Mr Unforgettable by Karina Bliss

Author:Karina Bliss [Bliss, Karina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Karina Bliss
Published: 2018-07-30T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Luke realized he’d seriously miscalculated his comfort zone when the bus doors opened and the noise hit him like a sonic boom. And then fifty kids aged seven to fourteen thundered down the stairs and surrounded him, jostling, touching and yelling questions.

“Where do I sleep?”

“Is there a pool?”

“Someone said we have to eat spinach. Do we?” Glancing around, he saw his staff was equally besieged. Except they were happy about it. “You’ll be allocated camp counselors who’ll answer all your questions.”

Seeing their disappointment, he relented and said, “But you’ll be sleeping in dorms, we swim at the beach so no pool and, yeah, there’ll be some healthy food. But no spinach.” With a straight face he added, “Brussels sprouts.”

There was a universal groan.

“Hey, it was a joke.” They looked at him dubiously.

“Mister. Mister. Mister!” He glanced down at the young girl tugging on his Camp Chance T-shirt. She had bossy written all over her pointed little face. “If I hate it, Mum says I can go home.”

Luke disentangled himself and checked her name tag. “Hey, Moana, what kind of attitude is that to arrive with? You’re going to love it here.” He tried to sound encouraging but, sharp as a tack, she picked up on his irritation.

Immediately, she turned her back and, dark plait bobbing down her scrawny back, shoved her way through to Rosie. “Hey, lady. Lady! My mum says…”

Recognizing he was out of his depth, Luke rallied his staff, gave his welcoming speech, then like all good generals, left the front line ASAP. His contact with kids was limited to his partners’ various connections and, with the exception of his goddaughter, tended to be superficial. Hand over his medals and his money and they generally left him alone.

Walking inside, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and scanned his messages, pausing as he saw one from Liz confirming their lesson tomorrow.

Last night he’d barely slept, restlessly alive to her heat, her scent, the rhythm of her breathing as she nestled against him in sleep. The whole purpose of having sex with the mayor had been to demystify this longing, unmask it for what it was—lust. Instead he felt edgy, vaguely dissatisfied, at odds with himself. He wanted more and he couldn’t have it.

“Luke,” Rosie caught up with him. “You’ll be joining us in the cafeteria for lunch, won’t you?”

“I have a heap of work to do.”

She looked shocked. “You have to share their first meal.”

“Fine, I’ll be there.”

In his office, he shut the door and the kids’ excited cries dropped to a background murmur. His staff was going to have to learn to do without him. A motivational talk tonight, a token visit every day, and he was done.

The council had approved the project—there might be a few tweaks after these kids had tested the facilities—but in the short term he could ease off until they’d gone.

Picking up the Chronicle, Luke planted his feet on his desk and settled in his chair. Ten minutes later, his feet hit the floor with a thump.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.