a scandal they need to paper over. It’s a story as old as time.”
Although he didn’t like how cynical and world-weary that sounded, he knew she had a point.
“Tell me about this bake sale idea.” If he couldn’t take a bite out of Sasha, he was interested in getting something else sweet in his mouth—for the benefit of the program, of course.
“Well, it’s just a start, and I don’t think it will get us to twenty-five thousand dollars in one go.” She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear with one finger. “But it will give us a good place to build from.”
CHAPTER FOUR
PATRICK NEEDED TO WALK into the preschool class to see Sasha reading to a group of rapt three- and four-year-olds like he needed a hole in his head. Actually, walking into the classroom and clocking the dimples in her flushed cheeks as she giggled—giggled—at what one of the children said about Arthur the Aardvark made him wish he could step in for a quick lobotomy to drain the scramble his brains became whenever she was near.
He was ready to turn around and leave when she looked up at him. Although he couldn’t avoid her, he wanted to spend as little time with her as possible. At the very least, he needed time to prepare before seeing her. He needed to steel himself against the awareness he felt when he was around her. Her popping in and out of nowhere was a nightmare.
Right then, he could smell the clean, fresh scent of her shampoo over the baseline musty-church smell that lingered all over the campus. He felt heat rise in his skin as she turned her smile on him. Her sable eyes and wide mouth stirred up wants that he’d controlled for more than a decade.
And it hadn’t even been that much work to control feelings like this up until now. But something had switched when she came into his office with all her shiny, bright ideas for saving the pre-K program.
Before, he’d been able to relegate her to the slim part of his life he hadn’t reserved for God. Sure, he thought she was attractive. And it bothered him to see her flirt with another guy. But those thoughts were passing, and he didn’t ache from not reaching over to find out whether her hair was as silky as it looked.
He wanted to walk out. He should walk out. She’d seen him, but he could feign some pastoral emergency, and she wouldn’t ever need to know how she tempted him.
But—unlike every time he’d had to make decisions over the past decade—he didn’t do what he should. He leaned on the doorjamb and watched her as she got back to reading about Arthur and his teacher trouble. He drank in her smile and let it settle something in him that he hadn’t realized was off-kilter.
When she was done reading to the children, Sasha stood up and smoothed the front of her electric-blue shift dress. He racked his brain for any time that she hadn’t been totally put together around him. He couldn’t think of one. It made him want to see her completely undone in a way that would totally destroy both of their lives.
As she walked toward him, he braced himself. For what, he wasn’t sure. “What are you doing here?” That came out more harshly than he’d intended, and Sasha started. He liked startling her more than he should. It made him feel as though he weren’t alone in being off-balance. It was selfish and wrong, but he couldn’t help being those things around this woman.
“I came to talk about the logistics for the bake sale.” Her words were wary, and her gaze was wide-eyed.
“And you decided to drop in on story time?” He softened his tone with this question.
He realized his mistake when Sasha smiled at him. That wouldn’t help with Project Dick Go Back to Sleep—like, not at all. “They like you.” He cleared his throat of the thing he wanted to say—I want to put a baby in you—and said, “You’re good with kids.”
“Small children are great. They’re free.” There was something wistful in her smile as she looked through the little window in the classroom door that he shouldn’t probe, but with her he couldn’t help himself. As long as he wasn’t touching her, he would be totally fine. Totally fine.
“You’re going to be great with Hannah’s little one.” When Jack had shared why Hannah was sick, Patrick had assumed that