Jack shuddered. "If you love me, keep those crones away."

Laura glared. "I know you're both referring to Kim and Juliette. I don't appreciate the humor."

The waiter stopped by with a pot of coffee, and Jack thanked him profusely. "Great timing. I was needing this like you wouldn't believe."

"No problem, man."

His mother didn't wait for the guy to leave. She continued to lambast Jack about her great friends, their beautiful daughters and how he'd be doing the world a favor by giving the world future Blooms.

The waiter didn't even bother trying to hide his grin.

"You think this is funny?" Jack asked, knowing it had pa.s.sed funny and entered pathetic a lecture ago.

"Heck yeah. I got the same spiel from my mother last week. But hey, my girlfriend and I are taking it slow."

"At least you have a girlfriend," Laura huffed. Then she eased back on the annoyance. "Say, you don't have any single woman friends, do you?"

Jack choked on his disbelief. His mother had no problem embarra.s.sing herself, her family, h.e.l.l, the world, it seemed, if it would get her more grandchildren.

"Sorry, ma'am. Nope." The waiter smirked at Jack. "What can I get you?"

"Besides a muzzle for my mother?" Jack muttered, "I'll have the number three."

His parents ordered, and after the waiter left, Jack watched his father subtly wipe tears of mirth from his eyes.

Jack sighed. "I thought this was a welcome home breakfast. Not an intervention for your 'pathetic loser son'-who just happens to have his doctorate in environmental engineering, thank you very much. Mom, what gives?"

"I'm just teasing." It hadn't seemed like teasing. "How is your social life, anyway?"

"Um, okay, I guess. Like I told you, I broke up with Beth before leaving Seattle. But we were on the outs anyway."

Laura tsked before taking a sip of her coffee. "That's too bad."

"Please. I know you couldn't stand her. Another reason I broke it off, if you must know."

His mother raised her gaze to his and blinked. "Oh?"

Sam laughed. "Get off it, Laura. The boy has a mind of his own. We'll be getting those grandkids from him in his own time. That's if watching after Josh doesn't scare him off."

"I love that kid." Jack smiled. "He's a little too much of a morning person for me, but I'm adjusting."

"He's so pleased to be in Ann Weaver's cla.s.s." His mother beamed. "You know, she's still single. Such a nice girl. Whatever happened with you two, anyway? You were in love one minute, then dating someone else the next. I always liked her."

He shifted in his seat. "The typical high school drama. Too young to settle with just one girl. It was our senior year, and we were going in different directions after graduation. Same old, same old."

"Now you're back. And you're single. And she's single..."

A glance at her had him rethinking his strategy to win Ann over. Why not use his mother's knowledge? A smart guy knew when to bend. Besides, it might get her off his back about finding someone else. He just had to figure out what he planned to do with Ann once he got her before his mother made plans of her own. "So about Ann... What else do you know about her?"

His father groaned. "You're in it now, boy. Even I can't save you."

"Sam, shut it." Laura leaned closer. "Ann Weaver lives just two streets down from Dan and Julie."

That he knew. And then she filled him in on what he didn't know. Now he just had to figure out how to use it to his advantage.

Chapter Three.

Wednesday afternoon Ann sat at her desk, still laughing about the day's events.

Bonnie, a fellow teacher from the neighboring room, popped her head in. "Still here?"

"Almost done." She couldn't help it. She had to tell someone. "Did you hear what Garrett did at recess?"

Bonnie's wide grin turned into a full-on belly laugh. "You mean when he dropped his pants?"

"And introduced everyone to his little b.u.t.t, the Grand Canyon, and his front, the Eiffel Tower? How do they come up with this stuff?" Ann started laughing all over again, so hard she cried.

Which was how Jack found her moments later, trying to catch her breath.

"Is this good laughter, or hysterical find-me-a-straightjacket laughter? You deal with a lot of kids, so I'm not sure."

Bonnie coughed and wiped her eyes. "Oh, the good kind. Sorry. Can I help you?"

"I'm here for her." His self-satisfied smile turned on-annoyed-Ann to no end.

"I teach his nephew," Ann clarified lest Bonnie tell half the school she had a boyfriend. Ann had her eye on the new fourth grade math teacher down the hall. And Bonnie liked to talk.

"Uh huh. Well, I'm off. See you tomorrow." Bonnie winked at Ann before leaving.

Ann groaned. "Why did you have to say it like that?" She glared at Jack. "Now everyone's going to think I'm dating one of my kids' parents."

"Uncle. You're in the clear."

She fumed. "Is there something you want?" His slow onceover made her blush. d.a.m.n him. She looked around. Seeing no one nearby, she decided the time had come to tell him off, to get the closure she'd needed for twelve long friggin' years. She stood up and rounded her desk to face him. "I think it's time we had this out."

"I agree." His suddenly serious expression took her aback. No more innuendo or jokey att.i.tude.

"Yes. You had no right-"

"But not here." With that said, he grabbed her by the arm and glanced around.

"What are you doing?"

He pulled her into the small office that connected her cla.s.s and Bonnie's. He checked the doork.n.o.b of Bonnie's room. Finding it locked, he once more concentrated on her.

"Jack? Let go of me."

He released her. "Just ensuring us some privacy." He leaned by her to close the door they'd just come through.

