Fringe Benefits Page 3

  “You did that?”

  Her smile lit the entire room. “Sure did. First year, too. I honestly thought I’d get fired because of it.”

  “You obviously didn’t.”

  “Obviously,” she drawled. “Remember, this, too, shall pass. It’ll get you through a rough year.”

  Trying to take Dani’s advice, Nate resigned himself to the situation. There was one bright side to being locked in the damn closet—he could spend time with her. Maybe once he got to know her a little better, his weird fascination with the woman would dim.

  “Tic-tac-toe, huh? Be warned—I’m a champion at it.”

  She drew out a grid and pointed the eraser end of the pencil at him. “A competitor. I like that. Everything I do tends to end up a competition.”

  Plucking the pencil from her fingers, he drew an X in the best place to start a winning game. “So do I. Mom says it’s because I was the younger brother, that I always have something to prove.”

  Her chuckle was warm and inviting—just like the woman herself. With no hesitation, she took the pencil back, made her mark, and handed it back. “That explains being a teacher. Babies of the family tend to make great teachers. Did you take any psych classes in college?”

  He nodded.

  “Remember Adler?”

  The name rang a bell.

  No, stupid. That was Pavlov.

  Then Nate remembered, mostly because of the fun his professor had with the topic. “The ‘compensation’ guy, right? The one who said guys with small dicks drive big trucks.” The words slipped out before he caught himself. “Sorry.”

  “For what?” she asked. “You’re right. He was that guy. He also did research into birth order affecting personality. Youngest kids are more social and love to prove themselves. Makes them great teachers.”

  “Where are you in the pecking order?” he asked, a bit surprised that he wanted to know everything there was to learn about Dani Bradshaw.

  “No pecking order. Just me, which made me always feel like I had to prove myself, to show them how great I was.”

  “Lots of childhood baggage?”

  “Not really. My parents were pretty typical Midwesterners, so we had a classic family relationship. Mom, Dad, and kid in the suburbs. They moved to California when my mom developed rheumatoid arthritis. The weather’s easier for her.”

  And so the conversation went, each sharing little things, safe things, as they played games and waited for rescue.

  * * *

  This will be a great story to tell the kids one day.

  Why that ridiculous thought kept tumbling through Nate’s head was beyond him. But it did.

  Your mom and I got locked in a supply closet together. That’s when we decided to start dating.

  There was a stack of papers they’d used to play what seemed like a million games of tic-tac-toe, which had been followed by hangman. Over an hour had passed, and there was no sign of the custodian.

  Funny, but he no longer minded losing all that time to get things ready for the first day of school. Instead, he found himself drawn to his pretty, witty boss.

  He recognized her perfume. Angel. Once, he’d gone to the trouble of picking a perfume he thought was the perfect scent and bought his fiancée what the salesman called a “recruitment set.” The bundle of Angel products had everything from the perfume in a star-shaped bottle to body lotion.

  Kat had hated it.

  Obviously Dani liked it as much as he did. Everything about her appealed to him and—

  Jesus have mercy. She was his boss. So why did he keep forgetting that?

  “My legs are getting stiff.” She struggled to stand, groping for one of the shelves. A hiss fell from her lips. “Shit.”

  The pain on her face hit Nate hard, and he grabbed her arm to help steady her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Cramp. Leg cramp.” She leaned heavily on him as she got to her feet and immediately stuck out her right leg, pointing and flexing her foot. “Damn, that smarts.”

  “Where?” He didn’t want to start pawing her leg, but he wanted to help.

  “Calf.” Dani’s face tightened into a grimace again.

  Nate eased down on one knee and started rubbing her leg. “Nice knot you’ve got there.”

  “I think I’m dehydrated.” As he kept working on the knot, she flexed and extended her foot. “Left my water in my room.”

  “Yeah, well, neither of us expected to be here so long.” The muscle relaxed under his kneading fingers. “Getting better?”

  “Much.”

