looked at it, pursuing a relationship with Reenie, any kind of relationship, was not a good idea.

So why couldn’t he get her off his mind?

With a sigh, he dropped his head in his hands. He should’ve stayed at the feed store. He’d tried, at first, to refuse the offer to teach. But at the time, getting closer to Reenie hadn’t sounded half-bad. He’d never dreamed she’d respond positively enough to become a true temptation.

The bell rang and Reenie’s class erupted in a loud babble as the students gathered their books and backpacks and filed outside.

Seven minutes later, the bell rang again, signaling the start of the final period of the day. When everything remained quiet next door, Isaac went to stand in the doorway.

He had a feeling Reenie could sense his presence, but she wouldn’t turn. She sat at her own computer, where she was busy entering test scores or something.

“You don’t have a class this period?” he asked.

“It’s my prep hour.”

He glanced at the clock on the wall. “That’s why you’re able to pick the girls up from school every day.”

No answer. But then, he didn’t need one. He’d been stating the obvious. “When do you have to leave?” he asked.

She kept working. “In about fifteen minutes.”

Folding his arms across his chest, he stayed where he was, admiring the silky sheen of her hair, her profile.

“What do you want?” she finally asked, her voice brisk, impatient.

“How honestly do you want me to answer that question?”

Pulling away from the computer, she whirled to face him. “Stop, okay? Just stop with all the…the flirting, and the games.”

“What games?” he said.

“You want to be with me. You don’t want to be with me. You want to be with me. You don’t want to be with me. It’s confusing. I don’t understand what you’re after, but if it’s revenge for your sister’s sake—”

“Revenge?” He scowled. “Come on, Reenie. You know better than that.”

She marched closer, close enough that he could reach out and touch her, and propped her hands on her hips. “Then what? Why did you buy that puppy?”

“You know why.”

“Explain it to me.”

“I wanted to make you feel better,” he said with a shrug. “There’s nothing complicated about that.”

“So you were being my friend? We’re friends?”

He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “More or less.”

“I think the lack of definition in our relationship is what I’m struggling with. It doesn’t feel like we’re friends, Isaac.”

As she stepped even closer, his body tensed with sudden arousal. Certainly he’d never had another friend who affected him the same way. “What does it feel like?” he asked, his attention falling to her lips.

“Hot and cold, all at the same time,” she murmured, her voice growing husky. “As though I’m free-falling through space. Maybe I’m in trouble, but I don’t mind the descent. I can’t breathe when I look at you, yet I can’t see anyone else when I close my eyes.”

“Reenie.” His own voice came out a hoarse whisper, and his hands moved almost of their own volition, circling her waist, drawing her up against him. He knew there was a whole list of reasons to head straight back to his own room, but he couldn’t—he craved her too badly.

“Tell me you don’t feel it, too,” she whispered, covering his pounding heart with her palm.

Closing his eyes, he kissed her forehead, drinking in the scent and feel of her. “I’m trying to imagine what it’ll be like in a month or two,” he explained, struggling to keep his thoughts clear.

“How can you do that?” she whispered, her lips moving against his neck as she spoke. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

“I’m going to leave Dundee.”

“I know.”

“And that’s okay?”

“Later will take care of itself.” She pulled back to look at him. “Anyway, you didn’t seem so hesitant a week ago. You said I’d better be damned sure what I was asking for if I ever invited you back.”

“That was sexual frustration and testosterone.”

“In other words, all talk?”

When he hesitated, she dipped her head again. Her tongue, warm and wet, slid against his neck. His groin tightened instantly, and he knew in that moment what he’d said was far more than talk. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he saw Liz. “Not by a long shot,” he said, and pulled her into the supply closet.

CHAPTER TWENTY

THERE WERE no windows. With both doors shut, it was quiet and almost pitch-black. Reenie couldn’t see Isaac, but she could hear him breathing. And she could feel him. His mouth was hot and wet on hers as his hands sought places only Keith had touched.

“We’re at school. We can’t go too far,” she murmured.

“Everyone’s in class.”

“It’s still not right,” she said, but the strength of her desire threatened to overcome all resistance.

“We won’t go too far,” he promised. “Anyway, I locked the doors.”

Good thing they had to guard against the theft of their science supplies or they probably wouldn’t have had the locks to begin with. “We can’t lose any more petrie dishes.”

“Thank God.”

They chuckled together as he released her bra. Reenie moved to stop him, but his mouth covered hers again, coaxing her without words to give him a little leeway. Then his hand moved around front, and pleasure shot through every nerve as his palm covered her breast.

“Oh boy,” she whispered. “We’re in trouble.”