The office wasn't that big to begin with, but with both doors closed, she felt as if they stood on top of each other. The lack of windows and dim lighting didn't help diminish the feeling of intimacy between them either.

She planted her hands on her hips, focused on being irritated instead of nervous at being so close to him. "I got your note that Josh went home with Brian today."

"Good." He took a step closer.

"So you didn't need to come by." She backed up and hated herself for it. When he took another step toward her, she forced herself to remain firm. "I think you should go."

"I thought we needed to talk?" He had the temerity to raise his hand and stroke her hair, the same way he used to back in high school, when they'd been young and in love.

"Get off me." Her voice shook, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "You were terrible to me in high school, and I-"

"Let's agree to leave the past in its place. What's done is done. If I can forgive and forget, why can't you?"

She sputtered. "Forgive and forget? Are you-" Before she could add "kidding me," he kissed her. No soft press of the lips, but a hungry, hot devouring of senses as his mouth stole over hers.

Shocked at the wealth of feeling from a simple kiss, she couldn't stop trembling. Her knees threatened to buckle, so she gripped his open jacket to keep her balance. He pulled her in closer, forcing contact between his chest and hers. The man radiated heat, as well as a carnal attraction she was helpless to refuse.

He groaned and put his arms around her. His hands spanned her waist, and when he pulled her closer to his impressive erection, she realized the pa.s.sion between them hadn't dimmed one iota.

His tongue penetrated, stroking and seeking as he if had a right. Too bad her body hadn't gotten the memo that he was persona non grata. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s tingled. Her panties had grown wet. And her mouth refused to close while she welcomed his invasion.

Jack ended the kiss and traced a path to her ear. His hand crept down to her a.s.s and squeezed. "G.o.d you taste good." He kissed her neck, finding the sweet spot that only he had ever mastered.

"Jack..." Where the h.e.l.l was her self-esteem? Her discipline? Her inner mean girl? Lying down spread-eagle on an imaginary mattress, that's where. Calling on every ounce of feminine outrage she could muster, she put a hand on his chest and tried to move back.

Pitiful. Her hand had turned traitor too. Instead of pushing him away, she clutched his shirt and tugged him closer. He seemed far more muscular than he'd been back in high school. So incredibly overwhelming.

"Kiss me, angel."

She froze. She hadn't been called "angel" in twelve long years. Part of her mourned being pulled back to reality, because she really wanted another toe-curling kiss. But that pet name had been too much. She splayed her fingers on his chest and shoved.

He let go of her a.s.s and moved a token distance. Not far, but far enough to allow her to her think again.

"Nope. Not gonna happen." Which would have sounded much more convincing if she didn't sound as if she'd just left a wind tunnel.

He stared at her mouth. "You sure about that?"

"Like you said, the past is the past."

He frowned. "Ann... We were kids. Kids make mistakes. Why can't we start fresh?"

How was he not getting the message? And why the h.e.l.l couldn't he do the right thing and just apologize? Was "I'm sorry" too hard to handle?

At that moment it became imperative that he feel what she had. The loss, the confusion, the panic when she'd realized she'd been pregnant and lost it before she could come to terms with having been pregnant at all.

"So you want to start fresh?" she asked.

"Yeah. You and me. Let's try it again, the right way."

You planning to dump me in public again? This time I'll be the one calling the shots, buddy. "Okay. But no more kissing in school."

His large grin both charmed and irked her. He was like a duck. Everything rolled off his back. "How about kissing in cars? Or bedrooms? That allowed?"

"I don't get paid by the hour, Bloom. If you want a quick f.u.c.k, there are people and places for that. I'm not one of them."

He stared, as if intrigued. "You never used to talk like that."

"Like what?" She frowned.

"It's just... You're so beautiful. Like a fairy queen. But then you dropped that f-bomb. Who are you, Ann Weaver?"

The woman who plans to finally put Jackson Bloom in his place, that's who. "I'm all grown up now, Jack. Accept it."

"Oh, I do." He tapped his heart and looked her over. "I love this new you, all right."

She felt her cheeks heat. Turning from those bright blue eyes, she escaped into her room, never so glad to be in school as she was now.

"So if we're going to do this right, how about a date?" he proposed, hands in his pockets.

She refused to see if his erection had gone down. Looking there would only bring more dirty thoughts that had no place around the story time mat.

"A real date? Not some excuse to justify a night in the great Jack Bloom's bed?" she asked, waiting.

He tried to look wounded. She wasn't buying it.

With a chuckle, he agreed. "You're a real hard-a.s.s, Ms. Weaver. A true redhead with that temper." He studied her from the top her head to her toes and back up again. "How about I take you to dinner tomorrow night? My treat. Josh can stay with my parents."

"Okay." She liked a number of the restaurants in town. And being out and about with him would temper her desire to mount the man like a horse and ride. Talk about having a hard time-bad choice of words-not imagining herself on top of him in bed.

"I'll pick you up at six. That work?"

"Sure."

He approached her, invading her personal s.p.a.ce once again, and she scowled.

"You are too cute."

Annoyed, she opened her mouth to protest when the devil kissed her. Again. Leaving her breathless and aroused.

"Okay, angel. Tomorrow at six. Wear something s.e.xy. Panties optional." He darted out the door before she could smack him.