His Feverish Embrace - Celia Kyle Page 0,1

bumped into each other before realizing their teacher had put on the brakes. Her brown eyes widened and stars fairly sparkled in them. She obviously remembered their single night together. He sighed heavily. They always did.

Just what he needed.

“Morning,” he drawled, giving her a simple nod and hoping to leave it at that as he moved to turn back to the entrance doors.

“What on earth are you doing here?” she asked, hope blazing in her hesitant smile.

“Just keeping everyone safe,” he said lightly, purposely letting his gaze scan the grounds again, hoping she’d take the hint.

He didn’t want to be rude and dismiss her outright, but it wouldn’t look good if he was caught chatting up one of the teachers. And god forbid she try to finagle another date with him. He’d been very clear about his ground rules—he always was—but a lot of ladies he’d known over the years had selective memories. Besides, she was a nice woman. She didn’t deserve to be embarrassed in front of her students.

“Well,” he said, reaching for the main door, “looks like you’ve got your hands full. Nice to see you!”

Before she could react, he hurried into the building and breathed a sigh of relief when the door clunked shut behind him. Then he rounded a corner and heard another familiar voice.

“It’s you!”

He winced before he even saw her and then turned with another distant smile touching his lips, wondering exactly how many of the charter school’s female educators hung out at Los Angeles nightclubs and how many more he knew.

“Lacey,” he said, taking a half-step back as she invaded his personal space with an excited smile. “Sorry, can’t chat right now. I’m late for a meeting with the principal. Love that cardigan.”

Love that cardigan? That was the best he could come up with? Pathetic.

Regardless, he slid past her and hurried down the hall as best he could, dodging hyperactive kids as they got ready for their first class of the day. That didn’t stop Lacey from calling out after him, though.

“Hey, wanna grab some pizza later?”

He picked up his pace and cupped a hand to his ear, as if he couldn’t hear her, and then waved goodbye over the sea of children’s heads without ever looking back. Looking back wasn’t his thing anyway. Not that he didn’t appreciate the ladies’ interest in him, but rules were rules. And Thrett Lacerta’s number one rule since his early twenties was “one-night stands only.”

It wasn’t a rule he advertised to just anyone because he wasn’t especially proud of it, but he also didn’t think it was fair to allow his potential lady-friends to think anything else could happen between them. So before things ever got hot and heavy, Thrett was always careful to let them know they would only spend one night together. No exceptions.

Some walked away at that point, and he never tried to stop them. There was no shortage of beautiful women who just wanted a little noncommittal fun, after all. One-time trysts worked out well for everyone, as far as he was concerned. No unrealistic expectations, no commitments, no hurt feelings. And, if he was completely honest with himself, he rather liked the idea that he left his lady-friends wanting more. Whether that was true for all of them—and he always did his best to make sure it was—he would never know and that was fine by him.

The noise in the hallway grew deafening, and Thrett felt like a salmon swimming upstream through the commotion. They all looked like blurry whirling dervishes to him until he caught sight of Blaise Bradford talking with another boy in front of their lockers. Blaise was the son of Stark Bradford, the client who inspired this assignment in the first place. As much as the idea of trying to relate to a seven-year-old made him want to run screaming, his boss Charlie would chew him out if he didn’t at least play nice with the client’s kid.

“Hey, big guy,” Thrett said, smiling broadly at Blaise, who was a little small for his age. “Remember me?”

Blaise looked a little confused but nodded. “Sure. Hi, Mr. Lacerta.”

Thrett stared down at the two boys peering up at him and shifted from foot to foot. What the hell did you say to kids anyway?

“So, um…is this day going to be off the hook or what?”

Both boys stared up at him flatly before they exchanged glances. Thrett’s discomfort spiked through the roof as an awkward silence set in.

He was desperate to