The Long Shot by Ellen Hartman

Author:Ellen Hartman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

SHE’D BEEN IN the school after hours plenty of times, both in crowds for events and on her own. Sometimes she sat in her office for several hours after dinner, making phone calls to parents unavailable during the day. Tonight, though, the halls seemed smaller, or maybe Deacon just had a way of filling up space.

They walked together down the hall to her office, and she was so conscious of him next to her. The hairs on her arms felt as if they were standing up and reaching for him. She was electrified, and if she brushed against him, she’d explode. She was very, very careful not to brush against him.

“Those are the things that won’t fit,” she said, gesturing at her small conference table, the two medium-size filing cabinets and several boxes of books. “I have to sort out the books and see if I can condense the files.” She ran a hand over the wood-veneer tabletop. “Even though this thing is ugly, I’ll miss it. Sitting at the table seems to help set parents at ease, which doesn’t happen if I’m behind the desk.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Well, I have a second problem, less easy to solve than this one.”

She unlocked her office door so he could peek in at her desk.

“Are you aiming for avant-garde with this placement, Julia?”

“I don’t know what else to do with the desk. I think Ty measured it, then designed the new space to be sure it wouldn’t fit.”

Deacon studied the desk and then slowly turned in a circle, eyeing every inch of her small office. He knocked on the partition at the back of the cubicle.

“You have a tape measure?”

She shook her head.

He put his back against one wall.

“How about a pencil?”

She picked one out of the ceramic mug a student had given her several years ago.

“Mark off my height. I need to know how high the partitions are.”

He stood erect, his heels against the wall, looking straight ahead. She got up next to him, but kept a bit of distance, not trusting herself if she touched him. She went up on her tiptoes and held the pencil flat against his head to make a mark on the wall. His hair was as thick and smooth as she remembered from the day she’d given him the whistle. She held the pencil too tightly and when the tip broke against the wall, the pencil skidded out of her hand and she overbalanced. She clutched his shoulder with her free hand to keep from crashing into him. He didn’t flinch, his muscles and balance combining to keep him rock steady as she gathered herself.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and much too close to her ear. She nodded, the pencil forgotten as she breathed in his scent, and let herself touch him for one or two seconds longer than necessary, sliding her

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.