  So why couldn’t he stop touching her? When it dawned on him that he wanted to trail his fingers up her leg, to her slender thigh and beyond, he slowly stood. Her eyes were locked with his, and tension rose between them as he gently put his hands on her waist, easing her forward.

  Her head cocked just enough to show that she would allow him to kiss her. With a smile, he lowered his face to hers.

  With a loud rattle of the lock, the door suddenly swung open, and the sixty-something custodian stared at them wide-eyed. “What in the hell are you two doing?”

  * * *

  Dani had never been so mortified in her whole life. She quickly stepped away from Nate, stumbling and landing against one of the shelves. Several boxes of discipline slips tumbled to the ground. Bending down to pick them up, her head collided with Nate’s so hard she saw stars.

  He rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead and groaned.

  “Weren’t bored in here, were you?” The custodian laughed, making Dani wish she could find her “teacher voice” to give him a good scolding. But she was too rattled to say a word. Then again, she was honest enough to admit, if only to herself, that she’d be laughing, too, had she caught a couple of teachers kissing in the locked supply closet.

  The reason they were in that closet came rushing back. “We got locked in.”

  Nate was picking up packages of staples. “It was my fault.”

  “No, it was mine,” she countered. “I should’ve warned you.”

  “Good thing I saw the light on in here or I wouldn’t have caught, er, found you.” The janitor shook his head as he chuckled his way out of the teachers’ lounge. “Turn out the lights when you’re done,” he called as he disappeared down the dark hallway.

  “Where’s the toner?” Dani shouted.

  “Behind the copier.”

  Nate put the last box of staples back on the shelf and stepped out of the closet as she hurried to look behind the machine. A single box labeled toner waited there.

  “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled under her breath. After changing the toner, she closed the door and the copier began spitting out papers again as though nothing had ever happened.

  Nate leaned his hip against the machine, appearing totally unaffected by the night’s events.

  How could he be so damned calm?

  Her heart was hammering, and sweat trickled between her breasts and down her spine. Her face was so hot she wondered why she didn’t spontaneously combust. There was no way she could get out of this without some kind of explanation to him.

  Or could she?

  Nate grabbed the last of his papers, picked up the stack he’d set aside earlier, and said, “If all the excitement’s over, I’m leaving.” His gaze settled on her. “Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.” On that, he strode out of the room.

  Dani stood alone, wondering when her life had become an episode of Candid Camera.

  When she finally made her way home and to bed, she dreamed a foolish, girlish dream of a maiden stuck in a tower—only in this version, a knight in shining armor was trapped in there with her.

  Funny, when the knight lifted his visor, he looked an awful lot like Nate Ryan…

  Chapter Four

  “I miss this so much.” Dani sealed her now-empty plastic container and shoved it in her purple nylon lunchbox. “Sure we can’t talk you into coming back to teaching, Jules?”

  Juliana Wilson let out a lou
d laugh. “Hell, no. I miss lunch with all of you, but come back to a classroom? Never. I’ve found a new calling selling houses.”

  “Besides,” Mallory Carpenter added, “her husband would never allow it.” She gave her friends one of her impish smiles. “He’d be lost without Jules—both at work and at home.”

  “How’s that ‘manny’ working out?” Dani asked.

  The Wilsons’ twin boys were close to three years old now and only stopped moving when they fell asleep. The frazzled parents had recently lost their nanny to an out-of-town college and had hired a male au pair.

  “Stefan is great,” Juliana replied. “Beth drops Emma off every morning, and Stefan takes care of her, too.”

  That news came as no surprise. The Ladies always supported each other. Through thick and thin. Through cancer and childbirth. Through despair and elation. They were closer than most sisters.

  When Beth lost her younger sister and became her niece’s adoptive mother, Jules had been the one to help Beth cope with instant parenthood. Of course she would let her “manny” babysit Emma. Beth had agonized over whether she could keep teaching and worried about finding good child care. Jules had taken away that concern by offering her manny, so Beth had decided to teach at least one more year.

