First to Fail (Unraveled #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,8

to take my eyes off Ms. Shaw. “I’m sorry. Have we met before?”

Her bright gaze pierced me like she had laser vision. The rest of her wasn’t any less severe. Did she get a headache from binding her hair so tightly? Did she ever smile?

She was probably stunning when she smiled.

She sure wasn’t smiling now. “I don’t believe so.”

I cleared my mind of all things attractive about Ms. Shaw. Like how her skirt wrapped snuggly around her hips when she circled her desk, or how round her ass was. A guy could—

Yeah, those things. That was what I needed to clear. I was in the principal’s office for my daughter.

I wished it was the first time. No, I wished there was no first time, but I’d been on a first-name basis with all of Jaycee’s principals. This was my first time at Preston Academy, but only because it was her freshman year.

What was Ms. Shaw’s first name? Was it sturdy like Gertrude? Or ethereal like…Natalia?

I couldn’t think about her right now. Never had two women captured my attention so securely and done so fully clothed while speaking frankly.

I couldn’t be pondering Ms. Shaw when I planned to call Natalia tomorrow night. I’d been patiently waiting for the three-day window to pass so I wouldn’t look too desperate before I called her. And since I counted Saturday as day one, that made today time to call. I didn’t want to be forgotten.

I couldn’t forget Natalia after that kiss.

Ms. Shaw’s firm voice cut through my thoughts, her eyes hard. They were the brown of Gambit’s trench coat, not too dark, not too light, but interspersed with green. I would’ve remembered her if we’d met before.

She described Jaycee’s tardiness and the way she was acting out with one of her teachers. Again with the last name.

If only Jaycee’s previous teachers had stayed firm, but too many of them had indulged her. The private school wouldn’t, but they might fear my ex’s parents’ wrath. Their pocketbooks had more say than I did.

I processed everything she said about Jaycee and started with the most concerning. “Is there a limit to the amount of tardiness?”

“No.” Ms. Shaw arranged a stack of papers that had already been in a tight pile. That was a good way to describe her office. Tight and tidy. Just like the woman.

My mind wandered to how the cut of her jacket highlighted her shoulders before it tapered down to her waist and flared at her hips. She wasn’t a waif. Ms. Shaw hid her figure, but she couldn’t hide her strength. What did she do for a workout?

I had to quit obsessing about a woman I’d just met…in favor of another woman I’d just met.

Was I that desperate to date again? My personal life had been slow since I’d left my career behind to be more available for Jaycee. It was hard to strike up a conversation with an intelligent, professionally successful woman that started with “I work in a comic book shop.”

I never admitted to owning it. Would that even help? Certainly not when they found out the co-owner was married to one of the wealthiest men in the Twin Cities. Mara’s husband didn’t lend a financial hand, but he had connections that had saved Mara and I a lot of green when we’d been planning the store.

Arcadia was successful in its own right, but I wasn’t about to sit and defend my current profession to get laid. But I doubted I’d ever find a woman who’d stick around long enough to find out.

“Let me rephrase my answer,” Ms. Shaw continued. “There is a policy, but it’s been sorely ignored and I’m updating it. Three times leads to detention, five leads to suspension, and more than five will result in expulsion.”

My brows rose and my lust hid in a corner. Ms. Shaw wasn’t fucking around. How was I going to get Jaycee through four years of high school?

Ms. Shaw snagged a pair of dark-rimmed glasses and shoved them on. Could she not see me or were they her form of armor? “Jaycee has earned two hours of detention, but combined with the other behavior, I was concerned enough to feel a visit with you was warranted. We’ll settle on detention for now, but due to the number of issues, one more infraction and it’ll be suspension.”

When Jaycee had come home at the beginning of the month with news about a new principal and juicy gossip about the old one, I’d been