Page 23 of Hank

"Okay…"

Jo, pull yourself togeth?—

"Go out with me Saturday night."

First, almost sex, and now an invitation for a date.

"I can’t.Wecan’t."

"Why?"

"You’re Collin’s teacher for one thing. You’re alsowaytoo young for me."

"Jo, sweetness, I’m twenty-six. So, you’re hardly old enough to be my mother." Eleven years. Yep, a lot older. But Mags and Renner…

"And Collin?"

He backed away at her question, scrubbing a hand through his hair. And there went that chill again, but this one was ten times worse. Without his warmth, it raced over her and seeped deep inside until she shivered.

"I have to admit I’ve considered the issues that might come up."

Like what other parents and teachers would say. What Carolyn…

Carolyn.

Oh, no.

"We’ve been gone way too long," she jerked her arm up and checked her watch. "What time did we leave of the gym?"

"I don’t know. Maybe four?"

Almost fifteen minutes. Not a long time, not really. But for some, it would have been long enough to come to all kinds ofconclusions. It didn’t matter those conclusions were pretty spot on, she didn’t want them out there.

"Oh, god," she said, panic setting in as she pushed away from the door and basically pounced on him. "You havegotto get back to the gym." She grabbed his sleeve and twisted it in her fist, giving him her bestI’m seriouslook. "Likenow."

"Jo, it’s not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" She might have said that louder than she should have. What if someone was looking for them and heard her? "What was I thinking?" she muttered, letting him go, before stepping back and pulling her sweater over her head.

"Uh, Jo, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I’m doing? I’m changing clothes." She squatted, unzipped her bag, pulled out the sweatshirt from inside, then glowered up at Hank. "Why are you still here?"

"We’re not done talking."

"Oh," she said, pulling the sweatshirt on, before turning back to her bag and rummaging around for her socks and sneakers. "We are." She set them aside then grabbed her jeans. "This isn’t happening. It can’t," she groused, standing, then shaking her jeans out.

"Why?"

She held his confused and irritated gaze as she stepped out of her heels. Now was the time to completely bury this thing between them.

"Why?" A myriad of reasons swirled around in her head—her age,hisage, Collin, Hank being Collin’s teacher, the gossip that she had no doubt had already started. They all had a part in why she had to let go of this attraction. An attraction stemming from one, undeniable fact she couldn’t ignore. An attraction currently wrapped up in a scowling package of everything she’d ever wanted in a man.

Hank.

Two encounters with him, and the certainty that no matter how carefully she stepped, she would continue falling into this trap of desire he so easily set for her just by beinghim. But she had to be honest with him. How could she not be, when she’d been an enthusiastic participant in the last five minutes?

"The truth is, I can’t think straight when you’re around. I see you and I want you. Itouchyou and my better judgment flies straight out the window." And just to make it perfectly clear she meant business, she tagged that with, "Dr.Lawton. We have to stay away from each other. For my own peace of mind."

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