  Bethany looked up from her cell phone. “Looks like Emma’s down for her nap.”

  “Did Stefan text you or something?” Mallory asked.

  “Or something,” Beth replied with a chuckle. She held her phone so they could see the screen. The image was of the large nursery at the Wilson home, and Emma and the Wilson twins were sleeping peacefully on their small daybeds.

  “Ain’t technology grand?” Beth quipped. “I can see my baby all day long. Did I tell you she’s calling Robert ‘Daddy’ now instead of Bobber?” Her eyes filled with tears.

  “Don’t you dare cry,” Mallory scolded. “That’s happy news.”

  As the Ladies chattered on, the door to the workroom opened and Nate Ryan walked in.

  The conversation immediately stopped, and Dani’s three friends stared at him. No wonder. He was wearing a baby blue polo that showed well-toned arms. His navy pants left no doubt that the rest of his body was every bit as fit. Damn, but she could stare at his butt forever and never get tired of the view.

  The normally confident Nate suddenly faltered, walking ever so slowly toward the copier and resembling a gazelle that had spotted a pack of hungry lions. “I… um… need to make some copies?”

  Dani almost laughed at his nervousness. “Are you asking us or telling us?”

  “Um… asking? I don’t want to interrupt.”

  “Copy away!” Jules said. “Copies wait for no one. You’re a newbie?”

  He nodded.

  “Then are you looking to buy or rent a home?” A business card with a large shamrock logo seemed to instantly appear in her hand. “I can help. I have a lot of great properties I could show you. There’s a special HUD program for teachers who buy repos.”

  Nate got the copier in motion before taking the card from Jules. “Actually, I am trying to find a place of my own. I’m in a long-stay hotel for the month, but I’ll need a more permanent place. This job sort of came out of the blue. I didn’t have time to find anything else.”

  “The Stay-Put Inn?” Jules asked.

  “That’s the one.”

  “We’ll get you out of that pit.”

  “It really isn’t… good,” he admitted. “I’d be grateful to have somewhere else to call home.”

  Hoping to put him at ease, Dani gave the introductions. “Everyone, this is Nate Ryan. He’s my new sophomore English teacher. Nate, these are my friends.” She nodded at Jules. “Juliana Wilson. She used to be a special-ed teacher here. Now, obviously, she handles real estate.” She smiled at Beth and Mallory. “And Bethany Ashford and Mallory Carpenter, who you’ll see around school. They teach here, too.”

  His eyes shone with understanding. “Ah, I see. You’re the Ladies Who Lunch. Mary told me all about you.”

  “Mary Henry?” Mallory asked.

  “That’s the one,” he replied.

  “Biggest gossip in the school,” she said with a dismissive wave. “Despite what you’ve probably heard, we’re quite harmless.”

  “Where are you from, Nate?” Beth asked with one of her almost nonstop smiles.

  Dani was pleased to see him relax, if only a smidge.

  “Indiana,” he replied. “Went to Indiana University.”

  “Is this your first job?” Mallory asked.

  “Yeah. Student teaching was great, but I’m still trying to get my sea legs.”

  “It gets easier,” Mallory promised.

  “So Dani keeps telling me.” He gave Dani a lopsided and entirely too handsome grin. The dimple was almost more than she could take.

  At least his responses weren’t clipped, and hopefully he saw the Ladies’ questions as polite rather than an interrogation.

  The copies ceased. Nate grabbed the stack of papers. With a saucy salute, he said, “A pleasure to meet the infamous Ladies Who Lunch.” A glance to the clock. “Oh, and two minutes ’til the bell.” He shut the door softly behind him.

  “Wow.” Jules shifted her stare from the door to Dani. “Seriously. Wow. He’s a cutie.”

  “Absolutely delectable,” Mallory added, her knowing gaze also on Dani.

  Beth joined in the stare-down, her eyes searching for something Dani wasn’t sure she was ready to admit to herself, let alone to her friends.

  Beth slapped her palm against the table. “You like him!”

  So like Beth to figure it out.

  “Oh, puhleeze…” Dani rolled her eyes, hoping to dissuade them from pursuing the topic. “I’m technically his boss, and I’m his mentor for this school year.”

  “Sounds like a perfect way to spend time together,” Jules said.

  Mallory, as usual, added to Jules’s thought. The two were every bit as in sync as Dani and Beth. “Plenty of forced contact. Up to you to turn it into quality time.”

  Beth kept on grinning as she packed up the litter from her lunch. “You know, that basement apartment of yours might be the answer.”

  “Answer?” Dani quirked a brow. “To what?”

  “To Nate’s problem. And yours.”

  The gleam in Beth’s eye alerted Dani to her friend’s thoughts. “Oh no, no, no.” She gave her head an emphatic shake. “I am not asking Nate to take that apartment. That’s for when I host foreign exchange students.”

  “Which you aren’t yet,” Mallory pointed out. “Beth’s right. Invite him to stay with you while Jules helps him find a house.”

  While a part of Dani wanted to immediately embrace the idea of Nate Ryan sharing her home, the saner part of her brain screamed not to do it. Beth’s husband, Robert Ashford, was a custom builder. He’d built Dani’s house, and at her request, he’d turned the basement into a nice one-bedroom suite. Her reasoning had been that she wanted to host students from other cultures at Douglas High for a year of school. When she’d been a teenager back in Chicago, her parents had hosted three different kids from overseas. Sweden. England. Germany. Each of their guests had been a delight. To this day, they still hosted students, although it was now in their California home.

  Dani wanted to continue the tradition. Her parents were still in touch with each of the students who had called the Bradshaw house “home.” Maybe the exchange students were their way of coping with having an only child, one who’d followed several miscarriages that had left them bereft of having the large family they’d wanted.

  Her apartment was supposed to host a teenager. Not once had she anticipated having a man like Nate living so close.

  “Oh yes, yes, yes.” Beth grinned. “Think about it. The poor guy’s stuck in that ratty place.”

  “It’ll only be a month or so,” Jules added. “I’m really good at my job, and I’m sure I’ll get him a great place quickly.”

  “Why bother?” Mallory asked. “Once h
e sees Dani’s place, he’ll want to move right in.”

  Hating being trapped in a corner, Dani waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ll think about it.” Their scoffs made her add, “I will. I’ll think about it.”

  “That butt is just begging to be squeezed.” Beth winked at her.

  “I’m telling Robert you said that,” Dani joked. “Even if you’re right, Nate Ryan’s too young for me.”

  Three snorts sounded right before a merciful bell rang, ending lunch.

  “Bring him to the barbeque Sunday.” Mallory tossed her trash in the wastebasket. “We’ll check him out.”

  Dani shook her head. “You’ll do no such thing.”

  “Bring him,” Jules insisted. “I could use the business.” She winked.

  Without waiting for a reply, Jules and Mallory strolled out of the workroom.

  “You really should invite him to the barbeque,” Beth said. “I can tell you like the guy. It’s a great kind of nonthreatening date.”

  It was Dani’s turn to snort her derision. “Nonthreatening? I’d be feeding Nate to the sharks. Not only will the Ladies be there, but your husbands will give him a hard time.”

  “What better way to find out if he’s right for you than to toss him in the deep end?”

  As far as Dani was concerned, she and Nate were already swimming in treacherous waters. The near kiss was all she could think of when she wasn’t focused on students.

  “Why are you blushing?” Beth asked as they walked toward her classroom.

  Since Dani had prep period right after lunch, she was in no hurry. The area around them was free of eavesdropping students, so she let her guard down for a moment. “Nate and I stayed really late last night to get some work done. We got locked in the supply closet when we were looking for toner.”

  “How romantic! Is that what’s making you blush?”

  “Yeah, well… We almost kissed.”

  Beth cocked her head. “You were trapped in a closet and you almost kissed? Weird reaction.”